Kansas State University

Elaine Johannes awarded Outstanding Engagement Award by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Board on Health and Human Sciences

Submitted by College of Health and Human Sciences

Elaine Johannes, associate professor and extension specialist, was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Engagement Award from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Board on Health and Human Sciences and received her award during the organization’s annual conference. This award recognizes a campus-based or state-level faculty member with exceptional creativity and scholarship in the development, application, and evaluation of outreach, Extension and public service programs.

As an extension specialist in the College of Health and Human Sciences, Johannes’ applied research and practice focuses on resilience among families and adolescents in poverty, adolescent health and community engagement. She is currently serving as both a lead- and co-investigator for two grant programs funded through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment which looks to improve the health of Kansans through diabetes and hypertension awareness and prevention.

In 2021, Johannes was selected to serve as the Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Professor in Community Health, an endowed position held by K-State Research and Extension. The professorship was awarded by the Foundation to Kansas State University in 1993 to focus on the promotion of community health. The professorship allowed Johannes to focus on working with networks, systems, and teams to address community health issues related to health disparities, unequal access to health care and social determinants of health accentuated by the global pandemic.

Johannes’ work is recognized at both the local and state levels through awards and appointments. In 2023, she was named the winner of the North Central Region Award for Individual Excellence in Extension from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Cooperative Extension, and the Association of Public Land Grant Universities. This award was also presented during the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Board on Health and Human Sciences annual meeting.

She was also the recipient of the Samuel J. Crumbine Medal, the highest award given by the Kansas Public Health Association, for meritorious service and state, regional or national recognition related to the improvement of the health of Kansans and/or the environment of the state. She is a member of the executive committee for the Kansas Maternal and Child Health Council for the Bureau of Family Health, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, serves on the state’s Public Health System Group, and is a governor’s appointee to the Kansas Department of Corrections Kansas Advisory Group for Juvenile Justice.

Along with her extension work, Johannes is a graduate faculty member in the Department of Applied Human Sciences and serves as a faculty member with the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance, or GPIDEA graduate programs.