Because of our 12% budget cuts and very limited travel dollars, the Dean
and Executive Council have decided to cancel the annual Administrative
Retreat (Department Heads, School Directors, CEDs, Ag Center
Administrators) scheduled for May 22-23. We do plan to have these meetings
in the future, but now we need to save a few dollars.
Congratulations to Jim Riggs who received this year's Extensionist of the
Year Award at the Annual Spring Awards Banquet on Friday, April 4. Jim has
supported Cooperative Extension for many years and currently serves on the
Cochise County Cooperative Extension Advisory Board providing valuable
input regarding rangeland management and livestock production issues facing
county ranchers. His active involvement has benefitted the community, the
state and the students and faculty of The University of Arizona.
My thanks to Kevin Fitzsimmons who almost single handedly (with excellent
staff support) put together and coordinated a National Program on
Aquaculture held in Tucson last week, April 7-11. Workshops included:
Remote Training and Other Computer Applications, Education in the
Classroom, Recirculation Systems, Recent Developments & Trends in Pond
Aquaculture, and Introduction to Aquaculture Pathology along with a wide
range of concurrent sessions and topics.
Last week, representatives from 13 states, as well as the National Agricultural
Library, WCARET, the Noble Foundation, and NRCS, gathered in Tucson to attend
the second Western Rangelands Partnership meeting and workshop. This Partnership
began in 2002 to bring regional and state-specific information, resources, and
decision-making tools to the web under the umbrella of the Agriculture Network
Information Center (AgNIC). Organized and facilitated by the multi-disciplinary
UA AgNIC rangelands team, the two-day event focused initially on state progress
reports and reports on national AgNIC activities including plans for instituting
web services and portal technology. Deb Young provided a brief overview of the
E-Extension initiative. This was followed by brainstorming and discussion sessions
on the issues of content development, resources needed, and organizing options.
Results of these sessions provided the basis for an action plan which will soon
be available online. In addition, a workshop was held giving all participants
hands-on experience with adding metadata to the regional web site database.
The meeting was planned, hosted, and coordinated by University of Arizona faculty
and staff from the Arid Lands Information Center, the School of Renewable Natural
Resources, Cooperative Extension, and the UA Library. Sheila Merrigan helped
plan and facilitate several portions of the meeting and George Ruyle, who has
been a member of the UA AgNIC rangelands team from its beginning in 1995, assisted
in program development and in directing discussions. For more information, see
the Rangelands West web site at: http://rangelandswest.org.