ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REVIEWS:
A final reminder that APRs for county agents will be due next Monday, January 15 . To help you calculate the value of volunteer hours and according to the Independent Sector , the rate would be $18.04/hour (for 2005 - there is no 2006 figure). Also, remember to include your AAP-5 information as well as your multi-state efforts. If you have any questions, contact Patti B. (520.621.5308) or Robert Armstrong (520.621.3872).
FOCUS ON FACULTY:
The Arizona Water Institute recently funded six additional projects using discretionary AWI funds within the budgets of the individual universities, including one project headed by Mike Crimmins (Climate Science Extension Specialist). The "Drought Indicator and Trigger Tool for Community Water Systems" project involves assisting the Department of Water Resources with implementation of recent legislation requiring a drought plan from all water systems in the state. The web-based tool that will be developed will guide local water providers in analyzing their own data to develop drought triggers and response plans in response to House Bill 2277. Team members include Stuart Marsh , Barron Orr , Gregg Garfin, and Neil Cobb.
4-HYD EVENTS:
- A silent auction will be held to benefit the Arizona 4-H Youth Development program in conjunction with the Western 4-H Forum to be held in Phoenix, January 11-14 . Some of the items up for auction include a 7-day luxury houseboat vacation on Lake Powell and two round-trip airline tickets. Auction Items can be viewed at http://cals.arizona.edu/4-h/wr_forum/auction/items.html . In the past most items have sold for 1/2 to 3/4 of their value. You can bid by proxy through January 11, even if you cant come in person to bid. This is a wonderful opportunity to benefit some children who are becoming valuable and contributing citizens as a result of their involvement in the 4-H Youth Development program. If you have questions or need more information, contact Gerald Olson (928.753.3788).
- You are invited to participate in the 4-H Connections Breeze Call this month, Tuesday, January 16 at 9:00am. There will be a guest speaker, Suzanne Le Menestrel, Ph.D., National Program Leader, Youth Development Research National 4-H Headquarters, CSREES/USDA, who will be presenting the Programs of Distinction training. To join the call, go to http://breeze.ltc.arizona.edu/connect/ . Agenda topics will be: 1) Training Manuscript-4-H Family Holiday Program, 2) Programs of Distinction Scoring Rubric. Participants should first review the Programs of Distinction handouts. These handouts are available from Tina Christianson (520.621.5316).
BREEZE TRAINING SESSIONS:
Several training sessions for the Breeze system are still available in January and are designed to help everyone use the Breeze system for meetings and other communication needs. Wed like to have at least one person from each office that understands Breeze and can assist others in their office. All sessions will be limited to 8 people. Participant sessions will cover how to enter a meeting, use of a microphone/camera, use of chat, and general meeting room etiquette. Host sessions will cover setting up a meeting, uploading content, and managing the meeting. We strongly encourage you to attend a participant session prior to attending a host session. Session length will vary depending upon questions, but plan on at least an hour for the participant session and 1 hours for host sessions. It is important that you review the Quick Instructions on Using Breeze for Participating in a Meeting prior to attending the Participant Session and the Breeze Host Instructions prior to attending the Host Session. To sign up for a session, go to http://cals.arizona.edu/registration/acebreeze/ . Available session dates and times are: January 17 - 10am (participant) & 2pm (participant); January 18 - 10am (participant) & 2pm (host); January 23 - 10am (participant) & 2pm (host). If you have any questions, contact Sheila Merrigan (520.626.6543) or Robert Armstrong (520.621-3872).
eXtension BUSINESS:
eXtension's professional development opportunities are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. If you would like to get notices about upcoming professional development sessions offered by eXtension, go to https://lists.extension.org/mailman/listinfo/learn and subscribe to the "Learn" email list. These 30 minute sessions will be held via Breeze at http://breeze.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone.
NON-UNIVERSITY ACCOUNTS POLICY:
The Cooperative Extension Program seeks to provide a safe environment for youth and adult participants. Although there are some safeguards for privacy, use of an outside, non-university commercial web messaging system such as Yahoo.com represents a potential unsafe environment. Thus, to protect youth and adult participants, for university business, we request that all listserves be set up through the university.
NEW PUBLICATIONS:
There are several new CALS publications that have been posted:
- 2006 Vegetable Report by David Byrne
- Turfgrass, Landscape and Urban IPM Research Summary 2006 by David Kopec
- Keeping Foods Cold for Picnics, Grilling, and Camping ; Food Safety Know-how ; Food Allergies ; Food Product Dating and Storage Times , Dietary Fiber ; and Fat and Cholesterol Update by Scottie Misner
UPCOMING EVENTS & DEADLINES:
- The CALS Controlled Environment Agriculture Center Arizona will present two back-to-back conferences this month at the DoubleTree Hotel Tucson at Reid Park: 1) Greenhouse Crop Production and Engineering Design Short Course , January 14-17 , registration fee is $599; and the 2) Second Annual Growers Marketing Forum: Farm to Fork (GMF3), January 17-19 , registration fee is $795. For more information and to register for these conferences, go to http://ag.arizona.edu/ceac/ or contact Glenn McCreedy , Coordinator (520.626.9566).
- You are invited to participate in the 19th Annual Southwestern Indian Agriculture Association (SWIAA) meetings, January 23-25 , at the Aquarius Casino Resort (formerly the Flamingo Laughlin). There are usually 200-300 in attendance at this event, with representatives from over 25 Arizona and regional tribes and 5 states. Several national nonprofit organizations will be on the program as well, notably the Indian Land Tenure Foundation and the Intertribal Agriculture Council. CALS' own Dr. Russ Tronstad is on the program and the Federally-Recognized Tribal Extension Program (FRTEP) Agents will be there convening a meeting for the Indian Country Extension working group. Please contact Jennifer Smith (520.621.7201) for 2007 registration & program information.
- There will be four leadership conferences sponsored by the Joint Council for Extension Professionals (JCEP) from late January through February. The theme for these regional three-day conferences is "Internationalizing the Extension System." I encourage all Extension faculty to consider attending a conference, especially since one of them is in Phoenix. If you or your staff have been involved in international activities (or have worked effectively across cultures here at home), the Council is looking for a few panel members to share their experiences. The dates and locations for the conferences are: 1) Southern Region, January 31-February 2 , Nashville, TN; 2) Western Region, February 6-8 , Phoenix, AZ; 3) North Eastern Region, February 21-23 , Valley Forge, PA; and 4) North Central Region, February 27-March 1 , St. Louis, MO. If you have any questions or have someone who could serve on the panel, contact Michael McGirr , CSREES-USDA International Programs (202.205.3739).