NEW eXtension Membership Poll – The response to the NEW eXtension membership poll conducted by Elbert Dickey, interim eXtension director, has been significant and positive. Eighty-three percent of the 75 institutions in the Cooperative Extension Section of the Board on Agriculture Assembly have responded to date with 38 selecting the premium level of membership and 12 selecting the basic. Details about membership levels are provided in the final report about the NEW eXtension. Watch for a solicitation of foundation board candidates soon. NEW eXtension members will have opportunity to vote for board members early in the new year. Questions can be directed to Dr. Dickey at edickey1@unl.edu.
Web Resources for Directors/Administrators – Please bookmark www.extension.org/ecop. Make note of the "Quick Navigation" links and "Resources for Directors and Administrators" link. In addition to the ECOP Monday Minute, this is your one-stop location to learn about ECOP’s national leadership designed to benefit Cooperative Extension state and local programming.
“Unifying Message” Report Now Available – The Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation (RMF) has released the report Pursuing a Unifying Message: Elevating Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research as a National Priority available at www.rileymemorial.org. In discussing the report during a presentation at the National Press Club in Washington, DC last week, Wendy Wintersteen, Endowed Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Iowa State University, repeatedly referenced the value of Extension for agriculture research and called for a broad-based coalition of stakeholders to elevate food, agricultural, and natural resources research as a national priority. Iowa State University helped develop the report, published by the RMF, together with Mississippi State University, the Soil and Water Conservation Society, Texas Tech University and Colorado State University. Cooperative Extension had opportunity to comment on the report during its development. The webcast of the program will be available 12.12.14 on the RMF website.
ECOP Health Implementation Action Teams – Thanks to Cooperative Extension Directors/Administrators, together with Experiment Station Directors/Administrators, for nominating a significant number of faculty and field educators for the ECOP Health Implementation Action Teams. The teams will focus on five program priorities for the next three-five years – health literacy, health insurance literacy, chronic disease prevention and management, positive youth development for health, and health policy issues education. These are outlined in Cooperative Extension’s National Framework for Health and Wellness (March 2014). The responsibilities of the teams, which will be formed in early 2015, are to identify and develop programs and curriculum, provide professional development, initiate system-wide impact evaluation, and engage external partners. A chair/co-chair from each action team will make up the ECOP Health Implementation Task Force co-chaired by Rick Klemme, University of Wisconsin, and Celvia Stovall, Alabama A&M University. Drs. Klemme and Stovall represent ECOP on the BAA-BOHS Healthy Food Systems, Healthy People Steering Committee and will communicate the implementation efforts of the action teams to the broader effort, which is designed to integrate nutrition, health, environment and agriculture systems and link research, engagement, and academic programs.
Join Food and Ag Engagement Dialogue – Register to join the 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. 12.17.14 webinar Why Cooperative Extension? A New Century for Food and Ag Engagement at http://bit.ly/1uTmfrk. Sponsored by the National Coalition of Food and Agricultural Research www.ncfar.org, the webinar will be led by Extension Directors Tim Cross, University of Tennessee, and Michael Ouart, University of Missouri. Both ECOP members, Dr. Cross is on the NC-FAR Board of Directors and Dr. Ouart is on the NC-FAR Research and Outreach Committee.
Nominations Due for SNAP-ED Program Development Team – ECOP authorizes an assessment of state Cooperative Extension Services receiving SNAP-ED funding to support the work of a Program Development Team managed out of South Dakota State University. Nominations are being sought by 12.19.14 for team members willing to help shape the future of SNAP-ED within the Land-grant University and in conjunction with other SNAP-ED efforts. For details on how to submit an application, contact Sandra Jensen Sandra.jensen@sdstate.edu.
