Congratulations to Jack Kelly (Pima), Brent Strickland (La Paz) and Darcy Tessman (Cochise) for their promotion to associate agent
with continuing status and to Rob Call (Cochise) and Kai Umeda (Maricopa) for their promotion to full agent. Promotions are
effective July 1, 2006.
Congratulations to Dr. Tom Thompson who recently accepted the position as the Department Head of the Plant and Soil Sciences Department
at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Tom will assume the responsibilities of this position at the beginning of the Fall 2006
semester. Tom has been with the SWES Department since 1991 and has provided many valuable contributions from which we have all
benefited. Please join me in congratulating Tom and wishing him well in his new challenges and professional pursuits in Texas.
I want to commend Robert Armstrong, Andy Medina and Sheila Merrigan for their work in investigating and providing information and
training on the new Breeze system. The most recent use was a county staff conference call and the sound quality has improved
greatly. This is our new technology tool and is totally free of charge (with the initial cost paid for by the University of
Arizona). I can see it saving many budget dollars in the areas of meetings and travel and am encouraging all faculty and
staff to “think Breeze” as you plan meetings and events. In addition, it is not limited to just UA or CALS. Although
the call must be hosted by a UA employee, you can have anyone participate as a guest” who has Internet access. For more
information on setting up an account, setting up your computer, and other general information, go to the
Breeze Meeting and Conference Tool website. If you have
further questions, contact Sheila ,
Robert or Andy .
The UA Pima County Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener Program under the direction of John Begeman, Urban Horticulture
Agent have won two Xeriscape Awards for their public education Xeriscape Garden located at the Extension Center on Campbell
Avenue. The awards were presented last week at ceremonies at Tohono Chul Park in Tucson by the Arizona Department of
Water Resources. The annual Xeriscape Contest recognizes the best public, private and commercial Xeriscape Gardens in
the Tucson Basin. The UA Pima County Extension Master Gardener program won top honors in the Public Education Division
and also won in the category of “Most Efficient Irrigation System.” Congratulations to John and the Pima County Master
Gardeners.
My presentation on the future of Cooperative Extension from the May 9 CED/Department Heads/School Directors' Meeting in Tucson has
been updated and is now available at http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/todayandtomorrow.ppt . Last year's presentation at the Faculty Conference has some additional facts, figures and
trend lines and is also on line.
Upcoming Events & Reminders:
The Arizona Pest Management Center Summit 2006 will take place on June 6 from 9:00-4:30 at the Maricopa Ag Center. The workshop
goal is to assemble UA CALS faculty members involved in pest management related research and outreach, along with key participants
from urban, agricultural and natural resource sectors, in a forum to identify research and education needs and priorities, and to
discuss the role of the Arizona Pest Management Center (APMC) and UA Extension in addressing these challenges. Registration
begins at 9:00am. For more information, contact Al Fournier (520-381-2240).
Early bird rates ends today for the Water Resources Research Center's annual conference, titled, "Providing Water to Arizona's
Growing Population: How Will We Meet the Obligation?" to be held June 20-21, 2006 at the Hyatt Regency Civic Center in Phoenix.
The Day 2 workshop is full but there is still room in Day 1, which is packed with perspectives and commentary from keynote speakers,
multiple panels, public officials and more, on this timely issue. Register for Day 1 by May 23rd. Register now and view
the updated agenda at http://cals.arizona.edu/AZWATER/conf2006/ .
Kris Olsen, blogger and wiki expert, will present “Wikis Work!” at 12:00pm ET on May 24 as part of a new eXtension professional
development series. The program will be available through your web browser at
http://breeze.extension.iastate.edu/learn . In this 90-minute session, Olsen will show how to make wikis work for almost
any collaborative project. Wikis, collections of web pages that can be created and updated directly by group members, have long
been used by web and software developers to stay on track with group projects. It is a simple tool that solves
the chaos of groups and activities and provides a group with the means to grow a body of knowledge or capture the information
needed for any project and activity. This professional development session is open to all extension colleagues across the
country.