Cox receives Virginia Tech's Alumni Award for Excellence in Extension
Ruby Cox, of Blacksburg, professor of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise and Extension specialist for Virginia Tech, received a 2005 Alumni Award for Excellence in Extension.
The Alumni Association established the Alumni Award for Extension Excellence to recognize members of the university's Virginia Cooperative Extension, honoring those members of the university and field faculty who have made outstanding contributions outside the classroom. Two awards are conferred each year, with one going to an Extension specialist and one going to an Extension agent. Faculty members are nominated for the award by alumni and Extension faculty members. The selection committee is composed of a chair appointed by the director of Virginia Cooperative Extension, past faculty award recipients, and alumni representatives.
Cox is known for her excellence in many areas, including leadership, communication, impacts measurement, subject-matter expertise, creativity and innovation, and professional activities. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service cited Cox's research-based Extension nutrition program as an example of how similar programs should be administered.
Cox has secured and managed over $24 million in external funds, does research concerning the impact of her programs on the quality of life of those affected, and has been recognized nationally as a leader in programming and research with limited-resource audiences. She has served on many state and national committees and associations, such as the Virginia Dietetic Association board and the Society of Nutrition Education.
She is the state coordinator for the Virginia Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program and the Smart Choices Nutrition Education Program. She has received numerous other awards, including the College of Human Resources and Education's Excellence in Outreach Award and the State Distinguished Service Award in Extension from the Virginia Chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi.Cox earned a B.S. in Home Economics Education, an M.S. in Home Economics: Foods and Nutrition, and the Ph.D. in Foods and Nutrition, all from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
Consistently ranked by the National Science Foundation among the top 10 institutions in agricultural research, Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences offers students the opportunity to learn from some of the world's leading agricultural scientists. The college's comprehensive curriculum gives students a balanced education that ranges from food and fiber production to economics to human health. The college is a national leader in incorporating technology, biotechnology, computer applications, and other recent scientific advances into its teaching program.
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become among the largest universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.
