Dr. Loutrina Staley is a Plant and Soil Scientist and serves as the Equity and Outreach Program Analyst for the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD), where she is responsible for overseeing program and partnership development and project implementation with the goals of improving equity, access, and inclusivity. She is also responsible for ensuring that NACD's programs and activities achieve their goals and meet established milestones. Before coming to NACD, Dr. Staley worked as a Soil Scientist and Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with the Soil Health Institute (SHI), where she served on the leadership team developing grant proposals, managing stakeholder relations and communicated project results to end users. She also led SHI's DEI Initiative, which included training for underserved farmers and SHI's internship program.
Dr. Staley's previous career highlights have been researching the efficacy of plant botanicals and fatty acids used as antimicrobials against food-borne pathogens in the Department of Agriculture and Food Science at Alabama A&M University. She worked as a Licensed Commodity Grader for USDA-Agriculture Marketing Service for six years and as an advanced science teacher in Decatur, Alabama, for two years, where she implemented an innovative STEM program on agriculture and food science. She received her B.S. in Horticultural Science from Andrews University, M.S. in Plant and Soil Science from Tuskegee University, and Ph.D. in Plant and Soil Science with an emphasis on Food Safety from Alabama A&M University. Dr. Staley lives in Huntsville, Alabama, where she farms 4 acres of market vegetables and herbs and co-leads a literacy program geared around farm life and equine for disadvantaged youth.