October 28, 2025
Applications Being Accepted for 2026 North Central Extension Leadership Development Program
John F. Kennedy once said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” The North Central Extension Leadership Development (NELD) program builds leadership capacity through learning. NELD’s mission is to build leaders throughout extension at all levels and provide them with the vision, courage and tools to lead in a changing world.
NELD provides opportunities for current and future extension leaders and administrators to:
- Develop a better understanding of self and enhance personal effectiveness through assessments, coaching, feedback, individual goal setting.
- Learn, apply and reflect on effective leadership, organizational collaboration, and change concepts and strategies.
- Strengthen competence in decision making, improve effectiveness of extension programming and promote life-long learning.
- Broaden understanding of extension on a local, state and national level.
- Build a more robust national extension network.
NELD 2026 will be hosted by the Staley School of Leadership at Kansas State University. It will use a hybrid approach of delivery, giving participants a rich high-tech/high-touch experience. It will include three virtual and three in-person sessions for experiential learning. More information is available on the NELD website.
Session dates and locations for 2026 include:
In-person Session 1: April 20-23 in Kansas City, MO
In-person Session 2: July 13-16 in Chicago, IL
In-person Session 3: October 19-22 in Washington DC
Details for the virtual sessions are still being finalized. We will share those dates with the delegates as soon as they are available.
Tuition and travels costs for local unit extension agents will be fully funded through Extension Administration. Tuition for specialists and administrators will be covered through Extension Administration budget while all travel-related expenses will be the responsibility of their department or regional unit. Applicants must be able to fully participate in all virtual and in-person sessions.
If you would like to submit an application for the 2026 program, complete the NELD application form. This form is located on the Employee Resources page and you will need to log in with your eID and password to access. Completed application forms should be returned by email to Extension Administration, extadmin@ksu.edu, by Friday, November 14. Selected agents/faculty members will be notified the following week.
If you have questions or need additional information, contact Laurie Chandler, lchandle@ksu.edu.