PILD and 4-H Congressional Breakfast

Delbert Foster, ECOP Chair

ECOP Working for You (PILD and 4-H Congressional Breakfast) – ECOP Chair Delbert Foster, South Carolina State University, keynotes the Joint Council on Extension Professionals Public Issues Leadership Development (PILD) conference today in Crystal City, VA. His comments focus on ECOP’s national leadership on such topics as health, 4-H, SNAP-ED, and eXtension. A special focus is on the 1890 Institutions 125th anniversary www.1890institutions.edu. ECOP Chair-elect Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware, speaks Wednesday at the 4-H Congressional Breakfast on Capitol Hill where the new 4-H Congressional Caucus will be announced.

Michelle Rodgers, ECOP Chair-elect

SNAP-ED Program Development Team Meets – The SNAP-ED Program Development Team (PDT), funded by assessments from institutions in the Cooperative Extension Section participating in SNAP-ED, meets this week in Arlington, VA. ECOP Chair-Elect Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware, together with Jane Schuchardt, ECOP Executive Director, meets with the team to discuss how the Land-grant University System, particularly Cooperative Extension, can cooperate with other implementing agencies to launch new requirements for Policy, System and Environmental (PSE) Change education to complement individual nutrition education. Cornerstone Government Affairs also will meet with the PDT to discuss SNAP-ED reauthorizing legislation slated for 2015 through the Child Nutrition Act. 

eXtension Releases Reports – The eXtension Annual Report for 2014 and Current Activity Report for 2015 are available at http://create.extension.org/node/100954. For state specific reports on Ask an Expert, Moodle and related information, contact Elbert Dickey, eXtension interim director.
 
Award Nominations Due 6.1.15 – ECOP and USDA-NIFA announces the 2015 nomination process for the national Excellence in Extension and Diversity awards. Nominations are due June 1, 2015. The due date for nominations is June 1st at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Nominations, submitted online, must be completed by this date and time. Regions are subject to announcing earlier deadlines for their purposes. CLICK HERE for contact information by Region. For details and to access the online nomination forms go to: http://www.aplu.org/CESAwards. Questions can be directed to Sandy Ruble sandy.ruble@extension.org, ECOP Staff Associate. 

Climate Change Symposium – The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) is sponsoring a Climate Change Symposium May 3-5, 2015 in Chicago. Sonny Ramaswamy, Director of USDA-NIFA, will be a keynote speaker. For further details, see http://www.asabe.org/meetings-events/2015/05/asabe-1st-climate-change-symposium-adaptation-and-mitigation.aspx. USDA-REE signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cooperative Extension and Experiment Stations Sections in November 2014. See http://www.aplu.org/members/commissions/food-environment-and-renewable-resources/CFERR_Library/ecop-climate-hubs-mou/file.