Tuesday Morning Notes

November 1, 2005


Congratulations to Linda Houtkooper and her steering committee for hosting "Research Frontiers in Nutritional Sciences" at the Marriott Park Hotel, October 20-21. The conference showcased current research in the prevention and treatment of diabetes, obesity and cancer, and featured University of Arizona faculty and other outstanding scientists from throughout the United States. Linda's steering committee members were Donato Romagnola, Emmanuelle Meuillet and Scott Going. Often we travel out of state for professional conferences, so having this caliber of meeting right here in Arizona was a benefit to all who attended.

It is with great pleasure that the Arizona 4 - H Youth Foundation Board of Trustees and the UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences introduce Mr. D. Lee Dueringer as the new executive director of the Arizona 4-H Youth Foundation. His first day on the job will be Monday, October 31. Lee joins us after approximately 10 years as a successful major gift fundraiser with the Arizona Children's Association, Childhelp USA, and the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Prior to joining the fundraising world, Lee served 28½ years with Elanco Animal Health - A Division of Eli Lilly and Company. With Elanco, Lee served as a sales representative, national accounts manager, marketing manager, and ultimately as a district and regional sales manager. His contact information (after November 1) will be: lduering@ag.arizona.edu, 520-626-5074 / 520-348-3824 (cell). Until these are set-up, Lee can be reached at 520-621-7190. Please join me in welcoming Lee and thanking Jim Davis for his service as Interim Executive Director of the 4-H Youth Foundation.

You are invited to attend a meeting to discuss Extension's role in teacher/educator training, including best practices and evaluation, and to share what is currently occurring in Extension programs for educators. The meeting will be held from 8 to 10 am on November 18 at the Maricopa Ag Center, in the multi-purpose room. Extension Administration will pay mileage for this meeting. Please RSVP to Patti by November 11. Contact Deborah Young for more information. The Governor's Teacher Quality and Support (TQS) committee is meeting from 2 - 5 pm the same day. The web site for the TQS committee is http://www.governor.state.az.us/tqs/. Everyone can read the Executive Orders that formed this committee as well as click on the "View Agendas" tab in the lower right side to see the issues they are discussing. You should attend this meeting if you conduct teacher workshops and/or provide classroom presentations. Extension has some excellent Professional Development programs for teachers and excellent student-centered learning opportunities. We need to ensure that our programs meet the needs of K-12 educators who are struggling in the high-pressure environment of No Child Left Behind, Arizona Learns and Highly Qualified Teacher requirements.

A reminder that the newest edition of our Extension folders is available for ordering through the Publications Distribution Center for 70¢ each (which includes shipping). You can access the online ordering form at http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/pubs/orderformCoopExt.pdfand order some for your unit. You must enter the username of “cals” and the password of “ua” to access a sample of the front and back cover at http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/download/ExtensionFolders2005.pdf. The form can also be used to order other Extension-related materials such as the Reaching Arizonans Statewide brochure, the Water brochure and the 4-H Youth Development brochure. These items are free of charge. If you have any questions, contact Steven Crofts (520-621-7145).

The Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) is announcing that the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Institutes for Water Resources requests proposals for matching grants to support research on the topics of water supply and water availability, which are issues of importance nationwide. Proposals are sought in not only the physical dimensions of supply and demand, but also quality trends in raw water supplies, the role of economics and institutions in water supply and demand, institutional arrangements for tracking and reporting water supply and availability, and institutional arrangements for coping with extreme hydrologic conditions. The amount available for research under this program is estimated to be $920,000 in federal funds. Any investigator at an institution of higher learning in the United States is eligible to apply for a grant through a Water Research Institute or Center established under the provisions of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984, as amended. Proposals involving substantial collaboration between the USGS and university scientists are encouraged. Proposals may be for projects of 1-3 years in duration and may request up to $250,000 in federal funds. Successful applicants must match each dollar of the federal grant with one dollar from non-federal sources. Proposals must be filed on the Internet at https://niwr.org/ by 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, February 10, 2006 and must be approved for submission to the National Competitive Grants Program not later than 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, February 24, 2006 by the Institute or Center through which they were submitted. Proposals may be filed on the website beginning November 1, 2005. The Government's obligation under this program is contingent upon the availability of funds. To obtain a copy of the RFP, please go to https://niwr.org/ and click on “RFP” under the heading “National Competitive Grants Program - 104G.”

The 3rd Annul Pinal County Dust Conference will take place this Thursday, November 3 from 7:30am-12:00pm at the Central Arizona College Signal Peak Campus, Student Services Building, Room M101. This free half-day conference is for anyone interested in current information on controlling dust emissions. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to the Pinal County Air Quality Control District (520-886-6929).

The “Understanding Arizona Riparian Areas” workshop will be held on Tuesday, November 15 from 8:00am-2:45pm at the Besh Ba Gowah Conference Room, 150 Jesse Hayes Road, Globe. The workshop is designed as a day of learning about Arizona’s riparian areas and how they function. There is a registration cost of $10. For registration and questions, contact Susan Bolt (928-474-4160).

ECAT will be giving three back-to-back sessions on Nov 18 in Forbes 124 aimed at more experienced users of Dreamweaver. The first session is on creating and using templates to facilitate management of a site. The second session deals with using style sheets to separate formatting from content. The last session will demonstrate how to use styles to create text that looks like buttons and how to keep parts of the web page from printing (like a navigation area). More details and links to a registration form are at http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/classes/. The three back-to-back sessions run from 8:30 to 12:30 on Nov 18th. You may attend one, two or all three sessions, depending on your experience.







James A. Christenson, Ph.D.
(jimc@cals.arizona.edu)
Associate Dean and Director
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Forbes, Room 301
Tucson, Arizona 85721
520/621-7205
520/621-1314 FAX