Jim Cowden, county extension director, in the Rowan County Cooperative Extension Office, became the District Extension Director for 17 counties of the North Central District of North Carolina on Aug. 3.
Cowden begin his career with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in 2001 as the Rowan County Extension Director, responsible also for field crops and pesticides. Cowden was heavily involved with farmland preservation, Leadership Rowan and Rowan Partnership for Education.
Cowden will have an office on the campus of N.C. State University. Darrell Blackwelder will serve as interim county extension director in the Rowan County office.