THE TUESDAY (REALLY WEDNESDAY) MORNING NOTES - January 23, 2013
Jeff Silvertooth
silver at ag.arizona.edu
Wed Jan 23 08:58:09 MST 2013
TMN submittal:
http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/tuesday/form/submittal_form.html
Tuesday Morning Notes (sometimes known as "Wednesday Morning Notes")
January 23, 2013
FROM THE DIRECTOR:
Over the past year everyone in CALS has seen some information regarding the
college budget situation. Dean Burgess has been presenting budget summaries
in his "All Hands" meetings and a common feature to those presentations has
been the "Red & Green (RG) Table" that outlines the "unassigned funds" and
projections for college-level permanent salary dollars available in CALS.
He does this so that everyone can see what the current college finances
are-just as any federal agency and all publicly traded companies do. We
also have an additional RG Table for "temporary" college-level funds.
The CALS Executive Council (E.C.) reviews the college budget situation
weekly and has been using this table as a tool to summarize and manage the
college's current fiscal year's unassigned funds and to exercise projections
into future fiscal years. As one might imagine, we have an extensive array
of spreadsheets providing detailed accounts for many aspects of the entire
college budget to work with. But we have found the RG Table to be a good
benchmark reference regarding the overall status of the unassigned funds in
CALS and a useful tool in budget modeling.
The E.C. has become somewhat accustomed to the RG Table as a budget summary
tool and I can easily appreciate the comments and questions that I have
received on numerous occasions regarding this table and the fact that it is
not clear to everybody what it is and what it describes. Thus, I think it
might be worthwhile to offer a brief outline and explanation of the RG
Table, which I will attempt to provide in this article with the valuable
help of Sandy Pottinger, Associate Dean for CALS Finances (our college's
chief financial officer). First, however, I need to provide a few important
points for background.
The projections for the unassigned funds for college-level permanent salary
dollars available in CALS are extremely important since these funds are the
resources that hire people to build and direct programs. This also
represents the primary pool of funds we have in the college that are subject
to the reductions when budget cuts hit us.
A few summary points regarding the projections for the unassigned funds for
college-level permanent salary dollars available in CALS and the RG Table:
1. Organization.
a. How CALS is organized.
i. Two separate state budget
line items exist - Extension and Non-Extension.
ii. There are five divisions in
CALS budgets - teaching, research, extension, support, and unassigned.
iii. We have 45 units
(departments or schools) - 11 academic units, 6 agricultural
centers/research units, 16 county offices/extension units, 5 support units,
6 administrative units, and 1 unassigned unit.
b. Where funds are located.
i. Most of the CALS funds
"belong" to units in the teaching, research, extension, or support
divisions.
ii. Per CALS policy, the
permanent funds used for salaries for unit administrators,
tenure/continuing-track faculty, and selected appointed professionals
"belong" to the college. When not assigned to a unit, these college-level
funds reside in the "Unassigned unit".
Examples: When a faculty member is hired, college-level salary dollars are
transferred from the Unassigned unit to the employee's appropriate academic,
research, extension, support, and/or administrative unit(s). When a faculty
member leaves CALS, the salary dollars are transferred back from the
employee's unit(s) to the college's Unassigned unit.
2. The Red and Green Table presented by Dean Burgess in the last "All
Hands" meeting describes the "unassigned funds" and projections for
college-level permanent salary dollars available in CALS.
a. FY13 is for the current fiscal year ending 6/30/13; FY14 is a
projection for the next fiscal year which begins 7/1/13.
b. This table reflects the college-level permanent salary dollars.
These are budget-style permanent state and federal appropriated funds (see
above explanations).
c. Row 1 - In FY13, CALS started the fiscal year with a permanent budget
of $1,913,329 in vacant salary lines belonging to the college (in the
Unassigned unit).
d. Row 2 - Based on historical and current year activity, we estimate
that $1,200,000 permanent salary budgeted dollars will revert to the college
in FY13 due to retirements, resignations, and separations from those
positions originally funded by college-level funds and returned to the CALS
Unassigned unit.
e. Row 3 - Based on actual hires and the college's approved faculty
hiring plan, $1,519,579 worth of college-level permanent salary dollars have
been used to fund positions in FY13.
f. Row 4 - There are two primary sources for this number.
i. First, new faculty hires
might be funded from other temporary funds, like TRIF or Provost funding,
for the first couple of years but CALS becomes fully responsible for those
lines as the temporary obligations are completed. So, college-level
permanent salary dollars aren't needed in year one. CALS doesn't have any
outstanding cases in FY13, but we do have commitments to permanently fund
existing faculty in FY14 in excess of $550,000.
ii. Second, when appropriate,
the college may have to provide permanent funding for salary adjustments for
existing employees funded on college-level permanent salary dollars; a
projected amount is included here.
g. Row 5 - In FY13, CALS E.C. decided to use some of the college-level
permanent salary dollars to lessen the FY13 budget cut burden on the units.
We permanently returned $459,639 in permanent college-level salary dollars.
h. Row 6 - CALS funds many temporary commitments throughout the fiscal
year with college-level dollars. This activity is recorded and monitored
via the "Temporary Commitment List". Over time, some of these temporary
commitments rolled over year after year. CALS E.C. has identified $316,795
in "temporary" commitments that are actually more permanent in nature.
Thus, we will transfer permanent college-level salary dollars to fund these
commitments and categorize them as "permanent".
i. Row 7 - Currently, we estimate a remaining balance of $667,316 in
college-level permanent salary dollars to rollover into FY14. This amount
will change based on the actual amount of vacated positions (Row 2) and on
the actual amount of permanent salary dollars used (Rows 3-7) by 30 June
2013.
j. FY14 - The amounts in this column represent our budget model and
projection for the upcoming fiscal year.
I am hopeful that this review and summary has provided some help in
clarifying the RG Table. I did say at the onset of this article that I
would provide a "brief" review of this aspect of our budget management. In
this case "brief" is a relative term but I have tried to be as direct and
concise with this as possible. Again, our intention within the CALS E.C. is
to be open and transparent with the college finances and our management of
those resources. The objective of this article is to work within that
intent.
IMPORTANT REMINDER:
There will be scheduled electrical upgrades in the Forbes Building on
Saturday, January 26 and all power will be off. This means email, CALS
websites and online programs like APROL will be offline
during part or all of that day. Please plan accordingly. For update
information, contact lab at cals.arizona.edu.
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:
The nomination deadline for the 2012 Extension Faculty of the Year Award,
the Outstanding Staff in Cooperative Extension Award, and the Extensionist
of the Year Award is just over a week away - Friday, February 1 - and
encourage you to submit your recommendations:
* The Faculty of the Year award recipient will receive $1,000 and an
award. Click here <http://ag.arizona.edu/awards/extfacultyawd.html> for
Extension Faculty of the Year Award criteria and nomination form.
* The Outstanding Staff in Cooperative Extension award recipient will
receive $500 and an award. Click here
<http://cals.arizona.edu/awards/extstaffawd.html> for award nomination
criteria.
* The Extensionist of the Year award recognizes and honors a resident
of the State of Arizona who has demonstrated extraordinary contributions,
through UACE, to improving the lives of people in their community and state.
The award will be presented at an appropriate college-wide event. Letters
of nomination from UACE or non-UACE faculty and staff and/or peers should
focus on the following criteria: 1) the nature and extent of the
contribution provided by the individual (35%), 2) how this contribution has
benefitted people in the community (15%) and the state (15%), 3) leadership
qualities (25%), and 4) support for UACE (10%).
All awards will be presented at an appropriate Extension or CALS event.
Please read the criteria carefully, submitting only the materials noted (no
vitas). Submit your nominations and support letters c/o Steven Crofts,
University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, PO Box 210036, Tucson, AZ,
85721 or scrofts at cals.arizona.edu. If you have any questions, contact Steve
<mailto:scrofts at ag.arizona.edu> (520.621.7145).
4-H CLUBS RECEIVE ESRI GIS GRANTS:
Congratulations to two 4-H clubs that were awarded GIS grants from Esri.
Bisbee High School 4-H Club in Cochise County was awarded an ArcGIS Desktop
grant which provides GIS software and curriculum for use with desktop
computers. The Green Team 4-H Club in Maricopa County was awarded an ArcGIS
Online grant which gives them access to GIS applications and other resources
online. These two clubs competed with other 4-H clubs from around the
country for these grants. Congratulations to the clubs and the agents and
mentors supporting their efforts.
UPDATE ON VISTA PROGRAM:
Since 2008, we have been fortunate to have more than 20+ VISTA members
(Volunteers in Service to America) serving in various roles with Extension
faculty to build our capacity and strengthen our infrastructure. Typically,
VISTA programs are funded for only 3 years, but we are now in our 5th year.
However, we have been notified that next year will be our last year of
support and that our project is being phased out. This means that we are
making the final 2 placements now, and no new VISTA positions will be
available for some time. Our project will come to an end in March 2014. Of
course, current VISTA members will complete their year of service regardless
of when they started. Our VISTA members have been a tremendous asset to our
organization and I am amazed at what they have added to our programs. We
can re-apply in 2016 after a year hiatus. In the meantime, we are moving
ahead with a joint AmeriCorps proposal with New Mexico Extension. If
approved, this project would add 43 new part-time positions to our two
states. And we anticipate receiving assistance at the James 4-H Camp from
an NCCC work team later this spring.
TECH TIP OF THE WEEK - ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE AND FALSE SECURITY:
Antivirus Software is probably the most overstated tool in any security
toolbox. For years, security experts have been pitching the same advice:
Install antivirus and firewall software, keep up with patches. Some
companies even market their products with bold (and arguably misleading)
guarantees like "Total Protection!" Here's the reality: antivirus software
is good at detecting known threats, but not so great at flagging brand new
malware samples. If you're depending on your antivirus software to save you
from risky behaviors online (such as downloading software from P2P/torrent
networks), you're asking for trouble. Again, it is best to think of
antivirus as another layer of security for a modern PC. Follow Krebs's 3
Basic Rules for online safety and you will drastically reduce the chances of
handing control over your computer to the bad guys. In short, 1) if you
didn't go looking for it, don't install it; 2) if you installed, update it.
3) If you no longer need it, get rid of it!
SCHOOL GARDENS:
Monica Pastor (Area Associate Agent for the University of Arizona's
Agriculture Literacy program) has begun a project that will allow produce
grown in a school's garden to be served in the school's cafeteria. Monica,
in conjunction with Kurt Nolte (Yuma CED/Area Agent & Director, Yuma
Agricultural Center), have developed a training and curriculum that teaches
schools to utilize good handling and good agricultural practices in their
school gardens. By participating in this School Garden Food Safety program,
students from an entire school can reap the educational and healthy benefits
of growing and consuming their own food. We ask that you forward the School
Garden Food Safety Survey link
<https://docs.google.com/a/email.arizona.edu/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dH
JBZ25wYXBiTmN5TDV2MjZpV250eHc6MQ#gid=0> to K-12 educators you work with so
that we may better provide this highly sought-after program to schools
throughout the state. The Arizona Department of Agriculture, Agricultural
Consultation and Training has funded all or a portion of this project using
Specialty Crop Block Grant funds provided by the USDA, Agricultural
Marketing Service.
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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