Extension Update: December 2005 Archives

I extend best wishes to you and your families for a peaceful and joyous holiday season. I hope you will pause during this time to reflect on the many contributions you've made this past year in the work you do with the citizens of New Hampshire. I commend your dedication to our mission and your willingness to invest the effort necessary to make a difference.

I continue to be proud to lead an organization that makes an incredible impact on the lives of so many New Hampshire citizens. We have completed yet another year during which we have achieved numerous program accomplishments and continued to gain recognition and value for our role as a primary outreach unit of the University of New Hampshire.

I look forward to 2006 as we continue our work with citizens around the state, becoming an even more effective and efficient educational outreach organization. I hope each of you take full advantage of this opportunity to take a well-deserved break and enjoy your friends and family.

Happy Holidays, John

Two UNH Cooperative Extension specialists, Suzann Knight and Charlie French, are participating in eXtension’s pioneering Communities of Practice. These Communities will help build the foundation of the eXtension initiative.

Charlie is part of the Building Local Economies of the Future: Entrepreneurship, Education and Information Systems for Rural People and Places, while Suzann is working with the Financial Security for All Community of Practice.

Participation in this first Call for Engagement involved 49 states and one U.S. territory. A total of 181 authors submitted as either the primary investigator or co-primary investigator, representing 44 states. The Review Panel for the Call for Engagement was comprised of Cooperative Extension Directors and Program Leaders from each of the five Cooperative Extension regions.

The next Call for Engagement will be issued in early Spring 2006.

A reminder that anyone who submits 25 questions and answers by December 15 to the eXtension database will win an eXtension “prize.” Information about the FAQ submission process and registration, which you must do to begin the process, is located at the eXtension website.

The 2006 National Priester Health Conference takes place April 25-27, 2006, in Louisville, KY.

Professionals involved in health research, education, Extension and policy from Land-Grant institutions, other institutions of higher education, medical colleges, public health, healthcare, federal organizations and agencies, private non-profit organizations and associations, and schools systems are invited to submit proposals.

Proposals should emphasize innovative strategies for translating research into educational programs and policy formulation that result in positive health outcomes. The deadline for proposal submissions is December 15, 2005.

Learn more at the conference website. Conference sponsors include USDA-Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service (USDA-CSREES), National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges Commission on Outreach and Technology Transfer (NASULGC-COTT), and the University of Kentucky.

National 4-H Council, with support from the JC Penney Afterschool Fund, awarded 25 volunteers from across the country with the first 4-H Afterschool Opens Doors Volunteer Awards. Sue McDuff, Laconia, who helped establish the Winnipesaukee Winners 4-H, a successful after-school program in Alton, is one of the recipients.

This award recognizes the commitment of 4-H volunteers involved in 4-H Afterschool programming in their communities. These volunteers help train after-school program staff, increase the use of
4-H curricula in after-school programs, organize 4-H clubs in after-school programs, and provide
4-H activities to youth in after-school programs.

Alton’s community leaders tried for 10 years to establish an after-school program. Their dream finally happened when UNH Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development Educator Becky Levesque helped assemble the right mix of school and community partners, parents and youth. Supported by a $500 Rural Youth Development Grant, the Alton 4-H Enrichment Program began by offering 4-H one day per week with 28 youth participating. Much of the program’s success and growth are attributed to the creativity, energy and teamwork demonstrated by volunteer Sue McDuff and the program’s first part-time director, Derek Pappaceno.

McDuff, a 4-H alumnus, volunteered as a key leader, teaching sewing projects, recruiting and mentoring other volunteers, and organizing youth to plan and carry out community service. When presented with the opportunity to become a 4-H Afterschool club and do other projects such as gardening and community service, the majority of children eagerly agreed. They named their group the Winnipesaukee Winners 4-H. Plans are now underway to expand the program to two days each week.

I am providing you with a link to the President's Fund for Excellence, a competitive award program. President Ann Weaver Hart has made available $400,000 to provide faculty with increased opportunities to initiate and sustain interdisciplinary research and scholarship with impacts beyond the campus borders. All Extension Faculty are eligible to apply.

For more information, please visit the above link or contact John Aber, Vice President for Research and Public Service, 107 Thompson Hall (phone 862-1948 or email john.aber@unh.edu).

Proposals are due to Dr. Aber by January 15, 2006.

I have been serving on the Responsibility Center Management (RCM) Steering Committee for the past several months. In two upcoming meetings, initial recommendations for modifications to the system will be presented at public forums. The Campus Journal has more complete information about the process and the upcoming meetings.

Staff are invited to analyze feedback on our draft plan of work at a data party December 19. The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Merrimack County office in Boscawen, with a focus on feedback from stakeholders and staff and implications for our programming.

To sign up for this session, contact Nancy Franz.

Jeff Schloss, UNH Cooperative Extension Professor/Specialist, Water Resources, received the North American Lake Management Society (NALMS) Secchi Disk award. This award was presented at the Society's 25th annual meeting held recently in Madison, Wisconsin.

Of all the NALMS awards, the Secchi Disk award is the Society’s highest honor, given to an individual member considered to have contributed the most to the achievement of NALMS’s goals and its mission within and outside of the organization.

A member of NALMS since 1986, Jeff has served on and chaired several committees and was the Region I Director from 1999-2001. He served as NALMS President in 2002 and now heads up the Conference Advisory Committee. He also participated in the development of the NALMS research project on remote sensing techniques.

Congratulations, Jeff!