This month I would like to discuss two topics. First, we continue to make progress filling several critical leadership positions.

Dr. Anne Sortor will join Extension on August 1 as assistant director for family and consumer sciences. We have extended to Noah Washburn and he has accepted the position of associate district director for the Ouachita District.

We will be interviewing for the associate district director position for the Delta District during the month of July.

Second, during our crisis communication exercise, held May 31, we learned several important points concerning our ability to communicate during a crisis.

Prior to the test, we had asked each unit, department and district to develop telephone trees to allow for quick and accurate dissemination of critical information during a crisis. The purpose of the drill was to test our effectiveness.

The scenario for the exercise stated that the state headquarters had been struck by a tornado and the building was destroyed. For the purpose of the scenario, I was a victim of the tornado and not available to initiate or receive calls. In actuality, I was out of town and kept my cell phone turned off during the exercise so as to mimic what might actually occur during a crisis.

Based upon reports you turned in, a few employees arrived at the building at approximately 7:00 a.m., read the scenario taped to the back entrance and began calling as per the crisis communications plan.

By 9:01 a.m., approximately 306 calls had been attempted throughout Extension using telephone trees, GroupWise and automatic wireless phone messaging software. Of those, 253 calls were completed and word of the scenario was passed along, while 53 attempts were not successful.

While our efforts were quite successful, we learned several lessons. First, every unit must build more redundancy – have a backup in case one or more individuals are removed from the telephone trees.

For example, the family and consumer sciences section was not contacted because I was removed by the scenario from the network. It wasn’t obvious until the exercise that our plan should have provided a substitute for me, as should be the case within every unit.

Many calls were made to wireless telephones but not to home telephones. Some employees had their cell phones turned off or had left them at home to charge. Still others do not have cell phones and were traveling to work.

Communications wrote press releases that updated the news media and "placed” calls to media outlets. Had an actual crisis occurred, you would have been able to access information through the news media had you been listening to the radio or watching TV.

Overall, we were quite successful in getting word out Extension-wide quickly, but our process wasn’t perfect. I hope each of you took the exercise seriously, and I hope each unit, section and district will review what worked well and what didn’t. Though we hope we are never struck by a crisis, it is wise, as an organization, to be prepared.

We hope to test our process and alertness at least twice a year, so I hope each of us will be prepared.

Thank you for all that you do for Extension and the people of Arkansas.

- Ivory W. Lyles

Employees of the Quarter for the Quarter Ending June 30, 2007

Little Rock State Office

Jason Kelley, Assistant Professor - Agronomy, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences - Freezing temperatures April 6-9 caused substantial crop damage across the state, resulting in several million dollars in lost revenue to Arkansas producers. As Extension’s wheat and feed grains agronomist, Jason took the lead in helping producers through a very difficult time that required many complex decisions. He led an interdisciplinary group of faculty to address this emergency situation and developed several newsletters to help answer questions from producers and industry representatives.

Julie Smith, Horticulture Program Technician, Horticulture - Julie assists Janet Carson with her heavy workload in horticulture. Recently she helped plan and coordinate the 2007 International Master Gardener Conference held in Little Rock. She also helped coordinate the local Master Gardener volunteers, whose participation helped make the IMG Conference a great success. Julie is a real asset to the horticulture team.

Eva Johnson, Administrative Assistant, Ouachita District Office - Eva has over 19 years of service with Extension. She does an excellent job assisting the district director, associate district director, county agents and county support staff in her district. She keeps the Ouachita District office running smoothly. Eva is a team player, and her initiative, loyalty and dedication are highly appreciated by her district team.

Delta District

Sharran McCullar, 4-H Program Assistant, Greene County - Sharran has been a vital part of the Greene County 4-H program for over 17 years. She has been instrumental in assisting 4-H’ers in talks, demonstrations, leadership workshops, 4-H journals, scholarship applications and day-to-day 4-H maintenance. She has touched numerous lives in Greene County through 4-H and has been a catalyst for new ideas and expansion of 4-H clubs in Greene County.

Wanda Snyder, Administrative Office Supervisor, Phillips County - Wanda is the first contact for clients in Phillips County, and she has professional skills to ensure that her work is topnotch. Not only are her personal and professional skills exhibited in her work, she leads by example and has the respect of the county staff. She will also take time to tell you about her family (especially her children and grandchildren), of which she is very proud. Wanda is a vital part of the Extension team in Phillips County.

Gus Wilson, County Extension Agent - Agriculture, Ashley County - Gus provides leadership to the agriculture program in Ashley County and has made outstanding progress in extending the research-based information to local clients in row crops and livestock. His demonstration program has reached all facets of agriculture in the county. He has presented some of his demonstration work at the National Beltwide Cotton Conference. Gus’s work ethic is second to none in getting the job done.

Ouachita District

Danny Walker, County Extension Agent - Staff Chair, Columbia County - Danny strives for excellence in all program areas. He is respected and recognized as an authority in agriculture in Columbia County and by his fellow agents. He is a National Trained Shooting Sports Instructor in Shotgun. He has had the honor of being named Coach of the Year. He has organized and trained local leaders for the county Shooting Sports activity and has had several local and national sponsorships to maintain the county program. Danny’s work style is to lead by example, making it easy for his staff to join him in thought, care, insight, commitment and energy to get the job done.

Gloria Taylor, Administrative Office Supervisor, Miller County - Gloria is a 29-year employee in Miller County. She works with the county staff on reports and fulfills many requests as needed to ensure the smooth operation of the county office. Among her many duties are maintaining county financial records, ES-237 Blue Ribbon data for 4-H and mailing lists for three agents and a 4-H program assistant, as well as preparing and submitting reports according to established guidelines. According to her staff chair, "Gloria is always pleasant and courteous, even when working with unreasonable clientele or dealing with a heavy workload.”

Kathryn McElderry, EFNEP Program Assistant, Pulaski County - Kathryn has exceeded the recommended homemaker enrollment for the past year. Eighty percent of her enrolled homemakers have reported improvement in their diets. She establishes and maintains respectful and cooperative working relations with other agencies and organizations. She is a team player and actively promotes positive working relationships with total staff. Kathryn takes the initiative to make necessary adjustments and share creative ideas that benefit the EFNEP program.

Ozark District

Melanie Malone, County Extension Agent - Family and Consumer Sciences, Faulkner County - Melanie is a leader, teacher, real team player and self motivator, who goes above and beyond to get the job done. She is always willing to assist with any project. When approached with a recent request for information that was not available through our own specialists, she researched the topic and put together a newsletter with the requested information and geared it toward the target audience – grandparents. Melanie was also instrumental in assisting with the Faulkner County Farm Roundup conducted by the Agriculture Subcommittee.

Saundria Ash, Administrative Office Supervisor, Baxter County - Saundria is the key to the success of the Baxter County office. She maintains an open, friendly attitude, even in the face of difficulty, and goes above and beyond the call to lend a hand to the county agents, Master Gardeners, Extension Homemakers, 4-H leaders and parents. When the agents are away conducting meetings and giving presentations, she keeps everything together and running smoothly. Saundria can be counted on to keep everyone informed and on track.

Rocio Yacqueline Palomino Rosas, Program Assistant - Storm Water, Benton County - Rocio readily accepted the goal of establishing a presence and increasing program awareness in the Hispanic community and in youth education. She has been instrumental in translating existing storm water materials from English to Spanish and in creating new educational materials. She assists Washington County staff members with translations and making contacts in the Hispanic community. As noted by Van Banks, county Extension agent - urban storm water, "Rocio simply ‘exploded’ onto the scene and within a brief time period she has created a significant impact on a number of Benton County Extension programs.”

FY08 Internal Innovative Grants Program Announced

The Associate Vice President for Agriculture - Extension will fund a competitive internal grants program to support innovative projects, as well as pilot projects whose results will be used as the basis for future proposals to outside funding sources. These awards will be given annually, contingent upon continued availability of funding, to help Extension agents and specialists establish and maintain experience with securing and managing sponsored projects and to help them be more competitive for external funding.

Complete program details and all application forms can be found on the Associate VP’s Internal Innovative Grants Program web page: http://www.uaex.edu/depts/administration/grants/.

For FY08, a minimum of $34,000 has been made available to fund these competitive projects. The maximum award for a single P.I. will be $5,000. For projects involving multiple Co-P.I.s, the maximum award will be $7,500. Proposals may request up to three years of funding (up to $15,000/single P.I. or $22,500/multiple P.I.s). There is no limit to the number of applications that can be submitted from any one county/section/department/unit. Since this is an internal grant program, no indirects will be charged on the grants. Awards will be based on the federal fiscal year (October 1-September 30), with the possibility of a six-month no-cost time extension at the end of the original award period.

Proposals will be reviewed for technical compliance internally, and only those complying with these requirements will be considered in the following review. Proposals will be reviewed for merit by an outside panel composed of former Extension employees and others closely affiliated with Extension who have had grants experience during their careers.

Applications for the program are due by close of business (4:30 p.m.) on Wednesday, August 1, 2007. Proposals received after that time will not be considered in fairness to those who submit their applications in a timely manner.

– Judy Robison

Grants and Contracts