Mike Gutter started as the new director of Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) in November 2022.

We sat down with him to talk about the journey that led him here, where he wants to lead Extension in the coming years, and his belief in the power of the land-grant mission.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in a family that was strong but lacked a lot of financial resources. So, it will not surprise you that with a love of psychology, I ended up studying family financial management and pursued a doctoral program that focused on family resource management (also known as family economics). I have now spent decades studying economic disparities and how they impact things from home ownership to health outcomes.

What led you to Virginia Cooperative Extension?

After being an Extension leader the past decade, I knew I was ready to lead a program of VCE's caliber. I have known and met many VCE faculty over the years and found them all to be incredibly impressive. Virginia is a beautiful place with a strong agriculture industry — where else would I want to be?

What is Extension’s value?

We bring science-backed information to everyone in the commonwealth and provide opportunities for producers to improve their products, processes, and profitability. We give youth an opportunity to find their spark and help families manage their resources, nutrition, and health. We collaborate with communities to manage their resources and address common challenges. VCE continues to ask the questions: How can we help? What does Virginia need?

It has been my experience that including strategic partners and forming those relationships helps us be at the table for these issues. This way we are leveraging each other’s resources, learning from each other, and pursuing lines of funding neither of us can obtain on our own.

What do you see as Extension’s future?

VCE is a strong extension program with a positive reputation among its many stakeholders and peers. I would like to see us continue to build on that strength, cultivating a reputation across campus and our commonwealth as the best resource to engage and work with our communities.

I know that together over the next decade, we will become the go-to partner for community-engaged work, technology transfer, workforce development, rural community social issues, and more.

Over the next half-century, we will be seen as the trusted partner, and more importantly, trusted source, by our communities.


Follow Mike at his blog: https://ext.vt.edu/about/admin-team/mike-gutter and on his Twitter feed: @VCE_Director