TUESDAY MORNING NOTES - December 13, 2011

Tue Dec 13 09:38:08 MST 2011

TMN submittal:
http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/tuesday/form/submittal_form.html 

Tuesday Morning Notes 

December 13, 2011

UPCOMING HOLIDAY & CAMPUS CLOSURE:

The University and the State Extension Office will be closed beginning
Monday, December 26 and reopen on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.  If your unit
closes during this time, you have various options such as working extra
hours now or using vacation or unpaid absence.  You'll need to consult with
your supervisor to determine how best to account for the hours that
otherwise would have been worked.  

In addition, this will be the last issue of Tuesday Morning Notes for 2011.
The first 2012 issue will be January 10.  Have a safe and enjoyable holiday
season!, Kirk.

FOCUS ON PROGRAMS:

A reminder that the Climate, Natural Resources and Sustainability Signature
Program Team (the Team) will be putting forth a grant proposal to the UA
Green Fund Committee in February to fund another year of externships
centered around county sustainability projects, starting in the summer of
2012.  Proposals for county sustainability projects that would utilize a UA
student as an extern working with county Extension staff or faculty should
be submitted to Mark Apel <mailto:mapel at cals.arizona.edu>  no later than
Thursday, December 22.  Each county that submits a proposal should have the
ability to recruit UA student externs, preferably from their local area, as
well as provide the logistical support for the extern for the duration of
their project.

COUNTY AGENT APR'S DUE VIA APROL 1/15/12

County Extension faculty use different evaluation forms and have different
due dates than other CALS faculty in order to get the reports to appropriate
people and to match the peer review evaluation form.  Your APR is due via
APROL <http://cals.arizona.edu/aprol>  on or before January 15 (no change
from past years). At this point there is no indication of any changes to the
system used last year for peer review.  Details will be sent later this
week.

REMINDER FOR TRAVEL FUNDING AND CAREER PLAN:

Extension faculty with 100% Extension appointments are eligible for a
maximum of $1,000 per fiscal year in Professional Development Funds (the
amount will be adjusted based on the Extension appointment percentage).
These funds are to be used to support professional career development
through attendance or training for specific educational experiences,
materials or professional meetings/events.  All requests should be submitted
in writing in advance.  Faculty must include with submission a 3-5 year
professional development career plan with yearly updated goals and plan of
actions, including dates of travel and estimated expenses.  All requests
must have the approval of the appropriate County Director or Department Head
prior to being sent to the Extension Programs Office in Forbes 301.  There
is no carryover of funding from one fiscal year to the next.  Submissions
are due by January 15, 2012.  Final approval is by Extension Administration.
The Professional Development Career Plan of Action Form
<http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/employee/careerplanofactionform.doc>  is
available under the Employee section of our web site, Funding Request
Procedures <http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/employee/travel.html#faculty>
.

TECH TIP OF THE WEEK: 

Whenever you are on a website that displays or requests personal or
financial information (such as a banking website), be sure the connection to
the website is "secure."  The address or url should start with HTTPS instead
of the normal HTTP (example:  https://chaseonline.chase.com/Logon.aspx).
The purpose of a secure connection is that traffic between your web browser
and the website is encrypted, and such things as passwords or credit card
numbers are not visible to anyone that might be eavesdropping on the
connection.  This is not to be confused with a VPN connection where the
traffic between your computer and a VPN "end point" (not the website) is
encrypted and the traffic, once it leaves the VPN end point, might not be
encrypted.  So, even if you are using a VPN connection, always be sure that
the HTTPS appears in the address bar to be sure you have a secure connection
to that web site.

VACATION HOURS REMINDER:

A reminder that it is University policy to allow one and one-half times the
maximum number of hours of vacation earned in a given year to be carried
forward.  In the past, excess vacation hours were forfeited on an employee's
anniversary date, but as of 1-1-11, this forfeiture now occurs for all
employees at the start of each calendar year.  Be sure to plan accordingly.
The original memo announcing this change can be found on the Human Resources
Web site
<http://www.hr.arizona.edu/changes_in_benefits_and_payroll/2009#a003> .  If
you have any questions, contact the Benefits Administration Team
<mailto:benefits at email.arizona.edu>  (520.621.3662, option 3).

Kirk A. Astroth
Interim Associate Dean and Director
Arizona Cooperative Extension
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
PO Box 210036
Tucson, AZ  85721-0036
520.621.7205
520.621.1314 (fax)

To submit tips, suggestions, ideas for changes and anything that could help
us be more effective, use  the "Director
<http://extension.arizona.edu/state/directors-suggestion-box> 's Suggestion
Box" - all submissions are anonymous.  

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