I extend very best wishes to all members of the UNH Cooperative Extension family for a wonderful holiday season. Your service to the citizens of New Hampshire is important and commendable, and I want to thank you for your dedication, commitment and many contributions you’ve made this past year. I hope each of you take full advantage of the holidays to take a well-deserved break and enjoy your friends and family.

As we head into a New Year, the fiscal difficulties currently facing the state will likely create challenges for us as well, but we will face such challenges rationally and thoughtfully. We currently have a budget committee in place to review and make recommendations to the Leadership Team on where we can most effectively reduce costs, and as we continue to strategize, we will keep you informed. I remain committed to minimizing the programmatic impact of any cost reductions, and given the positive public support for UNH Cooperative Extension, I'm confident we will remain a strong outreach system making impacts important to New Hampshire people.

As we approach the holidays, we should take a moment to reflect on our many accomplishments this past year. Leadership Team approval led the way for the awarding of three high quality, outcome-driven proposals focused on priority issues facing New Hampshire and its residents. These projects were the result of a recommendation from the Strategic Planning Implementation Team and respond to significant issues facing the state.

We continued to welcome new faces this past year. At the county level, new staff included three new forestry and wildlife Extension educators, Deborah Goard, Strafford County, Andrew Fast, Belknap County, and David Falkenham, Grafton County. Also new to Extension this past year are Dawn Bozogan and Barbara Paronto, administrative support, Sullivan County; Lynda Bloom, administrative support, Coos County; Cheryl Gagnon, administrative support, Strafford County; Maggie Decker, administrative support, Hillsborough County; and Arianne Fosdick, volunteer management program assistant, Grafton County.

At the Family, Home and Garden Education Center, Denise Blaha joined our staff as the Energy Answers program coordinator. Energy Answers is one of our significant issues grants.

At the campus level, we welcomed Geri Farnell, Operation Military Kids (OMK) program coordinator; Marjorie Sawtelle, administrative support, Community and Economic Development, Food and Nutrition, and Agricultural Resources; Linda Beaudoin, administrative support, agricultural resources at Spaulding Hall; and Brian Krug, Extension specialist, greenhouse/floriculture.

I continue to be proud to lead an organization that brings meaningful impact to the lives of so many New Hampshire citizens. Despite the budgetary challenges we may face, we will continue to provide a wide variety of successful programs throughout the state in our role as a primary outreach unit of the University of New Hampshire.

We also lost a close friend and colleague, Brian Doyle, who will be deeply missed by us all. The Sea Grant Extension and Water Resources programs have been cited many times for their excellence, due in large part to Brian's wisdom and leadership. As we reflect on the past as well as the future, the loss of Brian is a reminder of how much we need to enjoy the present and value each other. You also may find of interest an article from Foster's Daily Democrat about Brian.

I look forward to working with you as we strive to become an even more effective and efficient educational outreach organization in 2009.