Retired 4-H Agent & Specialist

Jim Rutledge began his 4-H adventure in 1957 in Illinois. After one year, his family moved to Wisconsin, and this determined the path for the rest of his life. After eight more years, under the guidance of Arthur Brehm, Jim knew he would give his life to 4-H. He spent four years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and two years in the Army, later becoming the 4-H Youth Agent for Walworth County in 1971. Over the next 33 years, Jim would move to Wyoming as an Area 4-H Agent, to Oklahoma as a specialist for Volunteer and Staff Development, and then as State 4-H Program Leader, and to Oregon to become the Department Head for the academic department of 4-H Youth Development Education. When he retired in 2004, he moved back to Oklahoma to be closer to family. For the next 12 years, he worked for the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation and taught a graduate-level “Extension Program Development” class at Oklahoma State University.

Throughout his career, Jim’s primary focus was building the leadership skills of teens, volunteers, and professionals. In retirement, he developed the Developmental Stages of the Extension Professional (DSEP) model, which is being used today in Wisconsin and a number of other states. Jim travels throughout the country to present this model and has shared it with over 1,500 Extension Professionals nationally.

Jim credits his 4-H membership and the many mentors and peers he had while in Wisconsin for most of his success as a 4-H professional.