New U of I Extension director motivated by opportunity to improve lives
Randy Brooks plans to listen, build trust and highlight Extensions impact across Idaho
September 24, 2026
MOSCOW, Idaho — Randall “Randy” Brooks will start Monday, Sept. 28, as director of University of Idaho Extension and associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, bringing more than 35 years of experience with UI Extension to the role.
Brooks replaces Barbara Petty, who retired on Aug. 31 after nearly three decades of leadership and service to U of I.
Brooks traces his commitment to Extension to a troubling phone call he received in the mid-1990s, when he was a young Extension professional based in Cassia County. A Burley woman who could speak only in a whisper described a mysterious illness and hoped he could find the answer that had eluded her doctors.
The woman told Brooks that she’d suffered three miscarriages and was pregnant for the fourth time. Having ruled out many other possibilities, she wondered if her suffering was linked to her well water. When Brooks tested her water quality, the results removed all doubt.
The sample contained 150 parts per million of nitrates, 10 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit for infants and youth.
After switching to a different drinking water source, the woman made a full recovery and gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Had the infant been born a boy, she vowed she would have named him Randy. The experience showed Brooks the power of Extension to improve Idahoans’ lives.
“I figured out, ‘Man, I was put here to help people,’” Brooks said. “That’s what I want to do now. I want to take this passion I have, and I want to start helping our people who work for Extension, and if I’m helping them, they’re changing lives.”
He knew virtually nothing about Extension when, as a doctoral student studying forest science at Michigan Technological University in December 1990, a friend handed him a job description for a UI Extension soil fertility specialist based in Twin Falls.
He had a bachelor’s degree in forest management from Oklahoma State University and a master’s degree in forest science from Michigan Tech and finished work on his doctoral degree after accepting the job with U of I. Much of his early research in Twin Falls focused on fertility trials involving composted dairy manure, which was cutting-edge science at the time, and fish manure.
In May of 1993, he moved to Cassia County, where he accepted an Extension position with a three-year, multicounty water-quality demonstration project. When that funding expired, he accepted an area Extension forestry position based in Clearwater County in May of 1996. In January of 2011, Brooks took a position based at U of I’s Moscow campus as Extension forestry specialist. In that capacity, he served three years as acting head of the Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciences within the College of Natural Resources (CNR), has taught introductory forestry classes for the past 11 years and has led the forestry program.
Among Brooks’ proudest accomplishments is increasing participation in the Natural Resources Camp offered near Ketchum during the third week of June from fewer than 30 campers in 2011 to 96 this summer.
He is also part of an Extension forestry team that won a national award in 2024 for its Idaho Forest Stewardship Program. Furthermore, in 2021, Brooks received a University Excellence Award for Advising Excellence.
Early in his new job, Brooks plans to visit UI Extension offices and facilities throughout Idaho to listen to his colleagues and learn about their programs and plans. He intends to launch a campaign called Removing the Rocks, which will entail identifying obstacles that prevent employees from achieving their goals and devising strategies to remove them.
Given the current climate of budget uncertainty, Brooks will emphasize documenting Extension’s impact on the state and local communities to demonstrate the importance of its programs to lawmakers, county commissioners and other leaders.
He’ll also seek to keep Extension relevant by staying connected with stakeholders, being flexible in its offerings and ensuring the organization makes good on its commitments to build trust.
“The county Extension offices are the front porch to U of I,” Brooks said. “A lot of stakeholders across the state will never step foot on the University of Idaho campus, but they will step foot on the front porch of that Extension office.”
Media contact
Randall Brooks
Incoming director of University of Idaho Extension
208-885-6356
rbrooks@uidaho.edu