Please join me in welcoming Dotty Sherwood-Cooney as my Administrative
Associate. Dotty will begin on April 16, 2001. She is currently with the
Office of Community Relations, and has been at the university for 17 years.
Her former position involved detailed calendar scheduling, coordination of
meetings and travel logistics. She managed and coordinated the unit's
day-to-day operations, and was responsible for the unit's business affair.
One of her first jobs will be to help with the logistics for our Annual
Faculty Conference in May, 2002. She will be a welcome addition to our team
effort in 301 Forbes.
* The first training element of the geospatial extension program was
introduced March 23 at the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension Office as
part of the Range Monitoring meeting. Barron Orr and Doug Rautenkranz
conducted an Introduction to the Global Positioning System (GPS) short
course using Garmin III+ receivers provided as an element of Deborah
Young's Technology Transfer grant. Among the fifteen participants were
seven agents focusing on natural resource management, each of whom will now
try the GPS in their region. In the future, more site-specific trainings
will be conducted in partnership with individual agents and a selected
group of local GPS users who partner with the agent in addressing natural
resource management issues. The GPS training provided insight into the
potential for Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the second element of
this "train the trainer" program. Barron Orr will assist Craig Wissler,
Director of the RNR Advanced Resources Technology lab in a three day
"Introduction to GIS" training that will target Cooperative Extension,
tentatively scheduled for the week of August 6, 2001 in Tucson.
* A national project addressing food safety issues on the farm is centered
at Cornell University. Dr. Ralph Price from the Nutritional Sciences
Department is part of the project from Arizona. Kai Umeda has been
cooperating with Ralph and Cornell to present a display at as many grower
meetings as possible in Arizona to create an awareness of Good Agricultural
Practices (GAP's). At the display, a booklet describing GAP's is made
available to anyone. The booklet is "A Grower's Guide" and is entitled
"Food Safety Begins on the Farm" for good agricultural practices for fresh
fruits and vegetables. The contents include a description of foodborne
illnesses, potential sources of contamination, and offering ideas for
minimizing risks before planting, during the growing season, and during
postharvest handling. Ralph has made presentations describing the foodborne
illnesses at the Food Safe 2000 conferences and at the Direct Marketing
conference. He will be speaking at the Annual Melon Field Day on June 6 at
MAC. Kai have given a "Powerpoint" presentation provided by Cornell to a
United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association traceback workshop in Yuma. He
will present it at the Melon Field Day as well. The two talks at the Melon
Field Day can offer an opportunity for an in-service education about the
GAP's program. If there are educational opportunities for GAP's for any
clientele in Arizona, please feel free to contact Ralph or Kai.
* Check out these new sites, recently added to our website: Grandparents
Raising Grandchildren, http://cals.arizona.edu/grandparents/; Tobacco Use
Prevention Program in Maricopa County,
http://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/tupp/; 4-H program in Yuma County,
http://cals.arizona.edu/yuma/4hyd/
Reminder: Joint meetings of the Southwest Resistance Working Group and
Arizona Resistance Working Groups, May 14-15, 2001 at the UA campus.
Contact Tim Dennehy for details, tdennehy@cals.arizona.edu