By:
Chuck Woods (352) 392-1773 x 281Source(s):
Don Poucher info@ifas.ufl.edu, (352) 392-0437
Janet Poley jpoley@unl.edu, (402) 472-7000
GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Donald W. Poucher, assistant vice president for marketing and communications at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, received the Irving Award from the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) in New Orleans on April 27.
The award, which is the highest honor presented by the consortium, is named for Irvin Omtvedt, former vice chancellor of the University of Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Omtvedt founded ADEC in 1987 and served as its first chairman of the board.
ADEC is a 67-member alliance of state universities and colleges and other organizations involved in distance learning. Many U.S. land-grant institutions such as UF are members of ADEC.
“Don Poucher has been a leader, creator and implementer from the earliest days of the consortium,” said Janet Poley, ADEC president and chief executive officer. “His first contributions were to the program and operations committee of ADEC and to educational program production.”
A member of the ADEC board of directors, Poucher has served as a principal contact officer for the consortium, a member of the strategic planning panel and chair of the marketing committee, Poley said.
At UF, Poucher is responsible for developing, implementing and directing the UF/IFAS institutional marketing program. His service to UF spans a 40-year period during which he served as a tenured assistant and associate professor. He has held posts of assistant to the president and director of alumni affairs.
Poucher also has also served as president and chief executive officer of a commercial radio broadcasting company and vice president of marketing for a bank holding company. A native Floridian, he earned a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications in 1964 and a master’s degree in communications and marketing in 1965, both from UF.
He has published several papers on communications and has served as a consultant to organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Broadcasting Company, U.S. Office of Civil Defense, Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Pan American School of Agriculture, University of the West Indies, and the Pacific and Caribbean Basin Agricultural Research Groups.
Poucher’s out-of-country assignments include projects in Argentina, Aruba, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras and West Africa.
He has served as chair of the Telecommunications Advisory Council for UF’s College of Journalism and Communications and as president of the Ag Institute of Florida, a consortium of information officers of agricultural industry groups.
Poucher has received numerous awards, including international awards for communications management, marketing, television news, television programming and television documentaries from the Association for Communications Excellence. He has received the Florida Public Relations Association Golden Image Judge’s Award and an Award of Distinction for video documentary production. Poucher also received awards from the Agricultural Relations Council for excellence in television and magazine agricultural journalism. He is a recipient of a Golden Gator Award for Magazine Journalism from UF and the UF President’s Award for outstanding television program development.
-30-
0
