Tuesday Morning Notes
February 10, 2009
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES:
As a part of the professional development committee series, below is a site to help classified and appointed staff remember that it is important to balance stress as we are faced with budget cuts and uncertainty. While we understand that the core competencies of our jobs are our foundation, there are current economic factors that are overwhelming all of our thoughts and causing all of us grave concerns. To be effective in our jobs today, we must be able to manage the huge stress put upon us by our tough economic future. The "How to Reduce, Prevent and Cope with Stress" (helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm) presents helpful tips for all of us during these difficult times.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION REMINDER (for counties only):
A reminder to all county offices that this year’s Annual Affirmative Action Report (AAP-7s) was due January 1 and the Annual Desk Audits were due February 1. Nearly half of you have turned in one or both of these and some have given us expected delivery dates. If you have not yet responded, contact Steven Crofts (scrofts@cals.arizona.edu, 520.621.7145). For convenience, you can go to the AAP-7 form (cals.arizona.edu/extension/employee/pandp/aap_forms/aap-7.pdf) and to the Annual Desk Audit (cals.arizona.edu/extension/employee/annualdeskaudit.pdf).
ARIZONA AGRICULTURE EXTENSION ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP:
Any UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences employee with Cooperative Extension involvement may be an active member of the AAEA and also the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA). The 2009 dues to NACAA are outstanding and it is possible our members are not receiving "The County Agent" magazine and will miss out on the awards and recognition opportunities and the chance for presentations or displaying posters at the AMPIC in Portland, Oregon this Fall. Contact Kai Umeda (kumeda@cals.arizona.edu) or Randy Norton (rnorton@cals.arizona.edu) to help update our 2009 membership list ASAP. Remember, Rick Gibson (Pinal County) is the National President this year.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
- CALS Staff Council will be sponsoring a Brown Bag Lunch With the Dean, where he will take questions on the ongoing budget issues. This Brown Bag is open to all CALS personnel and will be this Wednesday, February 11, from 12:00-1:00pm in Social Sciences 206. Questions may be emailed ahead of time to Rachael Mattull (rmattull@cals.arizona.edu). There will also be a Breeze webcast so that off-campus people can participate. Questions to the Dean may be typed in using the Breeze chat; microphones will not be used for this meeting. The URL for Breeze will be breeze.ltc.arizona.edu/calsstaff/. Sign in as a guest. We will get to as many questions as possible.
- As a part of the Walk the Talk State Initiative, there will be two workout classes this month – Monday, February 16, 12:00-1:00pm, AHSC Library, Room 4150 and Tuesday, February 17, Maricopa County Extension Office, Phoenix (contact Sharon Hoelscher Day (shday@cals.arizona.edu) for more information). Linda Block led a session on "Energy Balance and Financial Balance" which included written exercises and discussion on positive health and financial behavior changes that don’t require large sacrifices by using balance and tradeoffs to achieve goals. Sharon Hoelscher Day and Linda Block led team members in a Senior Fitness Test that meets scientific standards for reliability and validity and the test has been used in the Bone Builders (cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/fcs/bb/) program. Part of the initiative is to have the UA Worksite Wellness program conduct Worksite Wellness Screenings (assess blood pressure, total cholesterol/HDL, % body fat, cardiovascular endurance, and individualized consultation on your test results) at the office where a meeting is taking place, so that faculty and staff around the state have the opportunity to participate. The next Initiative Team meeting is tentatively scheduled for Cottonwood in April. For more information, contact Kay Hongu (hongu@email.arizona.edu).
- Water Resources Research Center 2009 Annual Conference - Best Practices for Stakeholder Engagement in Water Resources Planning, Tuesday, March 17, UA Student Union Ballroom, hosted by the WRRC in collaboration with the Morris K. Udall Foundation and Arizona Water Institute. The program will focus on both the theory of engagement and on real-world experience and experiments in working with water management issues. Activities will include a poster session with three interactive workshops. Registration is required. To register for the conference and view an agenda, click here. Fee waivers are available upon request by contacting Jane Cripps (jcripps@cals.arizona.edu, 520.621.9591, ext 55). Early Bird Registration is $55.00 (thru February 17), Regular Registration is $65.00, and Student Registration is free for current students. Registration payments by check or PO should be made payable to UA/WRRC and sent WRRC/UA, 350 N. Campbell, Tucson, AZ, 85719. Parking will be available at no additional cost.
James A. Christenson, Ph.D.
(jimc@cals.arizona.edu)
Associate Dean and Director
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Forbes, Room 301
Tucson, Arizona 85721
520/621-7205
520/621-1314 FAX
TMN submittal: http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/tuesday/submittal_form.html