About

Suzanna Windon is an Associate Professor specializing in Youth and Adult Leadership within Penn State Extension. Her areas of expertise include adult and youth leadership development, community leadership development, volunteerism, volunteer leadership development, needs assessment, and research evaluation. Her work focuses on enhancing leadership skills, motivation, and engagement among various community groups, including farmers, watershed stewards, and 4-H volunteers. She has contributed to understanding the relationship between leadership competencies and volunteer retention, stress among farmers, and the impact of mindfulness programs on youth development. Her research also explores organizational leadership, volunteer management, and the development of agricultural and community programs. Suzanna Windon has authored numerous publications addressing topics such as agricultural development, community engagement, and volunteer stewardship, emphasizing the importance of leadership and well-being in extension and community settings. Her work aims to improve agricultural career readiness, foster community development, and support organizational change through evidence-based practices.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Medical education
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Nursing
• Engineering
• Developmental psychology
• Demography
• Social psychology
• Environmental health
• Public relations
• Engineering ethics
• Management
• Business
• Virology
• Applied psychology

Selected publications

• Boosting Agriculture Career Readiness in STEM Through a Virtual Symposium

  Journal of Youth Development · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This study evaluated a recorded virtual career symposium aimed at enhancing STEM in Agriculture and graduate education readiness among students from Minority-Serving Institutions.The evaluation focused on changes in participants’ perceived readiness for STEM careers and graduate education, the relationship between readiness and demographic factors, and participants’ overall experience with the event. Featuring presentations from faculty and alumni, the symposium highlighted career pathways in agriculture and entomology, essential skills, and graduate education opportunities. Participants from five institutions were invited to view the recorded sessions and complete an online survey. Of the 56 responses received, 41 were analyzed. Results indicated that most students found the symposium engaging and informative, valuing the diversity of presenters and the opportunity to learn from professionals with shared interests. Many participants reported increased awareness of careers in entomology and related STEM fields. The findings suggest that exposure to relatable role models and accessible career information can positively influence students’ motivation. The study recommends that institutions develop culturally relevant STEM programs, integrate technical and soft skills training, and provide mentorship and financial support to address barriers to graduate education. Tailoring interventions to demographic factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity may enhance their effectiveness, and further research is needed to assess the long-term impact of such programs on academic and career success.

  PublisherDOI

• Boosting Agriculture Career Readiness in STEM Through a Virtual Symposium

  TigerPrints (Clemson University) · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This study evaluated a recorded virtual career symposium aimed at enhancing STEM in Agriculture and graduate education readiness among students from Minority-Serving Institutions.The evaluation focused on changes in participants’ perceived readiness for STEM careers and graduate education, the relationship between readiness and demographic factors, and participants’ overall experience with the event. Featuring presentations from faculty and alumni, the symposium highlighted career pathways in agriculture and entomology, essential skills, and graduate education opportunities. Participants from five institutions were invited to view the recorded sessions and complete an online survey. Of the 56 responses received, 41 were analyzed. Results indicated that most students found the symposium engaging and informative, valuing the diversity of presenters and the opportunity to learn from professionals with shared interests. Many participants reported increased awareness of careers in entomology and related STEM fields. The findings suggest that exposure to relatable role models and accessible career information can positively influence students’ motivation. The study recommends that institutions develop culturally relevant STEM programs, integrate technical and soft skills training, and provide mentorship and financial support to address barriers to graduate education. Tailoring interventions to demographic factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity may enhance their effectiveness, and further research is needed to assess the long-term impact of such programs on academic and career success.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Relationship between Master Gardeners’ and watershed stewards’ leadership skills, motivation toward engagement, and their age and education: COVID-19 pandemic

  Community Development · 2025-11-20

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Farmers' motivation for learning and developing new skills

  Advancements in Agricultural Development · 2025-06-13 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This study utilized an online survey to examine the relationships between farmers' self-leadership skills, job motivation, and motivation for learning and developing new skills. A self-selected, chain-referral sampling strategy, a convenience sampling, was employed, resulting in 59 responses. The results show statistically significant positive associations among the variables. Farmers’ motivation for learning and development was moderately associated with job motivation (r = .34, p ≤ .05) and self-leadership (r = .40, p ≤ .05). A stronger association was found between job motivation and self-leadership (r = .59, p ≤ .05). These findings suggest that higher motivation is linked to stronger self-leadership competencies among farmers. Chi-square analysis indicated a significant association between motivation for learning and gender (χ² = 67.31, p ≤ .05), with no significant associations found for age, educational level, employment status, tenure in farming, farm size, land ownership, or number of agricultural commodities produced. The findings suggest that extension services should enhance farmers’ motivation for continuous learning and skill development through targeted educational interventions. These insights should guide future research and practical initiatives, ensuring farmers have the necessary skills and support to succeed in an ever-changing agricultural environment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 4-H Volunteers Leaders’ Turnover Intention4-H Volunteers Leaders’ Turnover Intention

  Journal of Youth Development · 2024-03-19 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Case Study: Do You Address Your Volunteers’ Well-Being or Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic? If So, How?

  Journal of Extension · 2024-01-01

  articleOpen access

  The uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound negative impact on volunteer mental health and well-being. We surveyed local non-profit organizational leaders about their practices toward addressing volunteer well-being and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study results indicated that while over a quarter of organizations did nothing to address volunteer well-being, other organizations utilized several approaches, including one-on-one and group meetings, program implementation, office culture investment, task assignment, and information dissemination. These findings provide valuable insight for Extension educators to develop community mental health and well-being programs to assist non-profit organizations' response to future uncertainty.

  PublisherDOI

• Assessing Relationship Between Goat and Sheep Farmers' Stress and Their Demographics: A Pilot Study

  Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health · 2024-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Highlights Limited leisure time, insufficient sleep, and family members’ health conditions were the top personal stressors. Occupational stressors were too much to do in so little time, worrying about the farm's future and financial issues. Governmental regulation, market prices, and unpredictable weather conditions were off-farm occupational stressors. The work hours during the busy season and farm size were significant predictors of farmers’ stress. The farmer’s age and years in the farm business were not significant predictors of the farmer’s stress. Abstract. This pilot study aims to investigate goat and sheep farmers' stress amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors developed a questionnaire based on existing literature to measure farmers’ stress. The online questionnaire was sent to the 3000 goat and sheep farmers registered in the Penn State Extension Listserv. We used the technique described by Dillman et al. (2014) to collect online data. After cleaning the data, the response rate was 6.8% (n = 204). The mean and SD for farmer’s stress were 3.0±.63 out of 5, occupational stress 3.11±.65, and personal stress 2.80 ± .82, respectively. During the COVID-19 pandemic, work hours during the busy season and farm size exhibited a positive low association with farmers' stress (r s = .245 and r s = .238, respectively). They predicted 10% of the total variation in farmers' stress. We propose that extension professionals and public health practitioners learn lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in case other public health concerns arise. We suggest that future educational programs addressing stress among farmers prioritize specific strategies to reduce occupational stress and cope with uncertainty during health-related outbreaks or other crises. An interesting avenue for further investigation can involve examining other issues related to farmers' financial planning, time management (especially during the busy season), and their relationships with family members. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Farmers, Farmers’ demographics, Occupational stress, Off-farm stress, On-farm stress, Personal stress.

  PublisherDOI

• Importance of organizational volunteer retention and communication with volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic

  Community Development · 2023-03-09 · 7 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  We used the online survey method to explore the relationship between the importance of volunteer retention during the COVID-19 pandemic and organizational volunteer communication practices among nonprofit organizations’ leaders of local communities. The target population for our study was 696 nonprofit organizational leaders. The response rate was 10.6%. Organizational volunteer communication practices explain 63% of the importance of organizational volunteer retention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, organizations placed significant value on effective organizational communication practices, especially in developing trusting relationships with volunteers, encouraging free-flowing communication, and listening to volunteers. Outreach educators and volunteer administrators should educate local nonprofit leaders on effective communication practices during times of uncertainty. Organizations that depend heavily on volunteers must ensure that their leaders understand the importance of communication strategies and implement them effectively. For local community nonprofit leaders, organizational volunteer communication skills are even more crucial during crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

  PublisherDOI

• Organizational Leader’s Leadership Competencies Assessment Technique

  Journal of Human Sciences and Extension · 2023-08-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We developed a three-phase assessment technique to define Extension administrators’ leadership competencies. The new three-phase leadership assessment technique can help maximize the individual’s contributions, foster creative small group discussion, and share group vision. However, this tool could be applied to groups of 9-12. Our technique can be implemented within Extension and other organizations to determine future leadership skills needed among top organizational leaders.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Student Pre-University Experiences Toward Commitment to Agriculture

  NACTA Journal · 2023-06-07 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  University agricultural programs’ struggle to attract students is leading to a disparity in the number of available jobs in agriculture and the number of qualified applicants to fill these positions. This study sought to garner a unique students’ perspective of ways that universities and specifically agricultural programs can support and encourage them to commit to agricultural degree programs by understanding potential pre-university experiences that influence their decision to commit to agriculture long-term. We reported our findings based on 22 responses from students of two different US universities who filled out the open-ended questionnaire. From the responses, we found that before entering university, students’ farming-related activities and participation in school-based agriculture-related and research programs impacted their future commitment to agricultural degree programs. Moreover, scholarships, practical experience opportunities, and course-related actions at the university level also impacted students’ commitment to agricultural degree programs. We recommend continued research into students’ commitment to a career in agriculture. Additionally, expansion of primary and secondary school agricultural education programs and K-12 students’ participation in 4-H and FFA programs may increase their exposure to agricultural experiences. Providing greater financial assistance and university support to students in agriculture programs may also positively impact students’ commitment to agriculture long-term.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Daniel Robotham

  6 shared

• Mariah k. Stollar Awan

  4 shared

• Ann E. Echols

  3 shared

• Scott D. Scheer

  The Ohio State University

  3 shared

• Mariah Stollar

  Purdue University System

  3 shared

• S. Dee Jepsen

  The Ohio State University

  2 shared

• Rama Radhakrishna

  2 shared

• Olga Buchko

  Pennsylvania State University

  2 shared