April 4, 2008
Topics in today's issue of Extension Update:
OPPORTUNITIES AND TRAINING FOR COUNTY OFFICIALS, CERTIFIED PUBLIC OFFICIALS
As some of you know, WSU Extension will no longer be managing the Certified Public Officials (CPO) program for county officials. That program will continue to be administered by the Washington State Association of Counties. For information regarding that program, see the WSAC website at http://www.wacounties.org/wsac/cpoprogram.asp
As the same time, I would like to inform you of exciting new developments in the availability of high-quality training for county officials and employees. WSU Extension through the Division of Governmental Studies and Services (DGSS) will now be offering expanded training and other technical assistance services directly to individual counties. DGSS will offer traditional in-person training sessions in locations to be announced in advance, and will also offer multi-location video-linked training in an effort to make training more accessible. In the future, DGSS will begin offering training via the internet, as well.
Training requests may be coordinated through County Extension Directors or through DGSS at www.dgss.wsu.edu. A list of training topics already available for county government may be reviewed at that website as well.
CEREO RETREAT APRIL 23
The Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach (CEREO) will hold its first retreat on Wednesday, April 23 in the Bundy Reading Room (111 Avery Hall) on the Pullman campus. The retreat is an opportunity to shape the future of CEREO and influence our impact on WSU environmental programs. Talks by Dr. Michael Griswold, Dean of Sciences, Dan Nordquist, Director of OGRD, and Dr. John Gardner (keynote speaker), Vice President for Economic Development and Extension, will address issues concerning the place of CEREO as an interdisciplinary center at WSU. Small group discussions will be designed to elicit faculty input and engagement in shaping the Center’s future. By the end of the retreat, each participant will have a much clearer idea of where CEREO is headed as well as having identified appropriate ways for personal engagement in its evolution.
You are encouraged to register as soon as possible since space will be somewhat limited. Only 22 seats remain open. The registration link is: http://www.ogrd.wsu.edu/workshops.asp#226. Partial support for travel to the retreat may be available; for more information contact cereo@wsu.edu.
ANNUAL WOMEN & AGRICULTURE CONFERENCE
Transitioning farm ownership within the family, land and water rights, marketing savvy and biosecurity are just a few of the topics that will be covered at the annual Washington Women and Agriculture Conference held in East Wenatchee on April 18 – 19.
Information about how to register for the conference, costs, accommodations, driving directions and more is available at www.ncw.wsu.edu/family. Registration is due April 15. Hotel reservations at the lower conference rate are due April 4.
Presented by Washington State University Extension in cooperation with a number of local and statewide sponsors, the program’s theme is “Cultivating Our Reality” and addresses subjects specifically requested by women working in agriculture, according to Margaret A. Viebrock, WSU Douglas County Extension director. The conference begins with a social and networking event on Friday evening followed by a full-day of featured speakers and workshop sessions on Saturday. For more information, contact WSU Extension at 509-745-8531 or Margaret Viebrock at viebrock@wsu.edu
NEW PERSPECTIVES COLUMN
President Elson S. Floyd reflects on the outstanding season of the Cougars' men's basketball team in his new Perspectives column. It is available at http://president.wsu.edu/perspectives/
APRIL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH eXtension
eXtension's professional development opportunities are open to all Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration is required.
30 MINUTE SESSIONS
This month we are offering "30 Minute Sessions" on topics including CES Collaborative Search Engine and Using OpenID. Give us 30 minutes and we'll teach you something useful! 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. Each session will be held at 11 AM Pacific time.
* April 9 at 11 AM Pacific time, a "30 Minute Session" on Cooperative Extension Collaborative Search Engine. This session will introduce you to the new search.extension.org site. You'll learn how the technology works, and how you can use it to find resources developed across all subject matter areas of the Cooperative Extension System. This tool will help you to discover the educational resources developed by your colleagues from across the country. (for all Extension)
* April 23 at 11 AM Pacific time, a "30 Minute Session" on Using OpenID - Are you tired of creating a new account on every web site you visit? Do you not sign-up for new sites because they require you to create yet another account? Do you go to sites and can't remember your login, password, or both? OpenID is a new technology that aims to solve these problems. Everyone with an Extension ID already has an OpenID. Come to this session to learn how it works, how to use it with the eXtension Web sites, and about the growing list of Web sites that accept your OpenID login. Once you go OpenID you'll never want to go back...
OTHER SESSIONS
In-MoodleMeet: April 7 on Playing Games; April 21 on Questionnaires & Surveys. Held the first and third Mondays of every month from 11 AM – 1:30 PM Pacific Time, in the chat of the Moodle 101 course, which you can enter as a guest. During the chat we get together in Moodle text chat to share stories, ideas and provide support for Moodle. To join go to http://courses.extension.org/mod/chat/view.php?id=96. Past chats are also available from the "View past chat sessions" link from within the chat. To get a course shell to begin developing in or get more information about Moodle email moodlehelp@extension.org. The recording of last month's 30 Minute Session on Moodle is at http://about.extension.org/wiki... search on Recordings.
TO PARTICIPATE in any of the sessions held in our 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 in Pullman Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. She will be at WSU Spokane on Thursday attending meetings with the Center to Bridge the Digital Divide and the Area Health Education Center.
John will be in Washington, DC on Monday and Tuesday attending the Energy Information Administration Conference. He will be in Pullman Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Linda Kirk Fox, PhD
Dean and Director
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. |
