Season Greetings! I want to wish each of you "cheer, peace and quiet time"
during this holiday season. Family, friends and relatives make life worth
living. My hope is that you will find time to enjoy, reflect, and anticipate
a good 2005. It has been a good year for Cooperative Extension. The feedback
from clientele is the most important indicator. I really appreciate hearing"Wow,
you've got great faculty and staff." Another indicator is the growth
in amount, diversity, and programmatic impact of grants and contracts. In
addition, county contributions continue to increase in these difficult
economic times. More peer review publications were submitted than in
previous years. New and improved county supported offices were dedicated in
Navajo, Yavapai and Gila counties. The annual faculty conference and staff
in-service, along with the programs on "Building a Good Work Environment"
received excellent feedback. One of my favorite quotes for the season and
our ongoing work: "We are all angels with one wing. We can only fly while
supporting one another." Patti and I, along with our children Eric and
Kellie (both UA graduates) and our granddaughter Melissa, wish you a safe
flight.
I am pleased to announce that with Bobby Browning's departure to Denver,
Colorado to relocate with his wife, Dr. Billye Foster, Department of
Agricultural Education, has agreed to serve as the special assistant to the
dean for diversity. Billye brings to this appointment considerable
experience in dealing with diversity enhancing activities that will greatly
help the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Congratulations.
"Arizona Delivers ( http://cals.arizona.edu/delivers ), the new web site
designed to demonstrate how Cooperative Extension makes a difference to
people and communities of Arizona, features single page descriptions of
educational programs and their impact in local areas. The web site is
searchable by topic or county and is a tool for faculty to communicate with
elected officials and the general public. All the stories have been
developed using materials from faculty Annual Performance Reports (APROL).
As they are written for a lay audience, each one-page story can be printed
for you to use with Boards of Supervisors, funding organizations, and
decision makers. We hope you will find it useful to market your programs.
The content of each entry is for the most part gleaned from yearly faculty
APR's by Joanne Littlefield. As you are writing up your APR this year,
please keep Arizona Delivers entries and their usefulness in mind. You can
contact Joanne (jslittle@cals.arizona.edu) with future story ideas. We will
be sending you promotional materials for Arizona Delivers in the near future
and encourage you to include the web address in written and web material you
create to promote your programs.
Cooperative Extension will have a display at the Capitol of Cooperative
Extension shining stars programs the week of February 7-11 in the Gallery
between the Capitol and Executive Tower. Displays will be grouped by
priority issue areas and space is limited. A call for poster proposals about
Arizona Cooperative Extension programs is due January 10 to Kai Umeda
(kumeda@ag.arizona.edu). The one page or less poster proposals should
highlight an Extension program addressing a current critical need in the
state, multi-county involvement and program outcomes, brief description of
program, list partners and Extension faculty involved, description of the
display, space and electricity requirements. Volunteers will be needed to
staff the overall displays each day from 11:00am-2:00pm. Cooperative
Extension will host a special Health Break and Arizona Grown brown bag for
legislators and staff on one afternoon, probably Wednesday or Thursday that
week. More details to follow. If you have questions contact Sharon
Hoelscher Day, Kai Umeda, Ruth Carter or Patty Merk for more information
(602-470-8086).
UPCOMING DATES:
January 15 - Horse Sense 101 Community Equine Workshop, Mohave Community
College, 1971 Jagerson Ave., 8:00 to 3:30. Cost is $15.00 ($20.00 at door)
which includes lunch. For registration, contact Vicki Coombs
(vacoombs@ag.arizona.edu / 928-753-3788) or Rob Grumbles
(grumbles@ag.arizona.edu). The program topics can be seen at
http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/pdf_files/horse_workshop_mohave_05.pdf .
January 27 - 28 - First Annual Colorado River Horticulture Conference,"Meeting the
Challenges of Horticulture in the Low Desert," Nautical Inn &
Resort, Lake Havasu City. Conference pre-registration is $60.00 before
January 15 and $85.00 after January 15. For room reservation, call the
Nautical Inn (928-855-2141 or 1-800-892-2141). For more information on the
conference, contact mohavece@ag.arizona.edu or enorton@cals.arizona.edu.
For program topics see
http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/pdf_files/hort_conf_colorado_river.pdf .