January 12, 2016
Updates
Annual Partnership Meetings registration deadline is today, Tuesday, January 12. Registration information may be found on the Employee Resources “Registrations” website. I'm looking forward to a great meeting, sharing lots of valuable information, and having great opportunity for interaction and dialog with Extension Board and PDC members. This is our one time each year when Extension Board members can come together to interact with their peers from other Extension districts and counties. My hope/expectation is that all local Extension boards are represented at least at one of the Partnership meetings.
Dr. Barbara Stone, Assistant Director and Department Head - 4-H Youth Development, sent out a message on this past Friday announcing her plans to retire by January 2017, and to step back from her administrative role around June 30, 2016. While announcing plans to retire is truly bittersweet, I am pleased that Barbara has chosen to provide this much lead time in making these announcements. Thus, this message is not about bidding farewell yet to Dr. Stone and thanking her for the truly outstanding leadership and accomplishments she has provided to the 4-H Youth Development program in Kansas and beyond. Instead, it is simply to say that we are going to move forward on planning for a smooth transition.
It is our plan to begin a process soon to advertise the administrative position and hopefully have someone on board to provide smooth transition of leadership. Dr. Stone does plan to continue to give her time and energy to the several grant-funded initiatives underway through 2016 until she retires. I look forward to working with the 4-H Youth Development faculty and staff, and the Extension administrative team over the next several weeks in moving the process forward towards continued strong leadership for K-State Research and Extension's 4-H Youth Development programs!