Extension Update: May 2004 Archives
Rockingham County legislators, commissioners and department heads participated in the fourth “County Conversation” Monday night at the Rockingham County Office complex. The “Conversation,” which drew over 80 people, provided an opportunity for UNH President Ann Weaver Hart to learn more about how UNH can collaborate more effectively with New Hampshire ’s individual counties and to discover what emerging trends and issues specifically face Rockingham County .
Earlier in the day, President Hart traveled to the Rockingham County office to learn more about UNH Cooperative Extension programming in the county. My thanks to the Rockingham County staff for their hard work on this event. They did an excellent job of showcasing their positive impact with county residents. The next “ County Conversation ” is scheduled in Coos County in the fall.
The Leadership Team has reinforced the following web posting procedures:
Only Leadership Team members can approve the posting of web content, including who can post and manage blogs
Material for web posting will no longer be accepted in WordPerfect
Oversight for web content includes:
Front page - Nancy Franz, Holly Young and Peg Boyles
Administrative and Intranet - Leadership Team
Program area content - Program Leaders
Interdisciplinary content - Program Council (Program Leaders, Interdisciplinary team chairs and Nancy Franz)
Chairs and co-chairs are now in place for the newly formed Interdisciplinary Issue/Program Teams, launched by the Plan of Work Steering Committee. All staff should become familiar with team membership, the working framework for the teams and job descriptions for the team chairs and members.
The Steering Committee work is now complete. A Program Council made up of Program Leaders, Interdisciplinary Issue/Program Team Chairs and the Associate Director will meet quarterly to guide our organization's educational programming. Program Leaders previously carried out this task. I appreciate the hard work of our staff in making this transition to a new structure for programming that addresses critical and emerging issues in New Hampshire .
Congratulations to Cathy Neal, John Porter and Nada Haddad for their winning entries at the recent National Association of County Agricultural Agents Communications Awards ceremony. Nada won the State Award for the best Direct Mail piece; John Porter, State Award for best Slide Set; and Cathy Neal won the Regional Award for best Publication. Cathy’s award will further compete for a national award. Congratulations
The NH Timberland Owners Association (NHTOA) honored Sarah Smith, Extension Forest Industry Specialist, last Saturday with the organization's most prestigious award, the Kendall Norcott Award. The award recognizes the outstanding contributions Sarah made to the group. Sarah served on the NHTOA Board of Directors, was a leading force in the development, implementation and success of the New Hampshire Professional Loggers Program and now chairs the board of the Granite State Woodland Institute, the new educational arm of the NHTOA. The award was presented at the association's annual meeting attended by landowners, key forest industry people, timber harvesters, faculty and Extension staff from UNH, legislators, Executive Councilor Ray Burton and Governor Craig Benson. Congratulations, Sarah!
How often do you eat in a restaurant or order take-out in a typical week? Demographic and lifestyle changes since the 1980’s have increasingly shifted the responsibility for the safety of food from the consumer to other sectors of the food system. The National Restaurant Association reports that:
Consumers spend 46.4 percent of their food dollar in restaurants
58 percent of restaurant business is off-premise traffic (take-out, catering)
The average annual household expenditure for food away from home was $2,276 or $910 per person.
As one component of New Hampshire ’s tourism industry, the food service sector is thriving. In March of 2004, an estimated 3,256 eating and drinking establishments employed approximately 41,100 workers. Food workers need food safety and sanitation education and practical skills to implement at their worksite to ensure food prepared and served in food service establishments is safe.
For over 10 years, Family and Consumer Resources Educators have implemented the Safe Awareness in the Food Environment (SAFE) program in all 10 New Hampshire counties. Although SAFE is a two-hour, one-session program, the program’s “high reach” – 27 to 36 programs reaching 544 to 648 food workers each year – and yields impressive evaluation results for this type of program.
Educators’ exemplary teaching resulted in high post-workshop evaluation scores. For example, in FY 2003, 627 SAFE participants scored greater than 94 percent correct on all but three of the 12 knowledge questions. Follow-up phone surveys with food managers in the participants’ facilities showed food workers wash their hands more often, wash and sanitize work areas and cutting boards more often, and take temperatures more frequently after attending a SAFE program.
Long-term impacts of the SAFE program include our partnerships with the NH Bureau of Food Protection, Health Officers in Self-Inspecting Cities and Towns and the NH Lodging and Restaurant Association to help implement SAFE and ServSafe® programs throughout New Hampshire. Lastly, SAFE is one of many factors leading to an increased awareness among food managers and workers of the importance of food safety and sanitation.
Congratulations to the following PAT (Professional, Administrative & Technical) staff and Extension Educators (EE) honored for Years of Service during UNH's Annual PAT & EE Awards Ceremony:
25 Years
Alan Eaton, Extension Specialist/Professor, Entomology
Frank Mitchell, Extension Specialist/Professor, Land and Water Conservation
Stan Swier, Extension Specialist/Professor, Entomology
20 Years
Charlene Baxter, Program Leader, Family & Consumer Resources, Community
Development Dottie Burrows, Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development
Suzann Knight, Extension Specialist/Professor, Family Resource Management
15 Years
Ann Hamilton, Extension Educator, Family & Consumer Resources
Andrea Sawyer, Extension Program Associate, 4-H Youth Development
Steve Turaj, Extension Educator, Agricultural Resources
Barbara Wright, Distance Education & Training Specialist
Holly Young, Educational Marketing & Information Coordinator
10 Years
Robert Craycraft, Educational Program Coordinator, LLMP
Kathleen Jaworski, Extension Educator, Family & Consumer Resources
Ann Reid, Extension Program Assistant, Water & Marine Resources
Cheryl Smith, Extension Specialist/Professor, Plant Health
Presidential Award of Excellence
John Porter received the annual UNH Presidential Award of Excellence for an Extension Educator at the award ceremony. John is Extension Dairy Specialist/Professor in Merrimack County . Congratulations, John!
Associate Director Nancy Franz looks at self-directed work teams in the April issue of the Journal of Extension. Click on Self-Directed Work Teams: The Antidote for "Heroic Suicide" to learn more.
Over 125 citizens and town officials participated in the Weare Community Profile (Hillsborough County) May 7-8. The following action teams were created as a result:
Create a New Middle School
Managed Growth Committee
Develop a New England Village Green with a Community Center & Village Shops
Establish a Charter Commission to Evaluate the Current Town Government Structure
Identify the Top 10 Lands and Scenic Routes for Preservation
Thanks goes to Dan Reidy, the county steering committee liaison, Deb Maes, the large group facilitator, and Julia Steed-Mawson and Thom Linehan, the small group discussion leader trainers. Also thanks to Jon Nute, Margaret Hagen, Heidi Bennett, Penny Turner, Alice Mullen and Sharon Cowen for serving as small group facilitators/scribes and organizers.
The follow-up meeting facilitated by UNH Cooperative Extension takes place May 18 to begin mapping how to accomplish those projects. UNH Cooperative Extension, the town of New Boston and the Southern Regional Planning Commission will provide support for this meeting.
Upcoming Profiles scheduled include Danville (October) and Hampstead (April 2005).
New Hampshire residents appear to have an insatiable desire for information about ponds, and people with ponds love to talk about them. From early spring through fall, UNH Cooperative Extension telephones ring off the hook with questions about pond vegetation, fish stocking, water color, unusual insects and more.
In an effort to help address these calls, and tackle at least a little of this voracious appetite for knowledge, Cooperative Extension staff work with the county Conservation Districts and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to offer pond clinics in each of New Hampshire’s 10 counties every other summer.
A pond “clinic” is an evening meeting held at a pond site. Sometimes the ponds are new, sometimes they are well established and lovely, and sometimes they are old and overgrown with aquatic plants and/or algae. Each type of pond provides opportunity for varied discussions.
In most of the counties, the UNH Cooperative Extension Agricultural Resources or Forestry & Wildlife Resources Educator works with the county Conservation District to locate a suitable pond, organize the program and advertise the event. At the pond clinic itself, the NRCS conservationist discusses pond site evaluation, construction and permitting. Extension Specialist J-J Newman then talks about pond biology, fish stocking and weed/algae control. It is common to have 50 or more people attend one of these events.
The summer of 2004 will again be a summer of pond clinics. If you, or someone you know, has a pond or is interested in building one, contact your county Extension or Conservation District office. Working together, we hope we will one day fill the need for this kind of information. People will always like talking about their ponds, though!