May 16, 2003

WATER QUALITY TRAINING OPPORTUNITY
WSU Faculty and Staff are invited to participate in a Water Quality Monitoring training program that will take place July 14-15 at the Central Idaho 4H camp in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, Idaho. This program will teach participants how to implement a volunteer water quality monitoring training program curriculum that was developed and successfully implemented in Washington, Idaho and Oregon. The curriculum stresses the big picture of watershed health, contaminant sources and effects, what should be monitored and why, as well as what the numbers mean. This is an excellent opportunity that should not be passed up.

Lodging, meals, training and program materials will be provided free of charge. There will also be a limited amount of additional funds provided for transportation expenses. Registration deadline is June 10. For more information and registration form visit: http://wawater.wsu.edu/
Source: Bob Simmons

4-H TECHNOLOGY VAN "COMMISSIONING" MAY 20-21
It has arrived!! As part of the first Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gift to the Center to Bridge the Digital Divide, they have put together a one-of-a-kind mobile technology training van. This unique vehicle has a Tachyon satellite on the roof to provide Internet connectivity from anywhere, this means anywhere, rural or inner city. The van houses wireless laptops with an access point that allows us to range over 500 yards from the van without wires. The "commissioning" or inaugural satellite connection and training will be in WSU in Pullman May 20 - 21. We have begun training on the van and will be scheduling it for demo and youth training for the summer and fall. Thanks to Jim Buscher, Information Technology System Specialist and others in the CAHE Information Dept/Computer Resources for all their hard work in getting the computers and satellite technology online.

UPDATED CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND CHILD PROTECTION GUIDELINES ONLINE
This week the Ad Hoc Committee for Child Protection concluded its work. Thanks to the committee to its hard work: Jan Hiller, Samatha Hayes, Kay Hendricks, Elizabeth Tennison, Janet Schmidt, Rod Tinnemore, Kathleen Manenica, and Linda Fox. After reviewing training materials, videos and Web sites from other states, the committee updated WSU Cooperative Extension policies for faculty, staff and volunteers application, screening, and training. These materials were presented to the county chairs at their recent meeting and refined based on their input. Because volunteers and staff join WSU CE throughout the year, the polices are effective immediately.

In essence, all faculty, staff, and volunteers working with youth in unsupervised activities throughout WSU Cooperative Extension are required to go through a minimal training. The Background Disclosure Form is found as "Part B" of the Volunteer Application. All details are in the Guidelines. These are posted on the Extension Policies and Procedures manual. If you are in the 4-H program, you will find a link on the 4-H Web site to the guidelines, and if you are in the Master Gardener program, details can be found in he MG Handbook. We hope other programs provide a link on their respective Web sites to the guidelines and required Background Check and Reference (Part B). If you have any questions, contact Linda Fox, Associate Dean and Associate Director.

CE MARKETING ITEMS ON SALE!
We still have quite a few marketing items in stock that are half off the original prices! Check out what is remaining. Orders need to be received by May 23rd. If you have any questions, contact Christy Fitzgerald or 509-335-2837.

ONLINE: CIVIL SERVICE LAW REFORM
On May 12 and 13, 2003, Dorothy Gerard, Assistant Director of the Washington State Department of Personnel, made informational presentations regarding changes to the civil service laws made by the Personnel System Reform Act of 2002 (PSRA).The PSRA makes changes to the laws that apply to classified employees, including classified WSU employees, and is being phased in over a several year period.Among the matters covered will be changes to the civil service rules, job classifications, and collective bargaining rights. For more information as the PSRA unfolds between now and July 1, 2005, go to the Civil Service Reform Web site.

NACo NEWSLETTER PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITY
As the National Association of Counties (NACo) extension Fellow, Fred Burrell proposes that to bridge the dissemination of relevant information between NACo and Cooperative Extension, NACo would like to extend an invitation to extension professionals to electronically submit news articles highlighting extension and experiment station research, education and best management practices and program impacts for possible publication in the NACo County News, a bi-weekly newspaper.

County News informs and educates county elected officials regarding critical issues facing urban and rural counties across America. Just recently the Joint Council of Extension Professionals (JCEP) linked County News to their Web site. This is an excellent marketing opportunity for Cooperative Extension to showcase its broad diversity of research, education and best management practices that provides solutions to critical issues faced by counties nationwide.

Please send topical articles to extensionfellow@naco.org for possible publication.
If you have any questions, please contact Fred Burrell at 202-661-8840.

MAY 18 WORLD AGRICULTURAL FORUM SATELLITE COORDINATES CHANGE
The 2003 World Agricultural Forum will convene key global leaders from government, business, academia, and advocacy to jointly find solutions to the most pressing problems facing world agriculture. According to program organizers, the agenda will identify the barriers that exacerbate the gap between rich and poor, hungry and nourished, and challenge participants to create a secure future by identifying possible solutions to these obstacles." The Forum will meet Sunday, May 18 through Tuesday, May 20, 2003 in St. Louis, MO.

Topics of the Forum will include sustainability, rural development and trade policy, plus the adoption and transfer of technology. Much of the event will be provided via satellite. Following are the schedule and coordinates for the telecasting of the Forum; disregard any coordinates received previously:

CU Band Analog
Satellite GAL 11 Transponder C20
91 Degrees West
Uplink Frequency - 6325.000 H
Downlink Frequency - 4100.000 V

Transmission times will be:
Sunday, May 18
0900 ET thru 0915 ET (test window)
1230 ET thru 2000 ET

Monday, May 19
0800 ET thru 2030 ET

Tuesday, May 20
0800 ET thru 1930 ET

For a detailed agenda, registration, media credential forms and additional information, visit the World Agricultural Forum's Web site.

CSREES SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING RFA AVAILABLE NOW
CSREES has published a supplemental Request for Applications (RFA) for the National Research Initiative (NRI). In its Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 appropriation, Congress added approximately $46 million above the FY 2002 level to the NRI. It also expanded the programmatic authority, allowing the Secretary of Agriculture-through the competitive process managed by CSREES-to use as much as 20 percent of the program resources to support activities authorized under Section 401 of the 1998 Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Reform Act, the IFAFS program.

The new and expanded areas of research and integrated programs in the Supplemental RFA focus on issues for which the Administration sought competitive funding in the FY 2003 budget. These include genomics, behavioral nutrition and obesity, air quality, and biosecurity. The RFA is posted on the CSREES Web site.

SCHEDULE
Mike and Linda will be attending the Council of Dean's Retreat on Monday. Mike will be in Washington DC the remainder of the week. Linda will be in Pullman the remainder of the week.

Mike Tate
Dean and Director
Linda Kirk Fox
Associate Dean and Associate Director
Cooperative Extension
PO Box 646230
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-6230
Ph 509-335-2933
Fax 509-335-2926
lkfox@wsu.edu