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SRSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
February 2025-February 2026

President 2025-2026

Russ Garner
Director of 
Community Sustainability 

Communities Unlimited
(479) 445-2950

russ.garner@communitiesu.org

Program Chair 2025-2026 

Ryan Thomson

Assistant Professor, Rural Sociology

Auburn University 

Department of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology

313 Comer Hall

Auburn, AL 36849

(334) 844-5631

rwt0012@auburn.edu

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President-Elect 2025-2026

Kara Woods

Research Analyst

SDFR Policy Research Center

Office of the President, Alcorn State University

1000 ASU Drive #449

Lorman, Mississippi 39096

601-786-1505

kawoods@alcorn.edu 

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Program Chair Elect 2025-2026 

Kelli Russell

Assistant Extension Professor

Auburn University 

Department of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology

301 Comer Hall

Auburn, AL 36849

(334) 844-4800

kjr0041@auburn.edu

Non-Voting Committee Members

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Journal Editor 2018-Present

John J. Green

Director, Southern Rural Development Center 

Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Economics

P.O. Box 5187
Mississippi State, MS 39762 

Phone: 662.325.0595 

Email: john.green@msstate.edu 

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Website Manager 2020-Present

Eleanor M. Green

Co-Director, Delta Scholars Program, Shackouls Honors College
Mississippi State University
118 Twin Gum Road
Starkville, MS 39759
Phone: 662-402-4451
ecmgreen@gmail.com​

Past-President 2025-2026

Marcus Bernard
Dean of the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources

Director of Land Grant Programs

Kentucky State University
Cooperative Extension Building, Suite 231C
105 University Drive
Frankfort, KY 40601
(502) 597-5758

Marcus.bernard@kysu.edu

Graduate Student Representative

Meikah Dado, Texas A & M University

mdado@tamu.edu

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Meikah is a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University in the Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications Department. She is a graduate research assistant at the Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture where she works on the Africa Team. Her research interests are in international agricultural development involving women and youth. 

Undergraduate Student Representative

Open Position

Secretary-Treasurer 2018-Present

Robert Zabawa
Research Professor of Agricultural Social Sciences
Tuskegee University
207 Campbell Hall 
1210 W. Montgomery Rd.
Tuskegee, AL 36088
Phone: 334-727-8114
Email: rzabawa@tuskegee.edu

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