Erin Martinez

Dr. Erin L. Martinez is currently serving as Interim Associate Director for Extension Programs with K-State Extension (KSE) at Kansas State University. In this senior administrative role, she provides programmatic leadership across Extension's core areas — agriculture and natural resources, family and consumer sciences, community vitality, and 4-H youth development — and works with a statewide team of program leader coordinators, specialists, and program administrators to advance KSE's mission of delivering research-based education to all Kansans. She also concurrently serves as Program Leader Coordinator for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, a role she has held since early 2025.

A family scientist and gerontologist by training, Dr. Martinez holds a Ph.D. in Family Sciences and a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology from the University of Kentucky, as well as a B.S. in Youth, Adult and Family Services from Purdue University. She is a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) and a trained Kansas Community Health Worker lead trainer. Her scholarly foundation in healthy aging, social determinants of health, and program evaluation informs her approach to Extension leadership — bringing a data-driven, community-centered lens to how KSE develops, delivers, and demonstrates the impact of its programs.

Dr. Martinez joined K-State in 2015 as an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021, and has served in multiple leadership roles throughout her tenure, including Interim Director of the K-State Center on Aging. She has secured more than $1.4 million in external funding as principal investigator, with support from the National Science Foundation, USDA NIFA, the National Council on Aging, and state agencies including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. 

Her scholarly contributions include more than 25 peer-reviewed journal articles, two book chapters in Health Extension: Community-Based Healthcare and the Future of Cooperative Extension (Michigan State University Press, 2024), and dozens of Extension publications and curricula reaching all 50 states. She has served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Extension and co-editor of a special issue of the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension focused on aging and Cooperative Extension.

Beyond research and scholarship, Dr. Martinez is deeply committed to the preparation and professional development of Extension professionals. She has led or moderated multiple national professional development sessions, including programming on logic models, impact communication, and policy engagement. She has also served on the K-State Faculty Senate, the College of Health and Human Sciences Dean's Advisory Council, the College of Health and Human Sciences College Committee on Planning, the K-State Microcredentialing Taskforce, and the ECOP National Extension Framework for Health and Well-Being Steering Committee, among numerous other university and national bodies.

Dr. Martinez has been recognized with several national awards for her work, including the Jeanne M. Priester Award for Leadership in Health and Well-Being and the Jeanne M. Priester Award for Innovative Programming, as well as national recognition for excellence in multi-state collaboration and health programming from the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. She is a Kansas Leadership Center alumna, a former National Extension Foundation Fellow, and a K-State University Civic Engagement Fellow.