Congratulations to Martha Jo Tolley for being the 2023 4-H Alumni Leadership Award recipient. She will be awarded at the Tennessee 4-H Alumni and Friends Reunion on March 4, 2023.
Martha Jo Tolley is Professor Emeritus and former Tennessee State 4-H Leader. She retired from the University of Tennessee Extension after a thirty-three career that included service as a county 4-H Agent in Hawkins and Anderson counties before moving to Knoxville as a state specialist in 4-H Youth Development. Responsibilities in the specialist role included curriculum development, youth leadership development and coordination of state events and activities. After serving in an interim leadership role for a year, she was named State 4-H Leader in 1998.
See more: TN 4-H Alumni Leadership Award
She served as the founding president of the Tennessee Association of Extension 4-H Workers and was a charter member of Tennessee 4-H Alumni. Her time has also been filled with serving on numerous state and national 4-H program development committees including chair of the National 4-H Dairy Conference, chair of the National 4-H Fashion Revue Committee and chair of the National 4-H Program committee for National Congresses in Chicago, Orlando, and Memphis. She was inducted into the National 4-H Hall of Fame in 2006.
Tolley has been employed in post-retirement positions with the Family and Consumer Sciences Department and with the Extension Evaluation and Staff Development Department. She served as editor for the 2020 publication for the UT Extension Historic Personnel Directory.
Her leadership service since retirement has included serving as State President and State Secretary of the UTIA Retirees Association. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee 4-H Foundation and as Co-chair of the 100th 4-H Roundup Celebration Committee.
If you are interested in going to the Tennessee 4-H Alumni and Friends Reunion, please register here.