About Family and Consumer Sciences
Janie L. Harris, M.Ed., CRS
Extension Housing and Environment Specialist
2251 TAMU
College Station, Texas 77843-2251
phone: (979) 847-8865
fax: (979) 845-6496
jharris@ag.tamu.edu
Janie Harris is an Extension Housing and Environment Specialist, providing leadership for Extension educational programs for adults and youth in housing and the environment. She provides in service training for Extension faculty, and develops and provides educational programs and resources for use by Extension faculty, volunteer leaders, clientele, agencies, organizations, and associations. Janie has developed several on-line courses related to housing for clientele to access. The most recent is Homebuying Process. Current program issues being addressed in the Housing and Environment program are: Healthy Homes, Safety in the Home, Homebuyer Education, Sustainable Housing (Energy, Water, Green), Accessible Living, and Home Maintenance and Repair.
Janie has a B.S. degree in Home Economics from Texas Tech University and a M.Ed. degree in Adult and Extension Education from Texas A&M University. She holds a Texas Real Estate Broker’s license, is a graduate of the Texas Realtors Institute, is a Certified Residential Specialist, and is certified as a Homebuyer Educator. She has more than 12 years experience in real estate sales and counseling. Additionally, Janie has completed numerous workshops and trainings conducted by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Texas Department of Transportation. In 1998, she was certified as a Child Passenger Safety Technician.
Ten percent of Janie’s time is devoted to directing a statewide Extension educational effort in traffic safety. The Passenger Safety team develops and provides educational programs and resources related to traffic safety issues for use by Extension faculty, volunteers, clientele, agencies, organizations, and associations. Occupant protection is the primary focus of the project.
Since 2005, Janie has co-chaired the Emergency Management Steering Committee. This committee has directed the agency programming efforts in emergency management. Janie has directed disaster preparedness grants from the Texas Department of State Health Services for the past four years.
In 1998, Janie received an individual specialist Extension Superior Service Award, an Extension Superior Service Team Award as a member of the Master Parent Volunteer program team, the Epsilon Sigma Phi Team Award for Coordinated Campaign Safe & Sober, and the Texas Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Specialist Team Award. In 1999, Janie and the Passenger Safety team were recognized with an Extension Superior Service Team Award. In 2000, Janie received a mid-career award from Epsilon Sigma Phi. In 2003, Janie received a Southern Region, Epsilon Sigma Phi award. In 2008, the Rio Grande Basin team (Janie directed the In-Home Water Conservation project) won one of the TCEQ Texas Environmental Excellence Awards.
