A search process that began last May for the next vice provost for extension and outreach came to an end Tuesday.

Jack Payne, vice president for university extension at Utah State University, will replace on Jan. 15 current extension vice provost Stanley Johnson, 67, who decided to retire after suffering a stroke last year.

The university extension office is charged with providing learning opportunities to improve quality of life throughout Iowa. The office works with citizens in all 99 of Iowa’s counties.

“The first thing I need to do is become more familiar with Iowa,” Payne said. “I hope to spend the first few weeks off campus in Iowa getting to know the extension family.”

He said he will work closely with state lawmakers in an effort to secure more funding for the university.

“Probably a common challenge we’ll face is strengthening our relationship with the Legislature,” he said. “Today, there’s so many needs that legislators have to face that higher education kind of has to get in line. I think that we can demonstrate to legislators that the land grant university is an economic engine that brings development to the state.”

He said he will also work to enhance diversity within Iowa State’s student population.

“Diversity has always been a very high priority for me,” he said. “I’ve been very involved with creating and improving racial and gender diversity at Utah State.”

He said he spent several years during the early 1970s teaching science at an inner-city high school with a large proportion of black students in Camden, N.J.

“That taught me at an early age the problems we have with racism in this country,” he said.

Johnson, who has known Payne for seven years, said he was pleased to learn Payne would fill his position.

“I didn’t recommend him for the job,” Johnson said. “I had as little to do with the search process as I could, but I’m very happy that he turned out to be the one that was chosen. He’ll do a good job.”

Mark Engelbrecht, dean of the College of Design and leader of the 20-member search committee that recommended Payne for the position, said he was recommended, in part, because of his past experience.

“He’s very well-connected with the land grant movement and is a true believer in extension as part of the land grant enterprise,” Engelbrecht said. “He’s well-connected and has been popular wherever he’s gone. We’ve gotten rave reviews about him from those who had worked with him in the past.”

He said the selection process went as well as he could have hoped.

“We started back in May and spent the summer collecting nominations for the position. We went through autumn contacting people to get them into the pool of applicants,” he said.

“We considered a diverse, large group, and the process went smoothly.”

Payne said he looks forward to beginning his career as leader of Iowa State’s extension and outreach program.

“It’s a real honor to get to do this,” he said.

“I’ll get to build on a program that’s already in great shape at one of the leading land grant universities in the country.”