Extension Update: December 2003 Archives
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 valuable and commendable. I hope each of you take full advantage of the holidays to take a well-deserved break and enjoy your friends and family.
I continue to be proud to lead an organization that provides deep impact on the lives of so many New Hampshire citizens. During this year together, we achieved a wide variety of program accomplishments and gained recognition and praise for our role as a primary outreach unit of the University of New Hampshire. I look forward to our work in 2004 with citizens around the state.
After six months of discussion and review, updated job descriptions are now complete for COAs, Extension Educators, Extension Specialists and Program Leaders. I extend my thanks to Wendy Brock, Karen Blass, Suzann Knight and Nancy Franz for their work with this effort.
Jim Grady, Paul Bonaparte-Krogh, UNH Human Resources’ staff, the Extension Educator Council and a group of educators and specialists updating performance appraisal documents for Extension Educators, also reviewed the job descriptions. The Program Leader job description awaits approval by USNH.
All staff should take a few moments to fill out the electronic form for performance feedback for County Office Administrators. Just click on the form on our web site at http://cecf1.unh.edu/eval/form4/eval_home_coa.cfm
Staff seeking reimbursement for travel and other expenses through the BSC for October, November and December must submit them by December 31. This includes grant-sponsored programs. Timeliness enhances management of our budget deficit. Thanks for observing this important deadline.
In keeping with the University holiday closure from December 24 to January 5, the Publications Center will be closed. Due to student winter break in January, the Center will have little support. If you have a particular publication need from January 5-20, please contact Holly Young directly
UNH will maintain existing research procedures for review of research involving human subjects, according to John Aber, Vice President for Research and Public Service. This includes oral histories, ethnographic, anthropological, interview and other qualitative approaches. These approaches will continue to receive Institutional Review Board review. For further information, contact Nancy Franz.
Marshall Patmos, UNH Cooperative Extension Forest Resource Educator, is the new vice chair of the New England Christmas Tree Alliance (NECTA). NECTA, a coalition of the New England Christmas Tree Associations represents 2,500 Christmas tree farmers throughout New England. Patmos, involved with the Christmas tree industry for over 30 years, has been a representative to NECTA since 1991. He is currently a director of the NH-VT Christmas Tree Association and founding member of the NH Christmas Tree Promotion Board.
Intown Manchester, a nonprofit organization, represents Manchester’s Downtown Business District. Run by a board of directors, it includes Manchester businesses, property owners and city officials. As UNH-Manchester Dean Karol LaCroix completes her term on the board, Mary Tebo becomes the University’s new representative. In a recent note inviting Mary to the board, Dean LaCroix wrote, “There is no doubt in my mind that you would do a great job and bring some great expertise to the group.”
Mary works on a regular basis with Intown Manchester Director Stephanie Lewry, and Don Clark, director of property management and development for Dean Kamen’s science and technology interests in the Millyard. As a board member, Mary’s opportunities increase to work with Manchester decision-makers to improve Manchester’s social, environmental and economic climates. Congratulations, Mary!
Maps have an extraordinary capacity to facilitate land protection and improved management by communicating information about current conditions, modeling the effects of future change, and inspiring action. The Geospatial Technologies Training and Resource Center offers a number of workshops in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS), but they are all introductory classes, geared toward students with little or no background in these technologies. Thanks to a grant from CICEET (the NOAA/UNH Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology), we will soon develop a course in more advanced techniques for watershed analyses.
To help determine the needs of potential participants, we are conducting an on-line survey (built with ITDE’s web form builder tool) of “power users” in the coastal region, and will follow that up with a meeting of planners, scientists, and municipal and regional decision makers. The specific topics covered in the workshop will grow out of this assessment process, but may include:
* Creating enhanced co-occurrence analyses for watershed studies
* Developing pollutant loading models that coordinate land cover data, digital elevation models, and soils data
* Using the impervious surface analysis tool developed by the NOAA Coastal Services Center
We expect to offer the course for the first time in August 2004.
Seth Wilner completes his 20 percent assignment with statewide program and evaluation planning at the end of December. Over the last several years, Seth worked with Lisa Townson to make our program development, evaluation and impact reporting more effective. Seth continues to provide PD&E advice and council to us all on an informal basis. Work continues on furthering our program effectiveness with Lisa Townson, Nancy Franz and the PD&E Council. Thanks, Seth, for your important and effective work!
Lisa Townson is the new northeast region representative to the American Evaluation Association's Extension Education Evaluation Topical Interest Group. Her election to this position took place in Reno, Nevada, earlier this month. The American Evaluation Association (AEA) is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology, and many other forms of evaluation. There are over 3,000 members and 32 topical interest groups (TIG) with specialized interest in evaluation topics.
The Extension Education Evaluation TIG currently has over 160 members. Its goals revolve around professional development, improved evaluation performance and the understanding of the relationships between program development, evaluation, staff development and organizational development in Cooperative Extension systems.
The AEA annual conference, held each November, is a wonderful professional development opportunity for those with an interest in program development and evaluation. You can find a listing of workshops, publications and more information about the Topical Interest Groups (TIGs) at its web site: http://www.eval.org/ Congratulations Lisa!
My thanks to all who participated in the plan of work process to date. The county gap analysis sessions, online survey and data interpretation parties set the stage for the next steps in the process. This month, specialists meet to discuss the data and offer some conclusions and recommendations, a staff capacity inventory takes place, and the last data party will set the stage for the January state plan of work caucus. Program Leaders are currently identifying caucus participants. In January and February, program areas, work/issue teams, county and individual staff will shape plan of work initiatives using logic models in preparation for submission of the federal plan of work. Please contact Nancy Franz with any questions on this process.
As a follow-up to my memo of 11/21, I am pleased to announce the appointment of the following individuals to the Program Administration Structure Team (PAST): Jim Grady, Brian Doyle, Charlene Baxter, Larry Barker, Amy Ouellette, John Porter, Val Long, Karen Bennett and Anna Boudreau (a State Extension Advisory Council member). Nancy Franz will chair the group with the goal of recommending an optimum program administrative structure by March 1. I urge you to share your thoughts and suggestions with this team as we move forward to realize our strategic plan goals. In the meantime, please contact me if you have any questions.
The UNH Professional, Administrative, and Technical Staff Council (PAT) still needs a representative for Cooperative Extension. There has not been any representation from Extension for the past year. The PAT Council is a standing council of the University administration. It serves in an informational and advisory capacity to the President and bears responsibility and accountability to members of the PAT staff, which elects its members. Click on http://www.unh.edu/pat-council/ for more information.
If you are willing to serve on the council, please contact Jim Grady. If you have questions about the commitment involved (typically three hours per month,) please contact past representatives Jim Grady, Stephen Judd or Holly Young.
ABC News airs a one-hour special report with Peter Jennings on the role of government and industry in the American obesity epidemic Monday, December 8, at 8 pm EST. In this important hour-long ABC News special, Jennings reveals how government policies and food industry practices help make Americans fat.
"Obesity is fast becoming the largest public health crisis in America," Jennings said. "The simple answer is to tell people to just eat less and exercise more. What few people know is how much of the problem with the American diet is a direct result of federal government policy and food industry practices."
Jennings begins in the farmlands of America, examining agricultural subsidies and their impact on the American diet. He found most agricultural subsidies go to foods Americans should eat less. Nutritionists and health advocates say these policies contribute to obesity.
The University of New Hampshire Human Resources office has arranged to have our TIAA-CREF representatives meet with employees on a drop-in basis at the MUB on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 9 and 10, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. These consultations are approximately 10 minutes long and take place on a first-come, first-served basis.
The representatives are available to:
* Discuss your contribution limits for 2004
* Complete paperwork to change your retirement withholding
* Consolidate your retirement assets
* Address your questions
The representatives are available Tuesday, December 9, MUB Room 302, and Wednesday, December 10, MUB Room 321, both days from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. Bring your most recent pay stub, TIAA-CREF quarterly statement, and the statements of other investments you would like to discuss.
The Teen Assessment Project provided a vehicle for community-wide mobilization, education and action based on the identification of and collaborative research about adolescent issues. TAP reached over 25,000 New Hampshire youth (89 communities), 20,000 parents and 10,000 others with educational efforts since its inception in 1993. In addition to the grant dollars and program fees TAP generated over the years, (over $250,000 in just the past few years,) well over $8 million received by communities in the form of grants and awards funded TAP follow-up efforts. These efforts included comprehensive strategic planning and implementation, paid community coalition coordinators, after-school programs, teen centers, substance abuse and teen pregnancy prevention efforts, teen health centers and suicide prevention work.
Parents gained knowledge about teen issues, parent/teen communication and parental monitoring. Statewide, TAP efforts contributed greatly to the understanding of the importance of connecting theory, research and practice/program by using an ecological model of youth development, demonstrating the relationship of risk and protective factors to adolescent development and behaviors. Strong partnerships at UNH and with state agencies allowed for creation of an Adolescent Resource Center this past year at UNH.
The future direction of Community Youth Development (CYD,) headed by Extension Associate Professor and Specialist Charlotte Cross, includes an initial “think tank” to conceptualize and document goals in the area of Community Youth Development. The group explored potential resources at its initial meeting this week and begins selecting goals and developing a logic model to guide program development, implementation and evaluation. Participation in developing this plan for CYD is welcome. To learn more about CYD, please view the power point slides at the following link http://ceinfo.unh.edu/Intranet/UNHCEPOW/GAP1117.pdf -Trends for Family, Youth and Community Development.
A number of projects are in the works:
* Disseminating TAP survey results and follow-up work in Plymouth, Newfound and Lin-Wood
* Follow-up support TAP efforts in Raymond
* Work with a Maine community in dissemination of its Maine Youth Drug and Alcohol Use (MYDAUS) survey results. Knowledge gained from doing this project will provide information relevant to our work in New Hampshire.
* Conducting additional gender-related data analysis of the 2000-2001 Multi-Community data set.
* Continued progress in creation of an online newsletter designed to link people working on adolescent issues.
* Collaborating with the Adolescent Resource Center to create a fact sheet on adolescent suicide with plans to develop more fact sheets on other adolescent issues.
* Partnering on the new CYFAR “New Communities Project.”
* Participation in the satellite downlink series “Cultural Perspectives on Parenting.”
* Partnering with the Adolescent Resource Center on the April 14, 2004 inservice “Creating Successful Adolescent Community Programs.”