TUESDAY MORNING NOTES - July 17, 2012

Tue Jul 17 08:54:47 MST 2012

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

Tuesday Morning Notes 

July 17, 2012

FROM THE DIRECTOR:

What is the best structure and organization for a College of Agriculture and
Life Sciences and a Cooperative Extension system in a land-grant
institution?  In both theory and practice the answers to that question take
on many forms as we review the many examples that are currently in place
across the U.S. today.  How an individual might respond to that question
probably has a lot to do with their background, experience-base, and
philosophy.  I found myself considering that question recently as I traveled
across the southern Great Plains on a trip back to places where I come from
and had my first direct experiences with a land-grant institution.  As I
think most of us could do, I can re-trace my steps and see some definite
symmetry in my way of thinking today regarding Cooperative Extension and a
college like ours in relation to my experiences of the past, both distant
and recent.

My first internal exposure to a College of Agriculture and a land-grant
institution came when I was an undergraduate student at Kansas State
University (K-State) in Manhattan, Kansas.  What I was exposed to at that
level dealt primarily with resident instruction and a little bit of the
research elements.  Upon graduation in 1976 with a B.S. degree in agronomy I
secured a job as an agronomist-crop consultant with a crop service that was
owned and operated as a part of a privately owned grain company in
southwestern Kansas.  Having the responsibilities as a crop consultant
covering over 12,000 acres of irrigated crop production on the high plains
under contract with approximately 25-30 growers each season, I was faced
with the need to expand my knowledge-base and seek information to address
the many questions and problems that developed on a regular basis.  The
information and resources available through the land-grant institutions of
K-State, Oklahoma State University, Colorado State University, and the
University of Nebraska proved to be invaluable to me and all of my
colleagues working as crop consultants in this region.  The Cooperative
Extension systems were our connections and conduits of information from
these institutions and this served as my first real exposure to Extension.

I learned many things from these experiences over five seasons in
southwestern Kansas.  I came to better understand the full value and
potential associated with a land-grant institution.  I was a direct
beneficiary of an excellent education that was serving me very well in the
field.  We were able to draw upon the information being derived from the
research programs from these institutions and take these ideas to the field
for implementation.  I learned that this "bridging" and translation of
information from the research arena to the field was facilitated by the
Extension faculty.  In general, our experiences demonstrated that many
Extension faculty were the ones from the universities that best understood
what the problems in the field were and how to best address them.  However,
they were restricted by their institutions from actually conducting the
research.  The research was conducted by faculty that usually made little or
no effort to transfer the information to the field, usually being restricted
from doing so by the parent institution.  Quite frankly, those of us working
in the field saw those restrictions and rules from the institutions serving
to severely limit their function and utility.  Those systems were not
integrated sufficiently in our view and they lost efficiency in the process.
I became a strong believer at that time that the individuals who are most
effective in the transfer and application of new technology and information
need to be fully engaged in the complete process from testing to
application.  

Having fully-engaged faculty in the development and delivery of Extension
programs is essential in my view.  This engagement involves the full process
of information development and synthesis (research), transfer and delivery
through an effective extension education program, and then follow-through at
the point of application, which includes observing the results and using the
feedback from the stakeholders and the other people working at the "ground
level".   Conceptually, I think this engagement is relevant to every type of
program that we direct in CALS Extension including child and youth
development programs, health, family and community programs, agriculture,
and natural resource management.  The key ingredient is having people that
actually want to get out and do this work.  They will be self-starters,
motivated, and fully engaged.  That is what we want and need in CALS
Extension.

2013 CALS LOGOS:

CALS has a new set of logos!  After extensive discussions between the Dean,
the Administrative Cabinet, ECAT and the UA Marketing department, we now
have officially approved logos which unite both the university and the
college with units and programs. You can view them at
http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/pubs/2013CALSlogos.pdf.

We are in the process of assembling a number of CALS External Relations
teams which will be building a marketing and public relations strategy for
the college over the next few months.  One of their first tasks will be to
come up with an implementation plan for switching over to these new logos. 

We are also in the early stages of building a digital asset management
system for CALS.  Once complete, it will include all of these logos, making
them available to CALS units whenever they are needed.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUNDS FOR COOPERATIVE EXTENSION FACULTY:

A reminder that faculty with 100% Extension appointments are eligible for a
maximum of $1,000 per fiscal year (the amount adjusted based on the
Extension appointment percentage).  These funds are to support professional
career development through attendance or training for specific educational
experiences or materials or professional meetings/events.  All requests must
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.  The plan must include dates of travel and estimated
expenses.  All requests must have the approval of the appropriate Unit 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.  Final approval
is by Extension Administration.  More information, examples and forms are
available below:

*	Examples of Professional Development Career Plan of Action Form
<http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/employee/exampleplanofactionform.pdf> 
*	Professional Development Career Plan of Action Form
<http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/employee/careerplanofactionform.doc> 
*	Submit Professional Travel Funding Request
<http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/employee/travform.html> 

Contact pattiB <mailto:pattib at cals.arizona.edu>  with any further questions.

TECH TIP OF THE WEEK:

Do you want to present data in an instantly understandable, visually
appealing way?  Infographics, while not new, are gaining in popularity as a
means of doing so.  Infographics combine simple yet creative graphics,
pleasing colors and fonts, and concise data.  Infographs can also be linked
to databases, and created directly from social media sites such as Facebook.
Sites such as Visual.ly <http://visual.ly/donations-pay-down-national-debt>
and Mashable <http://mashable.com/follow/topics/infographics/>  are good
resource example.

FREE RESOURCES:

We have subscriptions to two "tools" that anyone in Extension can use:

*	Animation Factory - a collection of animated clipart, templates,
backgrounds & video for presentations, websites, and video production
*	Survey Monkey

Contact pattiB <mailto:pattib at cals.arizona.edu>  for appropriate logins and
passwords.

NONDISCRIMINATION AND ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY: 

The University's Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy
<http://policy.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/Nondiscrimination.pdf>  has
been revised to consolidate the University's former Sexual Harassment Policy
and Interim Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy, and to provide
consistent definitions and policies for all forms of harassment and
discrimination.  The policy has also been updated to reflect changes in
federal and state law.  Major changes include: 

*	the inclusion of genetic information as a protected category;
*	an updated definition of retaliation; 
*	the inclusion of a reasonable person standard in the definition of
harassment; and
*	language to clarify that enforcement of the policy is subject to
First Amendment protections 

Question can be directed to the Office of Institutional Equity
<mailto:equity at email.arizona.edu>  (520.621.9449).  

UPCOMING EVENTS:

A three-part webinar series introducing a range of skills for managing and
resolving conflict 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 the following dates:

*	July 18 - Understanding and Responding to Conflict
*	July 25 - Effective Communication: The Basis of Conflict Resolution
*	August 1 - A Framework for Problem Solving

Each webinar is 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 questions or other topics
you would find of interest, email Jim Lindstrom <mailto:jlindstr at wsu.edu> .

The July 18 session description is:  Conflict is a fact of life.  It occurs
whenever people disagree over perceptions, values, and ways of working.
While often considered negative, by itself conflict is neither good nor bad;
it is our reactions to conflict that determine if it is constructive. The
ability to create positive outcomes from conflict begins with understanding
what conflict really is, where it comes from, and our own responses to it.
This session will introduce general types and causes of conflict, look at
why responding to and managing conflict is important, explore styles of
conflict management, and introduce tools to successfully manage an encounter
with an angry or emotional person and ways to defuse the situation.

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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