Friday, February 24, 2017

Civil Discourse Rapid Response Team Webinar

Rachel Welborn, Southern Rural
Development Center, and Chris Boerboom,
North Dakota State University
The Rapid Response Team (RRT) on Civil Discourse, established by ECOP, is hosting a one-hour webinar on Wednesday, May 17th at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time to showcase findings and share potential next steps for this work. Please save the date and join in the conversation. Additional information on the agenda and speakers will be posted in a future ECOP Monday Minute. For more information, please contact Rachel Welborn, RRT Chair, at Rachel.welborn@msstate.edu or 662.325.5885 or Dr. Chris Boerboom, Chair, ECOP Program Committee, at Chris.Boerboom@ndsu.edu or 701-231-8944. No preregistration is required. Simply save this link to use for the session: https://zoom.us/j/115542421


2017 National Awards Process Underway - ECOP and USDA-NIFA announce the 2017 nomination process for the National Excellence in Extension and Diversity awards. The due date for on-line nominations is May 1, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. For details and to access the worksheets and online nomination forms go to: http://www.aplu.org/CESawards. When completing a nomination for Excellence in Extension Award, please note that there are some changes to the criteria. Extension Directors and Administrator are to encourage nominations from previous years that were not selected for the National Awards to reapply. Questions can be directed to Sandy Ruble sandyruble@extension.org, ECOP Program Assistant.



2017 National Health Outreach Conference - The University of Maryland Extension will host the 2017 National Health Outreach Conference (NHOC) at the Loews Annapolis Hotel in Annapolis, Maryland, May 2-4, 2017. Come join Cooperative Extension and other national leaders dedicated to building a culture of health for all of America. The theme of the 2017 NHOC is Navigating the World of Health: A Sea of Opportunity. Conference tracks include: 1. Individual and Family Health, 2. Organizational Health, 3. Community Health, 4. Environmental Health and Safety, and 5. Health Policy and Systems Change. Check out the pre-conference workshop/tours, early-bird registration (on or before Friday, March 31) and other details at: https://app.certain.com/profile/form/index.cfm?PKformID=0x2512143e722


Diversity and Inclusion Resources - Over 80 Extension professionals representing nearly 40 eXtension Issue Corps projects on diversity and inclusion participated in a Designathon on February 14-15. The Designathon uses concept mapping and one-on-one mentoring with key informants to assist team members in their project planning. eXtension developed the Issue Corps program to identify innovative thinkers in the Cooperative Extension System, catalyze their work, and amplify the local impact of these teams by sharing their efforts on a national scale so that other Extension professionals can integrate innovative approaches into their programs. Future plans include tailored professional development and sharing about the projects and experience. To see what the Designathon experience was like, visit the recap at D&I Issue Corps Designathon 2017.


Register Early for PILD - The early registration rate for the Public Issues Leadership Development (PILD) conference ends on March 3rd! Registration information is available on the jcep.org website. The conference will be held in DC April 2-5. The theme for 2017 PILD is Relationships, Relevance, Results. The purpose of PILD is for Extension administrators, professionals, and volunteers to improve their skills in telling Extension’s story about local program impacts. In addition, participants will get up-to-date information about the Farm Bill, Federal budgets, NIFA focus areas and grants, and how to effectively meet with members of Congress and other decision makers. This video contains more information about PILD: https://mymediasite.online.ncsu.edu/online/Play/450e8074a5a94d6ead09f499ef4a39a11d

Monday, February 13, 2017

2017 PILD


 ECOP Monday Minute will return 2.27.17 due to Presidents' Day Holiday

Registration is open at jcep.org for the 2017 Public Issues Leadership Development (PILD) conference scheduled for April 2-5 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, VA (early registration ends March 3rd). The theme for 2017 PILD is Relationships, Relevance, Results. The purpose of PILD is for Extension administrators, professionals, and volunteers to improve their skills in telling Extension’s story about local program impacts. In addition participants will get up-to-date information about the Farm Bill, Federal budgets, NIFA focus areas and grants, and how to effectively meet with members of Congress and other decision makers. A pre-conference webinar will be held on March 10 at 1:00pm Eastern Time. Log-in information will be emailed to those registered for PILD. It will also be recorded for later viewing. For additional conference information see: PILD 2017 Promo1.pdf. To view a short promotional video click on this link: https://mymediasite.online.ncsu.edu/online/Play/450e8074a5a94d6ead09f499ef4a39a11d

UPDATE: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Partnership Webinar Series - There is now a way to sign up for the 2-part webinar series introduced last week in the ECOP Monday Minute. To register: CLICK HERE. The dates are:
  • March 9 @ 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time: focus on the partnership and goals 
  • April 6 @ 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time: learn more about the request for application process to be a pilot state 
For more information about the partnership, CLICK HERE for a presentation recorded by Dr. Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware.

Big Data Is Coming to Cooperative Extension - eXtension fellows, Justin Griffis Smith, Washington State University, and Christian Schmieder, University of Wisconsin, are organizing a workshop for Extension professionals to learn more about tools and methods for analyzing qualitative data for climate resilient agriculture. Justin’s fellowship is a joint effort between GODAN (Global Open Data for Ag and Nutrition) and the eXtension Foundation. Both fellows are looking at solutions to use Big Data methods to make available information more meaningful and actionable. Read more on the workshop.  

Southern Region Middle Managers Conference - The Southern Region would like to invite all land-grant universities to send participants to an upcoming Middle Managers Conference, to be held in Asheville NC, March 13-16, 2017. This year's event will feature world-class training from the internationally-acclaimed Center for Creative Leadership (www.ccl.org). The Tuesday session will be specifically designed to build critical skills in the areas effective leadership, giving and receiving feedback, and developing a leadership culture for all. In addition, sister institutions will share best practices in the areas of onboarding, County Extension Director competencies, 4-H Agent retention, and more. To learn more and register for the Conference, go to this link: http://www.cvent.com/d/9vq3v5?RefID=2017SRMM.

Monday, February 6, 2017

National Executive Director Announced

Rick Klemme, Executive
Director, Cooperative
Extension/ECOP
ECOP Chair Fred Shlutt is honored to announce that Rick Klemme has agreed to serve as the ‎ECOP Executive Director (ED), beginning February 6th. Rick comes with experience as Dean and Director of Cooperative Extension in Wisconsin (2009-2016). He is a former Chair of ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee and Co-chaired the ECOP/ESCOP Health Implementation Team. Rick earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from Illinois State University, and his master’s and PhD degrees in agricultural economics from Purdue University. Rick will serve for up to 9 months or until a new ED is selected and conduct the affairs of the ECOP National Office located at the APLU in Washington, DC with Staff Associate Sandy Ruble. The ECOP ED Search committee is regrouping to begin a second application process. ECOP is grateful for Rick's willingness to fill this vital position. Rick may be contacted at rickklemme@extension.org or 202-478-6029.

Jason Henderson,
Purdue University
Extension Director on Capitol Hill – Jason Henderson, Purdue University will be featured at a National Coalition for Food and Agriculture Research (NC-FAR) Capitol Hill Lunch/Learn event designed for Congressional staffers on Monday, 2.13.17. The "science to application" presentation is called, Pressures on Repayment and Spending: Cooperative Extension translates scientific research to help farmers and ranchers; see http://conta.cc/2kiKRLG. Please encourage Congressional staffers to attend.

SAVE THE DATES: Cooperative Extension + Robert Wood Johnson Foundation = Building a Culture of Health - A 2-part webinar series is scheduled for all of Extension to learn more about a new partnership between Cooperative Extension and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The purpose of the 10-year partnership is to build a Culture of Health in communities across America in 2017 and beyond. In March, Cooperative Extension Section institutions can apply. Five will be selected as pilots this summer to launch the program. All institutions will have the chance to engage in other ways, including professional development opportunities. Webinar series dates are:
  • Thursday, March 9, 2:00 PM ET Details about the partnership
  • Thursday, April 6, 2:00 PM ET Details about applying
Look for more information through future posts in ECOP Monday Minute for how to register. To learn more about the partnership, CLICK HERE for an 8 minute recorded presentation by ECOP Past-chair Michelle Rodgers, Associate Dean and Director, University of Delaware Extension. The webinar mentioned in the clip refers to the the series listed above. These sessions will be recorded and made available for sharing.  

Extension Resources on Opioid Epidemic - The ECOP Program Committee sought input from Extension directors/administrators on the potential need for a rapid response team to address the opioid epidemic. While the 5-question survey results did not warrant the creation of a rapid response team at this time, resources collected in the survey have been shared on eXtension at https://extension.org/74079.