The New Faculty Tour was a great success. Many thanks to Barry Bequette,
Carol Willis, and all of their faculty and staff for their efforts. Merle
Jensen and his staff are to be commended for all their energy and
organization. Welcome Aboard to all the new faculty!
* Lisa Lauxman (State 4-HYD Office) and Ed Martin (Agricultural and
Biosystems Engineering at Maricopa Agricultural Center) have agreed to
co-chair the Year 2000 College of Agriculture Annual Faculty Conference,
scheduled for December 6 and 7. I really appreciate their willingness to
serve in this role. Tim Dennehy and Kevin Moulton have agreed to continue
providing leadership on the Poster Sessions. We received very positive
feedback on the central location of the posters and the quality of the
posters. If you have any suggestions for Lisa, Ed, Tim or Kevin, give them
a call. Comments can also be shared with me, or Jack Roberts, as well.
Again, special thanks to Carol Willis, Russ Tronstad, the whole planning
team, and my staff for the quality efforts supporting the 1999 College of
Agriculture Annual Faculty Conference.
* On Wednesday, January 19, 2000, the College of Agriculture Diversity
Committee will premiere its new training video: "Partners for Life: A
Service Dog's Tale". The public premiere and news conference will take
place at the Swede Johnson Building, 1111 N. Cherry Avenue, Room 205 at
1:30 P.M. The 7-½ minute video, starring "Peek", a 10-pound Papillon,
provides instruction about the rights of partners in public places.
* In response to Agents, County Extension Directors and our University
Attorney's concerns and recommendations, we have moved forward to develop
consistent policies relating to Extension volunteers. A committee, made
up of Shirley Jo Taylor, Rob Grumbles, Cynthia Flynn, Susan Pater and Bill
Peterson will be meeting later this week. They will be reviewing documents
and practices affecting any Cooperative Extension volunteers for clarity
and consistency. Recommendations will be brought forward to Cooperative
Extension Administration. A meeting has been set-up with the University
of Arizona Attorney's office later in January to go over the final
recommendations which could include bringing clarity to existing policies,
development of new policies and/practices, plus suggestions for training
needs and enhanced communications.
* Congratulations to Douglas Dunn, retired CED from Cochise County, for
being recognized as the 1999 Willcox Citizen of the Year. Doug says he's
enjoying his retirement and sends his regards.
* 722 volunteers contributed more than 19,000 hours helping with the EFNEP
program. More than 500 were involved in teaching 12,403 youth in the 4-H
EFNEP youth program. Most participated in school enrichment and after
school programs. In addition to nutrition and fitness, the youth program
emphasized positive self-esteem. Survey information collected from 2,126
participants showed a dramatic increase in knowledge gain as well as better
food choices. After participation in the EFNEP program, one third of the
participants ran out of food less often at the end of the month, 46%
thought about healthy food choices when planning family meals, and 45%
indicated a general improvement in meeting the food and nutrition needs of
their families. In fact, prior to participation in EFNEP only 28% of the
families reported they had eaten at least one serving in each of the food
groups in the Food Guide Pyramid, i.e., breads and cereals, fruits,
vegetables, meat or dried beans, dairy foods, or other foods every day.
After participation in the program, this number more than doubled! Fifty
nine percent then consumed a serving of food from each food group daily.
Still, this group of people has tremendous needs for good food and
nutrition education. Approximately 76% of Arizona's EFNEP families are
minorities. All meet federal poverty guidelines.