The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
(Vol. 18 No. 22)
IN THIS ISSUE...
WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
Latest News: Mysterious Crop Circle Appears as BUTTERFINGER® Bars Vanish off Store Shelves in Milan, Moscow, Montezuma, and Manhattan! Check it out, this citing happened in Manhattan, KS!! More photos showed up in a news source from the United Kingdom. Believe that is the biggest QR code I've ever seen! If in Manhattan, you can see it along College Avenue (west side of road) on the North Agronomy Farm between Kimball and Marlatt
Avenues. It's pretty amazing! For those who know me on Facebook, I posted a link there on Sunday night. It's a marketing promotion spoof for Nestle. What a creative way to get you thinking about a candy bar!
And, now for real information... Let me simply say thank you to each of you for the outstanding education and engagement you create through your Extension programs. I see multiple examples every week of the passion, commitment, and enthusiasm you have in helping others to achieve their goals in life. Next week is our spring action conference, and a great opportunity to work with your colleagues in planning the educational initiatives for the year, and to lay out the evaluation plans that will provide the feedback to describe the impacts, and improve upon the programs. I hope you will all be coming with that same enthusiasm and excitement I observe when you are delivering the planned programs to your target clientele.
And, have a great week!! --Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu
ENTOMOLOGY DEPARTMENT HEAD INTERVIEWS
Starting this week, we
will have our first of five candidates for the position of Entomology Department
Head. Dr. David Margolies, currently serving as Interim Department Head of
Entomology, will be interviewing on Wednesday, April 4, and Thursday, April 5.
You are invited and encouraged to attend the seminar scheduled for April 4,
10:30 - 12:00 noon, in 137 Waters Hall. If you are unable to attend in person,
the session will be live streamed and it will also be archived for viewing until
5 p.m. on April 6. Additionally, we are utilizing the online survey system to
solicit feedback on the candidate. All of these links as well as Dr. Margolies'
CV and full schedule, can be accessed through the KSRE Seminar
site, http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/Seminars/p.aspx?tabid=317.
The
schedules and other pertinent information on the other four candidates will also
be available on the above website.
Please let us know if you have
questions about this process. We look forward to your participation in the
interview. --Jim Nechols, Search Committee
Chair
APRIL 30 4-H FAIR JUDGES TRAINING IN WICHITA
4-H Fair Judges Training will be held on Monday, April 30, at the Sedgwick County Extension Education Center in Wichita. This workshop is for judges, potential judges, staff, leaders and junior leaders. Topics covered: Foods Preservation; Visual Arts: Sketching, Painting and
Drawing; Foods; Clothing Construction and Fashion Revue.
This flier is posted on the State 4-H webpage under “What’s Hot.” Thanks
for sharing this information with your volunteers, past judges,
potential judges and interested teens in your county or district. Registration is due on Friday, April 20, to the SE Area Office. --Beth Hinshaw bhinshaw@ksu.edu and Jodi Besthorn besthorn@ksu.edu
MARIE'S PICKS . . .
This week my picks are success stories from Cindy Evans,
Shawnee County; Corrine Patterson, Lyon County; and Donna Krug, Barton County:
**Radon Awareness and Risk Reduction—279 radon test kits
were distributed this year to homeowners wishing to test their homes for radon
gas. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after tobacco smoke. An
additional 38 kits were distributed free to homeowners to retest after an
initial high result. Awareness leads to action. Homeowners who wished to make
repairs to reduce the radon level in their home were provided a list of
certified radon contractors.
**Four of the youths came up to me following the afterschool
session on animal sciences and said, “Animal science is cool,” and that they
hoped they could learn more about animal environments next week. One asked for
homework and to study more about animal environments, so she was challenged to
consider other 4-H animals from a worksheet and draw an environment to share at
our next session next week.
From the first
afterschool program, three youths participated in 4-H activities the following
weeks that 4-H was involved in afterschool. Several of the youths would select
the 4-H activity for the day if they were not required to participated in the
homework section. So exposure to 4-H was more than a one-time event for several
of these youths.
** First graders are like little sponges, so when we
presented the Organwise curriculum titled, "Healthy from the Inside Out,"
they paid close attention. Grant funds from our Golden Belt Community
Foundation allowed for us to purchase an Organwise doll, two sets of videos and
a school assembly kit complete with PowerPoint presentation. Berny Unruh, the
4-H Youth Development Agent, and I visited every 1st grade classroom in Barton
County during February and March. We shared the assembly and helped the kids
prepare veggie pizza as a healthy snack during our visit. Teachers followed up
our visit by showing a total of eight videos reinforcing the concepts we
introduced. The chant "Low fat, high fiber, water and exercise," was
memorized. When I accepted an invitation to present a short nutrition program
as part of a Bible School program in July, I had at least eight students who had
been in a first grade classroom earlier in the spring. When they saw me get out
the Organwise doll they immediately remembered the points of the presentation.
Nearly six months later they were able to repeat the chant without prompting. Several
parents said they had made the veggie pizza at home because their children
really liked it. –-Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu
KSRE WEBSITE FACELIFT
As you may have noticed, the Kansas State University Research and Extension Website (ksre.ksu.edu) received a facelift on Friday, March 30.
Some of the changes you'll see are the wider format, consistent typography and new, larger banners on the main page. You'll also notice that on the main page is a new horizontal purple menu across the top. This menu provides easier access to some of the more commonly used areas of the site.
The changes to the site were made in order to adhere to the new Kansas State University branding. We've also made changes to the administrative side of the Content Management System that runs the site. Online instructions, Google analytics and a more user-friendly interface have been added to the administrative area. These changes will be covered in upcoming training sessions, so if you need training or would like a refresher, please be sure to contact Neal Wollenberg, nealw@ksu.edu, to get signed up.
Over the course of the next few weeks, we'll be tweaking the site to make sure everything is running smoothly, so you may notice other changes. Additionally, if you have any comments on the new look, please feel free to email Neal with your thoughts and suggestions. --Neal Wollenberg nealw@ksu.edu
FINDING NEW KSRE EMAIL LIST ADDRESSES
As we've been working on the transition from the old "@ksre.ksu.edu" list server to K-State's listserv system "@listserv.ksu.edu," we've had a few more frequently asked questions that we wanted to share with everyone.
- What letter is at the end of the list names? Is it a '-L' or a '-I'?
Almost all the lists at K-State end with a "-L" (for "List") on the name. This is to prevent the lists from being the same as an eID (which does not allow a dash). The exceptions are very old lists and the local unit lists for individual county offices, which simply use the 2 letter county abbreviation as the list name. When sending an email to a list, the email address is always <list_name>@listserv.ksu.edu. For example, if the list name is "4HFD-L" the email address for the list is 4HFD-L@listserv.ksu.edu.
- How can I find the names of the new email lists for KSRE?
Here are a few ways to find the new email addresses for the KSRE email lists that are now housed on the K-State Listserv System. Please use these addresses when emailing KSRE lists, as the old "@ksre.ksu.edu" addresses will no longer work.
- All the KSRE lists officially managed by our office are listed on our Techweb site here:
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/techweb/p.aspx?tabid=865
This page has the official contact lists for each KSRE department or unit. These lists are used to send the Tuesday Letter and other system-wide communications. - Any public list at K-State can be found on the K-State Listserv System's web interface. Follow the instructions on this page for information on accessing it:
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/techweb/p.aspx?tabid=867
You can also find the lists that you are subscribed to on this page and manage your list subscriptions here. - Contact KSRE Support at ksresupport@ksu.edu or 785-532-6270. We can help you find the email address of any list that we are aware of, which may include lists not publicly listed elsewhere. As long as the list owner has sent us the information for the list, we can share it with you if requested.
- If you know the list's owner, contact him or her directly for more information. Unfortunately, we do not have access to a directory of every list on K-State's system since many of them are private. It is up to the list owner to provide that information to the people that need it.
WORLD BACKUP DAY: ARE YOUR FILES BACKED UP?
Last Saturday, March 31, was World Backup Day. Now is a good time to take a moment and think about the data that is stored on your computer and how it is being backed up. Here are some things to ask yourself:- Where is my data being backed up to? If the office was flooded or burned would I still have data securely stored off-site?
- How often is my data being backed up? Would I miss all the data that has changed since my last backup if I lost it?
- Am I backing up everything that is important? Do I have files stored on my computer or elsewhere that may not be getting backed up properly?
- If I lose data on my computer, do I know how to retrieve it from a backup? Have I tried to do that recently to make sure it works?
There are many aspects to building a good, reliable backup strategy. Your area or department IT support staff can help you make sure your files are backed up in the office, and can help you determine if you are backing up everything that you need properly. We encourage you to contact your area or departmental support staff and talk to them if you have any questions about your backups. Also, feel free to contact KSRE Support at ksresupport@ksu.edu if you'd like more information about backup strategies and software we recommend for home use. -- Russ Feldhausen russfeld@ksu.edu
MARCH EXTENSION AGENT PERSONNEL CHANGES
Rodney Wallace, Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent in Pawnee County, retired effective March 2, 2012.
Mike Hanson, Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent in Seward County, resigned effective March 3, 2012.
Diane Nielson, Family and Consumer Sciences Agent in Atchison County, returned from sabbatical leave on March 4, 2012.
Laura Marks, Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent in Flint Hills District, resigned effective March 16, 2012.
Jo Ellen Arnold, 4-H Youth Development Agent in Frontier District, retired effective March 30, 2012.
-–Stacey Warner swarner@ksu.edu
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