The UA Cotton Field Day was held last week on October 11, 2000 at the
Maricopa Agricultural Center. The day began with cloudy skies and a
forecast for rain. But by mid-morning the clouds parted and the sun shone
brightly on MAC. Over 475 people attended this statewide event under
beautiful October skies as it rained all day in Tucson. The field day
consisted of field tours through the research farm, a symposium addressing
"The Future of Cotton Production in Arizona", posters, computer/software,
and equipment displays. Cotton Field Day is jointly sponsored with the UofA
and the Arizona Cotton Growers Association. The planning committee consists
of: Jeff Silvertooth (chair), Bob Roth, Dave Langston, Rick Lavis, Peter
Ellsworth, Hal Moser, Ed Martin, Steve Husman, Pat Clay, Russ Tronstad, McD
Hartman, Stefan Dittmar, and Joyce Cadenhead. Congratulations to Jeff and
his Team for a wonderful Cotton Field Day!
* I had a good meeting with the Association of County Supervisors in
Phoenix last Thursday. Approximately 30 supervisors from around the State
discussed partnerships with Cooperative Extension. One Supervisor was
wearing an "I Love 4-H Button". I will be calling several CEDs about
compliments and concerns that I heard about county Extension programs. I
will also be meeting with the Association of County Managers later in the
year to continue to build this partnership.
* Charlene Ledet, our State Lobbyist for the University of Arizona,
indicated that she will be pleased to visit any county meeting of citizens
to support Proposition 301. This education initiative is critical for the
support of K-12, Community College, and the University system. If you have
a meeting of citizens you would like her to present her message to, call
her at 602/212-1717. Proposition 301 has a website located
at: http://www.arizonaeducation2000.net/index.html
* Are your web sites accessible? There is growing interest and legislation
requiring making web sites accessible to persons with disabilities. How can
you determine if your web sites are presenting barriers for various
audiences, including persons who are blind, deaf, or cannot navigate with a
mouse? ECAT is sponsoring two presentations on this topic. On October 25,
1:30-2:45, in the Marley Auditorium, Dawn Hunziker, Assistive Technology
Specialist at the UA Disability Resource Center, and Amy Metcalfe, graphic
designer at the Faculty Center for Instructional Innovation, will share
their expertise on this topic, demonstrate how a screen reader deals with a
"bad" web page and a "good" web page, and discuss how to fix common errors
that make pages inaccessible. There will also be a 6-week electronic
class, starting November 1, which will cover this same topic, but in much
more depth. There is no face-to-face meeting for the session that starts
Nov 1. All the work is done electronically via email and a web site. You
may register for one or both of these "sessions" at the web site
at http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/classes/register.html. Both of these
sessions are open to any faculty, staff, students, or volunteers in the
College.
* APROL (Annual Performance Reports On-line) Training Workshop. APROL
support staff are offering two training workshops one will be held November
15th from 3:00pm to 4:30pm and another workshop will be held November 17th
from 8:00am to 9:30am on the UA campus in Forbes 124 to all College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty and Staff. These workshops will
introduce faculty and staff to the on-line reporting system called APROL.
All Extension Faculty are required to submit their APR through APROL for
the 2000 calendar year. All CALS Faculty will be required to submit their
APRs using APROL beginning the 2001 calendar year. So get a jump start on
your APRs now!! (Please note that these are two separate workshops covering
the same material. You need to only sign up for one date and time!!) You
can contact Kelly Block at 520-626-9174 to register or register on-line at
http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/classes/.
* CALS Educational Communications And Technologies (ECAT) has added two
videos to its collection for short term loan to College faculty and staff.
(1) Planning a Web Site, 29 minutes. A review of various issues that need
to be thought about before you begin the creation of your web pages. (2)
Using Netscape Composer to Create Web Pages, 43 minutes. This free editor
that comes with Netscape Navigator has limitations, but can be used for
relatively simple web sites. This tape demonstrates creating a basic page
with an image, text, and text links; editing an existing document; creating
a more elaborate page using a table structure for your layout and graphic
buttons for links; and how to use the Publish feature to put files on the
AgServer. Campus persons may borrow for one week; off-campus (because of
mail time) for two weeks. Contact Robert Lanza at lanza@cals.arizona.edu to
borrow either one. You also may want to take a look at other loan materials
listed at http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/training/loan.html.
REMINDER
All Faculty Annual Conference, December 6 (11:00 AM) - 7 (approximately
2:00 PM), 2000. Registration materials should be available shortly. Call
Jack Roberts at 520/621-7209 for more information.