FOCUS ON FACULTY:
- As of December 31, 2006, Cynthia Flynn agreed to serve as Interim County Director in Maricopa County after Stan Farlin announced his retirement at the end of 2006. Cynthia will be Interim CED until a new director is hired through a national search. She will spend about half her time in Maricopa County, in addition to her continuing responsibilities in Pima County. The start date for the new Maricopa County director is July 1, 2007.
- Jeannie Benally was honored by SWIAA with a "Special Recognition" award for her consistent and hard work in support of SWIAA. She was also elected to the Board by the membership. Congratulations and thanks to Jeannie!
eXtension BUSINESS:
- eXtension's professional development opportunities are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. This month, "30 Minute Sessions" are being offered on topics related to the collaborative work tools such as the wiki and FAQ, and also on social network tools like social bookmarking, blogging, and feeds. The sessions will be held via Breeze and your telephone. Plan to join the session five minutes before the starting time.
- eXtension will host its first national videoconference for 2007 on Wednesday, February 21 . A detailed agenda and directions for accessing the videoconference will be posted on their blog site. Generally, the national videoconferences serve as a quarterly update on the eXtension initiative and offer opportunities for questions and answers and interaction with the eXtension staff. The 2007 schedule for quarterly videoconferences is May 16, August 1 and October 17. Each videoconference is scheduled on a Wednesday afternoon from 2:30-4:00 p.m. ET.
BREEZE TRAINING SESSIONS:
Two more Breeze training sessions are available this month February 13 2pm (participant) & February 14 2pm (host). You can sign up at http://cals.arizona.edu/registration/acebreeze/. As with previous 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. If you have any questions, contact Sheila Merrigan (520.626.6543) or Robert Armstrong (520.621-3872).
COMPUTER ASSISTANCE REMINDER:
A reminder that Andy Medina and Robert Armstrong, our county computer support team, no longer share the same phone number. Andy can be reached at 520.626.8395 and Robert can be reached at 520.621.3872.
UA WEB REFERRAL FORM FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS:
You can now refer friends, family members, and other prospective students to the University of Arizona by using the Office of Admissions new referral form. The form is easy and quick and enables the Office of Admissions staff to reach out to prospective students. When the prospective students contact information is received in the Office of Admissions, UA materials are sent out to the prospect. For questions or more information, contact Chris Mendes, Program Coordinator, Undergraduate Admissions (520.626.0570). We all need to recruit new students to the UA.
STUDY TOUR OPPORTUNITY:
You are invited to join your Extension colleagues and Sherry Betts who will lead a study tour to Lithuania and Latvia in cooperation with Heifer International, July 8-23. This is an opportunity to explore links between community development, family relationships, youth development, and agriculture. Heifers mission is to eliminate poverty and hunger while caring for the earth. For more information, checkout their four-page brochure or contact Sherry (520.621.3399).
NEW VIDEO AVAILABLE:
The video unit in ECAT recently completed a Spanish version of the video Greenhouse Hydroponics from seed to harvest, entitled Hidropona en Invernaderos De la Siembra a la Cosecha. A complimentary DVD or VHS copy of this title is available to Extension offices and specialists on campus. To request a copy contact Glenn Gigstad (520.621.7180).
UPCOMING EVENTS & DEADLINES:
- The High Desert Gardening and Landscaping Conference will be held February 15-16 in Sierra Vista. Over twenty presenters will discuss landscaping with native plants, food production and environmental stewardship. A new venue, The Palms, is the site of this year's conference. For additional information and a registration form, go to http://ag.arizona.edu/cochise/mg or contact Rob Call or Joyce Williams (520.458.8278, ext. 2141).
- Linda Ffolliott, ECAT Webmaster, has scheduled two training sessions that are aimed at newer users of Dreamweaver. Both are available by attending a session in Forbes 124 or through a Breeze Internet connection. The February 14 session (9:00-10:30) will cover defining a site in Dreamweaver, getting files from the CALS server and posting files to the CALS server, making text changes in existing documents, setting up defaults for page properties (like link properties), and some basics in using the Properties panel for text formatting. The February 28 (9:00-10:30) will focus on working with tables in Dreamweaver. To register, go to http://cals.arizona.edu/ecat/classes/register.html. If you have any questions about the coverage of these classes, email Linda.
- The 2007 Southwest Nutrition and Management Conference will be held February 22-23 at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel & Conference Center. This conference is recognized as one of the largest gatherings of west coast dairy and beef nutritionists, consultants, academics and veterinarians. It is a great opportunity to learn more about cutting edge research with regards to cattle nutrition, metabolism and management as well as a chance to network with key personnel in the west coast dairy and beef industry. A conference brochure, printable or online registration forms, and more information are available at http://animal.cals.arizona.edu/swnmc/2007/.
- The Professional Development Working Group is planning a communications workshop for extension faculty and staff on March 21-22 in the Phoenix area. Mark your calendars. Communication topics include: communicating with decision makers to demonstrate the impact of your program; writing for your peers: journal articles; communicating impact by using qualitative and quantitative information appropriately; impact statements; Survey Monkey; PowerPoint; online course delivery; and a writing workshop. More information will follow later.
- The Healthy Lifestyles work group is sponsoring six Healthy Active Kids workshops all over Arizona during February and March. They are designed for teachers, youth volunteers and staff and community leaders interested in integrating nutrition, physical activity into classes and activities to reduce obesity and improve the health of Arizona's youth. Workshop dates and locations are: February 8 (Peoria), February 15 (Tucson), February 21 (Phoenix), February 24 (Kingman), March 8 (St. Johns), March 24 (Sierra Vista). Registration and details are available at http://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/fcs/HealthyActiveKids.php.