Dr. Norma Samuel

Dr. Norma Samuel is an Extension Agent with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF-IFAS) Extension. Dr. Samuel is the current Chair of the Caribbean Agricultural Extension Providers’ Network (CAEPNet) and President of the Board of the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS). She received her bachelor’s (1997) and master’s (1999) degree in Plant Protection and Pest Management from the University of Georgia. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Education and Communication with an emphasis on International Extension and a minor in Nonprofit Organizations from the University of Florida (2014).  Before migrating to the U.S., she worked with the Ministry of Agriculture in Antigua and Barbuda on a research station and with the Plant Protection and Quarantine Unit.  She has 18 years of experience as an Extension Agent in the areas of residential and commercial horticulture, Master Gardener Coordinator, and 4-H youth development. Dr. Samuel has expertise in the areas of pest management, volunteer development; risk management; human and organizational capacity building, and of the extension system in the US and the Caribbean. She has led and or participated in several international Extension projects in the Caribbean and Ghana. Dr. Samuel has over 300 publications in newspapers, newsletters, and peer-reviewed papers and curricula and is the recipient of numerous professional awards.