Ashley M. Stokes, who previously served as associate vice president for engagement and extension and deputy director of extension at Colorado State University, has been in her new role as the leader of UT Extension since February 22, 2021.

Stokes is the first woman to serve as dean of UT Extension in its more than 100 years of service to Tennesseans. Stokes has a broad history of service to the national cooperative extension system. Her duties at CSU included responsibilities with CSU Extension and CSU Online. She also was part of the leadership for the CSU Office of Community and Economic Development; the Colorado Water Center; and international projects in Ethiopia, Japan, and the Western Pacific region focused on university collaboration with communities to address local, regional and global challenges. She previously served as assistant dean of the CSU College of Veterinary Medicine.

Stokes has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama and both a DVM and PhD from the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, where she also served on the faculty in veterinary clinical sciences. Starting in 2009, she spent six years at the University of Hawai‘i, where she was the sole veterinary extension specialist serving the state and several territories throughout the Western Pacific. She conducted veterinary research while at UH and taught pre-veterinary and animal science courses. She also has an MBA from Colorado State University with a focus on marketing and communications.