Haviland awarded for his excellence in extension

Haviland (third from left) receiving the Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Extension at the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Statewide Conference. Credit: Pam Kan-Rice, UC ANR. Photo by: Pam Kan-Rice, UC ANR
Haviland (third from left) receiving the Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Extension at the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Statewide Conference. Credit: Pam Kan-Rice, UC ANR.

Cooperative Extension Advisor and Affiliated Advisor with University of California (UC) Statewide IPM Program David Haviland received the Pacific Branch Entomological Society of America Award for Excellence in Extension. Haviland was also awarded the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Extension.

The UC ANR Distinguished Service Awards recognize service and academic excellence in UC Cooperative Extension over a significant period of time. Awards highlight the use of innovative methods and the integration of research, extension, and leadership. The Pacific Branch Entomological Society of America awards are for those who have distinguished themselves through their contributions to entomology via program creativity, impact, achievement, and delivery.

Haviland’s exemplary extension program addresses the needs of clientele and supports continued productivity in the third largest agricultural output county in the nation. Haviland’s extension program is based on continuous needs assessment, applied local research to solve problems, collaboration with multiple partners, and extension programming focused on grower and pest control adviser adoption of improved pest management practices. He routinely receives grants from commodity boards to address priority pest management challenges and recently received a $200,000 Pest Management Alliance grant from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to demonstrate the efficacy of IPM practices for managing key pests in almond. Haviland uses his research outputs to drive his prodigious extension program. This includes 430 presentations, primarily to farmer and pest control advisor audiences, for a total of over 32,000 attendees.

Haviland actively reaches out to underserved communities, including presentations in Spanish to Spanish-speaking audiences. He is also an adjunct faculty at Bakersfield College, where he teaches a course on pest management. Many of the students at Bakersfield College are from the local area and are first-generation college students.