No detail too small for retiring director

Photo by Tom Campbell

Retiring Extension director Dave Petritz has accumulated a cabinet full of collectibles and a million memories.

It’s moments before the start of the annual Purdue Extension banquet, which honors educators and specialists for their contributions to Extension and Indiana. Attendees include legislators, university administrators and journalists. But David Petritz, director of Purdue Extension, isn’t sitting at a table up front visiting with the VIPs. Instead, he’s pacing the back of the room.

“Someone missed the photo shoot for the team award, can we retake it?” he asks. “Did the state fair board members find their seats?”

This scene is familiar to all who have worked with Petritz while he has been at the helm of Purdue Extension during the past eight years. These details might not seem worthy concerns for a man who directs a $47 million statewide organization, but Petritz’s attention to detail is a trait that has helped define him during his 35-year career at the university.

“Dave is the guy I want to pack my parachute,” says Joe Bennett, vice president for university relations. He and Petritz, who has a dual role as associate vice provost for engagement, have traveled the state together. “He is absolutely committed to getting everything right all the time.”

That is why it’s hard for some to believe that this man who makes the 10-minute drive to work at 6 a.m. every day would call it quits. Yet retire he will on June 30, and that has prompted a national search for his replacement.

His leadership philosophy: Push from behind

Petritz’s behind-the-scenes demeanor is very much in line with his leadership philosophy: “You need a leader pushing from behind. I’ve been there when people needed support, encouraging them to go for it.”

A humble man by many accounts, Petritz does, however, take pride in the Extension family he helped build. “I’ve tried to hire great staff and stay out of their way,” he says.

Vic Lechtenberg, vice provost for engagement and former dean of Purdue Agriculture, says Petritz has been a tireless advocate for Purdue Extension. “The support in Indiana for Extension is as strong as it is anywhere in the country. Dave should take a lot of credit for that,” Lechtenberg says.

Maintaining strong ties with current stakeholders and moving Purdue Extension into new arenas will be the challenge for the next director. In looking to the future, Randy Woodson, Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, says Purdue Extension will strive to stay current and vital.

“For instance, economic development efforts have stretched the organization to grow beyond its traditional mission of agriculture and consumer and family sciences,” he says. “Part of the strength of Extension is an ability to serve diverse clientele.”

Woodson, who heads a 19-member search committee that is looking for Petritz’s replacement, says he hopes to have a new director in place sometime this fall.

Petritz and passion are synonymous

They say that quality leaders have a passion for their jobs. Ask folks about Petritz and passion is a word often repeated.

Don Jones, a faculty member in agricultural and biological engineering, took an undergrad class with Petritz when they were students at the University of Illinois in the mid-’60s. While they were not friends, Jones quickly recalled his former classmate when years later he met Petritz again, this time as a new faculty member and Purdue Extension specialist in ag economics. “Dave hadn’t changed much. He had a lot of passion for farming and was very inquisitive,” Jones says.

Petritz joined the Purdue faculty in 1972, after earning his PhD in agricultural economics at the University of Illinois. His Extension appointment was in the area of livestock, and he spent many of his early days traveling the state giving presentations. Jones says Petritz, who doesn’t do anything halfway, was much appreciated by those he spoke to: “He really cared, he was not just giving a talk.”

That passion for farming has stayed with Petritz as he spent time each year on the family farm in Illinois. His initial leisure plans are to prepare the farm for sale and spend more time with family.

During drought and crisis, he provided help

Sometimes it’s the challenges that define a man. The most severe drought since the 1930s occurred during the summer of 1988. As Purdue Extension’s agricultural and natural resources program leader, Petritz coordinated a team of specialists and educators who staffed a toll-free hotline responding to hundreds of calls from farmers and news media. Even when there wasn’t much that farmers could do, it helped to have someone on the other end of the line who understood the situation.

Also during the 1980s, Petritz was part of Purdue Extension efforts to help farm families facing financial crisis as livestock prices plummeted. He helped develop a computer-based decision-making tool for analyzing farm income and expenses. The effort helped farmers make individualized decisions using the latest technological resources.

“Part of what we do in Purdue Extension is look ahead to the challenges that are coming and prepare people to deal with those things,” Petritz says.

A few humorous stories told about Petritz revolve around another crisis, the blizzard of 1978 when he was snowed in at a hotel near Terre Haute. People who recall that trip say he was the only person in those days who could watch three TV channels at once. Frustrated by the experience of staying put for so long, he reportedly was in the first car let back into Lafayette after snowplows cleared the way.

And speaking of car trips, Don Jones says he was a white-knuckle passenger once as Petritz drove down the interstate, steering with his knees as he talked simultaneously on two cell phones. Although Petritz readily acknowledges it as a momentary lapse in good judgment, how can you top it as an example of commitment and passion?

Contact Petritz at dpetritz@purdue.edu