The 'Next Generation' of OSU Extension's Strategic Plan

OSU Extension personnel from all across Ohio converged on the state fairgrounds on Thursday, May 15, to launch the new Strategic Plan, "See Yourself in Extension's Future." Thank you for your participation. More than 800 people attended, representing all counties, regional offices, program area specialists and campus Extension appointments. The information you provided through the “clickers” will provide valuable direction in plan implementation.

The Strategic Plan is posted online under both "Step 7: Strategy and Plan Review and Adoption" and "Step 9: Implementation." The PowerPoint presented on May 15 is also available under Step 9 for your review. In addition, Communications and Technology will be sending each Extension office a DVD of the video production that was presented at the end of the day.

To make the plan work, the Administrative Team is encouraging Extension faculty and staff to adopt the Japanese Kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement embodied by this piece of guidance:

“Every day, you must find some small way to improve your product or service and the process by which it is created and delivered.”

If we all take small steps for improvements, we can make giant leaps toward realizing the goals in our Strategic Plan.

The Strategic Plan web site is at:

http://extadmin-cms.ag.ohio-state.edu/leadership/osu-extension-strategic-plan/strategic-plan-home-page/
 
We look forward to your continued individual contribution to plan implementation.

Pulse Survey: What we’re learning!

In a recent survey, conducted six weeks before the May 15 implementation conference on campus, you and/or your peers gave some of the following responses to the question:

What is needed to make our work more relevant?

• Address current issues that impact Ohio. This includes the economy, education, environment and health. Be focused and show actual outcomes or impacts. Use available technology go leverage our delivery and organizational structure.
• More support to all employees like support staff, not just Educators and Program Assistants.
• Better needs assessment; more effort to break away from traditional programming and delivery systems to invest time, talent and energy in more relevant programming and delivery.
• New performance standards.
• We need to make sure that our programs are reaching all the public in our counties so that they may take advantage of the services and programs that we offer.
• Methods of delivering information to the public needs to be revamped. Fact sheets are going to be seen as outdated by individuals under 30 or even 40 years old. Blogs, e-mails, podcasts, educational DVDs are more relevant in today’s society.
• It seems to me that OSU Extension acts like an organization in search of a clientele … Extension was NOT created to establish a large parallel system of “educators.” At its core, Extension was created to be an integrator of scientific knowledge in agriculture ... how we drifted so far from this core mission is shocking to me ... .
• Our organization needs to re-organize around three communities of interest: rural, suburban and urban. Each of these communities of interest in Extension should have their own strategic plan or be able to modify the strategic plan to meet their own unique needs.
• It is relevant. More money and additional current technology would help. Don’t forget our roots and our long-standing supporters.

To see the entire list of responses to this question, click on the following link:

http://www.zoomerang.com/Shared/SharedResultsOpenEndedResultsPage.aspx?ID=L23CFGTMMD4N&REQQUEST=comment_9

In the future, we will continue to provide the link to the total response report, in addition to the summary provided in this Communiqué. We encourage you to respond to the Pulse Survey when your turn arrives, and to continue to learn more about the views and opinions of your colleagues!

New Assistant to the Director Starts June 1

We are very pleased that Cheryl Buck has accepted the position of Program Manager, Communications and Marketing/Assistant to the Director, replacing Jamie Weiner who left OSU Extension in March. Cheryl begins her new duties on June 1. She has been working as a Program Coordinator for the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, working primarily with Hannah Mathers and Pam Bennett on the OSU Nursery Short Course. Please welcome Cheryl (buck.19@osu.edu) as she becomes a part of our Administrative Team.

2008 OSU CARES Grants Awarded

The 2008 OSU CARES/OSU Extension grants for outreach and engagement efforts were announced April 15 at the fifth annual James F. Patterson Land-Grant University Lecture. The lecture, presented this year by Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee, is online through the Knowledge Bank at http://outreach.osu.edu/patterson_lecture.php.

Seed Grants were awarded for:

• "Ohio Tourism Partnership for Economic Development"
• "Ways of Knowing Water"
• "Food, Fun and Me!: A Healthy Eating and Nutrition Education Program."

Extension's partners on these grants are the Diversity Enhancement Program at the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute; the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, the Department of English; and the Department of Art.

In addition, a Faculty Support Grant was awarded for "Body Fit," which partners Extension with Health and Exercise Science in the School of Physical Activities & Educational Services in the College of Education and Human Ecology.

The grants awarded illustrate how engagement is being embedded in partnerships involving OSU Extension and colleges/departments across the university. They also showcase how Ohio State is sharing expertise broadly across the entire state and deepening relationships with community and school partners.

Please visit http://osucares.osu.edu/ and click to the Grants Program page for details, and to learn more about the support OSU CARES can provide Extension colleagues as they expand their partnerships across campus.

eXtension Associate Director to Visit and Speak at Ohio State

Interested in learning more about eXtension and new technology tools? Then consider attending one or more seminar sessions on May 28 and 29 in the Agricultural Administration Building on campus.

Kevin Gamble, Associate Director for Technology for eXtension will be meeting with various technology teams and participating in four seminar sessions. The sessions are:

• eXtension Update and How Does It Help Me? Featuring 12 tools from eXtension that Extension professionals can use.
• A panel discussion on technology and its impacts on leadership and organizational change.
• Technology trends and their impact on Extension, outreach and engagement.
• A demonstration presentation on using Second Life for educational programming and the future of the Metaverse.

For more details on time, location, etc., see the attached program flyer. Please contact Jerry Thomas at thomas.69@osu.edu or (419) 306-9400 with any questions or to RSVP for any session.

Congratulations to eXtension Community of Practice Meeting Awardees

The following OSU Extension personnel were awarded $500 each to attend the June 24-27 eXtension Communities of Practice meeting in Louisville, Ky.: Linnette Goard, Cindy Bond-Zielinski, Dave Boulay, Christie Welch, Donna Brown, Jim Chatfield. Chris Igodan, Niki Nestor McNeely, Lingying Zhao and Sharon Seiling.  Congratulations to all!  They will be reporting back to the organization on the meeting and next steps that they will be taking to becoming even more engaged in this national effort. 

May 30-Minute Sessions from eXtension

Though it's late in the month, there's still time to catch several offerings of eXtension's "30 Minute Sessions." They include:

• May 22 at 2 p.m. Using Feeds. This is an introduction to Feeds and Web syndication.
• May 28 at 2 p.m. How to use the new AskExtension! widget to receive and answer client questions directly from your county Extension web site.
• May 30, 3 p.m. Hands-on training for early-adopter AskExtension! widget counties.

See the attached file for information on how to participate in eXtension's 30-minute sessions.

In addition, a Second Life Meet-ups is scheduled for May 23. On the 2nd and 4th Fridays of every month the CES Second Life educators meet in-world to learn new skills and visit interesting educational builds. The learning part of the meet-ups is led by fellow participants, and is designed to be lightweight and appropriate for all skill levels. Meet in Second Life at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Morrill/165/136/29.

NACAA Recognizes OSU Extension Team Efforts

Congratulations to three OSU Extension teams who garnered recognition from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents' Search for Excellence competitions:

• "The Agriculture Reality Store" program was selected as the national winner in the Search for Excellence in 4-H/Youth category. Extension team members are John Grimes, Becky Cropper, David Dugan, and Nikki Eyre.
• "Building for the Successful Transition of Your Agricultural Business" was selected as a national finalist in the Excellence in Farm and Ranch Financial Management awards program. Team members are: David Marrison, Jeff McCutcheon, Barry Ward, Chris Bruynis, Chris Zoller, Don Breece, Julia Nolan Woodruff, and Mike Gastier.
• The Soil Quality Workshop program won the award for the Search for Excellence in Sustainable Agriculture North Central Region. Team members are Bruce Clevenger, Jim Hoorman, Chris Bruynis, Rafiq Islam, and Alan Sundermeier. As there is no national competition in this category, this is the top award in this area.

The NACAA has just seven Search for Excellence categories in its awards program. Congratulations to these teams for earning recognition in three of them. The teams will receive their awards at the NACAA meeting in July.

Kathy Lechman Recognized with University Diversity Award

Congratulations to Kathy Lechman, Leader of Diversity Development, OSU Extension Human Resources: She was selected as one of five individuals to receive the 2008 Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award.  Individuals receiving the award have demonstrated significant commitment to enhancing diversity at a level above and beyond their current responsibilities. Kathy and her peer award winners will be honored at a luncheon on Friday, May 23 at the Faculty Club.

Kathy serves as the coordinator for Ohio’s Diversity Catalyst Team; developed the “Understanding Civil Rights Law” training session; designed programs for faculty and staff within the college; developed resources offering alternatives to Judeo-Christian based prayer in educational programming settings; has a national reputation for depth of knowledge and skill in teaching effectiveness; and has been an invited speaker on multiple occasions. Congratulations, Kathy!

Best Wishes to Jim Helt

Jim Helt is retiring from University Development on May 30, 2008. Jim, who led OSU Extension's 4-H program before his first retirement, has been the primary contact with Development for Extension personnel. For future contacts, please call the Development Office directly at 614-292-0473. Our best wishes to Jim, and our thanks for decades of service.

Call for Proposals: 5th Annual Tri-State Diversity Conference

"Diversity 2.0: Tomorrow’s Solutions for Today’s Problems," has issued a Call for Proposals for its meeting Feb. 5-6, 2009 
in northern Cincinnati. The conference is designed for public and private university representatives, including administrators, faculty and staff from Extension, research, and academic programs; K-12 educators; community outreach leaders; health and social services professionals; employers and supervisors; human resource staff; and all others wanting to empower greater diversity and cultural understanding within their communities. The keynote speaker is Allan Johnson, an author, teacher, and speaker on the subject of Diversity, Power and Privilege.

The deadline for proposal submissions is June 6. See the attached flier for details and the application.

For more information, contact Steve Brady, 4-H Educator in Warren County, at (513) 695-1311 or brady.111@cfaes.osu.edu.

Personnel Update