November 17, 2006
Topics in today's issue of Extension Update:
WSU’S EMPLOYEE EXCELLENCE
AWARDS
President V. Lane Rawlins has announced the call for nominations
for the 2006-2007 President's Employee Excellence Awards http://www.wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=5534
which recognizes outstanding contributions by WSU administrative
professional and classified employees from across the state.
Five awards are given annually. Winners are selected based on a
review of nominations and the recommendations of the President's
Employee Excellence Awards Committee. Nominations should focus on
the outstanding contributions made by the employee regarding productivity
of the unit, innovative problem solving, positive working relations
and community service.
For more information or to submit your nomination online, see http://www.wsu.edu/president/excellence-awards.
Submit nominations to the attention of BJ Carlson, Office of the
President, 422 French Administration Building, Pullman, WA 99164-1040
by December 14.
FINANCIAL SECURITY FOR ALL IS eXtension's
NEWEST OFFERING
Americans struggling to make good money management decisions
in a complex marketplace now have a new tool at their disposal.
eXtension's Financial Security for All http://www.extension.org/personal_finance
brings the wealth of research-based university information on all
aspects of attaining personal financial security.
Financial Security for All provides Internet visitors with reliable
and up-to-date financial security information through online lessons
for self-paced learning and a knowledge base of commonly asked questions
with research-based, peer-reviewed answers to help users learn more
about specialized areas of personal finance.
For more information on eXtension go to: http://about.extension.org.
Chris Koehler, Spokane County Extension is among the team members
of the Financial Security Community of Practice. To join the Financial
Security for All Community of Practice go to:
http://cop.extension.org/wiki/Financial_Security_for_All.
CENTRAL WASHINGTON AG ANIMAL TEAM
ROUND-UP
The current issue of the electronic newsletter, the Central
Washington Round-up, is now available at http://animalag.wsu.edu,
under the current news section of the home page. This electronic
newsletter is published by the Central Washington Animal Agriculture
Team, comprised of Washington State University Extension educators
in the fields of animal science, range management, agronomy, and
entomology.
Topics for this November 2006 issue include:
* Pregnant animal care
* Body condition and reproduction in beef cows
* Hay quality testing: what does it mean?
* Forage residual height in irrigated pastures
* Post-fire grazing considerations
* Western cow/calf management guide online
* Online pork production information
* New online horse resource
* Meet the new faculty
Past issues of the newsletter can also be found at http://animalag.wsu.edu,
under the newsletter secondary page of the website.
EXTENSION ENGAGED VIEWER SURVEY
As part of an on-going effort to evaluate and improve our communications/IT
services, you were recently sent a very short survey on our monthly
“Extension Engaged” videostream broadcasts.
We’re trying to evaluate how much “use” of this
broadcast occurs in our organization and to do this, we need your
feedback so we can decide whether to continue this program effort.
We’d also want to hear from you about how we might improve
the program and get your ideas for future program topics.
So if you haven’t done so yet, please take five minutes to
go on line and fill out the survey at: http://ext.wsu.edu/ExtensionEngaged.htm.
We will start tabulating results on November 27, so please try to
give us your feedback by then. Thank you for your help
COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING UPDATE
(Please Note Location Change and Video Stream URL)
Last spring, WSU Extension entered into a partnership with the
Community Service Learning Center to encourage connection between
WSU students and county-based activities across the state. During
the initial phase of this collaboration, students enrolled in Human
Development 205 (Communication in Human Relations) were assigned
extension-related service learning projects. They formed teams and
worked collaboratively on service-related projects. During the fall
semester, four collaborative projects were initiated.
In Stevens County, students worked collaboratively with Debra Kollock
(Learning Center Coordinator) to develop the “Museum in Every
Store” project. WSU helped create kiosks located in stores
around Colville describing the local history and culture of the
region.
Another team worked closely with Jan Hiller (4-H Specialist in
Pullman) to create a 4-H DVD. The DVD and accompanying brochures
will be used to train volunteers about child abuse.
A third team of students worked with Bob Simmons (County Director/Natural
Resource Educator in Mason County) create a survey and a public
awareness campaign focused on water quality issues in Oakland Bay.
The fourth team worked with Janet Schmidt in Whitman County to
create and deliver a strategy to market 4-H across the county. The
focus of their effort was to create an image that resonates with
youth that would not traditionally become engaged with 4-H.
The student teams will give their final presentations about their
experiences and results in late November. We encourage WSU Extension
Educators to attend and learn more about how extension programs
from across the state can benefit from the involvement of WSU students.
Dates, times and locations of the final presentations are outlined
below.
Tuesday November 28, 2006 @ 10:35am Food Science and Human Nutrition
T-101 Team 32—working with Debra Kollock in Stevens County
on the Museum in Every Store project
Team 33—working with Jan Hiller on the 4-H Child Abuse training
DVD
Thursday November 30, 2006 @ 10:35am Food Science and Human Nutrition
T-101 Team 34—working with Bob Simmons on Oakland Bay water
quality issues (the clam project)
Team 35—working with Janet Schmidt on the 4-H promotion project
DIVERSITY HIGHLIGHT: WHITMAN COUNTY
Periodically the Diversity Catalyst Team submits a diversity program
outreach success to share with you. The month’s feature is
the Whitman County Extension Office of Washington State University
Extension where they have been successful this year in reaching
out to under-served audiences that are seldom interested in many
of our traditional programs. The programs utilized in this effort
included a Fishing Kids event, hunter safety education, shooting
sports training, Youth Project Camp and the after school educational
series known as TAZ (Tuesday Adventure Zone). These programs were
implemented specifically to reach new under-served audiences in
Whitman County. These programs were successful in attracting youth
and adults from Asian, Hispanic, Native American and Black ethnic
groups as well as our much larger white population. One of the programs
also met the needs of a special group of 20 people with disabilities.
Total participant numbers equaled 480, with an ethnic makeup of
2% Hispanic, 2% Asian, .25% Native American and .8% Black. While
these percentages are small, they are generally representative of
the county population as a whole, which is 88% White.
HRS TRAINING ON COMPUTER AND NETWORK
SECURITY AWARENESS
Human Resource Services offers a series of workshop in the Information
Technology Builidng Room 2025, WSU Pullman, and via WECN starting
Tuesday, December 12. You are requested to enroll via the online
HRS event web site http://www.hrs2.wsu.edu/EDIS/Event/EventDetail.asp?eventID=18897
Be safer online. Learn best computer security practices - and most
common mistakes. Protect yourself from hoaxes, spyware, phishing,
ID theft, copyright issues, spam, viruses, and social engineering.
Appropriate WSU policies will be discussed, as well as real-life
examples. Protect yourself and others. Be sure to bring your questions
and concerns.
Note: Several instances of this class will be offered via WECN.
If you wish to participate in this way, please enroll with the link
below and then send a note to Randy Cross (rcross@wsu.edu) to indicate
your interest and to confirm necessary connections.
The WECN dates are:
Tuesday, December 12, 2006, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM; Tuesday, March 6,
2007 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM; and Tuesday May 29, 2007, August
21, 2007 and November 13, 2007 (times TBA)
NASULGC HIGHLIGHTS
The annual meeting of the National Association of State Universities
and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) in Houston, TX last week was punctuated
with ample discussion of the federal budget for Cooperative States
Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), including Extension
and the Experiment Stations. Cornerstone Government Affairs is the
advocacy firm on contract for the Budget and Advocacy Committee
of the Board on Ag Assembly, which is supported by assessments paid
by each state. The PowerPoint presentations are now posted on the
NASULGC BAC web site http://www.nasulgc-bac.com/:
- Analysis of Midterm Elections http://www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/powerpoint/Election_2006.pdf
- Budget and Appropriations Report http://www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/powerpoint/BAC_Report.pdf
For your information, both the House and Senate passed a second
short term continuing resolution (CR) which provides funding through
December 8th for most of the Federal government including USDA.
The bill was forwarded to the President for signature. The Senate
did not take up the FY 07 Agriculture Appropriation bill before
the Thanksgiving recess. They are scheduled to reconvene on December
5th and hopefully will take action on the bill when they return.
Through its Farm Bill Committee, NASULGC’s Board on Agriculture
Assembly (BAA) has been preparing for reauthorization of the Farm
Bill, which is likely to occur in the next congressional session.
Seven Farm Bill subcommittees – Nutrition, Conservation, Rural
Development, Forestry, Energy, Research and Education, and International
– have all developed proposals for significant Farm Bill amendments.
A considerable effort has also been directed through the BAA’s
CREATE-21 Committee to reframe the partnership between the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and the university community. CREATE-21
is “Creating Research, Extension, and Teaching Excellence
for the 21st Century.”
The CREATE-21 http://create-21.org/
proposal calls for the consolidation of elements currently within
USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics program area (and
Forest Service R&D) within a new National Institute in order
to enhance the integration, efficiency, and flexibility of programmatic
efforts in research, extension, and education. While sustaining
existing intramural and university capacity funding, the Institute
will also provide substantial new funding for competitively-awarded
research, extension, and education grants. Finally, the CREATE-21
proposal includes major elements of the Danforth proposal for the
creation of a National Institute of Food and Agriculture to substantially
increase fundamental research within USDA.
Several one page explanatory documents http://create-21.org/proposal/documents.htm
were distributed at NASULGC and are posted on the web site:
- A Bold Proposal (Executive Summary
- Situational Analysis
- Better Structure and Enhanced Funding
- Case for Integration
- Enhanced Funding is Urgently Needed
- Origins of Proposal (and Relationship to NIFA: National Institute
on Food and Ag)
NASULGC INITIATES ANNUAL “ENGAGEMENT”
AWARDS
NASULGC, a Public University Association, received a $180,000 grant
from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to establish the C. Peter Magrath
Institution/Community Engagement and Outreach Scholarship Award.
Named after Dr. C. Peter Magrath, who served as President of NASULGC
from 1992 to 2005, the award will recognize and reward public university
faculty and external partners for outstanding practices that embrace
the concepts of public university engagement with their constituents.
The Engagement Award will be given annually to an institution that
is judged by its peers to have contributed significantly to the
advancement of an engagement agenda. The winner will be announced
at NASULGC’s Annual Meeting held each November.
The inaugural award of $20,000 was presented to President Martin
C. Jischke, Purdue University, http://www.purdue.edu/
at the Annual Meeting in Houston, TX. Beginning early next year,
there will also be a series of $6,000 Outreach Scholarship Awards
given to one institution in each of the USDA/REE regions –
South, Northeast, North Central, Western and 1890s. The scholarship
recipients will present a concurrent session at the Outreach Scholarship
Conference. Information on the 2005 Outreach Scholarship Conference
http://outreach.osu.edu/outreachscholarship/
is available on the web, and 2006 conference will be posted shortly.
JACK SILZEL TO HEAD FARM SERVICE
AGENCY IN WASHINGTON
USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced the appointment of Jack
Silzel to State Executive Director (SED) for FSA in Washington.
Prior to accepting the FSA appointment, Silzel served more than
10 years in Washington, D.C. as the agriculture policy director
for former Congressman George Nethercutt, and legislative director
for Congresswoman Cathy McMorris. He worked closely with House and
Senate Agriculture Committee members and staff on issues surrounding
re-authorization of the Farm Bill. Jack served nine years as senior
advisor for agriculture and rural affairs, assisting the House Appropriations
Committee members. The National Association of Wheat Growers twice
awarded Silzel the Friend of Wheat award, which is given to legislative
staff for their dedication and service on behalf of America's wheat
farmers.
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
WSU will be closed next week on Thursday and Friday in observance
of the Thanksgiving Holiday. May you all have a safe and enjoyable
holiday. Thank you for all you do for WSU Extension and the residents
and communities in Washington State and the world!
SCHEDULE
Next week Linda will be on annual leave Monday, Tuesday,
and Wednesday.
John will be in the office Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
******************************
Linda Kirk Fox, PhD
Dean and Director
Washington State University Extension
PO Box 646248, 411 Hulbert Hall
Pullman WA 99164-6248
(509) 335-2933 Office
(509) 335-9223 Desk/Voicemail
FAX (509) 335-2926
lkfox@wsu.edu
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