This month we welcome guest speaker, Joe Sumners, Ph.D., Director, Economic & Community Development Institute, Auburn University & Alabama Cooperative Extension System.  Dr. Sumners presentation will address Alabama’s Changing Economy and Workforce in which he will discuss how we have moved from an economy dominated by farming and low-skill, low-wage manufacturing to an economy based more on knowledge and technology, requiring a workforce with more advanced skills and education.

Joe A. Sumners was appointed as Director of the Economic & Community Development Institute, a partnership of Auburn University and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, on June 1, 2006.  Prior to this appointment, Dr. Sumners served as Director of the Economic Development Institute for six years. Before working at EDI, he served as Training and Research Coordinator for Auburn University’s Center for Governmental Services.  He also served on the political science faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He has also worked as a county health inspector and a high school teacher and coach.  Read full biography here.