Friday, December 12, 2014

12.15.14 - NEW eXtension UPDATE



ECOP Holiday Greetings


Wishing You A Holiday Season Filled With Warmth And
Wonderment And A Most Joyous New Year 

Extension Committee On Organization And Policy
Delbert Foster, Chair 
Executive Director and Administrator Team 
Ron Brown, Nancy Bull, Lyla Houglum, L. Washington Lyons,
Sandy Ruble, Jane Schuchardt, and Robin Shepard
 

 

ECOP Monday Minute Returns on 1.5.15 

 

NEW eXtension UPDATE – The nomination process is underway through regional Cooperative Extension associations for the NEW eXtension Board of Directors. Those institutions in the Cooperative Extension Section with either a premium or basic membership will receive a ballot in early January to vote for the board members. Elbert Dickey, interim eXtension director, reports the response to the NEW eXtension membership poll now is at 96 percent (72 of the 75 institutions in the Cooperative Extension Section of the Board on Agriculture Assembly). Of those responding, 80 percent (58 institutions) have indicated intent to be members of the NEW eXtension. Details about membership levels are provided in the final report about the NEW eXtension. Questions can be directed to Dr. Dickey at edickey1@unl.edu whose interim appointment has been extended through April 2015 to provide consistent leadership through the transition. 

JOE Editor Proposals Due 1.15.15 – Extension Journal, Inc. invites proposals to provide editorial services for the corporation’s flagship product, the Journal of Extension. Editorial services required range from initial review of all submissions, to writing advice for authors, to working with reviewers, to copy editing of all issues. Michelle Rodgers, ECOP chair-elect and ECOP liaison to the Extension Journal Board of Directors, University of Delaware, asks your assistance in identifying qualified applicants. The deadline for proposals is January 15, 2015, with the contract to begin January 1, 2016. For the full RFP, Click Here. Questions can be directed to Terry Meisenbach tmeisenbach@extension.org

JCEP Leadership Conference Registration OpenPlan now to attend the JCEP Leadership Conference February 11 & 12, 2015 at the Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada with the theme Leading Through Trust. Keynote speaker and author of The Trust Edge, David Horsager, will discuss how trust has the ability to accelerate or destroy any organization or relationship. ECOP Chair Delbert Foster, South Carolina State University, will provide an ECOP update and recognize the 125th anniversary of the passage of the second Morrill Act which created the universities commonly referred to as the 1890 institutions. Registration and more details are available at www.jcep.org

SNAP-ED Program Development Team Represented at National Conference – Jenna Anding, Texas A&M University, and Debra Garrard, Oklahoma State University, both members of the SNAP-ED Program Development Team, represented Land-grant Universities and Cooperative Extension at a recent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Directors' meeting in New Orleans. During the conference, Anding and Garrard, who are members of the SNAP-Ed Program Development team, interacted with directors of SNAP-ED efforts from across the U.S. and briefed them on the contributions of Cooperative Extension to SNAP-Ed programs. 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 or provide a nomination, contact Sandra Jensen Sandra.jensen@sdstate.edu, 605.688.4944. 

Journal Continues Centennial Celebration – The December 2014 issue of the Journal of Extension, to be posted 12.18.14 at www.joe.org, includes the article Milestones and the Future for Cooperative Extension. ECOP immediate past chair, Jimmy Henning, University of Kentucky, is lead author. This completes the year-long series of articles published by JOE honoring Cooperative Extension’s centennial. 

GCHERA Announces World Conference – The Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences www.gchera.com offers its 8th world conference June 25-26, 2015 in Kaslik, Lebanon. The theme is Global Challenges: Nutritional Security and Environmental Sustainability for Human Health. Details, including a call for abstracts due 1.12.15, are available at http://webapp.usek.edu.lb/forms/WS/gchera/index.html. Questions can be directed to desireeelazzi@usek.edu.lb or alainabirizk@usek.edu.lb.

Monday, December 8, 2014

12.8.14 - NEW eXtension Membership Poll

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.