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Melton, Schwab tapped for Extension posts

Dr. Tom Melton and Sheri Schwab have been named North Carolina Cooperative Extension associate directors, effective Monday April 18.

Melton, who will also carry the title of deputy director, will be responsible for agriculture, natural resources and community and rural development (ANR/CRD) programs. And Schwab will be director of county operations.

Melton is interim crop science department head at N.C. State University and has served multiple roles in Extension: plant pathology specialist, Extension leader for the Department of Plant Pathology, and assistant director and associate state ANR/CRD program leader.

Among other leadership roles, he has served as president of the Southern Division of the American Phytopathological Association and as a member of the university extension and engagement committee.

Melton began his career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a plant pathologist and extension nematologist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in botany and a master’s in integrated pest management from N.C. State, and he earned his Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of Illinois.

Schwab has been on N.C. State’s staff since 1997. She joined the university as a program assistant in the Office for Equal Opportunity and in 1999 advanced to the position of assistant vice provost for employment programs in OEO.

In August 2002, she joined the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences as assistant director of personnel, with a primary focus on the county-based Cooperative Extension personnel. In October 2009, she became the College’s assistant dean for personnel.

Schwab graduated from the University of Kansas in 1994 with a bachelor’s in psychology and holds a master’s in counselor education from N.C. State as well as a J.D. from N.C. Central University. She is member of the North Carolina Bar, a Supreme Court certified mediator in North Carolina and a member of the university mediation team.