TUESDAY MORNING NOTES - August 7, 2012

Tue Aug 7 10:23:24 MST 2012

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

Tuesday Morning Notes 

August 7, 2012

FROM THE DIRECTOR:

Perhaps you have heard the slogan that has been frequently used in the past
10 years: "We have to learn to do more with less."  I found that interesting
perhaps the first few times I heard it applied to the situations we were
experiencing with budget reductions over the past decade.  I am still
hearing that refrain thrown around today occasionally.  But to be honest
with you, this cute little slogan has not been a rallying cry that works for
me.  It is not realistic or practical in my view.

I am more inclined to believe that: a) we need to be very efficient with the
resources that we have to work with and b) we also need to be conscious of
maintaining good quality in the work we conduct.  With a shrinking resource
base and infrastructure and employing a "do more with less" approach, we can
very easily over-extend ourselves to the point where the quality of our
production will suffer and usually the quantity of the work will drop off as
well.  Thus, we either secure additional resources from other funding bases
and/or we reduce the number of programs we try to maintain in our overall
portfolio and focus on doing very well with the objectives that we do choose
to pursue.  That essentially means that we accept the fact that we need to
consider doing "less with less" and that we do not compromise the quality in
our work.   It also means we have to be more selective in our pursuits and
therefore more strategic with our choices.

These thoughts are connected to one of our strategic goals for Extension
that recognizes the need to engage in a "strategic and asymmetric"
distribution of our resources.  As we lose positions from Extension, which
we continue to do with the additional budget reductions, we have to consider
what is not only important but rather what is critical for us to maintain
and where and how do we best redirect our resources when we have the
opportunity to do so.  We also have to be prepared to objectively review our
programs and perhaps move away from traditional programs and into new areas
to meet the needs that are present and developing across Arizona.  This
information needs to be gathered at the local and regional levels across the
state with stakeholder input.  Extension is well positioned to collect the
necessary information and respond, with personnel and programs in County
Extension offices and our research and extension centers across the state
that are directly engaged with stakeholders as well as our programs based on
campus.  We need to utilize this capacity as we plan ahead and move this
organization forward in a productive manner applying the resources that we
have as effectively as possible.

GRANT SUBMISSION DEADLINES:

CALS Administration is reminding everyone of the approval deadlines for
submitting grants and contracts proposals.  Sponsored Projects requires the
proposal three working days prior to the date it is due to the Sponsor, an
IDC waiver requires an additional two days for approval from the VP for
Research's Office, and CALS Administration has a goal of 2-3 days for
college level review.  Keep these processing requirements in mind as you
submit your important proposals.  

FOCUS ON PROGRAMS:

Coconino Children of Incarcerated Parents Task Force gained national
attention in a recent NPR feature aired on Morning Edition July 18 entitled
<http://www.npr.org/2012/07/18/156931321/keeping-kids-connected-with-their-j
ailed-parents> "Keeping Kids Connected to Parents in Jail".  Gillian Ferris
Kohl, local NPR reporter, produced the segment and interviewed members of
the four year Task Force, including Beth Tucker.  After the show aired, a
documentary filmmaker from The Respectful Revolution contacted Tucker and
filmed an interview on UA's role in the CIP effort to raise awareness and
make changes to children with incarcerated parents.

Goodbye to Manasi and welcome to Julie Ferreira, the new VISTA Leader.
After 3 years of great VISTA leadership, Manasi (Gharpure) Mallard has
decided to focus on finishing her master's degree by December in order to
graduate and transition to the next phase of her life.  We will miss her
greatly and I especially have appreciated her able leadership as my VISTA
Leader for the past 2 years.  She has recruited a very capable replacement,
Julie Ferreria, who began work August 6.  Julie has served as a VISTA member
in the past and brings her own brand of enthusiasm to our project.  I am
very pleased to have her-especially because we just brought on 8 new VISTAs
who join our existing ranks of 4 VISTA members.  Julie can be reached at
julieferreira at email.arizona.edu or at Manasi's old number, 520.626.6131.  I
had hoped she could join us at the 2012 CALS Extension Conference, but
instead she must attend VISTA training during the same time next week.

TECH TIP OF THE WEEK - HOW TO USE STICKY NOTES IN WINDOWS 7:

The Sticky Notes accessory enables you to plaster the electronic equivalent
of good old-fashioned Post-It notes all over your Windows 7 desktop.  You
can use Sticky Notes in Windows 7 as onscreen reminders and you can even
color code them to help you stay organized.  They remain securely wherever
you put them on the desktop until you delete them! 

*	To create a Sticky Note, click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories
-> Sticky Notes.  Windows opens a new blank note on the desktop, positioning
the cursor at the beginning of the note.
*	Type the text of the note.
*	You can also format the note text if you want.  Just select the
desired text and then press the appropriate shortcut key:  Ctrl+B for bold
text, Ctrl+I for italics, and Ctrl+U for underlining.  You'll notice that
the text automatically wraps to a new line, and if your text doesn't fit on
the note, Windows automatically expands the height of the note to
accommodate the length of your note.  
*	When you finish entering the note text, simply click somewhere on
the desktop outside the sticky note itself.  Alternatively, you can click
the New Note button (the one with the plus sign) to start a new sticky note.
The note you create will stay on the desktop.  If you use sticky notes,
you'll want to get acquainted with the Sticky Notes Quick Launch button on
the taskbar. Click it once to temporarily hide all the sticky notes on your
desktop. To bring all of your sticky notes back to the desktop or to the top
of the windows on the desktop, click it again. 
*	To color-code a sticky note, right-click the note and then click the
color you want.  Your choices here are Blue, Green, Pink, Purple, White, or
Yellow. 
*	To delete a note that you no longer need, click its Delete button in
the upper-right corner.  The first time you delete a note, Windows asks you
to confirm the deletion. If you don't want to see this alert again, select
the Don't Display This Message Again check box before you click Yes. 

When you open an Explorer window that overlaps a note, you can bring the
sticky note to the top of the pile by clicking any visible part of the
sticky note.  If nothing is visible, click the Sticky Notes Quick Launch
button on the taskbar. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

A Framework for Problem Solving is the third and final offering of a
three-part webinar series introducing a range of skills for managing and
resolving conflict.  It will be presented by Amanda Murphy
<http://ruckelshauscenter.wsu.edu/about/documents/MurphyResume.2.27.12.pdf>
from the William D. Ruckelshaus Center
<http://ruckelshauscenter.wsu.edu/about/>  on August 1 from 9:00-10:00a.m.
Pacific Time and will be located at the Washington State University Adobe
Connect site <http://breeze.wsu.edu/ext_skills/> .  If you have any
questions, email Jim Lindstrom <mailto:jlindstr at wsu.edu> .  The session
description is:  Daily we are faced with issues that require us to make
decisions with others. In most conflicts, neither party is right or wrong;
instead, differences in perceptions, values and ideas collide to create
disagreement.  When disagreements arise, good problem solving skills are
essential.  This session will introduce the steps of problem solving, show
how to use communication skills to define problems and uncover interests,
introduce techniques for generating and evaluating solutions, and present
options for when resolution cannot be reached 

The UA Maricopa County Master Gardeners' Desert Garden Institute will
commence and conclude with late summer and early fall course offerings.
While fewer in number, these power-packed classes more than compensate with
comprehensive, timely information delivered by the best subject-matter
experts around.  Courses are three hours long and are $25 each session.
Don't miss a single one!  Complete course information, a mail in
registration form, and on-line registration is available at the Maricopa
County Urban Horticulture website
<http://www.maricopamastergardeners.com/dgi.htm> .  Courses offered are:

*	Sustainable Edible Gardening with Doreen Pollack, Saturday, August
25, 9am-12pm
*	Creating a Monarch Garden with Gail Morris, Wednesday, September 5,
6-9pm
*	Vegetable Gardening with Pam Perry, Saturday, September 22, 9am-12pm
*	Container Gardening with Cherie Czaplicki, Saturday, October 6,
9am-12pm

Jeffrey C. Silvertooth
Associate Dean

Director for Economic Development & 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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