TUESDAY MORNING NOTES - May 14, 2013

Tue May 14 10:22:51 MST 2013

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

Tuesday Morning Notes 

May 14, 2013

FROM THE DIRECTOR:

Last week marked the end of final exams for the Spring 2013 semester and the
2012-2013 academic year for the University of Arizona.  As the semester came
to its end, I wondered once again how many of the students graduating, as
well as those still in school and continuing on with the pursuit of their
degrees, are thinking about the possibility of a career in Cooperative
Extension.  Over the past 25 years I've taught courses regularly and have
consistently found a relatively small number of students that have been
aware of programs and careers in Cooperative Extension.  I've often taken
the opportunity to describe for the students what Extension is and at least
how it works in my realm of the profession.  As the demographics of our
college have changed over the past 25 years, we are seeing an increasing
number of students who have no previous experience or exposure to Extension
or other aspects of the land-grant institution experience.  

I think we have a great opportunity to provide information and an
educational experience for students throughout all aspects of our college
with an exposure to Cooperative Extension, at least in concept, and in many
cases we can provide opportunities for direct experience.  From this not
only do we have the opportunity to help develop the next generation of
Extension professionals that could certainly benefit not only CALS at the UA
and other peer institutions, but also provide a much broader range of
opportunities for our students in terms of their potential professional
pursuits.  Therefore, as we see the need for the development of the next
generation of Extension professionals, we also have an obligation to our
students to provide to them some exposure and knowledge relative to this
aspect of the land-grant institution experience and the professional
opportunities for them in Extension.

In the next year I would like to begin working more directly with our
academic departments in CALS and enlist the participation of Extension
faculty both on campus and off campus to become engaged with the student
population of CALS in an effort to enhance the communication of the
Extension message.  I think this is important not only for the
undergraduates but for graduate students as well.  In relation to the
tremendous breadth across the programs in Cooperative Extension, this effort
should extend into every department in CALS and this serves as a good
example of the integration of Extension programs across the college, which
is one of our Cooperative Extension Strategic goals.  I know some efforts
have been made in this direction in the past but I believe we need to make a
concerted and sustained effort.  I look forward to working with the academic
departments in bringing Extension into this discussion for the benefit of
both our students and CALS Cooperative Extension.

FOCUS ON FACULTY:

Congratulations to Jim Sprinkle, Gila County Director and Area Agent, for
having his "Reading the Range" program named as a recipient of the Western
Extension Directors' Award of Excellence for 2013.  The award will be
presented at the Western Region Joint Summer Meeting on Wednesday, July 17
at the lunch and awards ceremony, Coeur D'Alene Resort, Idaho.  This is an
important recognition for Jim and his excellent work. 

After 16 years and the graduation of the current Project CENTRL XXI class,
Everett Rhodes has decided to step down as CENTRL Director.  Effective July
1, Everett will continue in the Pinal County office as an ANR agent.

Effective this Friday, 17 May Peter Warren will step down as Pima County
Extension Director and focus his efforts full-time toward his program in
Urban Horticulture.  On Monday, 20 May Steve Husman will take on the role as
the Interim Director for the Pima County Extension.

EVAL WORKS!:

The Evaluation Working Group feels that periodic reminders, notices, tips,
and insights about evaluation in TMN would be helpful.  Their tag line will
be Eval Works!  CYFERnetSEARCH.org supports the CYFAR (Children, Youth and
Families At Risk) Initiative, funded by USDA-NIFA.  This innovative website
offers interactive tools and resources designed to build the evaluation
capacity of program providers, practitioners, and evaluators.  The website
supports interactive learning modules, videos from experts on evaluation and
youth development, and a searchable database of over 160 vetted evaluation
instruments.  Check it out <https://cyfernetsearch.org/> !

TECH TIP:

YouSendIt allows one to upload large files and send an email link to
individual recipients allowing  them to download those files.  YouSendIt can
be found via Google and the cost for a user account is $100/year and allows
a user to transfer files up to 2GB in size.  There is a free version that
allows you to transfer file sizes up to 50MB.  Keep in mind that YouSendIt
is fine as long as no sensitive or confidential data is stored there.
DropBox can also be used for file sharing, but again, it is advised you do
not store sensitive or confidential data.  There are many such "file
sharing" services available and you can check out a review of the Top 11
Free Online Storage Apps
<http://freelanceswitch.com/productivity/free-online-storage-apps/> .  Most
have commercial (paid) versions which offer more on-line storage capacity or
business versions which comply with data storage security (HIPA, FERPA, PCI,
etc.) requirements. 

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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