Dr. Patty Merk, Ph.D. develops and directs early childhood development programs in Maricopa County. Primary programs include Brain Builders for Life, 16 hours of professional development for early childhood professionals. She also oversees the Roosevelt Early Childhood Family Resource Center in South Phoenix which offers a variety of parent and child development educational opportunities. The Parents As Teachers program provides in-home parent educators to families with children birth to age 5. The Grandparents and Other Kin Raising Children provides one on one and group support. The T3 Train the Trainer program works with school nurses and others to train screeners for hearing and vision.
Program Coordinator, Senior for Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Agriculture Literacy programs in Maricopa County.
Ayman provides entomological programming in Maricopa County with assistance to Pima and Pinal Counties as part of his area assignment.
Network administration and computer support in Maricopa County.
SNAP-ed and Community Gardens
Develops, implements and coordinates Extension educational programs which improves the literacy of youth in natural resources management, agricultural production, marketing, processing, distribution, retail sales and consumption. Develops and delivers a food safety training program to school personnel on Good Handling Practices/Good Agricultural Practices (GHP/GAP) specifically designed for school gardens.
Conducts research that demonstrates the effectiveness of agricultural literacy/school garden food safety programs. The research measures the educator’s and student’s increase in knowledge about agriculture and food safety practices. Research also measures the effectiveness of using agriculture concepts in the core subjects of language arts, mathematics and science for improving the academic success of students.