Fuller receives national honor

Poplar Bluffian John Fuller’s creativity, work ethic and enthusiasm has been honored with a national award.

Fuller is a human development and family specialist for the University of Missouri Extension Service in Butler County. He was recognized recently at a conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania, for the National Extension Association for Family and Consumer Sciences.

Fuller received the National and Central Region NEAFCS Past Presidents’ New Professional Award.

“John has brought a wealth of life experiences and a skill set that University of Missouri Extension is lucky to have,” said Dr. Jo Britt-Rankin, associate dean and extension professor, senior program director of human environmental sciences at the University of Missouri. “He is a team player and is always one of the first to volunteer for a project or task.”

The award recognizes outstanding accomplishments of members within their first three years of employment and is to encourage the use of innovative and effective methods of conducting an extension program. With a belief in the value of continued professional development, the past presidents of NEAFCS established the award to help enable new professionals to attend their first NEAFCS Annual Session, according to information provided by the group.

Fuller‘s commitment to meeting the needs of individuals, families and communities is exemplary, Britt-Rankin said.

Fuller, whose career with University of Missouri Extension began in 2017, has programming responsibilities in nine counties. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2012 from Central Methodist University and a master’s of social work from the University of Missouri in 2015.

Fuller said, he was “working in the non-profit world, especially with veterans,” when he “had a couple of people tell me this job described me and what I love to do.”

He explained his past life experiences “have allowed me to make strong connections within the community. Life has taught me that with a little patience and belief, that where I am meant to be will present itself. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work for the University of Missouri. I have also learned events will not always go as planned. I have learned to expect it and stay calm. Deal with the issue the best I can and most won’t even know there was a problem.”

Britt-Rankin said, “John brought crucially needed skills to his field faculty position from prior professional and personal experience. He excels at community engagement and connecting citizens to university and community resources. John’s creativity, work ethic and enthusiasm has allowed him to ‘hit the ground running’ as it relates to extension programming and leadership.”

One of the programs Fuller implemented was Boost Your Brain and Memory. The focus is to educate participants about brain health and teach them about how certain lifestyle choices can influence brain function. It is specifically designed to show how to live a brain-healthy lifestyle.

“John has provided pivotal additions to the curriculum by creating such instructor resources as PowerPoints to accompany speaking notes, interactive videos used to stimulate discussion among participants, and additional hands-on activities for participants,” Britt-Rankin said. “John’s creative and impactful additions have been adopted state-wide by peer colleagues.”

Fuller is involved in the mindfulness education program, Taking Care of You: Body, Mind and Spirit. TCY integrates various research-based principles and techniques from the field of positive psychology and the scientific study of what causes optimal functioning, with an emphasis on mindfulness-based stress reduction. TCY was created by University of Missouri faculty with a low-scale revision in 2016. A group of faculty was asked to form a revision team for a complete program overhaul.

“John was invited to join this group,” Britt-Rankin said. “His revisions include: brain structure and neural pathways. The session covers internal and external stressors and effects of those stresses. The updated version will be made available for peers to use in May 2019.”

Due to his leadership on the revision team, department administration made a recent decision to name him as the state leader for TCY, “John is the only current off-campus faculty member to serve in a state leadership role at this time,” Britt-Rankin said.

Other honors Fuller has received include the Volunteer of the Year in the spring of 2018 from the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce and Butler County Community Resource Council Person of the Year for 2018.

Fuller is married to Patty Fuller and they have three children living at home: two daughters and a grandson they adopted this year.