Laura T. Smith

Education

Research

Smith’s applied research and evaluation interests include rural health disparities, chronic disease prevention, women’s health, community health education, digital delivery of Extension programming, program reach and knowledge transfer, participant behavior change, and barriers to accessing preventive health services in rural communities.

Teaching

Smith develops, delivers, and evaluates research-based educational programming for adults, families, youth, agricultural audiences, community organizations, and professional audiences. Her teaching addresses rural health, chronic disease prevention and management, diabetes education, mental health awareness, food safety, nutrition, financial capability, emergency preparedness, child passenger safety, caregiving, family resource management, and healthy homes.

She has also co-authored and delivered award-winning curricula addressing employee wellness, child-care provider education, clutter management, cancer prevention, injury prevention, nutrition, and youth health and safety.

Prior Professional Positions

Awards

Service

Outreach

As County Coordinator and Family and Consumer Sciences Agent for UGA Cooperative Extension in Telfair County, Smith provides administrative leadership and develops educational outreach based on locally identified needs.

Her major initiatives include HerTown Health, Health Extension for Diabetes, Mental Health First Aid, mobile mammography outreach, Pantry to Plate, ServSafe food-safety education, chronic disease prevention, emergency preparedness, financial capability, senior technology education, child passenger safety, and programming supporting agricultural families.

Smith works extensively with healthcare providers, local government, schools, public agencies, community organizations, businesses, and volunteers to make research-based education and essential services more accessible to rural residents.

Advisory Committee

Smith engages local advisory committee members, healthcare providers, agricultural stakeholders, educators, public officials, agency representatives, community leaders, and residents to identify emerging community needs and establish priorities for UGA Cooperative Extension programming in Telfair County. Stakeholder input informs the development, delivery, and evaluation of programs addressing health, family well-being, agriculture, youth development, and community resilience.

Areas of Expertise

Smith's areas of expertise include environmental education, family health and wellness, communications, curriculum development, disaster education, innovative programming, and community outreach. Her scholarship and Extension programming have been recognized through more than 100 professional awards and honors at the state, Southern Region, and national levels, including multiple first-place national awards. Because of the volume of recognitions received throughout her career, the Awards section highlights a representative sample of her most recent and significant honors.

Laura T. Smith serves as County Coordinator and Family and Consumer Sciences Agent for the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension in Telfair County. She joined UGA Extension in 2007 and has provided county-level administrative leadership since 2012.

Smith develops and delivers research-based educational programs addressing rural health, chronic disease prevention and management, women’s health, mental health awareness, diabetes education, food safety, financial capability, emergency preparedness, and family resource management. Her work is grounded in identifying the needs of rural residents and creating practical, accessible educational opportunities that connect families with reliable information and essential services.

She leads HerTown Health, a digital initiative designed to improve rural women’s access to trustworthy health education. Her outreach also includes Health Extension for Diabetes, Mental Health First Aid, mobile mammography partnerships, Pantry to Plate, ServSafe certification, child passenger safety, and educational programming for agricultural families, older adults, youth, and underserved audiences.

Smith is a collaborative curriculum developer, presenter, program evaluator, and community partner. Her work has received extensive state, Southern Region, and national recognition from professional Extension organizations. Through innovative programming and strong partnerships, she remains committed to extending the resources of the University of Georgia to improve the health, well-being, and resilience of Telfair County families.

Current Classes

• Adult Mental Health First Aid
• Health Extension for Diabetes
• ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification
• Chronic Disease Prevention and Management
• Food Safety and Nutrition Education
• Financial Capability and Family Resource Management
• Emergency Preparedness
• Rural Women’s Health Education

Current Research

Smith is evaluating HerTown Health, a digital health education initiative designed to improve rural women’s access to credible, research-based health information.

Her current scholarly work also examines the reach and effectiveness of community-based Extension programming, chronic disease education, mental health literacy, diabetes self-management, digital engagement, and knowledge transfer to rural and multi-sector audiences.

Journal Articles

Dozier, M. E., Turner, P. R., Smith, L. T., Krafft, J., Moore, S. L., Harris-Speight, J., Bales, D. W., & Welch, M. E. (2025). Rightsizing to age in place: Educational outreach programs to help people reduce clutter in their homes. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 117(4), 8–13. ERIC record

Dozier, M. E., Krafft, J., Turner, P. R., Bales, D. W., Moore, S. L., Smith, L. T., Harris-Speight, J., & Buys, D. (2024). Rightsizing: A collaboration between psychology and Extension to help older adults deal with sentimental clutter. Innovation in Aging, 8(Supplement 1), 520.

Stewart, R., Moore, S., Vanderver, C., Black, T., Berg, A., Smith, L., Ogden, J., & Cook, G. (2022). Healthy Georgia Wellness Curriculum: Education for workforce and communities. Manuscript submitted to the Journal of the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Publications

Extension Publications

Turner, P. R., Okpala, C., Baker, V., Smith, L. T., Davis, S., Handley, O., Quick, M., Burkes, J., Howell, K., & Bales, D. W. (2025). Household clutter control (Circular 1067). University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. UGA publication