Kay Haaland (“ Holland”) joined WSU Extension in December 1984. She was fresh out of graduate school with a Masters of Science degree in Animal Sciences (e.g. livestock breeding and statistics). Her current, official job title is Regional Faculty for Leadership and Public Issues Education. “Regional” refers to her geographic work area which is the State of Washington.

Kay’s areas of specialty are public issues education, public issues dispute resolution, and facilitation. She is a professional facilitator and mediator, and works with public agencies, non-profit organizations, and communities to build leadership skills, help people understand public issues, resolve multiparty conflicts, build consensus, and plan and implement organizational goals and policies. She designs, writes, and delivers training programs across the State, designs and facilitates processes to resolve or improve public and organizational issues, and trains others to facilitate similar processes.

Kay is a co-founder and an active member of the National Extension Public Issues Education team since 1997. The team has been building public issues education and public issues dispute resolution capacity within the Extension and Land Grant university system through instruction and curriculum development. It is now branching out to reach community leaders, public agency staff, and decision makers.