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Abstract
The Cooperative Extension Service has experienced a great deal of change over the last 50 years. Amid demographic shifts, funding volatility, and rising expectations for equity and measurable public value, the Extension must adapt organizational designs that sustain both relationships and specialist depth. This dissertation examines how structure, innovation, and workforce experience interact to shape effectiveness. Chapter 2 presents a multi‑case study of senior leaders across seven states that maps funding architectures, governance routines, and delivery portfolios, offering a contemporary typology of county, regional, and hybrid models. Chapter 3 uses a phenomenological inquiry of high‑profile innovations from the last two decades to identify enabling conditions—trusted boundary spanners, specialist teams, logistics and marketing backbones, leadership sponsorship, protected time, and evaluation that tracks adoption and equity. Chapter 4 reports a national survey (N = 584; 48 states and one territory) on program supports, job satisfaction, burnout, and perceptions of structural models; findings show generally positive collaboration alongside workload and work–life pain points, with significant yet modest differences across structures and regions. Chapter 5 integrates insights into design principles that protect county relationship capacity, strengthen program and data backbones, and isolate core roles from short‑term funding. These findings inform future research and practice.