CD Wire - March 11, 2014

Mission Statement:

Ohio State University Extension Community Development
helps communities
enhance their well-being.

AD Update:

What are we doing? What and how can I do it better?

The title of this week’s AD Update was the underlying theme of last week’s CD Unit Meeting. In addition to individual and collective reporting and communications efforts, we also focused on how to get better at managing our extramural funding and opportunities for collaboration. These items and others discussed at last week’s unit meeting provide direction and meaning to Extension’s expectation for our ongoing pursuit of professional excellence.

Item 18 on the Action List below-Focus on improving core competencies-addresses our pursuit of professional excellence as well. A set of 14 ‘core competencies’ has been identified that, when practiced, can lend themselves to professional excellence.

You may recall that seven of these core competencies are a specific focus of the formal performance review and planning document: Communication, Customer Service, Diversity, Flexibility and Change, Interpersonal Relationships, Professionalism, Teamwork and Leadership. In addition to addressing these competencies, as part of our strategic plan we are also tasked with improving in these areas:  Continuous Learning, Knowledge of Extension, Resource Management, Self-Direction, Technology Adoption and Application, Thinking and Problem-Solving, and Understanding Stakeholders and Communities.

Our continued growth as an Extension professional is dependent on our understanding of people, ‘the business of Extension’ and ourselves. Details on the competency model (including examples of key actions that describe excellence) and the most up-to-date information pertaining to the annual review process are available at the Extension HR website.

Extension Strategic Plan – Action List

  1. Understand full range of Extension in Ohio
  2. Learn program needs
  3. Prioritize programs, efforts, and audiences
  4. Inventory e-Learning modules
  5. Create e-Learning modules (10% increase annually)
  6. Align applied research with Discovery Themes
  7. Increase creative and scholarly outputs of a collaborative nature
  8. Engage in interdisciplinary/cross-program/multi-state/inter-institutional efforts
  9. Evaluate teaching (face-to-face, via distance/webinar, etc.)
  10. Create and use evaluation tools for programs
  11. Document efforts via RiV
  12. Communicate impact via various media (e.g., micro-blog, blog, webpage, etc.)
  13. Use social media to extend reach
  14. Track reach of social media
  15. Increase extramural funding by 5% (annually)
  16. Increase contributions to CD endowment/development account by 5% (annually)
  17. Create and implement comprehensive marketing plan
  18. Focus on improving core competencies
  19. Participate in a diversity training (annually)
  20. Implement OSUE coaching and mentoring protocols

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

REMINDER . . . Leadership Ohio – Applications Due by March 18:

Those interested in broadening their network within Ohio and learning more about the issues, challenges and opportunities facing the state may want to consider applying for Leadership Ohio. The program meets at locations throughout the state on the following dates:

  • April 25-26
  • May 15-16
  • June 13-14
  • July 18-19
  • August 15-16
  • September 19-20
  • October 17-18
  • November 14-15

Extension Administration has offered to cover half of the $3,100 tuition. CD Unit funds are available to help as well. For more information, visit leadershipohio.org and download the 2014 application form and/or contact Greg Davis (davis.1081@osu.edu).

   

NCRCRD Webinar - March 26 (2:00 p.m.)

"Experimental Estimates for
State Level Personal Consumption Expenditures"

Personal consumption expenditures make up the largest category of final demand and provide a direct measure of goods and services consumed by households. As such, state-level consumption statistics could facilitate regional tax policy analysis and marketing uses and provide an additional measure of economic well-being to complement state level GDP and disposable personal income. Bureau of Economic Analysis economists have developed expenditures for eight categories of goods, seven categories of services and net expenditures of nonprofit institutions serving households (NPISHs) for fifty states plus the District of Columbia for the years 1997 to 2011 that can be used on conjunction with other BEA regional statistics. This webinar will cover the methodology used for the experimental statistics, a first look at some of the results and a discussion of BEA’s plans for refining and extending the statistics. Speakers will be Carol Robbins (Chief, Analysis and Special Studies Branch, Regional Product Division, Bureau of Economic Analysis) and Ledia Guci (research economist, Regional Analysis and Special Studies Branch, Bureau of Economic Analysis).

There is no registration and no fee for attending this webinar. To join, go to connect.msu.edu/ncrcrd. Enter as a guest, type your name into the text box provided and click on “Enter Room."  A list of upcoming as well as recorded webinars can be found at: ncrcrd.msu.edu/ncrcrd/webinars.

Inaugural Discovery Themes Lecture - April 4:

The Provost’s Discovery Themes Lecturer Program will bring eminent authorities to Ohio State to address topics related to the Discovery Themes. Discovery Themes Lecturers will be authorities in one or more of the Discovery Themes areas of Health and Wellness, Energy and Environment, and Food Production and Security. They will be world-class thought leaders whose broad vision enables them to go beyond the technical aspects of the grand challenges represented by the Discovery Themes to include their ethical, political and social dimensions.

Ohio State’s inaugural Provost’s Discovery Themes Lecturer will be Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and professor of health policy and management at Columbia University. Professor Sachs’s lecture, “The Age of Sustainable Development,” is set for Friday, April 4 at 3:00 pm in the Mershon Auditorium, 1871 N. High St. For more information on this lecture and the series, visit: discovery.osu.edu.

Scholarships still available for North Central Leadership Conference - April 28-30:

There are two $500 scholarships left from the Gist Chair/ESP sponsorship awards to support professional participation at the North Central Leadership Conference to be held April 28-30 in Omaha, Nebraska. The scholarships are on first come, first- served basis. Please see details and registration process below. Contact Amy Fovargue (fovargue.1@osu.edu) if you have questions.

Registration is open until April 6 for the North Central Leadership Conference to be held April 28-30 in Omaha, Nebraska. The theme of the conference is “Next Generation Leadership: Pathways Towards Our Future.” North Central region Extension professionals have the opportunity to refine their leadership skills, share best practices and build networks with colleagues. OSU Extension professionals are encouraged to attend the conference. The conference will be hosted by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, and sponsorship is being provided by the North Central Cooperative Extension Association (NCCEA). Schedule, registration and hotel information are posted at: extension.iastate.edu/registration/events/conferences/NCLC/index.html.

Registration process for scholarship recipients – Register for the conference online using your own chartfield, and the scholarship funding will be transferred by the Business Office after you have attended the conference and submitted your expense report for the conference. When you register for the conference, also send an e-mail to Amy Fovargue (fovargue.1@osu.edu) with your chartfield information and T number (if available), so that the number of scholarships being used can be tracked. Please mention “North Central Leadership Conference” in the subject of your e-mail.

2014 Symposium on Small Towns - June 4-5:

The Rural Futures Institute is partnering with the University of Minnesota Morris' Center for Small Towns, among others, to plan the Symposium on Small Towns event which will be held in Morris, Minnesota on June 4–5. The event is themed "Understanding Rural Migration: Myths, Trends and Opportunities Exposed." Hosted at the University of Minnesota Morris campus, the symposium will address the changing truths of small towns and debunk the current myths surrounding migration to and from small towns.

There will be a series of breakout sessions, discussions and keynotes during the two-day event. Attend this event and share your experiences with others from the Great Plains region. Some goals of the symposium include:

  • Improving the dialogue surrounding migration research in rural areas
  • Exemplifying the ways communities are connected through migration
  • Exploring the role narrative language plays in recruitment strategies
  • Delineating the strategy differences between youth and adult recruitment
  • Developing a strategy to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment and retention efforts
  • Exploring common recruitment strategies between states
  • Gathering experiences with place-based strategies, i.e., land incentives, internships, alumni

Visit the conference website for more information.

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SCHOLARLY / CREATIVE / OPPORTUNITIES:

2014 MCRSA/IMPLAN Conference
June 3-5 - Madison, Wisconsin
Proposal Deadline April 1

The Mid-Continent Regional Science Association (MCRSA) is teaming with the IMPLAN Group, the makers of the IMPLAN economic modeling system, to host their annual conferences June 3-5 at The Madison Concourse Hotel in downtown Madison, Wisconsin. Participants should contact the hotel directly at 800-356-8293 and indicate participation in the MCRSA/IMPLAN conference ($134/night).

Information about call for regular papers and sessions can be found at the MCRSA Website: mcrsa.org. All persons wishing to submit an abstract or session proposal for both the MCRSA and IMPLAN conference sessions are encouraged to do so electronically via e-mail to John Leatherman (jleather@ksu.edu) by April 1.

The MCRSA/IMPLAN meetings will include a stimulating mix of academics and practitioners focusing on applied problems. A fully-integrated conference will feature both applied research in Regional Science and IMPLAN research and applications. Participants are free to sample any and all sessions. For IMPLAN users, IMPLAN will hold two special reduced-cost pre-conference training workshops June 2-3 at the conference hotel. The first is the Introduction to IMPLAN V3.1 Workshop. And, for the first time at the conference, IMPLAN will concurrently host the Advanced IMPLAN V3.1 Workshop.

Registration fee for early registrants is $270. You can either download a conference registration form from the MCRSA Website or register and pay online at IMPLAN's Website: implan.com.

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REMINDERS / UPDATES / NEWS:

ESP Elevator Speech Contest Winners:

The winning entries for the ESP Elevator Speech Contest held at Galaxy are available on page 2 of the current issue of the espconnection (January/February 2014).

New Online Tool Helps Well Owners Understand Water Test Results:

Private well owners are encouraged to have their well water tested regularly, but when they do, they’re often stumped when trying to decipher the lab results. And with more Ohio well water being analyzed under a mandate that shale energy companies provide such tests for any wells within 1,500 feet of proposed horizontal drilling sites, more Ohioans have been left scratching their heads when trying to interpret the findings . . .  read more at: cfaes.osu.edu/news.

Articles/Publications of Interest:

Communiqué (March 5, 2014)

Quick Byte: Digital Footprint - Protect yourself from online predators (EdgeU Tech Blog)

Meeting Offers Insight for Farmers on 2014 Farm Bill (CFAES News)

Household Wealth Still Down 14 Percent since Recession (OSU Research News)


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