Thanks to the generosity of the SEK Economic Prosperity Foundation, scholarships may be available to southeast Kansas teams from communities with a population under 5000. Community members interested in scholarships should contact Erika Mason-Imbody, erika@k-state.edu , 785-532-6868, for application information.

The CDA is being held in conjunction with a Community Coaching Academy - a training for Extension and economic development professionals. The Coaching Academy will meet with the teams, plus two extra days - February 24 and March 11.

Applications and registration for the academy session are available online until February 12. This is an excellent opportunity for your community to organize for broad community assessment and project planning.

For more information, visit www.k-state.edu/cecd/cda . --Dan Kahl dankahl@ksu.edu 



APPLY TO HOST A KSRE INTERN

Local offices that would like to host an intern this summer are reminded that the deadline to submit a proposal is Monday, February 15. Information can be found on the Employee Resources website at www.ksre.ksu.edu/employee_resources . Click on Employment > Interns- Information for Local Offices. Please call 785-532-3080 if you have questions. --Stacey Warner swarner@ksu.edu



STRENGTHENING CLUB I TRAINING SET FOR MARCH 2
Please join us as we focus on strengthening 4-H Clubs on Tuesday, March 2, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Dickinson County Extension Office Meeting Room. The purpose of this training is to strengthen your capacity to work with volunteer adults and youth to develop and support strong, effective 4-H Clubs. You will take home new resources and ideas to share with 4-H Club Leaders.

Registration fee is $25 which includes materials and lunch. Please register online at www.kansas4-H.org  by February 15. This training is for Extension Staff and approved Master 4-H Volunteers. --Diane Mack dmack@ksu.edu and Beth Hinshaw bhinshaw@ksu.edu



KANSAS 4-H MARKETING ITEM SAMPLES
The 4-H Marketing Action Team is excited to offer Kansas 4-H marketing items. Items include mood pencils, word magnets, sticky notes, notepads, loyalty cards, and color changing stadium cups. A sample package was distributed to each local office at Partnership Meetings. Items can be ordered from http://www.communications.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=1053 . --Diane Mack/4-H Marketing Action Team Members



UNITED ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE

The 2010 United Association Conference will be held March 4 and 5 at the Sedgwick County Extension Center in Wichita. Theme for this year's conference is "Decade of Enrichment."

This state conference is a united effort of the Kansas Association of Family & Consumer Sciences, Kansas Association of Teachers of Family & Consumer Sciences, Kansas Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences and Epsilon Sigma Phi.

Registration for this conference is now on the web. Go to www.kafcs.org . Early bird registration is available until February 12. --Anna Mae Brown ambrown@ksu.edu



MARIE’S PICKS . . .
This week my picks (outcomes and impact (what the clientele have done [NOT the agent—i.e., NOT "I offered / I provided / I taught . . . "], success stories, and public value [benefit to non-participants]) were reported by Susie Latta, Marshall County; Mary Lou Odle, Central Kansas District #3; Diane Burnett, Miami County; Cindy Evans, Shawnee County; and Sarah Taylor, Sedgwick County.

Susie shared a great success story at the Northeast Area Partnership Meeting about work she and other Family and Consumer Sciences Agents are doing as SHICK Partners. SHICK is the acronym for Senior Health Insurance Counselors for Kansans. While this "pick" will not convey her passion, I am excited to share their impact from a program that is certainly relevant and valued.

SHICK Partners are required to participate in a three-day training, followed by an annual one-day training to maintain their SHICK counselor certification. While they are educators year round, these agents are especially busy with individual consultations from November 15 - December 31 during Open Enrollment. The rest of the year, these agents share information about the program through Knowledge@Noon sessions, displays, and presentations at Senior Centers and various retirement seminars.

During this past Medicare open enrollment season, Susie served 440 people. Of those people, 67% changed prescription drug plans. This was a cost savings to the people of Marshall County of $159,142 in just six weeks of the program. Each of the 295 people who changed plans saved approximately $540 a year. This is money that can stay in the pockets of the people and circulate in Marshall County.

One of Susie’s clients recently moved from Oklahoma to Kansas and was having trouble with an insurance agent in switching to a different Medicare Part D plan. In the meantime he was diagnosed with cancer and dropped from his plan. So Susie helped by making some phone calls and eventually the pharmaceutical company provided him with his cancer drugs free of charge for a year which was a $38,000 savings! As Susie said, "To know you helped make this kind of difference in someone’s life is an incredible feeling!"

In Shawnee County, a $3,400 grant from the Kansas Department of Aging allowed the purchase of a laptop computer and printer to teach seniors about the "extra help" available for prescription drugs. Cindy schedules appointments in rural locations as well as working in Topeka. She compared drug plans for 47 seniors; 45 made enrollment changes, saving $23,415 in estimated drug and premium costs for 2009.

During the 2009 enrollment period of counseling, Diane Burnett reported 117 clients’ savings of $42,034 with an average of more than $360 per individual.

In Sedgwick County, Sarah trained eight new SHICK volunteers and created a "SHICK in a Jiff blog" to reach those with Internet access. County Medicare beneficiaries saved more than $300,000 on prescription drug costs by switching to plans that better met their needs. One low-income beneficiary saved $11,000 by changing plans!

In Central Kansas District #3, Mary Lou reported that helping more than 700 clients compare and change Medicare Drug plans saved them $151,777 in 2009. To share just one of her success stories: --A 76-year old woman had not enrolled in a Medicare drug plan in prior years. Now she has cancer and will be taking a cancer drug that will cost her more than $3,500 a month without a drug plan. Mary Lou ran drug plans and found one that will cover the woman’s drug. Without a drug plan, her costs for all her drugs would be more than $42,000 a year. With a drug plan, her costs will be $7,000 a year - a savings of $35,000! After Mary Lou assisted her in enrolling in a plan, the woman said she would not take the cancer drug if she had to pay the full price without a drug plan. So enrolling in a drug plan may help extend her life!  

SHICK is a program that contributes to the physical, emotional, and financial health of the clientele, but also provides the agents with a great sense of satisfaction. The number of insurance companies, options, and coverage all change annually so you can’t just choose a company once and be done. --Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu



SUPERVISION WORKSHOP OPPORTUNITIES

We all have people we supervise - from office professionals, program assistants, and even volunteers! We have found a couple of professional training/seminar companies that offer supervision workshops throughout the state. Rather than re-invent the wheel, it seemed best to share these with you, so that you might take advantage of those that fit your needs and locations. Most are 1 day seminars, led by a professional trainer, that cover many of the basic concepts, traps/pitfalls and how to avoid rookie mistakes, how to delegate, managing projects, communication,  and how to excel as a supervisor. All are geared to entry level supervisors.

A quick summary of the workshops, dates, & locations:

Excelling as a First Time Manager/Supervisor - $149 led by Skill Path

March 8          Dodge City - Dodge House

March 9          Hays - Ramada Inn

March 10        Salina - Country Inn & Suites

March 11        Wichita - Clarion

March 12        Topeka - Holiday Inn West

March 15        Crowne Plaza - Lenexa

Management and Leadership Skills for First Time Leaders and Supervisors - $399 led by National Seminars Group

February 9-10  Wichita – Best Western Airport

April 20-21       Manhattan – Holiday Inn At Campus

Details and registration can be found at http://www.findaseminar.com/sembystate.asp?state=KS . Take a look at these opportunities and see if they meet your needs.  --Jodi Besthorn Besthorn@ksu.edu  and Andrea Schmidt aschmidt@ksu.edu 



EMERGING THREATS WORKSHOPS
The Kansas Forest Service Community Forestry Program will be holding Emerging Threats workshops at several locations throughout Kansas in February. These half day seminars will focus on identification, awareness and response to issues that communities will be facing in the near future. These issues are mainly Emerald Ash Borer and 1,000 Canker of Black Walnut.

More information is available at http://www.kansasforests.org/community/training/index.shtml . Questions or concerns should be directed to Tim McDonnell, Community Forestry Coordinator, 316-788-0492 or tmcdonne@ksu.edu . --Patricia McCaffrey pmccaffr@k-state.edu 


 

4-H MISSION POSSIBLE COMING TO ABILENE
Do you need some new ideas, or a professional “lift?" Does any part of your job include 4-H youth development work?  If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then the KAE4- HA Spring Conference is for you.  “Mission Possible” will be held April 13-14 at the Sterl Hall at the Dickinson County Fairgrounds, and Eisenhower Center and Library in Abilene. Registration is due April 1. Conference details, the registration form and a map can be found a t http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/agent_association/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=59 . Any Extension professional is welcome to attend at the non-member rate. 

The 2010 program will focus on the three national 4-H mandates: 4-H Science, Engineering and Technology (SET), Healthy Living and Citizenship. Special emphasis will be given to the 4-H SET mandate. Doc Gizmo will present his hands-on science assembly program. His programs provide a variety of physics, chemistry and natural science demonstrations. Participants will receive a free CD of Doc Gizmo’s fun science experiments that will be a great new 4-H SET resource. --KAE4-HA Professional Development Committee; Deryl Waldren dwaldren@ksu.edu  



FACULTY SENATE MEETING NOTES - JANUARY 12, 2010
1. Sustainability Task Force Report Update:
Task force members reported the progress on their 9-month plan related to university sustainability. A number of recommendations were presented that are going forward to President Schulz and central administration. The task force requested that senate support and prioritize the recommendations via a resolution at the next senate meeting.

2. Committee Reports given/action taken:
a) Academic Affairs - at the February Faculty Senate meeting a "first reading" of a University Handbook revision regarding academic minors for non-K-State students will be presented in response to requests from the College of Engineering.
 

b) Faculty Affairs - changes to the Conflict of Interest section of the handbook were approved.
 

c) Committee on Technology - a resolution to use and maintain both k-state.edu and ksu.edu as domain names was passed.
 

d) Committee on University Planning - Budget initiative information was provided. By January 21, the university budget office intends to complete an analysis of revenue generation and revenue reduction ideas. Based on that analysis, President Schulz is expected to release his proposed recommendations by February 15. Open forums to discuss the budget recommendations will be: February 23, 1:30 p.m. in Forum Hall, Manhattan campus; and February 24 at K-State Salina. The forums are intended to facilitate comment and response to the proposed budget recommendations.
 

e) Student Senate - Online chats with President Schulz have gone well. Issues of athletic ticket fees, expansion of the recreation center, and tuition enhancements are being discussed.
 

Announcements - Feedback from the November forums with President Schulz has been positive. The Faculty Senate looks forward to sponsoring similar forums in February and in future months. Senators should encourage their colleges to submit lists of top 10 accomplishments so legislators understand the value of K-State to the state, and the potential detriment that future budget cuts will have to that value.
 

Next Faculty Senate Meeting: February 9, 3:30 p.m. --Elaine Johannes ejohanne@ksu.edu


 

COMMUNICATIONS MINUTE: POSTAL RATES AND REPRODUCING COURSE MATERIALS

Postal rates - and subsequently the cost of mailing newsletters and other printed materials -- are increasing. But the U.S. Postal Service recently announced new guidelines for automating delivery of compatible bulk mail.

What it means for K-State Research and Extension is an opportunity to reduce mailing costs. Check with your local postmaster to learn what you can do when producing your printed materials to get the best mailing rate.

Here's another opportunity that some faculty on K-State's Manhattan campus already are taking advantage of. K-State Research and Extension's duplicating center is printing course materials that can then be sold through the distribution center directly to students.

If you've got an idea for taking advantage of this service, contact Greg LeValley at 785-532-1158 or glevalle@ksu.edu ; or Gina Nixon at 785-532-5804, or gnixon@ksu.edu . --Greg LeValley


 

The electronic order form for the 2009 Farm Management Guide series is posted on the draft publications page on the K-State Research and Extension Website. This year’s form will not be mailed.

Find the order form at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library , and then select "Draft Publications" under "Additional Resources" in the upper right. You will need to sign on with your eID to view the order form. The updated guides are posted on the library site under "New Publications," then "Economics."

Orders are due by February 12. Order by e-mail to orderpub@ksre.ksu.edu , fax 785-532-7938, phone 785-532-5830, or mail to Department of Communications, 16 Umberger Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-3402. --Mark Stadtlander mark@ksu.edu



JANUARY EXTENSION AGENT PERSONNEL CHANGES

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