Fernandez to Keynote NEDA 2015

Claudia Fernandez, Director, Leadership Core, FSLI,  &
LaJune Montgomery Tabron, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

How do you create a culture of innovation in your organization? What are the characteristics of an innovator? What innovations can frame Cooperative Extension’s next century? These questions and more will be addressed by Claudia Fernandez, director, Leadership Core, Food Systems Leadership Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, at the 2015 National Extension Directors and Administrators (NEDA) Meeting October 12-14, 2015 in St. Louis. Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Fernandez’s presentation at NEDA will kick off peer-to-peer learning around the theme Innovation: Driving Extension’s Next Century based on the new Cooperative Extension Innovation Inventory scheduled for release just prior to the meeting. Kellogg Foundation CEO LaJune Montgomery Tabron, will bring comments via video. Register at www.cvent.com/d/wrq424. 

Promotion Flier for Impacts Database – The National Imparts Database Committee, Tim Cross, Chair, University of Tennessee, announces the availability of a promotional postcard in both email and print versions for the impacts database at www.landgrantimpacts.org. These resources are available through the password protected portion of the web site. The committee encourages broad use of the postcards to promote the value of this database. 

USDA-NIFA Releases RFA Schedule – NIFA’s Office of Grants and Financial Management has established a Request for Application (RFA) Schedule that includes anticipated dates of publication for the remaining FY2015 RFAs. NIFA does not guarantee that the RFAs will be published by these dates. This schedule is for informational purposes only and will be updated on a biweekly basis. Questions about this list may be addressed to Lisa DePaolo, ldepaolo@nifa.usda.gov or phone at 202.401.5061. 

POW and Accomplishment Report Review Assignments – See http://nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/resource/NPL%20Liaison%20Assignments%20FY15%20FINAL.pdf to find out who at USDA-NIFA will review the Plan of Work and Accomplishment Report from your land-grant institution. 

2014 Farm Bill Commodity Boards Webinar – USDA-NIFA invites you to a webinar at 2:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, 8.6.15 to learn about the process for implementing the 2014 Farm Bill Commodity Boards provision. The 2014 Farm Bill allows eligible national and state commodity boards to propose topics for research that they will equally co-fund with NIFA. Such topics must relate to the established priority areas of the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (AFRI) to be considered for inclusion in future AFRI Requests for Applications (RFAs). Among other requirements, eligible commodity boards must address an agricultural commodity that includes a combination of promotion, research, industry information, or consumer information activities. Additional information is available in the Federal Register Notice Solicitation of Commodity Board Topics and Contribution of Funding Under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program, Implementation, published 7.24.15, or at www.nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards. To join the webinar, go to http://emsp.intellor.com/login/420889. Questions can be directed to Bill Hoffman at whoffman@nifa.usda.gov, 202.401.1112.