Get Involved in Twitter Town Halls

The Communications and Marketing Committee, Scott Reed, chair, Oregon State University, encourages colleagues to contact Ashley Hawn, Ashley.hawn@kglobal.com, at kglobal to coordinate a Twitter Town Hall. AgIsAmerica is an effort to communicate impacts of land-grant universities, specifically the Colleges of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Stations, and Cooperative Extension. Twitter Town Halls are live Q+As that happen over Twitter during a set time and all responses are grouped together by a unique hashtag. Twitter Town Halls help raise awareness, establish credibility, and fuel discussion about the importance of the land-grant system topics of public concern. In order to implement regular Twitter Town Halls, your help is needed to highlight a variety of local, multi-state, and national topics of interest, specifically water security; nutrition and health; agricultural systems; environmental stewardship; energy and bioproducts; youth, family, and communities; and food security. 

ECOP Meets in Providence – Private resource mobilization was a prime topic of consideration by ECOP at its meeting last week in Providence, RI. ECOP leadership, under the direction of Delbert Foster, chair, South Carolina State University, and Michelle Rodgers, chair-elect, University of Delaware, is investigating Cooperative Extension’s potential as a national system to complement existing resources. Other actions related to follow-up on the USDA-NIFA Plan of Work Expert Panel, summary of impacts from Cooperative Extension’s work with USDA Farm Service Agency on producer education related to new farm/ranch programs, and discussion of urban programming as a national priority. 

ECOP members Mark Latimore, Fort Valley State University,
Chris Boerboom, North Dakota State University, and
Lyla Houglum, Executive Director, Western Extension
Directors Association, engage in facilitated process.

Many Voices, One Message Theme of Joint COPs – Many Voices, One Message was the theme of the APLU Board on Agriculture Assembly (BAA) Joint COPs meeting last week in Providence. Laura Kalambokidis, University of Minnesota, set the stage by outlining how public value needs to be a part of outcomes reporting. Cathie Woteki, USDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for USDA Research, Education and Economics, and Sonny Ramaswamy, USDA-NIFA director, also addressed the group of about 100 key leaders. A facilitated discussion set the stage for the development of a unifying message about the value of university-based agriculture research, academic programs, and Cooperative Extension. The BAA Policy Board of Directors chaired by Jay Akridge, Purdue University, will continue efforts to reach agreement on a unifying message. 

Urban Programming Webinar 7.30.15 – Hear how Washington State University (WSU) Extension in Snohomish County continued to grow its programming through the recent recession by creating visible, relevant and successful urban Extension programs built on the strengths of traditional Extension programming. Learn the strategies that preserved and grew programs, enabled the development of new programs and defined WSU Extension as a leader in this metropolitan community.Register for the Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research seminar on Successful Urban Programming: Building from the Traditional Base, July 30, 2015, Noon -1:00 pm PDT at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4733757465126636289. 

Cultivating Change Summit – ECOP Personnel Committee co-chair Mike O’Neill, University of Connecticut, calls your attention to an inaugural summit August 6-9, 2015 in Atlanta, GA designed to value and celebrate the diversity of Gay, Bi, Trans, and Questioning men in or around agriculture (and the people who love and respect them). Goals of the summit are to strengthen the social fabric and further develop the community of Gay, Bi, Trans, and Questioning men involved with agriculture; articulate how personal and professional identity development has or has not been influenced by involvement in the agriculture community, and network with similar professionals and their allies to improve careers and professional development. For more information, contact Marcus Hollan, marcus.hollan@uky.edu, Kris Elliott, elliokris@uga.edu, or Jesse Lee Eller, jeller@studio5consulting.com or visit www.studio5consulting.com/cultivatingchange.