Kirk A. Astroth, Assistant Director, 4-H, recently represented 4-H at the ECOP Leadership Advisory Committee meeting in Charlotte, NC (expenses covered by Western Region's 4-H Fund). The LAC includes about 30 representatives through the Extension system, including professional association past-presidents, regional and state administrators, program leaders and CSREES personnel. The LAC is convened once each year to provide recommendations to ECOP for strengthening the Extension system. This year, three recommendations were provided: 1) ECOP should identify a "Cure for Cancer-type" initiative that will garner national, regional, state and local support; 2) support an infrastructure for Extension that is nimble and responsive to address the critical needs of the US public using discovery science and science-to-practice; and 3) develop an inclusive, consistent and unified message to communicate, market and education both internal and external audiences on the vision, mission and programs of Extension.
I'd like to thank Bob Peterson (Associate Agent, 4-H Youth Development, Pima County) for his Small Stock Clinic presentation in Greenlee County on May 18. Bob focused on animal selection and housing. The youth were very responsive and went away excited.
"Understanding Access to and Use of Traditional Foods by Hopi Women" by Cornelia Butler Flora (Iowa State University), Matt Livingston (UA Cooperative Extension), and Iva Honyestewa and Harrissa Koiyaquaptewa (Hopi Pu'tavi Project) peer reviewed article has just been published in the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, Volume 4, Issue 2, April 2009.
Over the past two years, the Cooperative Extension Office in Santa Cruz County has been pleased to have two Peace Corps Fellows working with them. Hannah Carlson, a Master's student in Public Health and Eva Cosyleon, a Master's student in Planning, were both excellent employees for their office and community. Not only did they bring their Peace Corps community connection experience with them, they also brought fresh ideas and high energy. Hannah actually did her Public Health internship in Santa Cruz County, working with their Health Advocacy Group (HAGs). Her Master's report was excellent and very insightful regarding community collaborations. They were very appreciative to have them work with them and hope to be able to apply for new Fellows next year.
Project CENTRL is recruiting for Class XX and applications must be submitted by June 1. Call the CENTRL Office (520.316.0909) or visit their Web site (centrl.org/) for an application. Arizona needs rural leaders now more than ever.
We are getting closer to the release date of our new State Extension site and it is important that we make sure that all Extension programs are represented. Please send your 10 best photos that we can use to highlight your program work and be sure to list the program name with the photo and send to your program leader. If you have any questions, contact Kelly Arizmendi (mblock@cals.arizona.edu, 520.626.9174).
I wanted to remind everyone that the UA Disability Resource Center (drc.arizona.edu/) (DRC) is a valuable resource to Extension and have provided financial support for many programmatic functions. The most recent example is a request from Kristen Wagner in our Maricopa County office for a sign-language interpreter for their Master Gardener class that runs from July 7 to October 27 (17 weeks). After doing some research of their own to find out costs, a request was forwarded to our office and then to the DRC. The estimated request was for $3,825 and it has been approved. Again, this type of accommodation and financial support is available to any employee and program both on and off campus. As DRC has told us, "The University has an obligation (legal as well as philosophical) to provide access to any individual who encounters a barrier due to disability and do this for all University entities."
The procedure for making a request is to email our office, specifically Steven Crofts (scrofts@cals.arizona.edu, 520.621.7145), with a request (and include all relevant details – date, time, persons involved, general description, estimated cost, contact person). He will forward the request to DRC for review (who will only accept them from our office) to see if it meets their criteria and if so, they will have one of their staff contact the appropriate office to assist in arranging support services and payments. This is a valuable service to us that we have used for many years. If you have any questions, contact Steve.
Ag in Uncertain Times is an interactive Extension webinar series designed to assist ag professionals, including producers, to better understand the changing conditions in today's economy. The series is targeted towards providing information that helps producers make informed decisions and improves ag professional's ability to work with their farm and ranch customers/clients. Each session is scheduled for 60-90 minutes with opportunities for participants to interact with the presenters. All webinar start times are at 9:00am Pacific (10:00am Mountain, 11:00am Central, 12:00pm Eastern). To participate, you will need a computer that has a set of speakers and a high speed internet connection (LAN, DSL/Cable Modem, High speed wireless). No pre-registration is required; it is on a first come basis for up to 500 available seats. The Web link for the entire series can be accessed by going to: www.msuextensionconnect.org/aginuncertaintimes/. It opens a screen that has the "Enter as a Guest" option selected. Use this option and enter your name and then click on the "Enter Room" button. The start time for all webinars in this series is 10:00am Mountain Daylight time. Log on a few minutes early to view information about how to ask presenters questions and to make sure your audio is working. For additional information about topics and speakers for this webinar series, go to: www.farmmanagement.org/aginuncertaintimes/.
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