New Engagement Planning Team Completes Work

In recognition of Independence Day, ECOP Monday Minute will return on 7.11.16. 

ECOP Chair Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware; Mark Latimore, Fort Valley State University; Lou Swanson,
Colorado State University; Nick Place, University of Florida, and Cathann Kress, Iowa State University

See www.aplu.org/newengagement for the report The New Engagement: Exploring the Issues Across the Spectrum. This is the work of an APLU planning team focused on university engagement which is expected to frame efforts of a forthcoming APLU New Engagement Task Force. In addition to the report, see the video and use the feedback form to engage in the conversation about the potential of public and land-grant university engagement. Cooperative Extension has been involved throughout this effort. ECOP appreciates the contributions of regional Extension representatives on the planning team – Mark Latimore, Fort Valley State University; Nick Place, University of Florida; Cathann Kress, Iowa State University; Lou Swanson, Colorado State University, and Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware. 

Health Insurance Literacy Webinar Wednesday – The Health Insurance Literacy Action Team, a part of the ECOP-ESCOP Health Implementation team, announces a webinar 12:30 p.m. ET, this Wednesday, 6.29.16 to discuss the results of a 2015 survey assessing Cooperative Extension’s health insurance literacy efforts. The webinar, titled What Extension Professionals Say about Health Insurance Literacy, can be accessed at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/fsa. The survey focused on what educators are doing in the field, barriers to implementation, and training needs of educators. Action team members will report findings from the survey, discuss implications for Extension educators, ask participants for their insights, and share information about resources and upcoming opportunities. 

ESS-CES/NEDA 2016 Joint Meeting Registration Deadline July 31^st – Partnership: Power and Possibilities is the theme of the 2016 National Extension Directors and Administrators (NEDA) and Cooperative Extension Section (CES) meeting, this year held jointly with the Experiment Station Section (ESS). All details about registration and lodging are available at https://conferencereg.colostate.edu/Jackson2016. Early bird registration goes through the end of July. The meeting begins 3:30 p.m. on Monday, September 19, 2016 with an orientation for ESS/CES new directors and administrators. The opening dinner for all is at 6:00 p.m. on Monday with programming through the closing banquet Wednesday evening, September 21, 2016. ECOP continues with a meeting Thursday, September 22, 2016 which ends at noon. ECOP thanks ESCOP colleagues for securing this special venue for the meeting in Grand Teton National Park and working with Cooperative Extension on an engaging agenda celebrating our joint work. ECOP also thanks planning team members from Cooperative Extension – Delbert Foster, ECOP immediate past-chair, South Carolina State University; Bev Durgan, University of Minnesota; Tony Windham, University of Arkansas; Glen Whipple, University of Wyoming, and Steve Bonanno, West Virginia University. 

Gordon Gee, West Virginia University; Ed Jones, Virginia Tech;
Cathann Kress, Iowa State University; and Peter McPherson, APLU.

4-H Promotes Higher Education – See http://bit.ly/4HHigherEd for the foundational document for Cathann Kress, Iowa State University, and Ed Jones Virginia Tech, who spoke to the APLU Council of President’s last week in Alexandria, VA. Following an introduction by Gordon Gee, President, West Virginia University, and member, National 4-H Council Board of Trustees, Kress and Jones engaged both land-grant and non-land-grant presidents in a conversation about how 4-H encourages youth to pursue post-secondary education and involve faculty/staff in engaging youth. Both Kress and Jones are on the ECOP 4-H National Leadership Committee. 

Roberta Riportella, Oregon State University, third from right.
Go to http://bit.ly/HIaPEd for team directory.

Health Policy Education Extension Priority – The Health in All Policies Education Action Team (HIaPE), a part of the ECOP-ESCOP Health Implementation Team, is focuses on the convergence of health in all policies that shape the social, economic, and environmental contexts in which people live, work, play, and visit; and to forge this convergence into a prevention strategy to improve population health outcomes. Among other accomplishments HiaPE, formerly named the Health Policies Education Action Team, has interviewed Extension Program Leaders about current and prospective health policy efforts, produced a Readiness Assessment, and developed a logic model that will serve to guide the team’s efforts. For more information, including obtain the report, contact Roberta Riportella, action team chair, Oregon State University, at roberta.riportella@oregonstate.edu. Other team members Alabama A&M University , University of Arizona, University of Hawaii, University of Kentucky, Michigan State University, North Carolina State University, Oregon State University, and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. 

Chuck Hibberd, University of Nebraska

REMINDER: ECOP National System Webinar Tuesday – Cooperative Extension directors/administrators or their designees are encouraged to join Chuck Hibberd, University of Nebraska, at 11:00 a.m. ET, Tuesday, 6.28.16, for the next step in the conversation about Extension as a national system. Hibberd, who chairs the ECOP National System Task Force, will review the results of two national surveys and gain your insights on next steps. To connect, please go to https://zoom.us/j/445634779, or iPhone one-tap: +14086380968,445634779# or +16465588656,445634779#, or Telephone: Dial: +1 408 638 0968 (US Toll) or +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll), Webinar ID: 445 634 779.

Honoring Mary Jane Willis

Mary Jane Willis joins Delbert Foster, left, ECOP immediate past chair,
and Jay Akridge, APLU Board on Agriculture Assembly
Policy Board of Directors chair, at a November 2015
APLU Annual Meeting award ceremony in Indianapolis.

ECOP has lost a valued member, an exemplary partner, and a special friend. Mary Jane Willis, Associate Director, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, lost a valiant battle with cancer Saturday, December 5th. Mary Jane served on ECOP since 2010 and was recently tapped by the Northeast region to serve another four-year term. She provided significant national leadership through the ECOP Program Committee especially focusing on her passion for Extension urban programming. On November 15th, she was on hand at the APLU Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, as the photo shows, to accept a Regional Award for Excellence in Extension on behalf of Changlu Wang, Rutgers Extension Entomologist. Mary Jane’s middle name was Cooperative Extension. She working tirelessly for the national system and for the state of New Jersey to assure Extension programming was of highest quality, honored diversity, and showed quantifiable impacts.

ECOP Chair Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware; Mark Latimore, Fort Valley State University; Lou Swanson, Colorado State University; Nick Place, University of Florida, and Cathann Kress, Iowa State University

Extension Colleagues Named to APLU New Engagement Planning Team – ECOP Chair Michelle Rodgers, University of Delaware; Mark Latimore, Fort Valley State University; Lou Swanson, Colorado State University; Nick Place, University of Florida, and Cathann Kress, Iowa State University, represent the Cooperative Extension Section of the APLU Board on Agriculture Assembly on a New Engagement Planning Team convened by APLU. The team will recommend a process for establishing and engaging APLU members and stakeholders in a Task Force on “The New Engagement” for public higher education. The eventual Task Force will be charged with envisioning a new, broadly inclusive definition for university engagement, and also charged with making recommendations for university actions to realize this vision. Co-chairs are Mark Hussey, Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University, and Roy Wilson, President, Wayne State University. Other planning team members represent the APLU Council on Engagement and Outreach (CEO), the Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Economic Prosperity (CICEP), and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities. 

News from Extension’s Federal Partner – USDA-NIFA has:

1. Updated its Commodity Board webpage at http://nifa.usda.gov/commodity-boards. The 2014 Farm Bill Commodity Boards provision allows eligible national and state commodity boards, and marketing orders to propose topics for research that they are willing to 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). Direct questions to commodityboards@nifa.usda.gov.
2. Established a Data Gateway to its datasets, 2002 to present, which can be used to help tell the story of what activities are funded by NIFA and the impact of that funding. Heat maps allow Gateway users to see the total amount of funding by state, and what grants make up the total for 2011 and 2015. Suggestions about this tool can be directed to electronic@nifa.usda.gov.