ECOP Chair to Address FCS Program Leaders – Community and Rural Vitality, Health and Wellness will be the focus of the 2014 Family & Consumer Sciences State Program Leaders Meeting at the Annual Session of the National Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (NEAFCS), September 17-18, 2014 in Lexington, KY. ECOP Chair Jimmy Henning, University of Kentucky, will speak at the opening session. Representatives of the Board on Human Sciences, Council of Administrators for Family and Consumer Sciences, and the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences will attend. USDA NIFA’s Division of Family & Consumer Sciences, under the leadership of Caroline Crocoll, coordinates the two-day annual meeting of state leaders. Regional Rural Development Center Directors will also participate.
Bioproducts World Conference in Ohio – Keith Smith, Extension Director, Ohio State University, encourages colleagues to take advantage of a special academic rate of $125 for the Bioproducts World 2014 Showcase and Conference October 5-8, 2014 in Columbus, OH. To register, go to http://bioproductsworld.org/general_registration.php and note the special rate. For a schedule of events, see http://bioproductsworld.org/schedule_of_events.php.
WVU Announces Centennial Celebration – West Virginia University will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Smith-Lever Act with a two-day symposium September 24-25, 2014 focusing on the future of Cooperative Extension. A presidential panel features three WVU presidents — Gordon Gee, David Hardesty and Peter Magrath — who will each give their unique perspective and insight on the role Cooperative Extension plays in fulfilling the land-grant mission. See http://go.wvu.edu/ZeKCE0 for more information.
Blog Post Features Cooperative Extension’s Next Century – ECOP chairs Daryl Buchholz, Kansas State University; Jimmy Henning, University of Kentucky, and Doug Steele, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, and other leaders were featured in the PEW Charitable Trusts article Cooperative Extension Reinvents Itself for the 21st Century. See http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2014/09/09/cooperative-extension-reinvents-itself-for-the-21st-century.
NRC Completes AFRI Review – The National Research Council (NRC) has completed its review of AFRI and provides the report Spurring Innovation in Food and Agriculture: A Review of the USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Program http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18652. Reference to Cooperative Extension is found in Recommendations 2-A and 3-B.
USDA-NIFA Director Speaks at Centennial Celebration – Extension in the 21st Century was the theme of Sonny Ramaswamy’s presentation at the USDA Cooperative Extension Centennial celebration last week in Washington, DC. View his presentation at http://nifa-connect.nifa.usda.gov/p3n5jte2826/.
