NEW FACULTY:
We welcome Melvina Adolf as the new Acting County Director in Greenlee County. She will bring her background in 4-H youth development along with her academic training in natural resources to work with Greenlee County clientele. I visited with a number of the Greenlee County Advisory Board members, Supervisors and school officials last Thursday evening in Clifton at the new satellite office located in the high school. The citizens of Greenlee are enthusiastic about having their own program again, with Melvina coming into her new role and with the new satellite office, and working directly within the school system.
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REVIEWS:
A continued reminder that APRs for county agents are due on Monday, January 15, 2007 . I encourage you to begin preparation early. If you have any questions, contact Patti B. (520.621.5308) or Robert Armstrong (520.621.3872).
FOCUS ON FACULTY & STAFF:
- Congratulations to the 17 Arizona 4-H Professionals who made the trek to Milwaukee and back for the annual NAE4-HA Conference. Everyone had the opportunity to reacquaint themselves with other 4-H professionals, attend and bring back need ideas, and see what Wisconsin has to offer. They also watched and celebrated Lisa Lauxman's term as NAE4-HA's President, Kim Gressley becoming the Senior Western Regional Director, Larry Tibbs becoming the National Chair for Policy and Resolutions Committee, and seeing all the fine work being done by 4-H professionals around the nation and in Arizona. Congratulations to all and keep up the fine work!
- An Extension welcome to Kathryn Hahne , the new Smartscape Program Coordinator, Senior in Pima County. Kathryn responsibilities will be to oversee the Smartscape outdoor landscape water conservation program for Pima County. She will be teaching workshops for landscape and nursery professionals and homeowners. Kathryn comes to Extension with a background of teaching and working with the landscape industry.
eXtension BUSINESS:
HorseQuest is the first eXtension "community of practice" to come online. Twenty more communities with topics including financial security, imported fire ants, disaster response, parenting, rural entrepreneurship, horticulture, and wildlife damage management are set to come online in the next few months. With information ranging from finding the best horse for your child to riding techniques to horse diseases, nutrition, and care, HorseQuest brings the "best of the best" university research-based information on horses to Americans via its most popular information source, the Internet. Found at http://www.extension.org/horses the interactive Web site provides news, events, frequently asked questions, and "Ask the Expert" features as well as in-depth learning modules on equine-related topics.
NEW MARKETING TOOLS:
We recently announced a new marketing tool, our Extension Display Unit ( see photos ), and thanks to the efforts of our Communications Team, can now announce our new Marketing Arizona Cooperative Extension Web site which includes several informational topics such as Audiences , County Marketing , Working with the Media , Style Guidelines, Use of Logos , Tools to Use as well as a list of Resource materials. Take some time and check it out.
NEW VIDEOS AVAILABLE:
- The video unit in ECAT recently completed production of two videos about desert durum wheat -- "Desert Durum: Gem of the Southwest" is designed to show to the general public and "Desert Durum: >From Plant to Pasta" is aimed at those who work in the pasta or wheat industry. Complimentary DVD or VHS copies of these titles are available for any extension office or specialists on campus. To request copies contact Glenn Gigstad (520.621.7180).
- A common application for a Web site is a form that users fill out, with responses (normally) coming as an email to one or more people. Linda Ffolliott has created several related training videos that talk about how to create a Web form using Dreamweaver. These videos are linked from http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/forms/ and are at the top part of this document. There are five videos in this set. The example she uses is a registration form for a workshop in which there are three options to pay for the workshop (online with a credit card, with a check or with a PO), since this question comes up periodically. If your workshop or conference is free, then you would still have a registration form but just not be collecting money information. Obviously your form can have a different focus, such as just being a feedback form for your site. Because of the size of these videos, a high speed Internet connection is needed to view them. If your office set up does not allow you to play the videos, because of a slow connection, contact Linda (520.621.7179) for alternate options.
NEW COUNTY COMPUTER SET UP PROCEDURES:
Effective immediately, if county offices order new computers (desktop or laptop), you can now have them shipped directly to your office (instead of to Andy down here). Once you have received a new computer, contact Andy or Robert to schedule a set up time. At the scheduled time, they will begin assisting by phone and once the computer is on the network, the rest of the set up will be through the remote access system. If you have any questions about this procedure, contact Andy (520.626.8395) or Robert (520.621-3872).
UPCOMING EVENTS & DEADLINES:
- The UAs Water Resources Research Center is accepting proposals for research grants under the Water Resources Research Act, Section 104B. Funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, Section 104B provides support for small research projects on water-related issues of importance to the state and region. The WRRC usually funds three to five small grants of about $10,000-$12,000 over a 12-month period. Funded projects start March 1, 2007 and proposals are due by 5:00pm on November 27. For additional information contact Terry Sprouse (520.792.9591, ext.13). Guidelines are available on the WRRC Web site .
- The CALS Controlled Environment Agriculture Center Arizona will present two back-to-back conferences in January at the DoubleTree Hotel Tucson at Reid Park: 1) Greenhouse Crop Production and Engineering Design Short Course January 14-17, 2007 . This years theme is EnerG - the Resourceful Greenhouse. Attendees will be provided with a roadmap and the knowledge necessary to develop a successful greenhouse operation. Registration fee is $499 ($599 after December 4, 2006); 2) Second Annual Growers Marketing Forum: Farm to Fork (GMF3) January 17-19, 2007 . Registration fee is $650 ($795 after December 4, 2006). For more information and to register for these conferences, go to http://ag.arizona.edu/ceac/ or contact Glenn McCreedy , Coordinator (520.626.9566).