We’re very pleased with the University and the Governor’s support for the CALS
Decision Package, “Arizona Cooperative Extension and Agriculture Research Centers: Investing in
Rural Arizona” (available at http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/download/DecisionPackage2006.pdf, enter the username of “cals” and the password of “ua” to access this document). Specifically,
$1.5 million of the appropriation would fund eight faculty positions in Cooperative Extension
scattered in the county Cooperative Extension offices around the state, three faculty positions
at the agricultural centers and six support positions. The remainder of the budget package would
go to support further development of the UA South Campus in Sierra Vista. The Dean has been
pursuing this funding for the past two years. He succeeded in convincing the university’s
administration to include this item in the university’s budget proposal to the Board of Regents
and the Board of Regents included the item in its budget proposal to the Governor. Governor Napolitano
included this item in her proposed budget. Now, it is up to the Legislature, through the appropriations
process, to fund this package called OUTREACH – UA for $2,326,900 General Fund. There are several ways
you can help: 1) contact your state legislators and ask them to support this appropriation (Outreach – UA for $2.3 million),
to contact the Chairman and members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to request that this item be included in
the Fiscal Year 2007 Budget, and send your legislator a copy of the CALS Decision Package; 2) if your state legislator is a
member of one of the Appropriations Committees, then it is critical that you or key clientele contact them and ask them to
support this item – it must get into the Appropriations Committees budget bills; 3) write a letter to Governor Napolitano
with a simple message to thank her for including the Outreach – UA decision package in her proposed budget for the University
of Arizona (the thank you can be as short as one sentence). The time to act is now. Remember to do this as a private citizen,
not on university letterhead.
A revised version of the Extension Faculty/Staff Roster (2/6/06) is now available at
http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/directory/20060206Roster.pdf. In the near future, the same database that is used to update the
downloadable version will automatically update our website (which will also have a slightly different look).
Upcoming Events & Reminders:
Cooperative Extension and the Take Charge America Institute for Consumer Financial Education & Research are sponsoring a “Small
Steps to Health and Wealth ™ (SSHW) Training on Thursday, March 2, from 1:30-5:00pm. The objective of this training is to provide
the tools to integrate SSHW™ curriculum into existing programs. Dr. Barbara O'Neill, Extension Specialist in Financial Resource
Management, from Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension will be the presenter. It is free for Extension faculty, staff,
volunteers and partners who are interested in integrating health and wealth lifestyles into their youth and family programming.
Registration is required for one of the 5 sites with the UA videoconferencing system classrooms - Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff,
Sierra Vista or Yuma. Contact Laurel Jacobs or Linda Block or call 626-5161
for more information and to receive a registration flyer.
Pima County Cooperative Extension invites you to participate in a unique professional development experience designed by Coconino
County Cooperative Extension to identify gaps and duplications in services, and to foster stronger, healthier families for the State
of Arizona. Consider attending the “Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Simulation Workshop,” on Thursday, March 9, 2006, 8:00am to
3:00pm, at the Inn Suites Hotel in Tucson, Arizona. Registration for the simulation workshop is $35 per person and CEUs are available.
If you are interested, please contact Dan McDonald or Linda Block at 520-626-5161.
On March 29 and 30 a professional development seminar will be presented by UA Human Resources and the Extension Professional
Development Committee. It will focus on enhancing management and communication techniques. More information will be available
soon from Brent Strickland.