For those of you who have
considerable out-of-pocket expenses for both health care and/or childcare, you
should explore the Flexible Spending Account. Open enrollment is going on now
(http://www.hr.arizona.edu/04_cb/benefits/select_enroll/fsa_oe/).
ASI is the provider for this worthwhile university benefit. It basically saves
you the taxes you would have paid on your medical or childcare expenses. Open
enrollment ends November 27, 2002. These benefits will be effective starting
January 1, 2003.
Congratulations to the recipients of this year's Farm Safety 3(d) funding:
Lynne Borden and Marta Stuart - Meeting the Needs of Farm Families in
Distress: Increasing their Health and Safety; and Glenn Gigstad - Fire
Resistant Landscaping video and Skin Cancer Prevention for the Agricultural
Employee video.
Congratulations to Christopher Jones (Gila County) and Darcy Dixon (Pinal
County) who will participate as Arizona's interns for the Western Extension
Leadership Development program (WELD) in the 2003-2004 class. The WELD
goal is that participants will learn and apply leadership skills. Specific
objectives include: 1) participants will develop awareness and appreciation
of their own and others' leadership styles and learn to apply appropriate
techniques in working with diverse individuals; 2) participants will
develop skills and enable themselves and others to develop, articulate, and
implement organizational/group direction, 3) participants will enable the
organization/group to effectively implement planned change, 4) participants
will develop skills to enable others to work together effectively.
Christopher Jones has also been appointed along with Dr. Ed deSteiguer
(SRNR) to serve on the State Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee
under the direction of the State Land Department. With the new 2002 Farm
Bill and its new Forest Land Enhancement Program, the Committee will have
considerable responsibilities in developing and promoting forest management
in Arizona.
Reminder: The International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC) is currently accepting
proposals for its FY2003 funding of Research & Development Projects and FY2003
Demonstration Projects. It is anticipated that more than $800,000 will be available.
The deadline for receipt of all proposals is November 15, 2002. Some examples
of the themes include: 1) land use & reclamation, 2) soil & water resources
development & conservation, 3) ecosystem processes supporting & enhancing the
management & restoration of ecological systems, 4) inventory and measurement
techniques, and 5) the human and institutional dimensions of themes #1-#4. Faculty
members may want to consider submitting a proposal. Contact Jim Chamie in Tucson
at 520-621-3024 for copies of the research and/or the demonstration FY2003 Request
for Proposals, or to obtain more information. Also the "requests for proposals"
are available on the IALC Web site at http://ialcworld.org.