Beth Reynolds, program specialist with the Iowa Beef Center, is the recipient of the 2023 Professional and Scientific Early Achievement in Extension and Outreach Award from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. She works with campus and field specialists to implement Iowa Beef Center programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Reynolds led the team effort to develop short video segments on controlling cow production costs, which kept the Iowa Beef Center educating producers at a time when they couldn’t meet face-to-face. Based on viewer statistics and comments, she co-led an effort to create shorter and more frequent video segments targeting timely production considerations - #CowTipTuesday and #FeedyardFriday. She managed the 2021 annual Beef Improvement Federation symposium as well. The event brought almost 400 participants to Iowa for the four-day event. More than 250 participants took part in the live webinar option offered for partner organizations and global clientele with travel restrictions. Several presentations were recorded and posted on the BIF website. In the first six months, they had been viewed more than 5,000 times.
Reynolds is involved with professional development for Iowa Beef Center staff. She has taught the team video editing and social media outreach. She has co-written four Extension publications, three research reports and revised the Iowa Beef Center calving book. She also supervises and mentors their student employees, helping them create social media resources, design marketing materials, analyze survey data and create displays. A colleague states, “She has established herself as a leader… and a critical part of our team.”