(Recognition presented by the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences – Texas Affiliate) February 19, 2016

(Bryan/College Station, TX). Imagine not having anyone to teach Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) courses in schools and/or universities, such as: managing a budget, understanding the use of boiling water before consumption, developing entrepreneurial skills or reusing and recycling items for designing to building materials. . . The 98th State Conference of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) theme, “Sustaining Texas Families, Individuals and Communities,” focused on topics such as these.

The Best of Texas Awards Banquet held at the conclusion of the conference recognized achievements of Family and Consumer Sciences professionals. Dr. Joice A. Jeffries, a former 4-H member and 4-H Program Specialist, of the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences (CAHS) at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), received the 2016 Professional-of-the-Year award for Texas!

Dr. Jeffries and familyMembers of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) were nominated and screened by the Awards Selection Committee. In accordance to the State Association criteria, “Nominees should have made major contributions to the family and consumer sciences profession, displayed leadership abilities, been active in the association, and be highly respected by her/his peers.”

“She was responsible for helping the architects design and select materials suitable for a “state of the art” Agriculture and Business Multipurpose Classroom Building (Opened December, 2015) for the College of Agriculture of and Human Sciences,” stated CAHS Adjunct Professor Minnie Cyrus.

Texas A&M University Regents Fellow, Nancy Granovsky, spoke of how Jeffries facilitated a closer working relationship between professionals from the two Extension Services in Texas and most recently (Oct., 2015) coordinated the local arrangements for the Southeast District meeting of AAFCS-TX, held at PVAMU by assisting the district chair, Angela McCorkle. “Dr. Jeffries worked diligently with planning a very interesting program that highlighted teaching, research and extension activities at the university, thus introducing participants to an institution few were familiar with and increasing collegiality with several PVAMU faculty members,” remarked Granovsky.

Jeffries was escorted to the banquet by her husband Rod, and their 6th grade son, Roderick Andrew Jeffries II.

Dr. Karen Alexander, professor, of Texas Tech University declared to the audience at the banquet, “This honor is the highest bestowed by the association and is very well-deserved as you’ve contributed to many successful family and consumer sciences programs.”