Budget Update and Reminders

As you probably have heard, just after the Annual Conference, the Governor announced more state budget cuts. Since January 1, it has been confirmed that this round of cuts includes an additional 5.75% recision of OSU Extenson state funds for FY09. As we mentioned during Administration's budget update at the Conference, we were expecting this cut and we've begun working through options for creating a new structure for Extension. What that will look like exactly is still to be determined. The task force set up to discuss options met on January 5; the group will reconvene on January 20 to compare notes and finalize some of their suggestions. Those suggestions will then be discussed thoroughly at the Administrative Cabinet retreat on January 22-23. After the retreat, Administration will update the entire organization.

One immediate reminder -- there is now no out-of-state travel unless it is funded via grants, cost recovery monies, county funds, or other non-state funds. This was announced at Annual Conference and in the December 24 Communiqué budget attachment as a possibility, but it IS now instituted immediately based on the Governor's most recent budget cuts. Remember, we have had international travel restrictions for some time.

*Note - there is an Extension county director video update scheduled on Thursday, January 15. Instructions have been sent to all county directors.

Recognizing Success – Suggestions from Pulse Survey Participants

In past pulse surveys, participants were asked to note their level of agreement, on a scale of 1-10, with the question “Extension’s rewards are aligned with our priorities” (July and August 2008). Responses varied from strong agreement to strong disagreement, with a mean score of 5.14 and 4.85 in respective months. So, in the November survey we asked the question in open-ended format to more clearly learn what the organization could suggest about actions needed to better align rewards. Here is a sample of the suggestions your colleagues shared when asked, “In an effort to align reward with organizational priorities, OSU Extension should…”

• reward those who lead in this culture shift.
• …stop worrying about hurting employees’ feelings and stop rewarding individuals who do not perform…
• recognize not only the educators, but also the staff who helped the educators meet these priorities.
• incorporate contributions to achieving organizational priorities in the performance review process.
• clearly communicate what constitutes a high-performing Extension professional … and reward those who can document their ability to meet those expectations. In my opinion, the promotion dossier should be used to guide one’s Extension work and could easily serve as the basis for reward.
• rewards should be made upon exceeding expectations, not 12 to 18 months in the future. Describe the process in detail; it’s rather nebulous now.
• work to hear the voices of their county staff and what they are seeing to enhance the programming. Work to find the best possible people for positions inside our organization.
• look for ways to support county efforts toward organizational priorities via rewards.
• fund county offices based on population count.
• make sure the communication is the same in all program areas; one newsletter is not enough to share the “how to’s” for everyone. Look at ways to not put one program against another, rewards do funny things to people when it’s not a group effort.
• Why do there need to be rewards? Should people not care enough to do what is necessary?! It IS their job!

To see the entire list of suggestions and comments posed by your colleagues, visit: http://www.zoomerang.com/Shared/SharedResultsOpenEndedResultsPage.aspx?ID=L23MDLXCKWJX&REQQUEST=comment_9. And, if you have additional suggestions regarding this topic, please feel free to contact your supervisor, regional director, or another Administrative Cabinet member; we appreciate hearing your thoughts! Thanks for your continued participation in the Pulse Survey!

Annual Conference – Many Awards Presented

Congratulations to all of the OSU Extension professionals who won awards for their outstanding work in 2008! Many awards presentations were held during the Annual Conference in December 2008, and the names of the winners are posted on the OAEP (Ohio Association of Extension Professionals) Web site. An updated copy of the awards and recognition booklet can be found at http://oaep.osu.edu/Recognition/08AwardBooklet.pdf. The 2008 Annual Conference photo gallery is also posted on the OAEP Web site in the recognition and awards section. Thanks again to the 2008 Annual Conference planning committee for their hard work to coordinate this event.

Signature Program Q&A

After several Signature Program training sessions this fall, a number of additional questions have been asked. A summary of the most recent questions is attached.

EEET 2008 Deadline and P&T EEET Five-Year Requests

If you completed programs in 2008 with EEETs and have not sent them to the Program Development and Evaluation (PDE) office, please do so by Friday, February 13. 2008 EEETs received after this date will not be included in the 2008 annual summary comparison data. You will still get a summary from the PDE office, but the program information will not be used in statewide comparison data.

Please refer to the PDE Web site for the most current format of all EEET forms and instructions to use the forms (http://pde-cms.ag.ohio-state.edu/EEETs). Thank you.

Remember, the PDE office address is:
Program Development and Evaluation Office
Attn: EEETs
Room 25, Agricultural Administration Building
2120 Fyffe Road
Columbus, OH 43210

If you are planning to apply for Promotion/Tenure in 2009 and have not yet requested a five-year EEET summar from PDE for your vita, please contact Debby Lewis (lewis.205@osu.edu) or Kim Bahnsen (bahnsen.8@osu.edu) as soon as possible.

OSU CARES - Grant RFP Announcements

2009 OSU CARES Grant RFP online NOW! The RFP for the OSU CARES Seed Grants and Personnel Support Grants is now online at http://www.osucares.osu.edu/. The grants provide funding for the period of June 1, 2009 through Summer 2010; and proposals are due February 27 by 4 p.m.

The newest grants program, OSU CARES Personnel Support Grants, will make available up to $25,000 to support the salary and benefits of an existing OSU employee. This can be an OSU Extension programmatic faculty/staff member or an OSU department faculty, Outreach/Engagement staff member. Through the project, the employee is to work in the other partner’s department to extend both Extension’s and the department/unit’s outreach and engagement with the community and to formalize partnerships between the units.

The OSU CARES Seed Grants are also available this year. These grants are for up to $10,000 to support outreach and engagement initiatives that partner OSU Extension with other units across the university.

OSU CARES has provided the seed dollars that got a number of today’s successful Extension programs started. More than 75 grants have been awarded through OSU CARES since 1997, with faculty and staff from across the colleges and regional campuses partnering with OSU Extension colleagues through these grants. To learn more about these grants programs and past grants, visit the OSU CARES page at http://www.osucares.osu.edu/. Questions? Contact the OSU CARES office at 614-688-4486 or e-mail to osucares@osu.edu.

2009 Excellence in Engagement and Service-Learning Initiative Grants are available. See http://www.outreachgrants.osu.edu/ for information on more grants available to support outreach and engagement scholarship. The Excellence in Engagement grants support interdisciplinary teams in building upon their academic/research excellence to establish innovative, creative, scholarly outreach and engagement initiatives. The Service-Learning Initiative Grants fund the development or enhancement of service-learning courses and collaborative university/community projects that address community goals. All proposals are due February 27. Visit the Web site for the grant RFPs, fact sheets on the grants, and more information to help you be successful in applying for these grants programs.

Changes in TV Converter Box Coupon Program - Message from CSREES

As of January 4, consumers requesting coupons from the National Telecommunications and Information Agency’s (NTIA) TV Converter Box Coupon Program will be placed on a waiting list. Because of the high demand for coupons, the program has reached its $1.34 billion ceiling; and new coupon requests from eligible households will be filled on a first come, first-served basis as funds from expired coupons are made available.

You may copy as needed the attached consumer fact sheet that outlines the options consumers have to prepare for the digital transition. NTIA encourages you to inform your constituents of this change to the Coupon Program. The NTIA press release has more detailed information and background (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/press/2009/DTV_WaitList_090105.html). A related article was also included in the December 3 issue of Communiqué.

Speakers Available - If your county Extension offices are hosting a meeting in the near future and would like to have a speaker explain how to prepare for the transition, they can contact the speakers bureau initiative of the National Association of Broadcasters Web site at http://www.dtvspeak.com/; e-mail: dtvspeak@crosbyvolmer.com; telephone: 202-232-6572. In most cases, the available speakers are local broadcasters who will discuss local community specific DTV issues. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission may have staff available to speak and can also be reached through http://DTVSpeak.com/.

AEE 885 Schedule Change for Autumn 2009

From Dr. Larry Miller -- As an instructor for AEE 885, I want to let you know that we plan to make a change in the offering of this course applicable to autumn quarters only. Beginning with Autumn Quarter 2009, we will only offer one section of the course on Wednesday evenings from 4-6:48 p.m. We are eliminating the Tuesday/Thursday section of the class during that quarter.

We will continue to offer AEE 885 on Wednesday evenings in winter quarters and during the first term of summer quarter. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Miller (miller.103@osu.edu). We care about preparing students to be the best researchers possible and hope this change does not cause too much disruption. No changes in the schedule for our other courses are currently anticipated.

February Leadership Development Event Offered Via The Women's Place

In February, the Women's Place is bringing Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea to campus for a lecture (February 26 at 4 p.m., Wexner Center Film and Video Theatre) and a day-long workshop on Story as Leadership (February 27 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., RPAC meeting rooms 1-3). Both are free and open to the public. While the lecture is not required to attend the workshop, it is highly recommended. Seating is limited for the workshop, so you must register for it; details are on the attached flyer.

Event description: We are living in a time when we need a new map to get to a new level of consciousness; story will show us the way. Through this lecture and workshop, you will be invited to help create communities and spheres of influence that understand story’s potential to lead us to the futures we want.

Mershon Center Offers Faculty, Student Research Grants

Each year, the Mershon Center for International Security Studies holds a competition for Ohio State faculty and students to apply for grants to support research in international security. Grants may be used for a variety of purposes including travel, seminars, conferences, interviews, experiments, surveys, workshops, library cost, student assistants, and more. Applications must be for projects that relate to one or more of the Mershon Center's three areas of focus: the use of force and diplomacy; the ideas, identities and decisional processes that affect security; and the institutions that manage violent conflict. Junior faculty and graduate students are especially encouraged to apply. For more information, including application forms and instructions, please see the grants section of the Mershon Center Web site (http://mershoncenter.osu.edu/grants/grants/grants.htm). The deadline is January 30, 2009.

Patterson Lecture - April 2009

The sixth annual James F. Patterson Land-Grant University Lecture will be held on April 24 - 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. - at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, will be the featured speaker.

North Central Region Urban Extension Conference

Registration is now open for the North Central Region Urban Extension Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from May 4-7. Visit https://wisccharge.wisc.edu/extension/urban_extension_cn.asp to register. The conference theme is Urban Extension: Relevant Today and Committed to the Future. The conference is targeted to Cooperative Extension staff who work in urban/suburban communities throughout the United States. A complete description of the conference, schedule, and session descriptions are also on the Web site.

Five Myths About eXtension

Many Cooperative Extension faculty and staff have become involved with eXtension since it was launched. However, there is still a need for basic information about this community. A brief overview of eXtension, copied from the Journal of Applied Communications, is attached (reprinted with permission; Vol. 91, Nos. 1&2, 2007).

January Professional Development Opportunities from eXtension

eXtension's professional development opportunities are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration is necessary. The January "30-Minute Sessions" include:

* January 22 at 2pm ET - SlideShare for Collaboration and Online Learning, by Kevin Gamble. Slideshare (slideshare.net) is like YouTube for the sharing of presentations. Slideshare is an easy, powerful, and free solution. It’s also an effective environment for fostering online learning. Learn how to get started with SlideShare, and discuss how this technology can be used for collaborative work across the Cooperative Extension System. The session will highlight some new capabilities with direct PowerPoint integration and the newly enabled support for Keynote. It will also show you how to use the Extension-specific group space.

* January 27 at 2pm ET - Wikipedia, by Kevin Gamble. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, has become the world's preeminent source of information. Its nearly 12 million articles (2.6 million in English) have been collaboratively written by volunteers. The operation of Wikipedia depends on Mediawiki, a custom-made, free and open-source software. Learn how this vast knowledge-base came to be, how to work with Mediawiki, and how you can begin editing and contributing to Wikipedia articles - with special focus on how to use Wikipedia to enhance Extension educational programming.

* January 28 at 2pm ET - Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Part 2 by Terry Meisenbach, eXtension communications and marketing leader. Content discoverability on the Internet is critical today; and eXtension is working closely with Fleishman Hillard and several Communities of Practice to make content more visible to search engines like Google and Yahoo. This session will continue the discussion on the keyword analysis process, linking strategies, and what can be done to make content more discoverable.

These sessions are held in the Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn. Plan to join the session 5 minutes before the starting time. Instructions are attached.

Recordings of many past professional development sessions can be found at the main eXtension wiki at http://about.eXtension.org/wiki. Scroll down under the Professional Development heading to find "Recordings of eXtension Professional Development Sessions" or search on the word Recordings.

Personnel Update