The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
(Vol. 18 No. 12)
IN THIS ISSUE...
INPUT REQUESTED FOR REDESIGNING OF eXtension
The following message comes from Dan Cotton, Director for eXtension.
I want to make you aware that eXtension is in the process of upgrading and
redesigning a number of eXtension products and services. Currently, new technologies and
capabilities are being added to the Learn system (http://learn.extension.org). For more information about the upgrade please visit http://about.extension.org/2012/01/06/welcome-to-the-new-learn/.
Also, eXtension is beginning the process of redesigning the public website, http://www.extension.org. To help us get started, we are recruiting Cooperative Extension
workers to participate in a 30-minute telephone interview to gather some
initial feedback about the public website to guide and inform our work
on its redesign. Interview participation will be kept strictly
confidential with a third party conducting these interviews.
We
would like to have local agents/educators, state specialists, program
assistants/office secretaries, volunteers, and administrators across the
major program areas participate in the interviews. The interview participants must be familiar with the public website and have used it to be able to answer the questions appropriately.
Please
consider individuals at your institution who might be able to help us
with this effort. If they are interested and agree, we need them to
respond by providing their contact information in the following online Volunteer Form.
Volunteers
chosen will be contacted by eXtension staff to set up a date and time
for participation. Thanks in advance for making the eXtension public
site redesign successful.
If you have interest in providing input/feedback into the redesign, please let me know and I will get you connected with this initiative. Note that they are seeking input from agents, specialists, program assistants, office professionals, volunteers, and administrators. Anyone familiar with the website is encouraged to give feedback! Thanks. --Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu
JOIN US FOR COMM TIPS - 2012
How do I create a good security password? What are some of the latest iPad apps for work? How can I improve my writing skills? Is it easy to make and manage a Listserv?
Comm Tips is a weekly series to provide you helpful information with your communication and technology skills. Comm Tips is every Thursday, February 2 to April 19 at 9 a.m. Each program is 20 minutes with 10 minutes for Q&A.
I think you will enjoy our good array of topics for this series.
February 2: Creating and Remembering Secure Passwords
February 9: Socialize Your Web: How to Add Social Media to Your Web Site February 16: Social Media Matters
February 23: KSU Social Networking? What is all the Yammering about?
March 1: Improve your Writing Skills
March 8: An Editor's Top 10 Style Tips
March 15: Mailing Newsletters and Saving Money
March 29: Educating Through Blogging
April 5: Working with iPads: Applications to Make Your Job Easier
April 12: Creating a Listerv List for Communications and Marketing
April 19: Working with University Printing
This is an online program. Please join us at http://connect.ksre.ksu.edu/commtips. Simply log in as a guest with your name. These programs will be recorded in case you miss them.
For the Comm Tips schedule, program descriptions and previous programs, visit the Comm Tips webpage at http://www.communications.ksu.edu/p.aspx?tabid=1102.
For additional information, contact Gerry Snyder, gsnyder@ksu.edu; Russ Feldhausen, russfeld@ksu.edu; or Elaine Edwards, elainee@ksu.edu. --Gerry Snyder
USDA MARKS 150TH ANNIVERSARY WITH HISTORIC PLENARY PANEL AT 2012 AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK FORUM
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will give the keynote address and moderate a historic plenary panel at the Agricultural Outlook Forum, February 23-24, 2012, in Arlington, VA. USDA is commemorating its 150th anniversary throughout 2012, celebrating the Department's founding in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. Former Secretaries of Agriculture Ed Schafer, Senator Mike Johanns, Ann Veneman, Dan Glickman, Mike Espy, Clayton Yeutter, John Block, and Bob Bergland have been invited to participate in a panel about the future of agriculture in America.
As USDA commemorates 150 years of accomplishments, the Department is learning from past experiences and looking to the future. In the years to come, USDA must help address the changing needs of agriculture and rural America, while continuing to help provide a safe, ample food supply for the nation and the world. To meet those goals, USDA is working to make the Department a more modern and effective service provider that delivers the best possible results for all of the American people. The Blueprint for Stronger Service, announced by Vilsack on January 9, underscores USDA's commitment to build a modern and efficient service organization that is closely timed with technological innovations and better suited to respond to 21st century agricultural challenges.
"Cooperative Extension: Educating to Build a Better Future" is the theme of one concurrent session accepted for presentation at the 2012 USDA Ag Outlook Forum. Speakers are Barbara Allen Diaz, University of California; Linda Kirk Fox, University of Georgia, and Michael Vogel, Montana State University. Daryl Buchholz, ECOP chair-elect, Kansas State University, is moderator.
The Agricultural Outlook Forum's 25 breakout sessions with more than 80 speakers will focus on a broad range of topical issues, including: global food security; foreign trade, financial markets, and economic development; conservation; energy; climate change; food safety; food hubs; extension programs; and next generation farmers.
To read the entire press release and/or for more information, please go to:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2012/01/0012.xml&contentidonly=true. --Steven Graham sgraham@ksu.edu
NEW KANSAS WHEAT WEBSITES
We have developed a couple of new websites I wanted you to be aware of.
The first one, www.kswheatinnovation.com, is a site devoted to the new Kansas Wheat Innovation Center. It features a construction calendar, information about the KWIC, how to contact us, and some other information that we believe can be an asset as we promote the KWIC project.
The other site, www.thewheatbeat.wordpress.com, is a "blog" that we established a few weeks ago to replace the blog section on our current KansasWheat.com site. This new blog is easier to use and update, and provides a host of new features we did not have access to with our current Website. In time this will replace the current blog.
If you have comments, suggestions, feedback, we would be happy to receive it. --Bill Spiegel, Director of Communications, Kansas Wheat Commission & Kansas Association of Wheat Growers bspiegel@kswheat.com
COMMUNITY GARDENING GRANTS
Through a generous grant from the Kansas Health Foundation, the Kansas Community Gardens Project has been established to help increase public and private value of our communities through the development of new community gardens in Kansas. We will provide seed money for 20 gardens per year over a three year period (2012-2014).
The clear and primary focus of these gardens is to increase and expand access to healthy, fresh food. New gardens may ask for a maximum of $5,000 for tools, equipment, seeds, plants, water line installation, irrigation equipment, soil improvement, etc. Existing gardens that are still in the early stages of their development may qualify for grant funds if they can demonstrate how funds would help to aid in the development of the garden and add to its long-term stability within the community.
Applications are due March 1, 2012. Application forms and additional information about community gardening can be found at www.kansascommunitygardens.org. There will also be a link on the K-State Extension "Lawn and Garden" page. If you have questions please contact Evelyn Neier, 785-410-3760 or eneier@ksu.edu.--Evelyn Neier
SWITCHGRASS ESTABLISHMENT FIELD DAY - MARCH 20, 2012
Professional Development field day for Extension Educators, State Agencies, NRDs, NRCS, etc. Focus: Establishment and production of switchgrass for biomass and bioenergy. This field day will be held at the ARDC near Mead, Nebraska on Tuesday, March 20, 2012. Registration is free, supported by a multi-state USDA bioenergy grant.
The USDA bioenergy grant was awarded to Iowa State University (project is referred to as CenUSA Bioenergy) and is focused on breeding high yielding native perennial grasses (Switchgass, Big Bluestem, Indiangrass). Conversion research is focused on fast pyrolysis (rapid thermal decomposition) yielding bio-oil which may be used to create green gasoline, green diesel, or ethanol. Extension will be done in five states and will focus on Agronomic issues related to establishment and production of perennial grasses and awareness of bioenergy issues and future opportunities.
The Nebraska Extension Team working on this grant is Keith Glewen, and F. John Hay. Other Nebraska participants include Deana Namuth Covert, Fred Baxendale, Stephen Wegulo, Richard Perrin, Rob Mitchell, and Ken Vogel.
For information, contact John Hay directly at 402-472-0408 or Edwin Brokesh at 785-532-2907. --Ed Brokesh ebrokesh@ksu.edu
MARIE'S PICKS . . .
This week
my picks are outcomes and success stories from
Kristin Penner, Haskell County; Deanna Sweat, Post Rock District; Ann
Ludlum, Southwind District; and the Family Development PFT:
**Participants
of the Parents as Teachers group in Satanta learned information about
alternate activities they could do with their children besides watching TV.
During this session they were able to share ideas with the other families in
the group. They also enjoyed a healthy snack and drink and were given
several recipes that they could try at home.
**Attendance
and level of enjoyment for 220 family members of various ages were observed as individuals and agencies successfully worked together. While greatly enjoying the experience of old-fashioned, family-oriented fun, they raised $3,100 to financially assist local youths to attend various
educational camps and learning opportunities.
**Living
Life Richer—FCE members who attended
this program learned to identify their long-term relationship, health,
financial, and personal goals; to evaluate their current lifestyle and determine
if it was consistent with achieving long-term goals; and to identify and plan
specific actions to achieve their long-term goals.
**Twenty Board Game Nights were held in 2011 with an average night's attendance
of 60 persons for a total of ~1,200 attendees. Safe Streets Wichita, a
non-profit dedicated to making high crime neighborhoods safer, shared this
report:
What we have discovered is that organized
board game gatherings encourage family members and neighbors to interact with
each other in new ways. The result is a closer bond, and a stronger sense of
community. We have participated in board game gatherings at a variety of
locations—school cafeterias, churches, outdoor neighborhood events, school
classrooms and gymnasiums, all of which result in a better understanding of
each other and of our individual roles in our families and communities. —Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
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