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September 10, 2008
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You have probably heard by now about Governor Strickland’s budget cuts just announced this week. Many of you may also have received a letter from Provost Alutto indicating that the university did not receive cuts - but we understand at this point that this is not true for the two line items of OSU Extension and OARDC. We do not have specific information yet, but we are anticipating a 4.75% cut on our line item. As we receive more information, we will pass this along to the organization.
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A number of action steps have been implemented to move toward the benefits of a successfully managed strategic plan, including:
- CommTech has met with signature program leaders, Assistant Directors and the Associate Director, Programs to develop marketing strategies for each of the signature programs.
- Development positions equal to 1.75 FTE have been designated to work on fund-raising priorities.
- Candidates for the impact area leader positions have been interviewed and soon will begin providing leadership and management for each of the specific impact areas.
Discussions are happening to consider methods to provide programming funds for signature programs, and how to align internal grant funds to strengthen programming to address the three critical statewide issues of economy, education and health. In addition, the Assistant Directors have met to design indicators to collect the impact of Extension programming affecting the three critical statewide issues. In the near future, a table or chart will be posted on the Extension Strategic Plan Web site so interested Extension professionals can track the progress of plan implementation and action steps that are scheduled to be completed.
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We’re committed to the goals and metrics outlined in our Extension strategic plan - its development will help guide the organization over the next six years as we prepare to celebrate our first 100 years and prepare for the next 100!
In a recent Pulse survey completed in early August, we asked participants to share their views about the benefits of implementing the strategic plan. The following are some responses we received to the question:
“As the strategic plan is implemented, the benefits to OSU Extension will be…”
- greater visibility and relevance to the citizens of Ohio.
- minimal and expensive.
- a continued need for our services. We must meet the needs of our clientele to continue to be a needed entity.
- a more narrow focus, which will allow us to be more successful.
- increased support from constituents, donors, and the university.
- dependent on how many more expectations the Extension professionals will have placed into their laps.
- strength and longevity.
- determined by the degree to which county employees feel connected to, in harmony with, and empowered by administration.
- …unlikely that we can predict either positive or negative consequences of the strategic plan because there are so many variables involved. It seems unlikely that we can think of or understand all of the possible ramifications to and interlinkings of program, traditional clientele, staff, morale, specialist program support, new clientele, local funding, balancing state and county expectations, meeting clientele needs, etc. …
- more consistent programming throughout the state. …
- improved technological presence in our communities, improved ability to demonstrate program impact, and hopefully a feeling of support and stability for our organization.
- improved service to our stakeholders.
- clearer vision, focus, team building, and hopefully a greater implementation of technology in our programming efforts.
To give you full insight into organizational response, we will continue to provide you with the link to the survey response report. To see the entire list of responses to this question, click on the following link: http://www.zoomerang.com/Shared/SharedResultsOpenEndedResultsPage.aspx?ID=L23GW5QK7Z7E&REQQUEST=comment_9
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The annual conference planning committee reminds everyone to make sure you have highlighted on your calendar and are holding December 17-18 for our much-anticipated Annual Extension Conference. “Now is Our Time” to build on the new strategic plan for Extension. The conference will be held at the Ramada Plaza hotel and conference center in Columbus.
Note: December 16 was originally announced as a pre-conference day. After much discussion, the planning committee has decided not to offer a pre-conference day this year. However, Dr. Paul Kuber is planning an animal science in-service on Tuesday, December 16 on main campus. It will include quality assurance training. Information will be sent separately about registration for the in-service training. A block of rooms will be held at the conference hotel for those who might also be participating in the in-service.
Also a reminder - “In the Zone,” the Support Staff Conference is set for October 22-23 at the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on campus.
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The Extension Business Office is offering several training sessions this fall and winter. Please complete the attached forms and submit via fax for all classes you wish to attend. If you would like to see an alternate date or locations, please e-mail Cindy Buxton (buxton.65@osu.edu) and the Business Office will consider scheduling if a session fills up. There are descriptions of each class on the registration forms. Classes available are:
- Finances and Processes of Grants and Contracts 101
- Buying 101
- Purchasing Card
- Reading eReports
- Reconciling eReports
- Advanced eReports
- PeopleSoft
The forms are also available on the Business Office Web site . Please be sure to get your supervisor's approval. If you are a director, your regional or state director’s approval is needed (an attached e-mail will do).
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To CFAES Faculty and Staff:
In his July 27, 2008 letter to Dean Moser, the Provost again emphasized the importance of information security and his expectation that CFAES will implement the university's policies to protect institutional data and comply with the Minimum Computer Security Standard (MCSS). In May 2008, the college intensified its efforts to meet the Provost's mandate of 100% compliance by August 15, 2008, and began full-scale implementation efforts including encryption of computers that contain restricted or sensitive data.
As of the deadline, we had encrypted 91% of our desktops, and 93% of our laptops (up from our July numbers of 40% and 31% respectively). Our MCSS compliance percentage also improved to 89.25%, up from 71% in July. We will have difficulty moving beyond this point due primarily to our network architecture.
Please contact your local I/T support resource for answers to questions about the compliance process for your department or unit. For reference, here are links to the university's Institutional Data Policy and MCSS. -- from Robert B. Luikart, Chief Information Officer, CFAES
Institutional Data Policy: http://cio.osu.edu/policies/institutional_data/
MCSS: http://buckeyesecure.osu.edu/Policy/UCSS
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With the implementation of the Minimum Computer Security Standard (MCSS), the college is required to ensure that each computing device connecting to the college's network is in compliance with the MCSS, and that devices not in compliance be disabled or quarantined until they can be brought into compliance. This standard presents challenges for faculty and staff who are using their personally owned computers on the college's network to connect to resources such as shared printers or protected file servers. The issue for CFAES is that a personally owned computer presents a significant security risk when directly connected to the college's network; and our present network architecture is unable to detect, disable, or quarantine personally owned computers that are not in compliance with the MCSS.
Until the college network can be updated, those using personally owned computers may be required to access network resources in a different way than connecting directly. In most cases, there are technical solutions available that will allow for sharing of resources, depending on how the local I/T infrastructure is being managed and what technical standards are supported. Often, these solutions will involve the use of OSU wireless connections. Departments and units should discuss their needs with their local I/T support resources to find an appropriate and secure technical solution for the use of personally owned computers.
We know that compliance with the institutional data policy and the MCSS represents real costs to our organization. These policies require that we work differently. The security restrictions are necessary to ensure the integrity of the university's information technology infrastructure and are intended to reduce institutional risk. They also serve to protect your research and work products from theft or unauthorized exposure. However, they can present certain technical challenges, and this is particularly true in the case of personally owned computers.
Please contact your local I/T support resource for answers to questions about the compliance process and plan for your department or unit. For reference, here are links to the university's Institutional Data Policy and MCSS:
Institutional Data Policy: http://cio.osu.edu/policies/institutional_data/
MCSS: http://buckeyesecure.osu.edu/Policy/UCSS
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The sixth annual James. F. Patterson Land-Grant University Lecture will be held April 24, 2009 - 11am-1:30pm - at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center. Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, will be the featured speaker.
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Congratulations to the Dining with Diabetes team on the award of a $7,500 Venture Fund Grant for Dining with Diabetes Technology Update. The grant will help fund the development of marketing materials, a Web site to house curriculum updates, marketing materials, a list of educators conduting the program, training dates and research reports, and a searchable database for educators to input program data, impacts and suggestions. -- per the FCS e-Connection (September 2008)
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The supporting organizations of Forging New Links (of which OSU Extension is a part) are now accepting proposals for workshops and institutes to be held at the 2009 Conference. This is a conference for professionals who work in the area of volunteerism. Submissions related to volunteer administration, service learning, and national service are welcome. All submissions must be completed online utilizing the link below by Friday, October 31.
http://www.the-meeting-connection.com/ForgingNewLinks/09Proposal.asp or http://www.serveohio.org/
The 2009 Forging New Links Conference will be held March 30-31 at The Columbus, A Renaissance Hotel. Primary session presenters will receive free registration for the conference. Questions about the request for proposals or the conference may be directed to The Meeting Connection at 614/888-2568 or ForgingNewLinks@the-meeting-connection.com or to Jeff King, Leader, OSU Leadership Center (king.20@osu.edu).
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eXtension's professional development opportunities are open to all Cooperative Extension faculty, staff and employees. No pre-registration is necessary. The September "30-Minute Sessions" include:
* September 18 at 2pm ET - How to use the new Ask eXtension Widget. This widget adds question-asking capabilities to your site or Extension-related blog, but uses the eXtension Ask an Expert and FAQ systems (with 40,000 questions on file) to assist you in answering and monitoring questions. This session will introduce you to the new tool, show you the latest features developed, and discuss how to begin using it immediately in your own county sites and blogs.
* September 24 at 2pm ET - Moodle by Jennifer Jahedkar, Texas AgriLife Extension. Learn what all the excitement is about regarding the Modular Object Oriented Learning Environment known as Moodle. Learn how eXtension is making Moodle available; see examples of the education you can design, develop and deliver; and listen to lessons learned. This session is offered in partnership with the ACE IT SIG.
* September 25 at 2pm ET - InstantSurvey: Distributing a Survey (Session 2) by Michael Lambur, eXtension Evaluation and Research Leader. This session will focus on distributing an online survey using the InstantSurvey Web-based application available to eXtension CoPs - specifically the two ways to distribute a survey in InstantSurvey.
* September 30 at 2pm ET - Getting Started with eXtension 101: The FAQ App by Ben MacNeill, eXtension User Interface Designer. How to start from scratch and get involved with the eXtension Frequently Asked Question tool. This session will be geared toward non-users (or brand-new users) who want to know "why" they should use and "how" to make it happen.
These sessions will be held in our Web Conferencing Center at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/learn and your telephone. 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 and find "Recordings of eXtension Professional Development Sessions" or search on the word Recordings.
Other Sessions...
* Sept. 15, 2-3:30pm ET - In-MoodleMeet: Lessons learned about Lessons by Jennifer Jahedkar, Texas AgriLife Extension. This will be the last MoodleMeet held, but we suggest Moodle users sign up for the Moodle-users mailing list to continue to receive and contribute to Moodle information and knowledge. Register for an account to enter the chat - using Moodle text chat to share stories, ideas and provide support for Moodle.
To join the MoodleMeet, go to http://pdc.extension.org/mod/chat/view.php?id=913. To read about past chats, also use this site or click on the View Past Chat sessions link from within the chat. To get a course shell to begin developing in or get more information about Moodle, e-mail moodlehelp@extension.org. The recording of last fall's 30-Minute Session on Moodle is at http://about.extension.org/wiki... search on Recordings.
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