Top Honors in Extension Excellence and Diversity

The National Excellence in Extension Award is given annually to a Cooperative Extension professional who excels at programming, provides visionary leadership and makes a positive impact on constituents served. Jamie Ellis, recipient of this year's award, is a Professor and Extension Specialist in Agriculture in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida, where he directs the Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory. Regional Award winners are listed below. The National Diversity in Extension Award recognizes significant contributions and accomplishments in achieving and sustaining diversity and pluralism. The University of Missouri’s 4-H Center for Youth Development is the recipient in 2020. USDA-NIFA and Cooperative Extension have sponsored the awards since 1991. The awards will be presented virtually on October 28 (Registration will be appear here soon). Click Here to read more including quotes by ECOP Past-chair and Acting NIFA Director and here to learn more about the awards program.

Regional Excellence in Extension Awards 
· 1890s Region: Sanjun Gu, Horticulture Specialist, North Carolina A&T State University, for expansion of horticulture science to all communities.

· North Central Region: Lisa A. Bottomley, Senior Extension Specialist and Manager of Volunteer Services, Michigan State University, for leadership in best practices in volunteer and youth engagement.

· Northeast Region: Jennifer Robertson-Honecker, STEM Specialist, 4-H Youth Development Program, West Virginia University, for innovative programming to educate youth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

· Southern Region: Hailin Zhang, Nutrient Management Extension Specialist, Oklahoma State University, for using agricultural science to advance public understanding of effective agricultural practices.

· Western Region: Paul Allen Hill, Extension Professor, Applied Sciences and Technical Education, Utah State University, for innovative economic development program empowering rural communities through remote work.

NIFA's New Integrated Reporting System - The New NIFA Reporting System will eventually be home to all research (competitive and capacity) and Extension programs, and enable the new, service-oriented NIFA and Land-Grant Institutions to more fully "tell the story" of how they are working together to advance agricultural research and Extension across the nation. The current phase of work to be released will bring AREERA research and Extension activities together for the first time in a centralized reporting portal equipped with dashboards. Cooperative Extension will have the means to describe their programs in greater detail and offers the expanded format requested for the Plan of Work. NIFA designed the Extension module with representatives from the Land-Grant University System at the table, providing valuable input and guidance. For several months, the Extension Working Group worked with NIFA staff to develop a user-friendly product to collect quality information to serve both NIFA and our partners, while streamlining the overall effort. A similar effort is underway with the Research Working Group to streamline reporting requirements for Hatch, Hatch Multistate, and Evans-Allen. REEport will remain unchanged until the new system is completed and fully operable. Additional guidance will be provided at monthly webinars and on this website. To receive invitations to the project’s monthly webinars, contact pow@usda.gov. 

Planning for NEDA 2021 - Thank you to all (5% rate of response) who have completed the 2020 NEDA Survey so far. For everyone else, please take a few moments to assess this year's virtual NEDA meeting and speak to next year's planning committee. Click Here to begin. 

RFA Announcement - Military Teen Adventure Camps - Due November 5, 2020 - Purdue Extension announces an opportunity to land-grant university colleagues to support military teens by hosting military teen adventure camps during summer, 2021. As part of an ongoing partnership between the Department of Defense, Office of Family Policy, Children & Youth and USDA/NIFA, this project and funding opportunity allows the Extension system to offer to military teens some of the best “adventure” camping opportunities that can be found across the nation. The link to the RFA is here.


Community Learning With Data-Driven Discovery Strategies Webinars - As a follow-up to the ECOP sponsored National Action Dialogue and Day 1 NEDA discussions, Oregon State’s three-state partnership team has developed a six-part webinar series for Extension professionals. Organizers will take the concepts of community learning through data driven discovery and provide strategies to help Extension professionals maximize their time, develop responsive programs using data insights, and foster impact in collaboration with communities. Extension professionals are invited to register for webinar series here.

   October 7, 2020--The Process: Community Learning for Data Driven Decision Making

   October 14, 2020--The Community: Community Capital Framework for Economic Mobility

   October 21, 2020--The Team: Team Science & Working Virtually as a Team

   October 28, 2020--The Discovery: Data Discovery Process

   November 4, 2020--The Culture: Building a Data-Ready Culture

   November 18, 2020--The Action Plan: Finding Insights in Data