Regional Advisory Committee
Jennifer Conner, DrPH, MPH, MAP
Dr. Conner has over 25 years of experience bringing together people and organizations to achieve a better quality of life and quality of place in rural communities. She has served as a subject matter expert for rural health and chronic disease prevention and was a founding board member of the Arkansas Coalition for Obesity Prevention and the Rural Health Association of Arkansas. Dr. Conner currently serves as the Vice President for Rural Health for the SouthWest Region of the American Heart Association. She also serves as a Stakeholder Advisory Committee member for the Arkansas Community Health Workers Association and a board member for the Rural Health Information Hub. Prior to joining the American Heart Association, Dr. Conner was an Associate Professor at the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University and served as the Deputy Director of the Delta Population Health Institute at NYIT. She has also served as an Area Coordinator at the CDC Foundation, assisting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with vaccine and workforce surge staffing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Conner’s prior work also includes serving as a Regional Program Associate at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, working with a variety of stakeholders ranging from agricultural workers to elected officials. This important work was highlighted at the Next Generation Rural Creative Placemaking Summit. Most recently, Dr. Conner launched the Supporting Health Advances for Rural Employees initiative, a worksite wellness program supported by USDA funding focusing on chronic disease issues and executed in partnership with Winrock International, FQHCs and community health workers.
Dr. Conner has received numerous honors and awards at the local, state and national level for building sustainable partnerships. Her commitment to serving communities was recognized in 2019, being named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leader finalist. She also received the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Community Partnership Award, the Arkansas Chronic Disease Council Trendsetter Award, and Lake Village Chamber of Commerce “Woman of the Year” Award. She earned a Doctor of Public Health in leadership and policy from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, as well as a Master of Public Health in biostatistics and a Master of Applied Psychology in research and evaluation design.
Robert Williams, CSP
Robert Williams is the Safety and Risk Manager at the Noble Research Institute, LLC in Ardmore, Ok. He coordinates safety, health, and environmental activities with emphasis on agricultural safety. Robert has a B.S. in Occupational Safety and Health from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. He serves on the Board of Director’s of the Oklahoma Safety Council. Robert is a Certified Safety Professional by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP). He has been a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers since 1995 and currently serves as Chair of the Texoma Section of the Oklahoma City Chapter.
Knesha Rose-Davison, MPH
Knesha Rose-Davison is the Public Health Program Director for the AgriSafe Network. She is the staff lead for three programmatic areas which include worker safety training (OSHA), Invest in Your Health and healthcare provided targeted opioid misuse prevention trainings. Ms. Rose-Davison joined the RAC in 2021. As a new member, she will bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to the SW Ag Center team. She will also help connect the Center’s research and outreach to the national AgriSafe network.
Allen Farley
Allen Farley was born in Oklahoma and moved to Arkansas in first grade, this started his love or nature. After high school he joined the US Marine Corps and served from 1986-1990. He then received a BS in Forestry in 1996. He has worked at Green Bay Packaging, Inc in Morrilton, AR since 1997 and has served in various capacities during his time there. He became the Resource Forester/Safety Coordinator in 2021 and is constantly looking for ways to improve the already existing safety culture. Allen and his family are active members of their church and own a family farm where they have a vineyard of Muscadine grapes and various fruit trees.
Haley Gambill
Haley grew up on a sheep and cattle farm on NC. She attended North Carolina State University to earn a bachelor’s degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation Biology in 2020. In 2022, she received her master’s degree in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University where she conducted research on crawfish aquaculture in Southeastern Louisiana. She joined LA Sea Grant and the LSU AgCenter as a Marine Extension Agent for Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes in August of 2022. Currently, she continues to work with the LA crawfish industry on challenges in production, economics, and climate adaptations. The responsibilities of her position rely on stakeholder and clientele engagement at the community level and the implementation of targeted, research-based programming.
Alan Cook, MD, MS, FACS
Alan Cook, MD, MS grew up in Garland, Texas. He received his M.D. from the University of Vermont, College of Medicine in 2001. Following residency, he completed a Surgical Critical Care fellowship. He received certification in General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care from the American Board of Surgery in 2008. He has been a trauma/acute care surgeon and Director of Trauma Research at Chandler Regional Medical Center from March, 2014 until June, 2019. He completed the Masters of Science in Epidemiology program in 2019. He is now a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the UT Tyler School of Medicine. He is the Medical Director for the Trauma/GME research program as well as the Center for Clinical Research for the UT Health East Texas system.
Frannie Miller, PhD
Dr. Frannie Miller is an Assistant Professor in the Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business Department of New Mexico State University. Her research interests are related to farm and rural economic sustainability, including the economic and general well-being of the people belonging to rural and agricultural industry communities. She grew up on a cow-calf ranch in northern New Mexico and then married Tom Miller, a dairy farmer. They ran a family dairy until 2016. This experience in production agriculture imprinted both an appreciation for, and commitment to, farm safety on Miller.
Emeritus Members
- Matt Nonnenmann, PhD, CIH
- Cornelis de Hoop, PhD, MBA
- Robert Hagevoort, PhD
- Tim Struttman, MSPH
- Mark Shirley, MS