Veteran agriculture, 4-H agent named Ozark District director
April 12, 2024
By Tracy Courage
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Fast facts
- Sherry Beaty-Sullivan is the new Ozark District Director
- New director brings 25-plus years extension experience
- Has worked in Independence, Howard, Little River and Polk counties
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(Newsrooms: With Sherry Beaty-Sullivan photo)
LITTLE ROCK — Longtime Cooperative Extension Service agent Sherry Beaty-Sullivan steps into a new role May 1 as the director of the Ozark District, where she will oversee extension staff and programs in 25 counties in the north-central and northwest areas of Arkansas.
Beaty-Sullivan is currently the staff chair for the Polk County extension office. She supervises staff and splits her time between maintaining agricultural programs in livestock, forages and horticulture, as well as community and economic development and 4-H programing in the community and in schools. She and her husband, Scott, own a 1,600-acre ranch with cattle, forages, timber and aggregate in south Polk County in Grannis, Arkansas.
“I am excited to have Sherry joining the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service administrative team as Ozark District director,” said John Anderson, director of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service. “Sherry brings years of experience as a county extension agent and staff chair to this position. Over the course of her career, she has worked in all three of the state’s extension districts, developing and delivering agriculture and 4-H programs.”
The Cooperative Extension Service, part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, has offices in all 75 counties. Sullivan will work alongside directors for the Delta District, which includes 25 counties in eastern Arkansas, and the Ouachita District, which covers 25 counties in southern and southwestern areas of the state.
Beaty-Sullivan will fill a position vacated by Kevin Lawson, who returned to Faulkner County to be an extension agent.
“This is a very important role for the organization and a challenging one,” Anderson said. “In the district director role, Sherry will have the opportunity to use her considerable experience to recruit, hire and mentor agents across all Cooperative Extension Service program areas. I have no doubt that she will be up to the challenge, and I am very much looking forward to working with her as she assumes this new role.”
With more than 25 years of experience as an extension agent, Sullivan said she feels ready for her new role.
“This has been a longtime goal of mine,” Sullivan said. “My father was an extension agent and then a district director,” she said. “I grew up in this organization. This was something I knew I wanted to do. I’m looking forward to getting to know the district and seeing where and how I can help our agents and staff chairs.”
Deep extension roots
Beaty-Sullivan’s father, Ron Beaty, started his extension career as a livestock agent — first in Craighead County and then in Pulaski County. Beaty-Sullivan grew up showing animals and was involved with Arkansas 4-H, extension’s youth leadership program. Her mother, Judy, was a 4-H volunteer leader.
“I was more of a play-in-the-dirt kind of girl, so I went the ag route,” she said.
Beaty-Sullivan has a bachelor’s degree in agriculture extension education and a master’s degree in animal science, both from the University of Arkansas College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences. She earned a doctorate in agricultural sciences from Mississippi State University in 2022.
Beaty-Sullivan started her extension career working as an intern for the White County extension office. At that time, interns worked alongside agents for up to two years, learning all facets of agriculture, 4-H and Family and Consumer Sciences.
“You were expected to have a knowledge base of all of those program areas,” she said.
After nine months, Sullivan moved into her first full-time job as an agriculture and 4-H agent in Independence County and then in Howard County. In 2016, she moved into a leadership role as extension staff chair in Little River County extension. She’s been staff chair for Polk County since 2019.
She has been recognized for her accomplishments as an agriculture agent at both the state and national level, and she is one of a relative handful of county agents to achieve the rank of Distinguished Agent.
“I had a lot of mentorship when I was coming up in Extension — not only from my dad, but other agents and staff chairs. I’ve worked under some pretty legendary folks and was trained by some of the best.” She counts among her many mentors Judy Riley, former White County staff chair; Brian Haller, White County agriculture agent; and Jean Ince, Howard County staff chair.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media Contact: Tracy Courage
Director of Communications-Extension
U of A System Division of Agriculture
501-658-2044