January 26, 2021
Partnership Meeting and Administrative Leadership Succession
On Thursday, January 28, 2021 from 7 to 8:30 p.m., we will have our quarterly Partnership Meeting via Zoom. Board members received an email on Friday, January 22, containing the Zoom link for this meeting. The Partnership Meeting is our series of quarterly opportunities for the Extension Administration Team to communicate directly with our Extension Boards and Program Development Committees about system-wide extension issues and successes. Local unit agents and staff members, as well as specialists are also highly encouraged to attend, of course. In fact, we want to thank and commend our agents for doing a great job of encouraging Extension Board and Program Development Committee members and virtually attending with them. We ask that you keep up the good work so that we can have another great turnout for this Partnership Meeting.
What is on the agenda for this Partnership Meeting? During the administrative update, I will have some budget and administrative personnel news to share, as well as an update on how the face-to-face meeting notification process is going. Because we will have new Extension Board and Program Development Committee members with us, Dr. Jim Lindquist and I will provide a quick overview to the federal Cooperative Extension system and K-State Research and Extension. Laurie Chandler will update us on and share the results of our Excellence in Board Leadership Assessment. We will end the night with Dr. Rick Peterson informing our Extension Board and Program Development Committee members about (and celebrating) our impactful extension programming.
This Partnership Meeting will be bittersweet. This will be the last time Dr. Lindquist attends a Partnership Meeting in his official capacity as our Associate Director for Field Operations. Dr. Lindquist will retire in April, and it is time to start an admittedly rapid and internal process of finding our next Associate Director for Field Operations. Why rapid? We would like for Dr. Lindquist’s successor to spend some time with him before he departs for the retirement he so richly deserves. How rapid? Applications will be accepted until February 4. Why internal? Because of our unique co-governance structure of local units here in Kansas, we feel that it is imperative that this search be an internal search.
The position announcement, (link will be sent as soon as it is posted), will probably surprise you. Because our Regional Directors for Local Units no longer directly lead our specialists based at our Research and Extension Centers, they are no longer required to have a Ph.D. Likewise, the Associate Director for Field Operations position no longer requires a Ph.D. Instead, a Master’s Degree will be the minimum required degree. Because Intimate knowledge of local unit operations is critically important; there is also a minimum requirement of five years of local unit, local unit leadership, or regional leadership of local units. So, if you think you would be good in this position and have these minimum qualifications, I encourage you to apply. Furthermore, if you know of someone in our system who you believe would be good in this position, please ask them to apply.
The search-and-screen committee will be chaired by our Associate Director for Extension Programs, Dr. Rick Peterson. Other committee members include Budget/Fiscal Officer Geneva Jahnke, Regional Director for Local Units Aliesa Woods, Wyandotte County Extension Director Dr. Nozella Brown, Central Kansas District Director Cade Rensink, Meade County Agent Elly Sneath, Program Leader Coordinator Trudy Rice, State Extension Advisory Committee Member Don Helwig, and Kansas Association of Counties Director Bruce Chladny. Please join me in thanking them for their willingness to serve on this very important committee.