ECOP Monday Minute 8.5.13

Extension Announces 2013 Awardees – Seven exemplary Cooperative Extension educators will be honored at the 2013 APLU Annual Meeting, November 10-12, 2013 in Washington, DC. Awards recognizing excellence in programming and celebrating diversity are co-sponsored by ECOP and USDA-NIFA and selected through a competitive process. The National Excellence in Extension Award winner is Jeffrey T. Edwards, Small Grains Extension Specialist, Oklahoma State University. Regional Excellence in Extension Award winners are Marion Simon, Extension Specialist and Interim Division Chair, Kentucky State University; Kimberly Greder, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University; Elaine Bowen, Health Promotion Extension Specialist, West Virginia University; Denise Holston-West, Instructor and Smart Bodies Program Director, Louisiana State University AgCenter, and Brian J. Higginbotham, formerly Associate Professor and State Extension Specialist, Department of Family, Consumer, and Human Development, Utah State University. Higginbotham was recently appointed the Associate Vice President and Associate Director, Utah State University Extension. The National Extension Diversity Awardee is Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, WA. The award will be accepted by Susan Givens-Seymour, Director of Outreach and Community Education and Director of Cooperative Extension.

National 4-H Council Names New CEO – Jennifer Sirangelo has been named chief executive officer of the National 4-H Council replacing Don Floyd who retires at the end of 2013. View the press release here.

USDA-NIFA Partnership Awards Nominations Due 9.4.13 – NIFA invites all NIFA-supported land-grant universities and cooperating institutions and organizations to submit nominations for the 2013 NIFA Partnership Awards Program. These awards recognize outstanding contributions aligned with NIFA strategic goals in support of the USDA mission. Awards for this year will recognize excellence in mission integration of research, education, and extension; multistate efforts; innovative programs and projects; effective and efficient use of resources, and program improvement through global engagement. USDA-NIFA accepts nominations for individuals or teams of up to 20 members. Each institution may submit up to two nominations (combined total across all five categories), meaning the entire institution including research, education, and Extension functions. Nominations must follow the specified partnership criteria and be submitted on the 2013 NIFA Partnership Awards Nomination Form. All signed nomination forms must be submitted by September 4, 2013, via email using scanned files saved as .PDF or .JPG files and emailed to Chevon.Gibson@ars.usda.gov, as instructed in the guidelines.

DoD Child Care Proposals Due 8.26.13 – The FY 2013 Department of Defense Child Care Curriculum RFA is at http://www.nifa.usda.gov/fo/childcarecurriculum.cfm. Also on this page are the NIFA Grants.gov application guide, the application package, and abstracts of funded projects. Information also is available at www.grants.gov/search and here.

Membership Solicitation for the NAREEE Advisory Board Extended – USDA has a new deadline of 8.30.13 to make nominations for eight vacancies on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board. Among slots of particular interest to Cooperative Extension are 1890 Land-grant Colleges and Universities and Rural Economic Development. The NAREEE Advisory Board released a Cooperative Extension report to the Secretary of Agriculture and Congress early this year.

USDA-NIFA Director on Video – Sonny Ramaswamy, USDA-NIFA director, gave a seminar July 25, 2013 at Kansas State University called Setting the Table for a Hotter, Flatter, More Crowded Earth. Watch his recent interview with the North Central Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Program Leaders here.