TUESDAY MORNING NOTES - May 7, 2013

Tue May 7 13:38:22 MST 2013

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

Tuesday Morning Notes 

May 7, 2013

FROM THE DIRECTOR:

We have recently launched a Strategic Hiring Priority Committee (SHPC)
representing faculty and administrators from across CALS Cooperative
Extension.  The SHPC first met on 2 May in Tucson to begin identifying the
process for determining strategic hiring priorities for CALS Cooperative
Extension in both the short and long-term.  The short-term considerations
would be for the next 1-3 years.  The more long-term considerations would be
projected to approximately 2021, which has been the point of our college
strategic planning efforts in the past year.  On 23 May we are convening all
CALS unit heads (departments, schools, counties, and centers) with the
Extension Administration Team to review and discuss the initial draft of
processes and plans developed by the SHPC in an effort to further refine the
strategic hiring priorities for the next several years.

In relation to this recent strategic hiring priority process, I've been
asked "why are we going through another strategic planning exercise when the
entire college has already gone through several iterations of strategic
planning including all units?"  The answer to that good question is very
simple:  given the limited resources at our disposal, we must carefully
determine the strategic hiring priorities that will enable us to attain the
strategic goals (please refer to the listing below of Strategic Goals from
our 2012 Outlook Report) we established last year for CALS-Cooperative
Extension. Accordingly, we are seeking input from across all CALS units
delivering Cooperative Extension programs to help make decisions regarding
the strategic hiring priorities for the next several years.

There are several constraints we all have to work with in this process:  1)
we have 60% of the appropriated funding base (federal and state funds) that
was available to CALS Cooperative Extension in 2008 to support faculty and
staff positions; 2) we need to identify the programs and the program thrusts
that will be priorities for investment and determine and apply our criteria
for priority rankings; 3) we need to consider the best distribution of
positions across the entire CALS system (this includes consideration across
the entire state geographically) to address the development and delivery of
programs; and 4) we must consider the full balance of strategic hiring plans
from across the college and make selections from among those plans in a
strategic manner to identify the top priority areas and programs for
investment.

Therefore, I consider determining strategic hiring priorities to be an
important process for refinement of the broader strategic planning efforts
that CALS has been involved in over the past year.  This process will
provide viable information for us to work with at the administrative level
as we make decisions in the next few years.  In this process I want to be
clear in acknowledging the fact that the input from across the college is
important and will be considered in an objective and respectful manner.  I
also want to openly acknowledge the fact that we in Extension Administration
accept the responsibility for making the ultimate decisions for the
investment of limited resources for faculty and staff positions to best
direct programs .  Thus, I very much appreciate the time and effort that has
been invested in the overall strategic planning process and the steps
associated with the refinement of our strategic hiring priorities.

CALS Cooperative Extension Strategic Goals - 2012

*	Educate and equip people and communities to manage and utilize
natural resources to improve economic sustainability.
*	Improve the production of safe, profitable and sustainable food,
plant and animal systems.
*	Strengthen economic vitality of communities by developing
leadership, workplace skills and life skills of youth and adults to assist
them to be contributing community members.
*	Enhance the growth and development of Arizona children and youth so
that young people will contribute positively to the community.
*	Improve the physical, mental, emotional, and financial health of
individuals and families.
*	CALS-CE is well-recognized as a vital bridge providing key
educational and research program linkages between CALS and the UA with the
general public in Arizona.
*	CALS-CE is well-integrated throughout CALS including the
departments, schools, counties, centers, and with the many stakeholder
groups with which we are engaged.
*	Allocate and focus resources and faculty expertise geographically in
response to strategic needs.

FOCUS ON FACULTY:

Congratulations to Mark Apel (Cochise County) who earned continuing status
and promotion to Agent, Channah Rock (SWES) who earned continuing status and
promotion to Associate Specialist, and Barron Orr (SNRE) and Trent
Teegerstrom (AREC) who were promoted to Specialist! 

Greg Garfin (Assistant Specialist, Climate Science Policy and Natural
Resources, SNRE) was featured as a guest columnist in the May 1 edition of
the Arizona Daily Star, May 1, with the article titled "How would an extra
month of 100-plus-degree days feel?
<http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/guest-column-how-would-an-extra-month-of-
-plus/article_54978a1f-dc1f-5ec6-afdd-6e8b3c790c26.html> "

In last Wednesday's edition of UA News, Elizabeth Sparks (4-H Youth
Development Assistant Agent, Pima County) and the H.E.A.L. Festival were
featured in a video article titled "H.E.A.L. Festival Comes to Tucson
Village Farm
<http://uanews.org/videos/heal-festival-comes-tucson-village-farm> ."

Sharon Megdal, Director, Water Resources Research Center (WRRC), was
recently elected President of the 2014 National Institutes for Water
Resources (NIWR), effective this October.  Sharon will serve as
President-Elect for a one-year term, after which she will serve as President
for a year.  NIWR is a national organization of Water Resources Research
Institutes established under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964.  For
more information, see the full article on the UA News website
<http://uanews.org/blog/uas-megdal-elected-president-national-institute> 

FOCUS ON PROGRAMS:

The WRRC recently posted video coverage of its April 26 Brown Bag Seminar
from UA Ph.D. candidate Jamie McEvoy:  Is Desalination the Solution to Water
Security?  The full presentation is available on the YouTube
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkP2iPVvcI4&feature=youtu.be>  website.

The WRRC's Spring 2013 Arizona Water Resource newsletter is now available
for download
<https://wrrc.arizona.edu/sites/wrrc.arizona.edu/files/AWR-Spring2013-04-25-
2013.pdf> . This edition includes in-depth coverage of the WRRC's 2013
Annual Conference, "Water Security, From the Ground Up." 

The 2013 Walk Across Arizona, Pima County Program (UA campus & Green Valley
teams) has finished its 8-week program.  A total of 566 participants
registered (353 - Green Valley, 213 - UA campus) and walked more than
133,000 miles.  The oldest participant, from the Green Valley team, was 96
years old and walked 1.6 miles per day during the program.  UA President Ann
Weaver Hart quotes:  "I am happy to have been able to support UA Walk Across
Arizona, and hope that the program continues to be a success" (Spring,
2013).

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Thursday, May 9, 11am-12pm, SU Copper Room (4th floor) - "Progressive
Development and Management of Scarce Water Resources - The Israeli Case"
with guest speakers Dr. Eilon Adar, Director, The Zuckerberg Institute of
Water Research and Ben Gurion, University of the Negev, Israel.  The event
is being organized by the College of Engineering.

Friday, May 10, 10am, Harshbarger Building, Room 206 - "Assessing Ground
Water Fluxes and Storage Capacity in Non-steady Complex Aquifer Systems with
Transient Mixing, Cell Modeling" with guest speakers Dr. Eilon Adar,
Director, The Zuckerberg Institute of Water Research and Ben Gurion,
University of the Negev, Israel.  The event is being organized by organized
by the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources.

Thursday, May 16, 8:30am-4:30pm, YMCA (525 Bonita Avenue, Tucson) - The
AzENet (Arizona Evaluation Network) Spring Conference with keynote speaker
Tanya Beer (Associate Director of the Center for Evaluation Innovation).  To
register, go to the AZ ENet website <http://www.azenet.org/> .

Wednesday, May 22, 1pm (EDT) - "Developing a Successful Partnership with
Your County Government" Webinar with guest speaker Monica Pastor, Area
Agent, Agricultural Literacy and School Garden Food Safety.  To start or
join the online meeting, go to the NACAA Administrative Skills Webinar
website
<https://cornell.webex.com/mw0307l/mywebex/default.do?service=1&siteurl=corn
ell&nomenu=true&main_url=%2Fmc0806l%2Fe.do%3Fsiteurl%3Dcornell%26AT%3DMI%26E
ventID%3D178497882%26UID%3D491651792%26Host%3Df55d08080524040558%26FrameSet%
3D2> .  To participate by audio only, call toll free to 1-855-244-8681 and
enter access code 649 304 198.  

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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