Extension Update: January 2004 Archives
I currently serve on a campus committee charged by President Hart to develop a strategic plan for the future of the University's Division of Continuing Education (DCE), in line with the University Academic Strategic Plan. For those unfamiliar with DCE, click on these two web pages: http://www.learn.unh.edu/ and http://www.undergradcat.unh.edu/webdce.html.
Discussion has taken place regarding how DCE and Cooperative Extension should and could work together. To answer this question, I need help from each of you with the following questions:
Have you ever done anything in your CE role with DCE? If so, please identify.
How could DCE add value to or help in CE programming efforts?
How do you think CE and DCE should and could work together?
I need the information quickly so I’d appreciate it if you’d please send me your responses ASAP and by next Thursday (1/29) utilizing this link: http://cecf1.unh.edu/formbuilder/intforms/form27_ceanddce.htm
The RFP for UNH Cooperative Graduate Assistantships is found at http://www.ceinfo.unh.edu/common/documents/gradstud.pdf. Proposals are due March 2nd to Nancy Franz. The Leadership Team will review the proposals and announce funded proposals in mid March. This program provides a great opportunity for meaningful interaction between Extension Educators, specialists, graduate students and faculty. I look forward to your participation in this aspect of our strategic plan for university engagement.
Coalition building is an exciting and effective community intervention based on collaborative problem solving. A workshop set for May 4th, for all who work in communities, including all Extension educators, addresses principles of success in creating community change through coalitions. Discussions will center on coalition building barriers, strategies for coalition success, and maintaining activities and success. The presenter, Tom Wolff, PhD., authored From the Ground Up! A Workbook on Coalition Building and Community Development. Contact Charlie French, 862-0316 for more information. The training takes place at UNH Cooperative Extension's Hillsborough County Office (Goffstown) from 9:30-4 pm. The $45 fee covers training, lunch, and helps offset Dr. Wolff's costs. Sign up using the on-line registration for inservices under Professional Development on our web site.
There is plenty of room in this in service but staff need to register soon - an insufficient number of registrants may cause cancellation. It's an important topic as we head into the future!
Extension educators and specialists recently received new performance appraisal documents for piloting in FY ’04. Staff should direct their feedback on the pilot to a web form at http://cecf1.unh.edu/formbuilder/intforms/form24_PerfApFb.htm Thank you to Bruce Clement, Dan Reidy, Charlene Baxter, Charlotte Cross, Amy Ouelette, John Porter, Steve Turaj, Debbie Luppold, Deb Maes, Jim Grady and Nancy Franz for their work on creating the forms and process for this pilot.
The Parenting Education Work Team has a new name - the Family Life Education Work Team. Members include Barbara Hunter, Claudia Boozer-Blasco, Thom Linehan, Pam Gerbi, Sharon Cowen and Charlene Baxter. Contact any member regarding issues or concerns in the area of family life education.
Cynthia "Mil" Duncan returns to the University of New Hampshire this spring as founding director of the Carsey Institute for Families and Communities. Seeded by a $7.5 million gift from alumna and television producer Marcy Carsey, the institute will serve as a center for faculty in the social, behavioral and health sciences conducting research on individuals, families and communities.
Widely recognized for her research on rural poverty, Duncan was a sociologist at UNH for 11 years before leaving to become director of the Ford Foundation's Community and Resource Development Unit in 2000. At the Ford Foundation, she was responsible for a team of national and international leaders in the community development, youth and environmental fields and a $70 million annual grant program.
The Carsey Institute will support faculty and student researchers developing cross-disciplinary projects that contribute to national discussions about policies affecting families and communities. It will provide a bridge between UNH faculty and northern New England communities and institutions.
The UNH Library went “live” with a Virtual Catalog this week. The Catalog provides a single, searchable catalog of books owned by participating libraries of the Boston Library Consortium. Current students/faculty/staff may directly request material for delivery to their library.
Students, faculty and staff can access the catalogs of Boston University, Brown University, Northeastern University, Marine Bio Lab-Woods Hole Ocean Institute, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Massachusetts-Boston, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, University of Massachusetts-Worcester, Wellesley and Williams Colleges.
Patrons may borrow circulating items from these institutions for up to 28 days. It takes four to five days for delivery to the Dimond Library’s Loan Desk. For more information, see http://www.library.unh.edu/virtualcat/
The spring application deadline for the Irvine Professional Development Grant is February 1, 2004. The Irvine Grant, awarded twice yearly, provides $250 to support professional development of UNH administrative office professionals. All benefits-eligible UNH/UNHM administrative office professional staff are eligible to apply after one year of service.
Grant opportunities might include workshops/classes not covered by USNH tuition waivers and travel/accommodations for off-campus professional development workshops. The application comes with grant criteria. For more information/questions about the Irvine Grant and/or a grant application, visit http://www.unh.edu/hr/pod/learn-assist.htm or contact Christina VanHorn, Office of Human Resources at 862-0519.
On January 14, 2004, the UNH Extension Educator Council held its reorganization meeting. The following are members of the Council for 2004:
Family & Youth Development Representatives
Karen Blass Represents Family & Youth Development Educators Specialist Vacancy
Represents Family & Youth Development Specialists
This seat is open due to a retirement. An election to fill this seat takes place in February.
Deb Cheever
Represents Family & Youth Development Educators and serves as Council secretary.
Natural Resources Representatives
Steve Turaj
Represents Natural Resources Educators
George Hamilton
Represents Natural Resources Educators and serves as Council vice chair. Alan Eaton
Represents Natural Resources Specialists
At-Large Representative and Council chair
Alice Mullen
The Extension Educator Council examines issues that affect the Extension Educator classification (Extension Educators and Extension Specialists) as employees of the University of New Hampshire. The council also represents UNH Extension Educators in UNH administrative affairs, such as the System Personnel Policy Committee and on UNH committees of importance to Extension Educators.
On behalf of everyone in the organization, I especially want to thank George Hamilton for his exceptional job while serving as Chair of the EEC. George will be continuing to serve on the council as he hands over the leadership baton to Alice Mullen who will serve as Chair. I also want to thank outgoing council members Val Long and Cheryl Smith for their outstanding service on the EEC
Dr. Duane Acker, President Emeritus of Kansas State University and former Assistant Secretary for Science and Education at the U. S. Department of Agriculture, presented the Seaman A. Knapp Memorial Lecture at the 116th annual meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges in New Orleans, Louisiana, November 16, 2003.
The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture sponsored the lecture as a tribute to Seaman A. Knapp, the father of Extension. Knowledge, Wisdom, and Freedom - The Role of Extension was the title of the 2003 Knapp Lecture. Access a copy of the lecture at: http://www.reeusda.gov/1700/awards03/knapplec.htm
This past year, Stan Swier, Faye Cragin and Rachel Maccini, with help from John Roberts, carried out a School Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program for educators in northern New England. Beginning in September 2002, many of these educators participated in three planning and training sessions held in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
Following these sessions, Stan developed a pilot training program for public schools. Keith Lessard, Grounds and Maintenance Supervisor for the Hampton School District, expressed interest in becoming the test school for the program. Stan and John worked with Lessard to evaluate the Hampton School District IPM program. They provided specific school and turf IPM recommendations and advice to help the school district serve as a demonstration school IPM program for New Hampshire.
Faye Cragin developed a regional (New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine) web site for the School IPM program. She and Rachel also developed a power point presentation accessed at: http://www.ceinfo.unh.edu/Agric/SchoolIPM.htm. This small project also successfully garnered a $6,000 grant for UNH Cooperative Extension.
The Leadership Team continues to carefully monitor our budget. On January 7th, the Leadership Team reviewed budget deficit plans for each program area, as well as administration. We will achieve our $780,000 budget deficit through staff retirements, other staff separations, voluntary reductions in appointments and reduced budgets from state and federal funds for travel, meals and program support.
In addition to our current budget deficit, a 10 percent reduction in federal Smith Lever funds, and a rescission of state funds, may be on the horizon in this budget year. To address the current deficit and better position us for further budget cuts, the Leadership Team canceled the May staff development conference and encourages everyone to observe the following policies for state and Smith Lever funds:
Travel overnight only for leadership roles or formal presentations (appear in the program). Pre-travel approval by your supervisor is still required for out of state over night travel.
Lodging over $100 per person per night requires supervisory approval prior to travel.
Employees will car pool, share lodging and use inexpensive lodging options whenever possible.
The Assistant Director for Finance must approve purchases over $1,000.
Refreshments and meals will not be reimbursed for employee meetings unless they are written into a grant or the meeting includes volunteers.
Reimbursements and P-card charges are only allowed for purchases critical to successful programming.
Technology and equipment purchases will be made as needed rather than on an ongoing basis.
In the event of a rescission, the soft hiring freeze becomes a hard freeze and some staff may be assigned to grant funded projects.
Three regional staff meetings will take place on April 12-14. Further details will be announced as they become available. Please feel free to contact any member of the Leadership Team with budget questions and concerns.
Thank you to all staff who completed the online staff inventory for the Plan of Work process. The results are available on our internal web site at: http://cecf1.unh.edu/staffinventory/index.cfm
I also extend my appreciation to the staff members and campus partners who helped interpret the gap analysis data including the staff inventory. From this process, the following themes were identified for further exploration at the January 13 Plan of Work Caucus:
Financial planning and management
Civic participation and community network development
Parenting
Healthy lifestyles
Career/workforce development
Youth in out-of-school time
Land use
Water quality
Support for agricultural producers and related industries
Economic viability of small businesses
Thanks to those of you who accepted an invitation to participate in the caucus. The event will help us more clearly delineate our programming for the future.
Agricultural Resources Educators and Specialists from New England and New York worked together to plan the New England Vegetable & Berry Growers Conference held in December. The conference is a biennial event, held since 1979 in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. By 2001, the need for a larger conference center became clear due to the growing number of attendees. Steering committee members voted to move the event to the Center of New Hampshire Holiday Inn in Manchester.
The 2003 conference drew 1,313 farmers from several states and provinces. Sessions on marketing vegetables and fruits, season extension and organic production spilled participants out into hallways. Fortunately, the Center of NH Holiday Inn is one of the few conference centers with several large breakout rooms and a hotel on premises in New England.
The conference steering committee included George Hamilton as Pesticide Recertification Chair, Amy Ouellette as Conference Center Contact and Bill Lord as A/V Equipment Chair. George, Amy and Bill are grateful for help from Extension co-workers Seth Wilner, Tina Savage, Cheryl Smith and Geoffrey Njue, and John Pike, Nancy Franz and Bruce Clement, for their presence at the conference. John Pike and NH Agriculture Commissioner Steve Taylor addressed a crowd of 275 at the banquet. The 2003 conference brought commerce to downtown Manchester and showed that agriculture is alive and well in New Hampshire.
One of the most important roles for Cooperative Extension includes sharing land grant research with others. To support this goal, I would like to add a list of articles and papers to our web site presented by staff at professional conferences or published in professional journals. Please send your papers and articles in Word or PDF format to Nancy Franz by the end of January. Thanks for sharing your scholarly efforts!
On September 19, 2003 we announced in the Bi-Weekly Update that once we had approval from USNH, Cooperative Extension would begin to offer separation incentives (SIP) to staff. Staff needed to formally contact Jim Grady with their intentions by October 16, 2003. We received official notification our program was approved, however, official USNH policy requires that all plans, once formally approved, must have at least an official six (6) week application period. All eligible staff with five or more years of benefits eligible employment have a second opportunity to apply. The application deadline is Monday, February 2, 2004, by 5 pm. The conditions for the SIP have not changed and retirement or resignation must be on or before April 15, 2004.
Those of you who have already notified Jim Grady of their intentions will need to complete Release and Waiver and Application Agreements for approval. If you have any questions or concerns, get in touch with Jim directly. Below are the documents you need if you are interested in this offer.
Release and Waiver Agreement
Application Agreement
Plan Description
Every January, I emphasize UNH Cooperative Extension’s commitment to civil rights practices. Extension staff conduct exemplary efforts to meet federal and state mandates. We also work above beyond those mandates by exhibiting outstanding civil rights spirit and leadership. We set high standards in our civil rights work with communities and partnerships to advance this spirit and leadership outside our organization.
To maintain our positive reputation of reaching the right clientele with the best practices, we continually improve on our efforts surrounding our civil rights mission. We document effective civil rights work to demonstrate accountability, dedication and leadership.
Improvement comes through our plan of work development process by engaging target audiences and addressing critical and emerging issues. We must ensure the needs of underserved audience are met through their direct input in needs assessment and program development. Since we wrote our last plan of work, New Hampshire became home to immigrants from around the world. Development of new technology also presents new opportunities and challenges for reaching new audiences. This change in residencyand technology plus needs assessment data requires us to address new issues and reach new audiences. Even though this work is not easy, these challenges remain part of our job.
Last year, equipped with a new Civil Rights guide for UNH Cooperative Extension, Bob Edmonds met with county and campus staff on the responsibilities of documenting civil rights efforts. The civil rights review focuses on county staff since USDA goes directly to the point of contact for programming. Each person in a county under review meets confidentially with a USDA reviewer. County staff documentation collected in advance for personal and county files serves as the core of this review. Our web site and the new civil rights guide describe confidential methods for reporting civil rights efforts. Specialists, Program Leaders and administrators assist county staff in documenting needs assessment, program development and evaluation relating to civil rights. Through this team approach, we demonstrate compliance with Civil Rights legal responsibilities.
Thank you for your outstanding work in making UNH Cooperative Extension available and meaningful for a wide variety of New Hampshire’s residents.
To help expedite publication orders please observe the following procedures:
Combine as many orders as possible into one order and email it to the Publications Center (check with office coworkers to see if they're placing orders, too) – this results in more efficient processing and mailing for each county.
When possible, place your orders well in advance of program events - a month's notice is ideal
When questions arise about an order, call Holly Young directly for assistance
With less help at the Publication Center due to budgetary constraints, following these procedures results in more efficient processing of orders. The Publication Center lacks a work study student until the week of January 19, so please direct your queries until that time to Holly. Your patience and support is appreciated. Holly, Jim Grady and Nancy Franz are exploring ways to make the Publication Center more efficient and cost effective. They welcome your comments and suggestions about our publications and the Publications Center.
Family Development Educators and Specialists meet in 2004 on March 2 (snow date March 4) in Boscawen, and on September 27. The Family, Youth and Community statewide staff meet on November 15. Please reserve these important days in your calendar.
Cooperative Extension staff can enroll in a new graduate course conducted by interactive television and Blackboard courseware for spring semester. The course, entitled "Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds," focuses on service learning around school-based nutrition and fitness assessment. Students may register for two, three or four credits as HHS 798I or Nurs 894. Extension Specialist Collete Janson-Sand assists with the course. For more information, contact Tamara Martin
UNH Cooperative Extension’s educational efforts increase the financial literacy of New Hampshire residents. Program participants establish financial goals, reorganize their spending to start or increase saving, decrease their debt load, and follow a spending plan that leads toward achieving financial security now and in later life.
This past year, through the NH Saves social marketing campaign, New Hampshire participants committed to saving or reducing debt at a rate of $5,509 a month or $66,108 the first year. They earmarked their savings for home buying, emergency funds, education, retirement and business development.
Throughout New Hampshire, UNH Cooperative Extension sponsored 38 workshop series for 344 adults in either the curricula “Taking Charge of Your Finances” or “Making Money Work for You.” As a result of this education, 59 percent decreased debt and paid-off bills, 63 percent are saving money and 34 percent plan to start, 71 percent now follow a spending plan, and 67 percent reported they felt more confident making money decisions. Furthermore, fewer participants indicated at the end of the workshops that they were paying bills late. From beginning to end of the five-week series, 39 participants saved $11,948 and reduced their debt by $8,705.
In total this past year, 257,358 youth and adults were reached with family resource management education through a variety of delivery methods. UNH Cooperative Extension’s financial management education makes a difference in people’s lives.