Dr. Jeantyl Norze joined Extension as our Evaluation Specialist in January of 2022. “I am very excited to join the UConn CAHNR Extension and hopeful about my contributions to help advance the land grant mission of the university. CAHNR Extension has an amazing dynamic team who is knowledgeable and open to new ideas that help further improve the lives of the residents and communities in the state through better programming,” Dr. Norze says. He is looking forward to meeting everyone to learn more about their work and determine how he can best assist them.

Jeantyl Norze, is a Program Development and Evaluation Specialist who have authored and co-authored numerous publications in a variety of refereed national and international journals. Dr. Norze earned his DVM degree at the Universidad Agraria de La Habana (UNAH) and his master’s degree and Ph.D. degree at Louisiana Sate University where he worked as a graduate research student, post-doctoral fellow, and adjunct faculty. During his tenure at Louisiana State University, he was involved in several research and evaluation projects and taught several courses including leadership development, program development, and program evaluation to undergraduate students, graduate students, and extension educators.

Later, in 2019, Dr. Norze joined the University of Neva Reno Extension as the Program Evaluation Coordinator. In this role, he assisted Extension faculty and staff from a variety of departments including Horticulture, Health and Nutrition, Children, Youth, and Family, Natural Resources, and Economic Development with program evaluation, reporting, and needs assessments. He helped with strengthening the evaluation methods and designs, selecting and developing appropriate evaluation tools to gather credible evidence that demonstrates the contributions of each program. In addition, he participated in multiple evaluation and research projects including food insecurity among college students, educational and mental health needs among Nevadan youth, Tufts longitudinal 4-H study, HANRE needs assessment, and so forth.

He developed, in collaboration with his former colleagues, a needs assessment framework to guide statewide needs assessment efforts that seek to meet and understand the changing needs of the communities. He was also the principal investigator for a national research project sponsored by the Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research and the University of Nevada, Reno Extension that sought to examine career progression for urban extension professionals in the country.