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November 7, 2008
Topics in today's issue of Extension Update:
PSP RELEASES ACTION AGENDA AND SEEKS INPUT
The Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) today released a landmark draft Action Agenda, a roadmap for protecting, restoring and cleaning up Puget Sound http://www.psp.wa.gov/downloads/DRAFT_ACTION_AGENDA_2008/Draft_Action_Agenda.pdf.
For the first time, the draft Action Agenda provides critical data and a strategy for tackling the threats to the waters in and around Puget Sound by addressing four key questions:
- What is a healthy Puget Sound?
- What is the current status of Puget Sound and what are the biggest threats to it?
- What actions must be taken to move from where we are today to a healthy Puget Sound by 2020?
- Where do we start?
Today, November 7, marks the beginning of a 14-day public comment period. For convenience, an online “open house” has been added to the Partnership’s http://www.psp.wa.gov/ web site for collecting comments. In addition, two public meetings, both beginning at 9 a.m., will be held this month to solicit feedback:
The adoption of the Action Agenda is being evaluated in accordance with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). The Partnership, in its role as SEPA lead agency, has prepared a programmatic checklist evaluating the full range of potential impacts and has determined that the proposal does not have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment. The SEPA checklist and the determination of non-significance (DNS) are being circulated for review along with the draft Action Agenda, and are available on the Partnership’s http://www.psp.wa.gov/aa_draft.php web site, or by mail if requested. Comments regarding the DNS are due by 5 p.m. Nov. 20, 2008. The Partnership’s Leadership Council will adopt the final Action Agenda on Dec. 1.
UPDATE: 4-H MISSION MANDATES
An update from CSREES committee co-chairs of the 4-H Mission Mandate Co-Chairs provides insights regarding SET, Healthy Living, and Citizenship. In WA State, we continue our work in these important mission mandate areas. Updates may be found as follows:
- Healthy Living: http://www.national4-hheadquarters.gov/library/4h_updates.htm
- SET: http://www.national4-hheadquarters.gov/library/4h_updates.htm
- Citizenship: Dorothy Freeman (Minnesota) and Gail Thompson (Texas) will be serving as co-chairs of this mission mandate team.
I fully endorse the work of all the WSU staff and volunteers who have embraced the three mission mandates! Please see that all staff and volunteers are aware of these priorities and review the different chronologies that provide clear evidence of the very strong and historic work in Science, Engineering, & Technology; Healthy Living; and Citizenship. Please see those documents here: http://www.national4-hheadquarters.gov/about/4h_programs.htm
I invite you to share all these documents as I hope that they serve, in some way, as a vehicle to strengthen partnerships or open doors and lines of communications across our state.
WSU IN SEATTLE—A TASTE OF WSU VIA 4-H VIDEO
The blog site http://atasteofwsu.blogspot.com/ has videos from each of the three years this event has been held. On the top of the blog is the 2008 video, which features you along with 14 WSU faculty and community partners. It's a high energy film that was edited by Luke Turner, who is the youth who interviewed you at last year's event. We hope that you enjoy viewing this 13 minute video that captures some of the stories related to WSU research and its positive impact on the Washington State economy. We would be honored if the blog and/or video links could be featured on your Key Communications page.
Thanks to Pamela Roberts for leading these efforts and sharing the blog site!
WELD PROGRAM APPLICATION DEADLINE NOVEMBER 10
WSU Extension educators have a great opportunity to develop their leadership skills through The Western Extension Leadership Development (WELD) Program. This is a call for applications for the WELD V. A limited number of WSU educators will be selected to represent WSU Extension. WELD Applications due to the WSU Extension Associate Vice President and Dean’s office Monday, November 10th.
WELD is the Western Region Extension Leadership Development. The broad goal of the WELD Program is for participants to learn and apply leadership skills. As part of the program, participants will develop awareness and appreciation of their own and others' leadership styles and learn to apply appropriate techniques in working with diverse individuals, develop skills and enable themselves and others to develop, articulate, and implement organization/group direction, enable the organization/group to effectively implement planned change and develop skills to enable others to work together effectively. Past WSU Extension participants include Karen Poulin, Cliff Moore, Drew Betz, Debra Kollock and Mark Heitstuman. Any of the past participants can answer specific programmatic questions and the benefits of participating.
The first WELD V Seminar will be held March 30 – April 3, 2009, in Denver, Colorado. The WELDV Seminar 2 will be held in June 2010 at a location to be announced. The application form and a brochure regarding the program can be accessed through the WSU Extension PD website. WSU Extension’s representative to the WELD planning committee, Doug Stienbarger can answer question about the process. You can contact him by phone (360)397-6060 or email Doug.Stienbarger@clark.wa.gov
SEMINAR: DOES INTERCROPPING HAVE A ROLE IN MODERN AGRICULTURE?
Presented by Stephen Machado, Dryland Extension Agronomist, Oregon State University, CBARC on Monday, November 10, 1:10 p.m., Johnson Hall 204. Hosted by the Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences. This seminar will be available via videoconference from Prosser, Wenatchee, Mt Vernon, and Puyallup.
MARKETING AND NEWS SERVICES RECEIVE SEVERAL AWARDS
Marketing and News Services for WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences and WSU Extension has won six MarCom awards from the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals.
The group’s honors include two platinum awards, the highest awarded by AMCP. The 2008 Connections Magazine, an annual publication of CAHNRS and WSU Extension that goes to more than 20,000 alumni and friends, received a platinum award as did a career DVD co-produced by CAHNRS and North by Northwest Productions in Spokane. The DVD features CAHNRS alumni talking about their career successes and is being used to recruit new students as well as at alumni gatherings. Videos from the DVD can be viewed at YouTube, http://www/youtube.com/CAHNRSAP.
In addition, the feature story package of Connections Magazine – “Farms, Fuel, Food and the Future” – earned a gold MarCom award. The on-line version of that package also earned a gold award.
“On Solid Ground” and “Voice of the Vine”, electronic newsletters published weekly and bi-weekly respectively, earned honorable mentions.
The Marketing and News staff includes Kathy Barnard, Dennis Brown, Brian Clark, Denny Fleenor and Phil Cable. The team works closely with Gerald Steffen, creative manager for WSU Extension and graphic designer in the Publishing and Printing unit of Extension Communications and Educational Support; Steffen designs Connections. Interns Katie Floyd, Desiree Kiliz and Mia Parry also contributed stories to Connections Magazine.
HEALTH DISPARITIES SEMINARS CONTINUES ON NOVEMBER 12TH: THE CASE OF TOBACCO
The Murrow College of Communication invites you to attend a special series of seminars focused on tobacco use and related diseases among marginalized populations. The series features national experts as guest speakers and will take place monthly from October 2008 through June 2009. It is made possible by a collaboration among the Murrow College’s Consortium for the Study of Communication & Decision Making, the University of Washington’s Tobacco Studies Program and School of Social Work, The Washington State University Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program, and the Washington State Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Control Program.
The first session kicked off on October 1 and it was successful. The second session features Dr Peggy Hannon of University of Washington Health Promotions Research Center, speaking on Income Smokers and their Workplaces: Opportunities for Research & Intervention. The seminar, which runs from 3:30-5 pm, will originate from the UW School of Social Work and will be available on the WSU campus in the Murrow College’s Communication Addition, Room 220. The format for sessions includes a brief presentation by the speaker followed by discussion with seminar participants. All seminar sessions are free and open to the community. An updated schedule is available at http://depts.washington.edu/tobacco/calendar. Readings for the November 12th session have been posted to the course website (anyone may access this site, with or without a UW NetID): https://catalysttools.washington.edu/gopost/board/kriggs/7860/. You may also find the course syllabus on the website, in addition to readings from the Oct 1 session.
Please feel free to contact the Murrow College via Twila Brown (twilambrown@wsu.edu) or the University of Washington via Jen Stuber (jstuber@u.washington.edu) for more information.
TECHNOLOGY REPLACING TRAVEL FOR MANY WSU EDUCATORS
In a statewide organization such as Washington State University Extension, connections with customers and colleagues are critical to program success and sustainability. In the past, that has meant travel – by car, by plane, and in some cases, by ferry – to conduct business. We’ve showcased our use of technology in the WSU Today online full story http://cahnrsnews.wsu.edu/reportertools/news/2008/teleconf-travel-2008-11.html
Side bar for Extension Update: We will continue to ask you to reduce international and out-of-state travel as communicated previous to all of you and reinforced at this time. I urge you to reduce in-state travel as well. Use technology when possible. The leadership of colleges across WSU have been given specific budget targets to reduce travel paid by state funds. I’ve been urging self-control for several weeks without issuing specific budget targets for Extension. Do not worry about the source of the message and whether it applies to you. Please take all these messages and sources of communications as consistent and on-point—you need to be judicious in decisions regarding state funded travel and related expenditures for ultimate state funded budget flexibility in the future.
NOVEMBER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES through eXtension
This month eXtension is "30 Minute Sessions" on a several topics including the Ask eXtension widget, Google Spreadsheet Forms, the eXtension's Updated People site, and Version Control. These sessions will be held at our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time.
* November 11 at 11:00 PT, a "30 Minute Session" on the new Ask eXtension Widget, by Aaron Hundley, eXtension Software Engineer. How to use the new Ask eXtension widget to receive and answer questions directly from your county Extension web site or Extension-related blog. This widget adds question asking capabilities to your site, but uses the power of the eXtension Ask an Expert and FAQ systems to assist you in answering. Take questions from your clients, and use the 40,000 questions in the FAQ system to assist you in providing a timely and accurate answer. Check out the new widget tracking feature that allows you to name the widget and monitor questions coming from your site. Also learn about the new widget routing capability that will allow you to have questions routed to you from your widgets. This session will introduce you to the new tool, show you the latest features developed, and will discuss what is necessary to begin using it immediately in your own county sites and blogs with helpful tips. (for all Extension)
* November 13 at 11:00 PT, a "30 Minute Session" on the Google Spreadsheet Forms, by Kevin Gamble, Associate Director, eXtension. A Google Spreadsheet is an easy and convenient way to create a survey, and to collect, share, and analyze your results. For instance, you might use one to collect your colleagues' preferred dates and topics for a meeting agenda, or to evaluate and educational program from a survey embedded on your Website. This session will show you a very powerful, but also very easy method to conduct surveys. All in just 30 minutes-- it's that simple.
* November 18 at 9:00 am PT, a "30 Minute Session" Introduction to Using Adobe Connect for Web Conferencing, by Floyd Davenport, Iowa State. ! (for all Extension) This Professional Development session is offered in partnership with the ACE Information Technology SIG.
* November 18 at 11:00 PT, a "30 Minute Session" Sharing Visual Ideas and Designs Online, by Ben MacNeill, eXtension User Interface Designer. This session will look at a few ways to present visual information for feedback purposes (such as design comps, interface mock-ups, troubleshooting, etc) and some of the tools you can use to share your information. ! (for all Extension)
* November 19 at 11:00 PT, a "30 Minute Session" on the Updated People.eXtension site by Jason Young, eXtension Systems Engineer. People is our Extension-wide authentication and directory application, providing accounts for all extension.org collaborative tools. We've expanded People recently to provide communities, mailing lists, activity, numbers, and most importantly we've expanded the tool to allow our administrators, agents, specialists, educators, and more to find and connect to their colleagues throughout all of Extension. Come learn more about the new features of people, and what it can do for you! (for all Extension)
* November 25 at 11:00 PT, a "30 Minute Session" on Source Code Version Control: Use It or Lose It, by James Robinson, eXtension Software Engineer. Whether you are a lone developer or part of a development team, revision control has something to offer. Come prepared to share your code management processes and/or learn about how others are using revision control tools too. (for all Extension)
Other sessions:
* November 12 at 11:00 PT, Project Planning and Management. Presented by: Tom Knecht, Executive Director, ACE Leadership Institute and Melanie Eirich, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this session Tom and Melanie will present an overview of main project management processes and issues as related in the project development process. Initial project start-up questions such as problem and opportunity identification along with stakeholder analysis will be explored. In addition the two will discuss strategies for resources, team forming among other important steps in the project planning and management process. This session is designed to capture the key elements with plans to follow up with more in-depth sessions at the ACE/NETC conference in Des Moines. (for all Extension) This Professional Development session is offered in partnership with the ACE Leadership & Management SIG.
TO PARTICIPATE in any of the sessions held in the eXtension Web Conferencing Center...
1. Five minutes before the start time, go to our Web Conferencing Center meeting room at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn.
2. You will be presented with a login screen that has an "Enter as Guest" option.
3. Enter your first name, your last name, and your institution/university, then click the "Enter Room" button to join the conference.
4. To hear the audio of the workshop and participate in the Q&A portion of the workshop we will be using a built-in teleconferencing capability of Adobe's Connect Pro conferencing software. Once you log into the meeting you will be presented with the option to enter your call-back number, your phone will automatically be called. After entering your number you will be automatically called and joined into the audio portion of the Web conference on your phone.
SCHEDULE
Linda will be attending NASULGC Saturday through Monday, then traveling to Yakima to attend the annual meeting of the WA State Association of Counties (WSAC) the remainder of the week.
John will be in Pullman Monday and Tuesday and in Yakima at WSAC the remainder of the week.
Linda Kirk Fox, PhD
Associate Vice President and Dean
Washington State University Extension
411 Hulbert Hall, PO Box 646248
Pullman, WA 99164-6248
509-335-2933 Office
509-335-9223 Desk/Voicemail
509-335-2926 FAX
lkfox@wsu.edu
ext.wsu.edu
WSU Extension programs are available to all without discrimination. |
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