With new offices and fresh faces, the PIE Center continues to grow through a hectic summer and fall.

Rachel Divine, Laura Bernheim and Lauren Hrncirik all recently joined the center, while former staffers Christy Chiarelli, Kevin Kent and Becky Raulerson pursue other opportunities.

Christy and Kevin continue to work in the agriculture industry, while Becky is focusing on her family and role as a Union County School Board member. In the spring, Becky will also co-teach a public issues course for the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education and Communication (AEC), where the PIE Center is housed.

Christy, a research coordinator at the PIE Center for the past two years, moved in June to the UF/IFAS Development Office as an associate director of development. Former PIE Center Media Specialist Kevin Kent also recently took a position as assistant director of the Florida FFA Association.

Rachel, Laura and Lauren help fill the PIE Center’s new, centralized office space in UF’s Bryant Hall. The center shares the newly renovated suite with the Wedgworth Leadership Institute.

Lauren, the most recent addition, joined the center as a research assistant and is working on several grant-funded research projects. Laura took over the PIE Center’s communications and is implementing several changes to the website and social media presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Rachel, who is an AEC graduate with a master’s degree in agricultural leadership, returned to Gainesville this fall from Tallahassee to be the research coordinator. She spearheads the center’s major research projects.

In the picture: (top left) Quisto Settle, Rachel Divine, Tracy Irani, Becky Raulerson. (front left) Zach Sweat, Laura Conaway, Laura Bernheim, Lauren Hrncirik, Joy Goodwin.

---