FY 2016 Budget Priorities for Advocacy

In honor of Washington’s Birthday (Presidents’ Day), ECOP Monday Minute will return on 2.23.15. 

FY 2016 Budget Priorities for Advocacy – Rick Klemme, ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee Chair and ECOP representative to the APLU Board on Agriculture Assembly Budget and Advocacy Committee, University of Wisconsin, will meet with colleagues 2.10.15 to finalize FY 2016 budget priorities. Decisions and supporting documents will be posted at www.land-grant.org. Additional details about the USDA portion of the President’s FY 2016 proposed budget can be found at http://www.obpa.usda.gov. Check http://www.csrees.usda.gov/about/offices/budget.html for the expected posting of the USDA-NIFA brochure related to the FY 2016 Budget. 

ECOP Launches Innovation Inventory Project – Keith Smith, Extension Director, Ohio State University, has been retained by ECOP to develop a Cooperative Extension Innovation Inventory. The purpose of the qualitative study is to determine what innovation in programming, resource development, and administrative processes are underway as Cooperative Extension launches its second 100 years. The report will frame an October 2015 Cooperative Extension meeting where Directors/Administrators will have opportunity to learn characteristics of an innovative organization and what it takes to lead one. Cooperative Extension directors and administrators responsible for day-to-day operations will be contacted by phone. 

Measuring Excellence in Extension (MEiE) Team Meets in DC – Joe Zublena, MEiE Implementation Team Chair, North Carolina State University, meets February 18-19, 2015 in Washington, DC to continue work on the password protected portion of the web site at www.landgrantimpacts.org designed specifically for Cooperative Extension Directors and Administrators. The purpose is to report management data (e.g. personnel, funding) that can be shared amongst institutions. For questions on how to submit data, contact Scott Cummings, s-cummings@tamu.edu, 979.847.9388. 

Food Systems Leadership Institute (FSLI) Invites Applications – Applications for a new FSLI cohort, designed to launch new leaders for food and agriculture research, Extension and academic programs, are being accepted. See www.fsli.org for details. 

World Conference Paper Deadline Extended – February 15, 2015 is the new deadline to submit papers for the June 24-26, 2015 GCHERA conference in Kaslik, Lebanon. GCHERA is the Global Confederation on Higher Education Association for Agricultural and Life Sciences. The 2015 conference theme is “Nutritional Security and Environmental Sustainability for Human Health.” See www.gchera.org for details. Ian Maw, APLU Vice President for Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources, is GCHERA vice president.

12.15.14 - NEW eXtension UPDATE

ECOP Holiday Greetings

Wishing You A Holiday Season Filled With Warmth And
Wonderment And A Most Joyous New Year 

Extension Committee On Organization And Policy

Delbert Foster, Chair 

Executive Director and Administrator Team 

Ron Brown, Nancy Bull, Lyla Houglum, L. Washington Lyons,
Sandy Ruble, Jane Schuchardt, and Robin Shepard 

 

ECOP Monday Minute Returns on 1.5.15 

 

NEW eXtension UPDATE – The nomination process is underway through regional Cooperative Extension associations for the NEW eXtension Board of Directors. Those institutions in the Cooperative Extension Section with either a premium or basic membership will receive a ballot in early January to vote for the board members. Elbert Dickey, interim eXtension director, reports the response to the NEW eXtension membership poll now is at 96 percent (72 of the 75 institutions in the Cooperative Extension Section of the Board on Agriculture Assembly). Of those responding, 80 percent (58 institutions) have indicated intent to be members of the NEW eXtension. Details about membership levels are provided in the final report about the NEW eXtension. Questions can be directed to Dr. Dickey at edickey1@unl.edu whose interim appointment has been extended through April 2015 to provide consistent leadership through the transition. 

JOE Editor Proposals Due 1.15.15 – Extension Journal, Inc. invites proposals to provide editorial services for the corporation’s flagship product, the Journal of Extension. Editorial services required range from initial review of all submissions, to writing advice for authors, to working with reviewers, to copy editing of all issues. Michelle Rodgers, ECOP chair-elect and ECOP liaison to the Extension Journal Board of Directors, University of Delaware, asks your assistance in identifying qualified applicants. The deadline for proposals is January 15, 2015, with the contract to begin January 1, 2016. For the full RFP, Click Here. Questions can be directed to Terry Meisenbach tmeisenbach@extension.org. 

JCEP Leadership Conference Registration Open – Plan now to attend the JCEP Leadership Conference February 11 & 12, 2015 at the Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada with the theme Leading Through Trust. Keynote speaker and author of The Trust Edge, David Horsager, will discuss how trust has the ability to accelerate or destroy any organization or relationship. ECOP Chair Delbert Foster, South Carolina State University, will provide an ECOP update and recognize the 125th anniversary of the passage of the second Morrill Act which created the universities commonly referred to as the 1890 institutions. Registration and more details are available at www.jcep.org. 

SNAP-ED Program Development Team Represented at National Conference – Jenna Anding, Texas A&M University, and Debra Garrard, Oklahoma State University, both members of the SNAP-ED Program Development Team, represented Land-grant Universities and Cooperative Extension at a recent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Directors' meeting in New Orleans. During the conference, Anding and Garrard, who are members of the SNAP-Ed Program Development team, interacted with directors of SNAP-ED efforts from across the U.S. and briefed them on the contributions of Cooperative Extension to SNAP-Ed programs. ECOP authorizes an assessment of state Cooperative Extension Services receiving SNAP-ED funding to support the work of a Program Development Team managed out of South Dakota State University. Nominations are being sought by 12.19.14 for team members willing to help shape the future of SNAP-ED within the Land-grant University and in conjunction with other SNAP-ED efforts. For details on how to submit an application or provide a nomination, contact Sandra Jensen Sandra.jensen@sdstate.edu, 605.688.4944. 

Journal Continues Centennial Celebration – The December 2014 issue of the Journal of Extension, to be posted 12.18.14 at www.joe.org, includes the article Milestones and the Future for Cooperative Extension. ECOP immediate past chair, Jimmy Henning, University of Kentucky, is lead author. This completes the year-long series of articles published by JOE honoring Cooperative Extension’s centennial. 

GCHERA Announces World Conference – The Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences www.gchera.com offers its 8th world conference June 25-26, 2015 in Kaslik, Lebanon. The theme is Global Challenges: Nutritional Security and Environmental Sustainability for Human Health. Details, including a call for abstracts due 1.12.15, are available at http://webapp.usek.edu.lb/forms/WS/gchera/index.html. Questions can be directed to desireeelazzi@usek.edu.lb or alainabirizk@usek.edu.lb.

ECOP Monday Minute 8.26.13

In observance of Labor Day, ECOP Monday Minute returns 9.9.13

ECOP Chair Meets with OMB – Daryl Buchholz, ECOP Chair, together with Mike Hoffmann, ESCOP Chair, and Cornerstone Government Affairs representatives, met last week with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in Washington, DC. The purpose was to continue the advocacy messaging related to the “both-and” of competitive and capacity funds. Buchholz used the 2012 ECOP handout on capacity funds, the 2013 ECOP handout, and a new piece developed by the ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee on the Top 10 Reasons Why Capacity Funding Is Essential. Cooperative Extension Directors and Administrators are welcome to use any of these handouts in state-level work.

FY 2014 and SNAP-Ed Funding Update – Rick Klemme, ECOP Budget and Legislative Committee Chair, University of Wisconsin Extension, worked with Cornerstone Government Affairs to provide the document Current Status of USDA-NIFA and SNAP-Ed Funding (August 2013). This is adapted from a communications used in Wisconsin to answer questions from Cooperative Extension colleagues and their statewide advocacy group. Directors and Administrators are welcome to use the document.

Cooperative Extension at APLU Annual Meeting – Cooperative Extension Directors and Administrators attending the 2013 APLU Annual Meeting in Washington, DC can use the preliminary Board on Agriculture Assembly schedule. Of particular interest are the awards presentations, the 4-H luncheon, and the Monday evening Cooperative Extension dinner which will include recognition for national leadership. Registration details can be found here.

GCHERA Conference in China – Ian Maw, APLU Vice President for Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources, encourages attendance at the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for the Agricultural and Life Sciences (GCHERA) October 20-22, 2013 in Nanjing, China. The program includes the inaugural GCHERA World Agriculture Prize Ceremony www.gchera-wap.org to acknowledge excellence in academic leadership in agricultural and life science universities and an international seminar on sustainable rural development. Registration through the Nanjing Agricultural University is available at http://wap.njau.edu.cn/.

Sign up for Ag is America Newsletter – Contact Jenny Nuber, jenny.nuber@kglobal.com, to get this weekly newsletter which highlights impacts of Cooperative Extension and agricultural research. This is part of the work led by the AES-CES Communications and Marketing Committee co-chaired by Scott Reed, Oregon State University. You also may wish to follow Ag is America on Twitter at @AgIsAmerica.