Monday, March 24, 2025

New Administrators and Directors Orientation

Please complete the survey by April 15, 2025 (even if you have already completed a similar survey).

This event is intended for individuals on the Board on Agriculture Assembly and their supporting administrators or faculty, who have entered an administrative position recently and any others who would like to learn more about APLU, the Land-Grant University System and the BAA. Information presented will be particularly useful to administrative heads, deans/directors, and associate/assistant deans/directors.

Learning objectives include: Gaining an understanding of the Board on Agriculture Assembly and APLU, including how national priorities are set by organizational committees and how you can become involved; gaining valuable tips from experienced administrators about what they wish they had known when they were hired and hearing from senior university leadership about their career pathways.

A minimum of 20 participant are needed to make this a meaningful orientation. If there is not enough interest in attending a live format (July in Washington, DC; November at the APLU Annual Meeting in Philadelphia) please indicate you would be interested in a virtual format only.

Please complete the survey by April 15, 2025.


USDA Appoints New NIFA Director: Jaye Hamby

On March 20th, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the appointment of Dr. Jaye L. Hamby as the Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). As Director, Dr. Hamby will lead USDA’s efforts to advance agricultural innovation, community outreach, and fostering the next generation of agricultural leaders.

Dr. Hamby, a Tennessee native, grew up on his family’s cow-calf operation and developed a deep connection to agriculture through 4-H and FFA, eventually serving as a national FFA officer. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from the University of Tennessee before completing his master’s and doctorate degrees in agricultural education at Oklahoma State University. Over the course of his career, he has directed hundreds of research efforts specializing in concept testing, product marketing, value driver analysis, and following market trends and strategies to support agricultural producers.


AgriProspects Webinar on Workforce Development Clearinghouse

The AgriProspects Workforce Development Network, a national program of the Extension Foundation open to all Land-grant Institutions regardless of Extension Foundation membership, recently announced a system wide data gathering initiative to build a Clearinghouse for Extension’s adult agricultural workforce development programs. This Clearinghouse will serve as the underlying structure for the AgriProspects Marketplace, a one-stop information portal to assist connecting learners, earners, and employers to the breadth and depth of Extension’s work within adult ag workforce development. Listing is optional and institutions can request to not be included in the Clearinghouse and Marketplace. A webinar was held on March 19th to roll-out the Marketplace concept and initiative. To learn more about AgriProspects visit the link above or reach out to Dr. Jason L. Weigle, Agriprospects Program Manager, at agriprospects@extension.org.


New Issue of the Journal of Extension

There is a new issue of the Journal of Extension. Scholars from the following states are represented: 
Alabama, California, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.