Extension Ouachita District Director accepted into LEAD21 program
By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture
March 7, 2025
Fast Facts:
- Carla Due will join land grant administrators for leadership program
- Program focuses on communication, managing conflict and leading change
- Due’s cohort will gather for three sessions in 2025
(593 words)
(Newsrooms: With photo of Due)
LITTLE ROCK — Leaders from land grant universities face unique challenges in their supervisory roles, including collaboration across extension, research and academics. Carla Due, director of the Ouachita District for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, will hone her skills in the new class of the LEAD21 leadership program.
The University of Georgia coordinates and manages the LEAD21 program, which was established in 2004. The program works to develop land grant administrators and managers and their strategic partners for leadership roles at their colleges and universities around the nation.
Due joined the Cooperative Extension Service in 1991 as a 4-H and family and consumer sciences agent in Miller County. Since 2021, she has served as director of the Ouachita District, which covers 25 counties in central and southwest Arkansas.
Due said she applied for the LEAD21 program to “give back to the organization that has helped build me into the employee and manager that I am today.”
“In this day and age, it takes a special kind of person to want to be a land grant administrator,” Due said. “I’m glad to be a part of Class 21, discovering and learning from my peers across the nation.”
“Lead21 is a tremendous opportunity, and I know Carla will not only benefit from the program but also be an asset to her fellow LEAD21 class members,” said John Anderson, director of the Cooperative Extension Service. “Carla brings more than 30 years of extension experience to the table, and she is always looking for ways to improve her skills to better our organization. A hallmark of great leaders is their willingness and ability to learn and improve, and that’s Carla.”
Due and her cohort will collaborate remotely and meet in person for three sessions, culminating in their March 2026 graduation.
The LEAD21 curriculum focuses on developing leadership skills through the core areas of effective communication, managing conflict, fostering collaboration and leading change. Due said she hopes her time in the program will impact both her work at extension and the leadership skills of the employees she supervises.
“As a district director overseeing staff in 25 counties, I deal with a lot of personalities every day,” Due said. “Working with this variety of personality inevitably involves conflict. Conflict can be detrimental to both the individuals and the organization, so it’s my hope to both resolve conflict and strengthen relationships. Just as no county extension office is the same, the personalities in this district are also unique.”
Administrators and managers for land grant universities work with multiple departments and county offices to facilitate extension services in their state. Due said this involves a strong spirit of teamwork.
“We pride ourselves on collaboration, especially on the county level,” Due said. “Collaboration might be as simple as working with 4-H leaders to deliver a program, or with the county government to educate the public on ballot issues. Our stakeholders and collaborators are a huge component of our counties’ successes.
“Every day is different for our county staff, and ensuring they are prepared to carry out their duties — and working to remove any roadblocks for them — is my primary responsibility,” Due said. “I am the counties’ advocate.”
Due said she is especially looking forward to connecting with her fellow administrators during the program.
“I’m excited to build a great network across the nation of other land grant administrators,” she said. “We have unique responsibilities, and people outside of this field do not realize what we experience each day. Our administrative job is unlike any other.”
For more information about LEAD21, visit lead-21.org.
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 three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
# # #
Media Contact:
Rebekah Hall
rkhall@uada.edu
@RKHall_
501-671-2061