Cooperative Extension Section/ECOP Leadership Announcement

During the ECOP Executive Committee meeting last Thursday, 6/11/2020, the Northeast Region Extension Directors (NEED) announced the new Chair-elect for ECOP, beginning July 1. During the Cooperative Extension Section Annual Business Meeting (aka NEDA) in late September 2020 (see more below), the ECOP gavel will be passed from Mark Latimore, Fort Valley State University, to Chris Watkins, Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension (pictured left). Chris has served the System as a national leader on ECOP since 2017, the Search Committee for the Cooperative Extension System/ECOP Executive Director, and ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee since 2019.

Virtual NEDA Meeting – Chair of the National Extension Directors and Administrators (NEDA) Planning Committee, Ed Jones, Virginia Tech, announced to the ECOP Executive Committee last Thursday, that the 2020 Cooperative Extension Section Business Meeting/NEDA will occur September 23-24 (ECOP Meeting on September 22). However, NEDA will be conducted on a virtual platform rather than face-to-face in Detroit. All 76 members of the Cooperative Extension Section and System partners are encouraged to save the dates and watch for registration to be released, soon. Timing of the live Sessions, no more than 2 hours each, will accommodate up to 7 time zones to engage the full Section for important decisions to be made and vital dialogue to take place. The next meeting of the of the Planning Committee is set for June 18. Stay tuned for the announcement of a theme and other details with registration.



4-H Pathways Institute Opportunity - ECOP 4-H Leadership Committee congratulates teams from Washington State University, Virginia Tech, the University of Nebraska, West Virginia University, and the University of Missouri for the inaugural 4-H Pathways Leadership Institute on July 14th and 15th. There were so many interested applicants that Council is offering a second Institute in September 2020. This second cohort will include teams from New Mexico State University, the University of Florida, the University of Delaware, and N.C. A&T State University. There is still room for one or two more teams for our September Institute. Institutions interested in applying, may contact Kaitlin McTighe at kmctighe@changingourworld.com for more details.



eXtension Partners with Farm Journal to Spotlight Cooperative Extension - Last month, eXtension piloted a story lead contest in its Connect Extension platform in partnership with Farm Journal with input from ACE and EDEN. All Cooperative Extension colleagues are invited to submit story leads, not full narratives, to the contest. Winners will have their stories fully produced by Farm Journal and shared across Farm Journal media to bring greater visibility to the work of Cooperative Extension. For the month of May, the topic area was wildlife conservation practices; Jeff Goodwin, Interim Associate Dean for Extension at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, submitted the winning story lead. A runner up was selected from Clemson University and will also have a story published. eXtension invites all Extension Directors and Administrators to encourage faculty and staff to participate. The topic area for June is Food Waste and the deadline is June 25, 2020. Learn more here.