Stephen D. Green, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Extension Child Development Specialist with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. Dr. Green conducts workshops and delivers presentations throughout the state of Texas and nationally on a variety of parenting, child development, childcare, and family life issues. Dr. Green will bring information about the intellectual development within the young child with the goal of understanding how they perceive the world and learn behaviors.
| Russell Pate, Ph.D., is the Associate Vice President for Health Sciences & Investigator in the Children’s Physical Activity Research Group and Professor in the Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Pate will help attendees identify age-appropriate physical exercise for young children. He coordinated the effort that lead to the development of the recommendation on Physical Activity and Public Health of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American College of Sports Medicine (1995). He served on the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (2003-04), the U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee (2007-08), and an Institute of Medicine panel that developed guidelines on prevention of childhood obesity. He currently chairs the coordinating committee for the National Physical Activity Plan. |  |
| Deanna Hoelscher, Ph.D., R.D., L.D., C.N.S., is a Professor and Director of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, at The University of Texas School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus. Dr. Hoelscher was one of the original researchers in the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) whose program name was changed to a Coordinated Approach To Child Health to reflect the shift from a research trial to a proven, sustainable program. With an active research program in the design, implementation and evaluation of nutrition and physical activity programs for children, Dr. Hoelscher will describe how to design and successfully implement programs for young children. |  |
| Oral Capps, Jr., Ph.D., is an Executive Professor and holder of the Southwest Dairy Marketing Endowed Chair in the department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University and is the Co-Director of Agribusiness, Food, and Consumer Economics Research Center (AFCERC). Dr. Capps’s applied research areas include analyses of expenditure patterns of pre-prepared foods and foods eaten away from home, analyses of health and nutrition issues, and analyses of regional, national, and international markets for the agricultural, agribusiness and financial sectors. Dr. Capps will present new research on the efficacy of so-called “soda taxes” as a policy approach to shift food consumption patterns. |  |
| Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, Ph.D.,is Assistant Professor of Sociology and a Rice Scholar at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, Houston, Texas. Dr. Kimbro’s research focuses on racial and ethnic differences in overweight and obesity in young children, federal nutrition policies, and social and environmental influences on physical activity in young children. |  |
| Jane Clary, Ph.D., R.N., M.S., C.H.E.S., is an Extension Professor at Mississippi State University. Dr. Clary runs MS in Motion program whose goal is to improve the overall health of Mississippi families through key prevention strategies: increased physical activity and improved nutrition. Through the use of eXtension, Families Food and Fitness web site the information provided to teachers, staff, individuals, and families is reinforced and is available 24/7. Dr. Clary will speak about communicating messages to the public. |  |
| Lisa Whittlesey, M.S. is an Extension Program Specialist at Texas A&M University and is the state and national coordinator of the Junior Master Gardeners (JMG) program. As the national coordinator of the JMG program, Lisa oversees the development and expansion of the JMG program through national presentations/programs, fostering of community sponsors/program partners, and by working with interested states to become a part of the JMG program and implement programs in their communities. The JMG program has been a successful component of many programs aiming to increase healthy behaviors. |  |
