The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
(Vol. 17 No. 10)
IN THIS ISSUE...
INDIVIDUALS SOUGHT FOR NATIONAL AND KANSAS 4-H GIS-GPS LEADERSHIP TEAMS
Individuals who have an interest in learning and helping with the continual development of the Kansas 4-H geospatial program are being sought for the National and Kansas 4-H GIS-GPS Leadership Teams.
The state team is comprised of youth (ages 13-18) and adults (volunteers, agents, educators, community partners) who have a strong desire to take an active role in supporting 4-H GIS and community mapping programs at state and local levels. Qualifying members may also apply to serve on the National 4-H GIS-GPS Leadership Team. This team will represent Kansas at the ESRI conference in San Diego from July 7 through July 13. There is expense with this trip; however, a partial scholarship is available to assist our Kansas team.
Additional details, along with state and national team applications, are available by going to the State 4-H Geospace webpage: www.kansas4-H.org/geospace. Applications are due Friday, January 28, 2011. Current members must reapply and be selected. Applicants will be notified in March.
For any questions regarding these opportunities, please contact Beth Hecht, bhecht@ksu.edu, 913-683-9035. --Beth Hecht
4-H/KSRE HEALTHY LIVING SURVEY RESULTS: YOUR AND YOUR VOLUNTEERS' INPUT NOW NEEDED
Twenty three responses to the 4-H/KSRE Healthy Living Direction survey were received prior to the end of 2010 and results show that, of five healthy living target areas, we should focus on promoting (in order):
Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, Building Positive Relationships (e.g., bullying prevention), Injury Prevention and Prevention of Substance Use (e.g., alcohol consumption) among our 4-H audiences.
Some respondents suggested looking at adopting programs that encourage youth to 'get outdoors', use social media to promote health, engage older youth through leadership of health programs and establish a volunteer corps (e.g., Health Officer for 4-H clubs) to lead 4-H Healthy Living.
Thanks to your ideas and program recommendations (e.g., West Virginia's 4-H Healthy Living Initiative curricula, Sedgwick County Extension's "g2G Outside" program) we are ready to establish a 4-H Healthy Living creative group. Much like West Virginia's group that developed their 4-H Health Initiative curricula, club activity guides and health planners, our K-State 4-H Healthy Living creative group will advise on the direction and development of Healthy Living content for Kansas.
The first task of this group will be to consider adoption of the West Virginia 4-H Health Initiative program which has been offered to K-State. For a sample of the West Virginia's materials see http://4-hyd.ext.wvu.edu/learning/publications/health_initiative.
Your input and advice is now needed along with your local review of West Virginia's materials.
Please let Elaine Johannes, ejohanne@ksu.edu, know by JANUARY 31 if you (or local PDC members and/or 4-H volunteers) would like to review the West Virginia 4-H Health Initiative materials, consider their adoption and suggest next steps to expand health programming in our 4-H clubs and groups.
For more information, contact Elaine Johannes, ejohanne@ksu.edu, 785-532-7720. --Elaine Johannes
KANSAS 4-H AMBASSADOR TRAINING REGISTRATION OPEN
The Kansas 4-H Ambassador Action Team invites you to attend the 2011 training. There’ll be ice breakers, group builders and exciting workshops this year. It’ll be a weekend to remember! Check out Ambassador Training 2011 - “Ambassadors – ‘Lei’ the Pathway to 4-H,” a Hawaiian-themed training.
All County/District 4-H Ambassadors and their advisors are invited to the 2011 Kansas 4-H Ambassador Training, starting Friday evening, February 25, and running through Saturday afternoon, February 26, at Rock Springs 4-H Center.
Registration cost is $90 and is due by Monday, February 1. Late registration will cost $105 and will be accepted from February 2-7, 2011. The Kansas 4-H website registration system will be used. Local Extension units determine who may attend this training.
Visit http://www.kansas4h.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=29, or call Deryl Waldren at 785-462-6281 or e-mail him at dwaldren@ksu.edu. --Deryl Waldren
FAREWELL NOTE FROM PAT MCNALLY
After serving 35 years as an Extension 4-H Professional in Oklahoma, Virginia and Kansas, I thank you for a fantabulous 17 years with the Kansas 4-H Youth Development Program! The retirement celebrations were very special and I thank you for the cards, messages and hugs you shared with me.
I've been truly blessed by working with phenomenal individuals across the state who have contributed so much of their time, energies, talents and knowledge to make the Kansas 4-H Program a dynamic and exciting experience for our young people. Those 17 years have been filled with incredible opportunities to engage young people and adults in designing and coordinating state-of-the art workshops, conferences and educational events that have stretched the 4-H program into new areas of interest. It's been an honor to work alongside you to make all of that happen.
Upon retirement, I moved to Stillwater, OK, where I once served as a State 4-H Program Specialist and obtained both my Master's and Doctoral Degrees. More importantly, I've joined my husband, Jim Rutledge, and look forward to sharing special times with him, our seven grandkids and our blended families. There's no doubt I'll be involved in the Oklahoma 4-H program in some capacity and I do plan to stay connected to the Kansas 4-H Youth Development Program. After all, I am a Barber County 4-H Alumni and a 10 year member of the Lone Eagle 4-H Club!
Forever 4-H......
Your 4-H friend.....
Pat McNally pmcnally@ksu.edu
RETIREMENT CELEBRATION - DR. BOB WOLF
Dr. Bob Wolf, Extension Specialist, AgriChemical Applications, will be retiring February 5, 2011. A celebration will be held for him on Friday, February 4, from 4-6 p.m. in the Cats Pause Room, K-State Student Union.
Letters and cards are being collected for Dr. Wolf and can be sent to Cindy Casper, 147 Seaton Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506. If you plan to attend the celebration, please let Cindy Casper know at 785-532-5813 or e-mail her at ccasper@ksu.edu. --Cindy Casper
WORKING WITH TEAMS TO KEEP THEM ON TRACK
Much of the work that we do in Extension requires us to keep volunteers, committees, and boards working together toward the goals they have set. Sometimes, we are on the committee, or in an officer or leadership role. Imagine how nice it would be if you had a process coach on the side, not doing committee work, but raising insightful questions, helping the group maintain focus, and providing an objective eye to projects and initiatives - helping the team consider choices and implications. This is the work of a community coach.
Community Coaching is relatively new to Kansas, and we look forward to
having author and professional community coach Ken Hubbell with us at
the Community Coaching Academy in February-March.
In 2011, Extension has already had 16 communities ask for help from a community coach. These community coaches will also help PRIDE community groups stay focused, measure results, and consider methods to sustain their efforts. The problem? Extension needs more community coaches! Register today to attend the Community Coaching Academy this February/March! Registration is filling up quickly, so please register soon at www.ksu.edu/cecd/cda. --Dan Kahl dankahl@ksu.edu
BETTER PROCESS CONTROL SCHOOL
The Better Process Control School, being offered by Kansas State University and the Kansas Department of Commerce, is approved by the FDA and follows the prescribed course of instruction for certification. This three-day course will include:
- operations of retorts,
- processing systems,
- aseptic processing and packaging systems,
- and container closure inspection.
For more information and registration, see the Kansas Value Added Foods Lab website.
This school will be held at the Clarion Hotel, Manhattan, KS, on February 8-10, 2011. Please pass along this information to any food processor in your area.
For more information, contact Dr. Fadi Aramouni at 785-532-1668. --Karen Blakeslee kblakesl@ksu.edu
CLARITY, FOCUS AND ACTION - COACHING TOOLS AND TACTICS TO MOVE FORWARD
K-State Research and Extension Professionals have another opportunity to experience the Coaching Skills Workshop on March 9-11, 2011. This workshop has been offered twice before and was very well received by participants. A limit of 24 participants and will be available on a first come, first serve basis.
Registration information is located on the Employee Resources website, www.ksre.ksu.edu/employee_resources. Select Registrations in the purple boxes in the center of the page.
Registration is due by February 18 to Dorothy Ireland, Extension Field Operations, 119 Umberger Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506 - Checks should be for $190, payable to KSU.
The program will provide you with effective interpersonal communication skills with many practical applications that will help increase your capacity to lead. An underlying principle is that regardless of position or title, leadership is everyone’s job and a leader’s responsibility is to develop others. At the conclusion of the workshop, you will be able to:
- State your purpose (mission), what you want to achieve (vision), and what is important to you (values)
- Help others identify their values and align them with organizational objectives for greater motivation and fulfillment
- Apply different levels of listening and follow a coaching direction to make interactions more collaborative and productive <br>Use powerful questions and collaborate to find the best answers
- Create and sustain higher motivation and commitment, both personally and with others, by learning how to take 100% responsibility
Co-leaders for this workshop are Alan Baquet, Deanna Peterson and Keith Niemann. All have been certified as professional co-active coaches by The Coaches Training Institute and are members of the International Coach Federation. --Margaret Phillips margaret@ksu.edu
COMMUNICATION MINUTE: FEATURING CONTENT ON YOUR WEBSITE
You may have noticed that K-State Research and Extension began placing Web "buttons" on its home page in late Fall, 2010. We have used 3-5 buttons in the right column of the page since September.
Using data from Google Analytics, a three-month study showed an increase of 15.7 percent new visitors to a page based on days when a web graphic was on the home page, compared to days when it was not on the page.
Our specific study tested visitors to the online audio stream of Agriculture Today, a radio program that is live on the Web from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Monday through Friday. Between October 4 and December 10, we built a sample month of days when the graphic was on the K-State Research and Extension site, and days when it was not.
When the graphic was on the home page, there was an average of 171.0 new visitors per week to the audio stream, or 34.2 per day. When the graphic was not on the home page, there was an average of 147.8 new visitors per week, 29.6 per day.
Over the period tested, the program had 855 unique visitors when the graphic was online, and 739 when it was not. Bottom line: the graphic seems to have, at least in some part, contributed to an additional 116 unique visitors to the program.
Much more needs to be learned, but this initial study seems to indicate that thinking strategically about the content you place on your home page will make a positive difference in getting people to that information. We'll continue to monitor and report as we learn more about marketing content on our websites.
Google Analytics is a web metrics tool available to K-State Research and Extension employees. For more information, call Information and Educational Technology at 785-532-6270. --Pat Melgares 785-532-1160, melgares@ksu.edu
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