Extension Leaders Sought by APLU

Please note that the ECOP Monday Minute will be on hiatus until November 7.

Extension Leaders Sought by APLU - The APLU’s Commission on Economic and Community Engagement (CECE) invites members of Cooperative Extension Section to join them. And CECE is seeking 8 new engaged faculty for their Executive Committee. The term is for 3-years. As a standing commission alongside CFERR, CECE strives to provide a national dialogue on universities and their impacts in community and economic engagement. Through conferences, initiatives, and by supporting grantsmanship of this office, CECE promotes best practices, connects colleagues on challenges/opportunities, and advocates for meaningful partnerships which empower communities, advance industry collaboration, and informs the scholarship of faculty and students. For members of the Section to learn more about CECE, click here. To become a member of the CECE, click here. Applications for the Executive Committee are being accepted through November 4. Click here to review the application form & apply.

EXCITE Project Shares Impact Infographics - Coordinators of the EXCITE Project want Extension Directors and Administrators to know that regional and national impact statements are now available.  The files are organized as 1890s Region, 1994s Tribal Institutions, North Central Region, Northeast Region, Southern Region, and Western Region. The data used to produce these infographic elements are from the EXCITE monthly reports as of the end of July 2022. There is space on back page where individual land-grants can brand and communicate their unique project information. Each downloadable zip file folder at this link contains images of the front and back design, an Adobe InDesign File, and a PDF version and ready for Extension professionals to share widely. Contact Melanie Pugsley if there are any questions.

NASS Data Users’ Meeting - USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will hold its biannual Data Users’ Meeting virtually November 15 from noon-3:30 p.m. ET. The Data Users’ Meeting is held to share recent and pending statistical program changes with the public and to solicit input on these and other programs important to agriculture. The event is organized in cooperation with the World Agricultural Outlook Board, Farm Service Agency, Economic Research Service, Agricultural Marketing Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and U.S. Census Bureau. The meeting is free and open to the public. Visit the NASS webpage to review the 2022 Spring Data Users' Meeting Materials and/or contact NASS Public Affairs Director for more details for the November 15 Meeting. The link to register is anticipated to be released here by the end of this week.

ECOP Cooperative Extension Budget and Legislative Committee Update

Jason Henderson, Purdue University, (pictured left) is the new chair of the ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee (BLC). He is actively preparing for 3 national events with the support of the EDA Team. 

• Developing the agenda for the first 2022-2023 Zoom BLC meeting on November 1, 4-5:00 p.m. ET.
  
  
• Gathering input for a presentation for NIFA Listens: Investing in Science to Transform Lives on November 2. Members of the Section by Region will learn more about collective talking points in the very near future. 
  
  
• As Chair and latest voting member, on Sunday, November 6 in Denver, Jason will participate in his first APLU/BAA Policy Board of Directors' Budget and Advocacy Committee (BAC) meeting. 

Jason has served 1-term (4 years) as an ECOP Member with the Program Committee. The North Central Region recently appointed him to begin a second term. He started with ECOP BLC in 2016 and became vice-chair in September 2020. Stay tuned to the ECOP Monday Minute to meet the newest members of the ECOP BLC. 

Top 3 Cooperative Extension System Initiatives Explained - At their last meeting on September 26, ECOP officially released 3 documents for communicating with partners, decision-makers, and stakeholders. These handy 2-pagers include a powerful infographic to visualize the existing system to advance and apply science in communities. Developed through an iterative process for nearly a year, the following are currently available at www.extension.org/ecop and will soon become available at advocacy.extension.org.

• Climate Resiliency
• Health Equity and Well-Being
• Workforce Development

Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching and Engagement Annual Report Available - The EXCITE annual report details the first year of the EXCITE program and was created by the EXCITE National Program Team and the Extension Foundation. The report describes the EXCITE project's goals, the unique strengths Extension brings to immunization education, the pivots the project had to make to adapt to the ever-changing pandemic, designing for system work, and the system solutions developed to support this project. This report exemplifies what EXCITE has accomplished in communities across the nation while also serving as a great model for a system work.

Meet the ECOP Chair-Elect

ECOP’s Chair-elect, Damona Doye (pictured left), is Associate Vice President of Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and a Regents Professor in Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University (OSU). An OSU faculty member since June 1986, Dr. Doye served as an Extension farm management specialist for 32 years and held the Rainbolt Chair of Agricultural Finance in the Department of Agricultural Economics. She is a Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, the highest honor given by the organization in recognition of lifetime achievement. Before her AVP appointment, she received the 2017 Southern Region Excellence in Extension Award from USDA-NIFA and ECOP. The Southern Region Extension Directors appointed her to ECOP in the fall of 2021, and she has served until now on the Program Committee by taking leadership of the Broadband Program Action Team. Until taking the Chair's gavel in October 2023, Dr. Doye will serve as a voting member of the Executive Committee and as ECOP Liaison to ESCOP.




Welcome New ECOP Members

· Northeast Region – Roy Beckford, University of Vermont

Fitzroy B “Roy” Beckford spent over a decade with the University of Florida Extension as a County Extension director, managing work in the areas of agriculture, natural resources, horticultural sciences, marine and aquatic environments, 4-H youth development, family and consumer sciences, food systems, small farms initiatives, and environmental sustainability. During his tenure as the state Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) program leader at North Carolina A&T State University's College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, he provided administrative, financial, marketing and communications leadership. Dr. Beckford began as associate dean and director of University of Vermont Extension on May 1, 2021, and brings a global perspective. He has worked in agricultural consulting around the world, including service with the government of the British Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture, as well as in Qatar and Belize. His national role is that of Executive Committee of ECOP. 

· Western Region - Jon C. Boren, New Mexico State University

Dr. Boren, Associate Dean & Director of NMSU Cooperative Extension Service, returns to ECOP voting membership. He is highly familiar with the National scene as he has represented the System in various capacities since 2012. His extraordinary commitment to the System includes, ECOP Budget & Legislative Committee Chair and Vice-chair, Co-chair of the ECOP 4-H Leadership Committee, Extension International Workgroup, Section Representative to the BAA/PBD Budget and Advocacy Committee, and ECOP Program Committee. In addition, Jon represents the Cooperative Extension System on the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees. 

USDA Regional Food Business Centers RFA - National Extension Webinar - Attention Extension Directors and Administrators (1994, 1890, 1862) and more importantly the extension practitioners from interested land-grant institutions! A national webinar for the Cooperative Extension System about funding for USDA Regional Food Business Centers will take place on Tuesday, October 18, 2:00-3:00 PM ET. The hour is intended to provide information on the AMS Regional Food Business Center RFA, share available resources, and answer questions that are most relevant to the Cooperative Extension System.
Here is the link to register: https://pages.extension.org/regional-food 

Educating Capitol Hill Staff on Adapting to Climate Change - Please share the following opportunity with congressional contacts: Join the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research (NCFAR) and Resources for the Future for a webinar featuring Margaret Walls, Ph.D, Senior Fellow with Resources for the Future on Adapting to Climate Change: Wildfire, Outdoor Recreation, and Rural Communities in the American West. Registration is required here to receive connection details for Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 11:00 AM ET.

Leadership Transition and New MOU

On September 27, 2022, during the Cooperative Extension Section Business Meeting portion of Joint ESS/CES-NEDA Meeting in Baltimore, Members who were present witnessed the official passing of the Section/ECOP Chair's gavel from Wendy Powers, Dean, Washington State University, (right) to Beverly R. Durgan, University of Minnesota Extension (left). Bev's goal as Chair is to advance the ECOP Strategic Directions, by focusing on priorities identified by member institutions, and building on successes and recent lessons learned. The intended outcome is a cohesive Cooperative Extension System and stronger member programs, inclusive of all. Bev's Action Plan for the coming year can be found at www.aplu.org/cesgoals. Future editions of the ECOP Monday Minute will share more details regarding the year ahead. Members of the Section and 1994 Extension Directors are encouraged to save 3-4:00 p.m. ET every first Friday of the month for conversations with the ECOP Chair and occasional Learning for Leaders Sessions. Stay tuned to email for connection details. 

System MOU Aimed to Resource Development - On September 26, 2022, a new Memorandum of Understanding was established by ECOP, National 4-H Council, and the Extension Foundation. Please review the document here. Three members of the Section representing each partner in the agreement were the signers. Pictured L-R, Wendy Powers, Washington State University, ECOP Chair, Courtney Owens, Kentucky State University, Vice-chair of the Extension Foundation Board of Directors, and Jon Boren, New Mexico State University, Trustee of National 4-H Council.

2021-2022 Report and Celebration - Don't miss the Cooperative Extension Section's return on investment spelled out the interactive document version of the Annual Report available here and in this interactive slide presentation which includes Finance Update and notable expressions of appreciation to:

• Char Wenham (Michigan), CARET Liaison to ECOP;
• Edmund Buckner, Alcorn State University, and Arch Smith, University of Georgia for service on the ECOP 4-H Leadership Committee;
• Chris Watkins, Cornell University, for service on ECOP;
• Karla Trautman, South Dakota State University, for leadership of National Impact Database Committee and Communications and Marketing Committee, and 
• Jon Boren, New Mexico State University, for chairing the ECOP Budget & Legislative Committee. 

Join ECOP and the EDA Team to celebrate the outstanding leadership and commitment to the mission of Extension over the past year by Wendy Powers, Washington State University, and for the dedication by Caroline Henney (Crocoll) as Executive Director of the National Office who retired on September 30, 2022. 

National Leadership 101 Recording and Slides Available - On September 9, 2022 26 Extension Directors, joined ECOP's latest monthly Friday Zoom event. All 5 regions and the 1994 Tribal Universities participated in the Learning for Leaders Program developed by the ECOP Professional Development Committee. To share and experience the 45-minute session, which included presentation by Brent Elrod, USDA-NIFA and Doug Steele, APLU, use https://youtu.be/MuwwSxu_kMc.Slides from the presentation are available here.

Extension Foundation Selected by USDA-NIFA as Technical Provider for NEXTGEN Funding Opportunity - The primary goal of the From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals Program (NEXTGEN) is to enable 1890 LGUs, 1994 LGUs, Alaska Native-serving and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, and insular area institutions of higher education located in the U.S. territories to engage, recruit, retain, train, and support students to help build and sustain the next generation of the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) workforce including the future USDA workforce. The Foundation will raise awareness of the NEXTGEN program and provide technical assistance for eligible institutions to develop teams, partners, program strategies and to connect with USDA and other career opportunities. The APLU will support the Foundation in their role to help connect potential institutional partners to one another. Read more here.