The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service

  
Vol. 7, No. 30    June 12, 2001

IN THIS ISSUE...
...Retirement Party for Don Cress and Don Mock
...New Spanish-Speaking Nutrition Education Specialist in Southwest Area
...Accepting Applications for Peterson Professional Development Grants
...Shawnee County Program Wins National Award
...Annual Open-K/Healthy Places Summer Retreat
...Senior Dairy Quiz Bowl
...Updated Website for Kansas Urban Water Quality Protection Initiative
...National Junior Swine Summer Spectacular
...Kansas Youth Leadership Forum Workshop Proposals
...KSU Continuing Education Information
...Master Schedule

...Tuesday Letter Archives  

RETIREMENT PARTY FOR DON CRESS AND DON MOCK
After 31 years of service for Don Cress and 28 years for Don Mock, they have both decided to retire this summer.  There will be a retirement party held on July 13, at the Blue Hills Banquet Room (Blue Hills Shopping Center) beside R.C. McGraw's off of Tuttle Creek Boulevard and Kimball Avenue.

Social hour will be from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., with dinner served at 7:30 p.m. The cost per person will be $15.00, which includes buffet, coffee and tea. There will be a cash bar available as well.

If anyone would like to submit letters, booklets will be put together for each person. Please send letters to: Sharon Schroll, Department of Entomology, Kansas State University, 239 W. Waters Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506.Tax Deductible Contributions will be used for Graduate Student Travel. Please enclose check payable to: Department of Entomology, Don Cress/Don Mock Fund. --Sharon Schroll sschroll@oznet.ksu.edu 

NEW SPANISH-SPEAKING NUTRITION EDUCATION SPECIALIST IN SOUTHWEST AREA
We are pleased to announce that we have hired Jaycie Fidel, MS, RD, to work in the Southwest Area Office with the Family Nutrition Program. She is fluent in Spanish and will be helping us begin a more concentrated effort to reach the Spanish-speaking audience in Southwest Kansas with nutrition education. Jaycie will be arriving in September from Salt Lake City, Utah, where she is completing her master's degree in nutrition science at BYU. --Paula Peters peters@humec.ksu.edu 

ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR PETERSON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRANTS
The Verlin H. Peterson Extension Agronomy Professional Development Fund was established in memory of the many contributions Verlin H. Peterson made to Extension Agronomy. Professional development awards are available to recently appointed county agricultural agents (less than five years) or to graduate or undergraduate KSU students with an interest in Extension. Grants are made to defray costs in attending meetings, conferences or workshops to enhance recipients agronomic skills. In 2000, three awards were made. Over the years, recipients have attended the North Central Extension-Industry Soil Fertility Conference in St. Louis, the Great Plains Soil Fertility Conference in Denver, Crop Diagnostic School in Manhattan, and the Society of Range Management Annual Meeting. Events next year that may be of interest include Crop Diagnostic School, Manhattan, (July 10-12); and Society for Range Management Annual Meeting, Kansas City Missouri, (February 15-19, 2002). Other events of similar educational benefits also are eligible. 

Interested agents should apply to Paul Ohlenbusch, Extension Agronomy, Throckmorton Hall, KSU, Manhattan, KS 66506-5504. Applications should include a brief statement of professional development goals and years of extension experience. Nominations of deserving individual will also be accepted. Application and nomination deadline is June 27, 2001. Grant recipients will be announced by July 3, 2001. --Paul D. 'Ole' Ohlenbusch pohlenbu@oznet.ksu.edu 

SHAWNEE COUNTY PROGRAM WINS NATIONAL AWARD
Shawnee County agencies have worked together to create a program that helps kids improve their reading skills and learn to cook, too. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed. The Home Baking Association has chosen the local program – "Be A Book Cook" – as the first-place winner in the Extension category of their national educator award contest. 

Partners in the award-winning program include the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library; USD #501 Parents As Teachers; USD #501 Family & Consumer Sciences programs; and Kansas State University Research and Extension, Shawnee County. Local agencies – the Regional Prevention Center; the Active 20/30 Club; Success By 6 (United Way of Topeka); and Kiwanis – also have stepped forward to help with funding for the program, said Cindy Evans, K-State Research and Extension family and consumer sciences agent in Shawnee County, who organized the educational effort. 

"Be A Book Cook" helps children improve their reading skills and learn about food and how to cook it. After story time, families move to a variety of activity centers where they help their children prepare foods referred to in the book. Parents as Teachers and youth from high school family and consumer sciences programs assist families at activity stations that involve crafts, music, physical and cognitive skills from the featured story. Children who attend "Be a Book Cook" take home a copy of the book, a recipe, and the ingredients needed to make the simple-but-good recipe at home. Preparing the recipe gives children a sense of accomplishment. It also helps them learn to be more self confident. And, spending time in the kitchen is likely to help them improve math – counting and measuring – skills and hand-to-eye coordination. Learning to follow directions also is one of the benefits of the program.

More than 170 family members participated in the program last year. The lessons are geared to young families with children who are first grade or younger, but it attracts the interest of older children, too. The program brings families together.

The concept of the teaching tool originated as Evans created local programs to support efforts for the Family Nutrition Program (FNP), a national nutrition education program that is administered in the state by K-State Research and Extension. With agent input, FNP has adapted the program for use statewide. 

As the first-place national award recipient, Evans earned an expense-paid trip to the Association's annual meeting at the Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington, where she'll present a how-to session on the "Be  a Book Cook" program in Kansas. 

For more information on this award-winning program and other educational opportunities offered by the Shawnee County Extension office, call 785-232-0062. --Nancy Peterson npeterso@oznet.ksu.edu 

ANNUAL OPEN-K/HEALTHY PLACES SUMMER RETREAT
The Annual OPEN-K/Healthy Places Summer Retreat is being held at Wichita State University, June 27-29, and you are invited to attend! The retreat is open to ANYONE (full-time, part-time, program assistants, PDC members) in the Kansas Research and Extension system who would like to attend. The retreat will take place at the Eugene M. Hughes Metropolitan Complex at Wichita State University. Lodging and meals will be at Fairmount Towers, a residential hall on campus.

The retreat agenda will cover basic grant writing and management, using PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) to develop a healthy place and an Expanded/Extended Youth Development forum/conversation. Registration information will be coming in your mail within the next week. If you have questions please feel free to contact Jana Hackney at 785-532-0768. --Jana Hackney jhackney@oznet.ksu.edu

SENIOR DAIRY QUIZ BOWL
This year the senior dairy quiz bowl will include questions taken from the January 1998-May 2001 Hoard's Dairyman Young Dairyman articles. A bound copy of all 70 articles is available through dairy extension for $5.00 each. To order your copies please contact: 

Tamie Redding
Animal Sciences and Industry
139 Call Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506-1600
Phone: 785-532-1280
email: tredding@oznet.ksu.edu

 

UPDATED WEBSITE FOR KANSAS URBAN WATER QUALITY PROTECTION INITIATIVE
The Office of Local Government is pleased to announce the completely redesigned and updated website for the Kansas Urban Water Quality Protection Initiative at www.oznet.ksu.edu/urbanwater .

The website is an excellent resource for county extension staff, local elected officials, city and county staff, concerned citizens, conservation district staff, and others who are interested in protecting local water resources and in promoting public education of water quality issues.

The website features over 500 links to online resources addressing watershed protection, nonpoint source pollution/TMDLs, smart growth, stormwater management, sourcewater assessment, and wastewater  management. There are also special sections featuring resources for local governments, information about state and federal agencies, and resources for concerned citizens/public education. Resources include information and technical assistance providers, publications, funding programs, training opportunities, model ordinances, and more.

Among the resources featured on the website:

* Kansas Local Government Water Quality Planning and Management Guide
* Stormwater Manager’s Resource Center
* Local Government Environmental Assistance Network
* National Association of Counties – Environmental Programs
* Funding Sources for Water Quality
* Environmental Planning for Small Communities: A Guide for Decision-Makers
* Nonpoint Source Pollution: Guide for Local Governments
* Water & Wastewater Services: Meeting Current Challenges
* Visual Tools for Watershed Education
* Catalog of Federal Funding Sources for Watershed Protection
* Model Ordinances to Protect Local Resources.

The Kansas Urban Water Quality Protection Initiative provides technical assistance and outreach education for activities and projects intended to restore and protect water resources in the state’s priority watersheds. Learn more by accessing the "About the Initiative" section of the website. --Robert Wilson rwilson@loki.agecon.ksu.edu 

For more information, contact Cheryl Polson, Director of Off-Campus Program at 913-962-6264, or by e-mail at cpolson@ksu.edu . To request a brochure or to enroll in these courses, contact the Division of Continuing Education at 785-532-5566, or 800-432-8222, or register via the World Wide Web at www.dce.ksu.edu/dce/cl/adulteduc/  . 

VIEW THE MASTER SCHEDULE OR ADD NEW ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS . 

Submit corrections to previously submitted items to jzarger@oznet.ksu.edu .

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