ECOP Monday Minute 7.22.13

Extension Centennial on Social Media – The ECOP Extension Centennial Committee has started social media sites to promote the centennial and celebrate the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. Please promote and use these sites as a vehicle for the centennial celebration. On Facebook, we are promoting centennial activities, nationally and in the states, go to: https://www.facebook.com/Extension100Years. Twitter will push out links and stories related to our initiative and spur discussions, go to: https://twitter.com/ext100years. Pinterest will provide a sharing board for pinning images and links of Extension’s past and present, as we move into the next 100 years, go to: http://pinterest.com/ext100years/pins/.

Integrated Programs Showcased at Joint COPs –  Research Extension and Teaching: Innovative Mission Collaboration and Integration is the theme of the APLU Board on Agriculture Assembly Joint COPs meeting in Manhattan, KS, this week. About 85 key leaders from Cooperative Extension, experiment stations, academic programs, international programs, and deans of agriculture meet to discuss national leadership issues. Director Sonny Ramaswamy will speak about how USDA-NIFA views program integration. Also included will be a session on the new USDA-NIFA strategic plan under development. ECOP, represented by Chair-elect Jimmy Henning, University of Kentucky, led the planning for this year’s meeting and moderates the joint session.

Benning to Retire  – Linda Kay Benning, Executive Director, Northeast Extension Directors (NEED) has announced her retirement, effective December 31, 2013. As part of the national Extension Director and Administrator Team since 2010, Benning has provided significant leadership to the work of the SNAP-Ed Program Development Team, Measuring Excellence in Extension Implementation Team, ECOP Marketing and Communication Brand Value Implementation Team, and the PILD Conference Planning Team, among other ECOP priorities. Before assuming the position in the northeast region, she served as Associate Director for Outreach and Engagement at APLU beginning in August 1994.

JOE 50th Celebration at Galaxy – Extension directors and administrators are invited to a reception celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Extension from 4-6 p.m., Monday, September 16, 2013 at the David Lawrence Convention Center, Hall A, during the JCEP Galaxy IV Conference in Pittsburgh. RSVP by September 4, 2013 to Alice Moore, ammoore@udel.edu. ECOP member Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware, is the ECOP liaison to the JOE Board of Directors. For more information about Galaxy, go to www.jcep.org.

Opportunity with Climate Change – ECOP is coordinating with the USDA Climate Change Program Office to encourage Cooperative Extension’s involvement with regional hubs for risk adaptation and mitigation to climate change. USDA hosted a webinar last week outlining the RFA process (open to USDA agencies only) for identifying the regional hubs, with the goals of providing technical support, assessments and forecasts, and outreach and education. USDA is interested in identifying Cooperative Extension’s role with the issue of climate change with a focus on being part of the regional hubs. Go to http://www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/regional_hubs.htm for a fact sheet, the webinar PPT presentation, and the draft Terms of Reference for the hubs. Cooperative Extension is encouraged to contact representatives at state and local levels to be included as a partner in the application process. The application deadline is August 21, 2013. The hub locations are expected to be named by USDA in October 2013.

View Counties Count Webinar –  Click here to view the recorded webinar presented by the National Association of Counties (NACo) called Counties Count: NACo-Cooperative Extension Partnership. In addition to a national overview by ECOP Chair Daryl Buchholz, the webinar featured a state and local example from Wisconsin by Mark O’Connell, Executive Director, Wisconsin Counties Association; Rick Klemme, Dean and Extension Director, University of Wisconsin Extension; Mike Koles, Waupaca County Cooperative Extension Community Resource Development Agent, and Dick Koeppen, Waupaca County Board Chair.