(02/23/24) BATON ROUGE, La. — A national sweet potato organization has honored Tara Smith, LSU AgCenter executive associate vice president and director of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, for her leadership and extension and research efforts.

Smith received the National Impact Award from the National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group, which promotes research and extension activities related to sweet potatoes, at the group’s annual meeting in New Orleans from Jan. 19-20.

“Being recognized by a group of my peers working in academia and industry is humbling,” Smith said.

Smith first joined the group as an entomology graduate student at LSU working on integrated pest management of sweet potato soil insects. She has remained an active member of the group throughout her career.

In 2006, Smith became the state sweet potato specialist, a role focused on helping producers grow better crops using knowledge gained from AgCenter research.

“I was immediately drawn to our producers and industry and was intrigued early on with the relationships that my mentors and our agents had with the industry,” she said. “I quickly realized that the extension piece was the translational piece and that communicating research to our clientele contributed to the success of their operations.”

In 2008, she was also named research coordinator of the LSU AgCenter Sweet Potato Research Station in Chase, a role she maintains today after assuming a leadership role in the AgCenter’s statewide office.

Smith was nominated for the award by three colleagues in the sweet potato research and industry sector who wrote that she “has never shied away from taking leadership roles, whether that be in the AgCenter or in the numerous organizations that she has been part of. Her willingness to serve has made her the ‘go-to person’ for many in the industry and in academia.”

They added that Smith “is credited by many for changing grower perceptions of what integrated pest management is while also using her position as Louisiana sweet potato specialist to deliver findings of her colleagues to the industry.”

Smith became the interim executive associate vice president of the AgCenter and director of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service in December 2022 — a role that became permanent in April 2023 — and she has continued her work as research coordinator for the Sweet Potato Research Station. While she spends less time with the sweet potato industry today, Smith said she remains “committed to supporting our industry, both in Louisiana and nationally.”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in my current role, and I know that my early exposure and networking with the sweet potato industry and the National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group are foundational to any personal success I have realized,” she said.

The National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group focuses on the open sharing of sweet potato research. Composed of university, industry and government representatives from 21 states and five other countries, the group was formed in 1939.

Tara Smith, LSU AgCenter executive associate vice president and director of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service, received the National Impact Award from the National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter