ECOP Monday Minute 11.4.13

ACTION: Send Centennial Message with Every E-Mail – The ECOP Extension Centennial Celebration Task Force encourages you to celebrate Extension’s 100 years with every e-mail message you send. See www.extension100years.net for details on how to add the centennial logo on your e-mail signature line and connect to the toolkit. Also encourage Extension colleagues and others to engage in the Centennial discussion on social media: Twitter (twitter.com/ext100years), Facebook (facebook.com/Extension100Years), Pinterest (pinterest.com/ext100years/pins).

ACTION: Need Program Impacts – To date, 43 institutions have entered data in the Measuring Excellence system at www.excellenceinextension.org and 31 institutions have entered impact statements. Joe Zublena, North Carolina State University, chair of the ECOP Measuring Excellence in Extension Implementation Team, and Mary Jane Willis, Rutgers University, chair of the ECOP Program Subcommittee, encourage 100 percent participation in both systems in order to provide the most complete picture of the nationwide Cooperative Extension System. Impact statements are especially important now as Cooperative Extension gears up for advocacy related to federal budget deliberations. For assistance, contact Scott Cummings, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, at s-cummings@tamu.edu.

USDA Ag Outlook Forum Features Centennial – “Launching Cooperative Extension’s Next Century” is the theme of a session accepted for presentation at the 2014 USDA Ag Outlook Forum http://www.usda.gov/oce/forum/ February 20-21 near Washington, DC. Working with USDA-NIFA, the Cooperative Extension centennial also will be featured in the display area.

ESCOP Update – Steve Slack, Ohio State University, chair of the Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy (ESCOP), encourages Cooperative Extension colleagues to view presentations at http://escop.ncsu.edu/ from the recent Experiment Station System meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Amongst topics addressed are water quality, global climate change, and budget management strategies.

National Student Competition – Student team entries are due February 28, 2014 for the National Agricultural Innovation Prize. The competition encourages the development of real-world plans to address social and agricultural challenges within food systems to improve the standard of living and quality of life for the world’s population. For details, see http://agprize.com and http://www.40Chances.com.

ECOP Monday Minute 10.28.13

NEW: Assessment Policies and Procedures – Daryl Buchholz, ECOP Chair, alerts you of two new documents which outline policies and procedures related to assessments. This action was necessary due to changes in procedures adopted by the Board on Agriculture Assembly Policy Board of Directors, of which the Cooperative Extension Section and ECOP are a part. See https://www.aplu.org/document.doc?id=4905 for Cooperative Extension Section Assessment Policies and Procedures and https://www.aplu.org/document.doc?id=4906 for eXtension Assessment Policies and Procedures.  The SNAP-ED assessment, which applies to participating institutions, is not addressed in these documents.

ACTION: eXtension Announces Two Searches – The eXtension Governing Committee, Jimmy Henning, Chair, and Dennis Calvin, Chair-elect, request your assistance in identifying applicants for two critical eXtension responsibilities. Applications for the Interim eXtension Executive Director are due 11.27.13 and for the eXtension Strategic Planning Consultant on 11.15.13. For details, see http://create.extension.org/node/98153.

Professional Development Conference – See www.naepsdp.org for details about the December 3-5, 2013 National Association of Extension Program & Staff Development Professionals (NAEPSDP) conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Early registration goes through 11.4.13. The conference theme is Show Me the Value.

Benning Receives Evaluation Honor – Linda Kay Benning, Cooperative Extension Northeast Region Executive Director, has been named recipient of the 2013 Mary Nell Greenwood Extension Evaluation Award by the Extension Education Evaluation Topic Interest Group of the American Evaluation Association http://www.eval.org/. For a complete listing of awards, see https://www.aplu.org/document.doc?id=4907.

USDA Farm Bill Campaign – The USDA Office of External and Intergovernmental Affairs encourages your participation in the #MyFarmBill social media campaign. Share stories, photos, and videos of how the farm bill impacts your state and locality.  

ECOP Monday Minute 10.21.13

Cross Elected to BAA Policy Board of Directors – Tim Cross, University of Tennessee, will represent Cooperative Extension/ECOP on the BAA Policy Board of Directors, effective November 2013. He replaces Scott Reed, Oregon State University, who served two consecutive two-year terms. According to BAA guidelines, Beverly Durgan, University of Minnesota, will serve as alternate.

ACTION: New Director and Administrator Orientation Registration Ends November 15 – New directors and administrators and anyone wanting to brush up on how national connectedness benefits your institution are encouraged to attend the December 3-5, 2013 New Dean, Director, Administrator, and NPL Orientation in Washington, DC. For details, click here.
 
ACTION: National 4-H Council Hosts Luncheon During APLU Annual Meeting – All Extension Directors and Administrators attending the APLU Annual Meeting are cordially invited to attend the luncheon meeting of the National Panel of Extension Directors and Administrators on Sunday, November 10, from 11:45 A.M. to 1:15 P.M. at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC. If you do not plan to attend, please send your regrets to Lyla Houglum by Wednesday, October 23rd, either by e-mail at lhouglum@fourhcouncil.edu or by phone at (301) 961-2883. National 4-H Council hosts this luncheon; there is no charge to you.

SAVE THE DATE: Urban Conference – The National Urban Extension Conference, scheduled on alternate years, will be May 4-7, 2015 in Atlanta, GA. For more information see www.urbanextension2015.com.

Plant Science Vision Report – The report, Unleashing a Decade of Innovation in Plant Science: A Vision for 2015-2025, is available at http://plantsummit.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/aspb-final-report-plant-summit-lo-res-web-july-15-2013.pdf.  The report outlines a ten-year research agenda for plant science and its impacts on many grand challenges that society faces of which plants play a critical role, such as food, fuel, feed, fiber, and medicines. 

ECOP Monday Minute 10.7.13

ECOP Monday Minute
10.7.13

In recognition of Columbus Day, ECOP Monday Minute will return on 10.21.13. 

Cooperative Extension at APLU Annual Meeting – Madeline Mellinger, CARET liaison to ECOP and Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Glades Crop Care, Inc., will speak about Extension Advocacy: Perspectives of Cowboys and Dragons at the Monday evening 11.11.13 Cooperative Extension dinner as part of the APLU Annual Meeting November 10-12, 2013 in Washington, DC. ECOP Chair Daryl Buchholz, Kansas State University, is on a Monday morning panel on Agriculture Preparedness: How Important Is the PCAST Report? For details about BAA activities during the meeting, see https://www.aplu.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=2539. Regular registration and the deadline to make hotel reservations at the conference rate for the 2013 APLU Annual Meeting ends 10.11.13. Click here for more information. 

World Food Prize Letter – Cooperative Extension was one of 100 organizations and institutions of higher education that signed on to the letter (https://www.aplu.org/document.doc?id=4854) to Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn of the World Food Prize Foundation. APLU and CARET also signed the letter. Chuck Hibberd, University of Nebraska, and Tim Cross, University of Tennessee, ECOP representatives to the National Coalition for Food and Agriculture, led ECOP decision-making for sign-on.

ECOP Appoints National Leaders – During action at the September 2013 ECOP face-to-face meeting in Pittsburgh, the following appointments were approved: Rick Klemme, University of Wisconsin, to continue as chair of the ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee and representative to the BAA Budget and Advocacy Committee; Tom Coon, Michigan State University, to continue as ECOP representative to the BAA Committee on Legislation and Policy, and Daryl Buchholz, Kansas State University, as ECOP liaison to ESCOP, replacing Doug Lantagne, University of Vermont.

ECOP Representation to EDEN – Nick Place, University of Florida, is ECOP liaison to EDEN and will be attending the Extension Disaster Education Network Annual Meeting this week in Madison, WS. He will provide this ECOP report (https://www.aplu.org/document.doc?id=4855) and comment on how EDEN aligns with the Cooperative Extension strategic opportunity (https://www.aplu.org/document.doc?id=4096) of “preparing for and responding to economic and natural disasters.”