|
|
Cooperative Extension Service |
 |
|
|
|
|
Agricultural
Experiment Station |
|
|
|
|
|
U of A Board Policies
Division Home
|
Cooperative Extension Service
Departments
|
||||||||
| Attendance: | Ivory Lyles Sung M. Lim Darlene Baker Tony Windham Mike Hamilton Dick Kluender Kelly Bryant Judy Riley |
Mike French Lalit Verma Charles Whitaker Donna Rothberg Bob Reynolds Mike Phillips Lynn Russell Quinton Hornsby |
Nina Boston Dennis Gardisser Tom Troxel Joe Waldrum Tom Riley Jim Barrentine Kent Rorie |
| Guest: | Jim Lipsey, Purchasing Specialist, Financial Services | ||
The meeting began at 1:30 p.m. in Classrooms 1 and 2 of the Little Rock State Office.
Agenda Items
Wireless Contract – Cell Phones: Nina Boston and Jim Lipsey reported on the new state wireless contract for cell phone service, which will change on April 11 from one vendor (Cingular) to four vendors (AT&T, Alltel, Cingular and Sprint). The new contract was negotiated through the Western States Alliance and should result in significant savings for Extension. Effective May 24, all cell phone numbers within the same geographic area (e.g., 501) will be portable from one vendor to another. However, if you change vendors, you may have to purchase a new phone.
Nina and Jim are waiting to receive and review all the vendors’ specifications. They will try to find a flat rate plan that will benefit the greatest number of Extension’s cell phone users. Their recommendations will probably be submitted to Bernadette Hinkle next week.
ACTION: Please let Nina Boston or Jim Lipsey know as soon as possible if you need long distance coverage or anything special; otherwise, they will be initiating contacts with Extension cell phone users in the near future.
Vehicle Use: Dr. Lyles informed the faculty that, according to a recent Executive Committee decision, Extension employees under 18 years of age may not drive Division of Agriculture vehicles.
Budget Update: House Bill 1090, for an act to create the Educational Adequacy Fund, funded K-12 education for $364 million. If the property tax increase passes on the November ballot, it would raise $85 million. However, if it does not pass, the shortfall would have to be made up with funds from other state agencies’ budgets. Extension’s portion would be approximately $700,000. Dr. Lyles said he would plan accordingly for the situation.
Budget Hearings: Dr. Lyles informed the faculty that during the upcoming M & O budget hearings, for the sake of time, he would not be meeting with the unit heads and sections leaders. He reminded them that 10% or less of the balance in their unrestricted accounts would carry over automatically. However, if the carryover amount is larger than 10%, they must submit written justification as to how the funds would be spent in the upcoming year.
Environmental Task Force Meeting: Tom Riley stated that there is a real need for those who are working in water quality to know what is going on in this area. He had a meeting last Friday with county agents to discuss where Extension falls in this process and what our role as an educator is. He invited the faculty to attend the March/April meeting to get an update on the issues and become involved in the planning process.
He reported on the following Environmental Task Force issues:
• Oklahoma Phosphorus Index – Arkansas and Oklahoma have signed a “Statement of Joint Principles and Action” document, which outlines how the two states will work together on reducing phosphorus loading in certain watersheds that straddle the states’ border. Arkansas and Oklahoma had been negotiating with each other for more than a year and a half after Oklahoma proposed a standard of 0.037 milligrams per liter (mg/l) for six of its scenic rivers. The final agreement provides for a transition period until 2012 for meeting the new standard, and includes a provision that Oklahoma will periodically re-evaluate the 0.037 standard in the interim. The purpose of the Phosphorus Index is to provide field staffs, watershed planners, and land users with a tool to assess the various landforms and management practices for potential risk of phosphorus movement to water bodies. The ranking of Phosphorus Index identifies sites where the risk of phosphorus movement may be relatively higher than that of other sites. Areas of cooperation between Oklahoma and Arkansas include programs to reduce the amount of poultry litter (a significant source of phosphorus) applied to pasture lands in the region; establishment of a joint phosphorus index for use in developing nutrient management plans in the region; conducting watershed monitoring activities; establishment of wastewater discharge limits for both large and small municipal discharges in the region; and development of an overall watershed plan.
• Those who development nutrient management plans or who land-apply dry litter in or from nutrient surplus areas must be trained and certified by the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission (ASWCC). Growers and dry litter applicators must follow special application rules in “nutrient surplus areas” in northwestern Arkansas. Nutrient surplus to nutrient deficient areas is something we all need to pay very close attention to as it is going to have an enormous impact on the state.
• Public hearings are being held to receive comments on the proposed changes to the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission’s Regulation 6. The proposed changes will primarily affect poultry growing operations using the dry litter method for handling and disposing of manure resulting from the operations.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently required environmental permits for large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that use dry manure handling systems. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) administers the new permitting programs for CAFOs.
• The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission are revising Regulation 6 to include the CAFO permitting requirements. At public hearings in cities across the state, the ADEQ staff has been discussing the permit that ADEQ is developing to administer the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) program to be established by the proposed regulation revisions.
• Randy Young, Director of the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission, and Regulations Committee Chair, Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, has extended the public hearings through the end of March.
Faculty Salary Funding Incentive Plan (FSFI): Dr. Lyles reported that the Executive Committee had approved a slight change in the FSFI Plan. Instead of the percentage of current salary having to be 10% or more, it can be as little as .083% (one month’s salary) and still qualify for the incentive payment. Dr. Lyles reported that recently he had learned that Cotton, Inc. allows 15% for indirects, so faculty applying for those grants should take advantage of that allowance.
Cancellation of Administrative Cabinet Meetings: Dr. Lyles announced the cancellation of the Administrative Cabinet meeting on April 12 due to a scheduling conflict. He also cancelled the Administrative Cabinet meeting on May 10 because of the Administrative Cabinet Retreat on May 20-21.
Promotion/Career Service Review: We have just come through the first year of the new promotion/career service review under the new guidelines, and although we allowed some flexibility this year, the new deadlines would be in effect next year. Dr. Lyles stated that he had seen a lot of people going up for promotion who have only been in their current position for two or three years. He opined that two or three years is not an adequate period of time for sustained growth, which is one of the promotion criteria. He said, as a realistic point of reference, that a minimum of four years in the current position may be sufficient, but even that period is questionable.
Joe Waldrum suggested that some faculty could use a little more training on what needs to be included in the promotion application.
Tom Troxel thought it would be beneficial to do an annual review of the job descriptions and update them when we do performance reviews.
Because the promotion/career service review process is now under the Division of Agriculture, if the faculty thinks this process needs to be refined, Dr. Lyles needs specific feedback to take to the Executive Committee. He will also request feedback from the two faculty peer review committee chairs, David Hensley and Rosemary Rodibaugh.
ACTION: Please e-mail your comments and/or suggestions regarding the promotion/ career service review process to Dr. Lyles.
John W. White Awards Deadline: Dr. Weidemann had advised Dr. Lyles that in his department heads meeting, they had discussed the awards and the difficulty in getting award documents in on time to make decisions and get the awards ordered. They have suggested changing to a November deadline since January is a bad month to ask for faculty response. Since there are a number of joint awards with Fayetteville, he had asked Dr. Lyles to address this issue with his faculty.
After a brief discussion, there was consensus that candidates who are seriously interested in the awards would submit their documents by the January deadline, so there is no need to change the deadline from January to November.
Administrative Cabinet Retreat – May 20-21, 2004: Wayne Davenport distributed the draft agenda for the Administrative Cabinet Retreat. He reminded the faculty that if they have not made their room reservations at Queen Wilhelmina State Park Resort, they should do so as soon as possible.
ACTION: Please let Wayne Davenport know as soon as possible if you cannot attend the Administrative Retreat.
Dr. Don Johnson’s Retirement: Dr. Don Johnson, Section Leader, Pest Management, is retiring on March 31, 2004. A reception in his honor is scheduled on Wednesday, March 31, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. in Classrooms 1 and 2 at the Little Rock State Office.
Effective April 1, 2004, Dr. Sung M. Lim will assume leadership of Plant Pathology and Pest Management will come under Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Barrentine is chairing the search committee for a new head of Entomology.
Update Reports Submitted by Cabinet Members:
Wayne Davenport – Extension Development
• Monsanto has committed a minimum of $45,000 to the Lonoke Greenhouse project.
• A forthcoming announcement is expected on the Betty and Bob Oliver Arkansas 4-H Scholarship Fund.
Tony Windham – Agricultural Economics and Community Development
• Scott Stiles is cooperating with Phil Tacker and Earl Vories in a multi-county irrigation short course in Marianna starting Tuesday March 9. Three 3 sessions will be offered on March 9, 16th, and 23rd at the Marianna Farm Bureau office.
• APAC hosted a major training event on 2/4/04 for the Defense Contract Management Agency, to demonstrate the "Wide Area Work Flow,” the new electronic invoicing system that the military is implementing. About 60 people attended from all over the state.
• Sue Coates will be a featured speaker at the Small Business Administration's annual conference for contractors in their "8(a) Business Development Program" on 3/24 in Little Rock.
• Jerry Vlcek will be guest speaker at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Small Business Conference on Friday, March 19, 2004. The topic will be government contracting.
• On Thursday, March 25, 2005, Jerry Vlcek will be guest speaker at a conference sponsored by the Small Business Development Center, northwest chapter, at the Jones Community Center in Springdale. The topic will be government contracting.
• A commodity marketing seminar was presented by Tony Windham and Gene Martin (Arkansas Farm Bureau) at the February 3rd Forrest City Ag Expo. Grant funds were provided for Delta District Agents to attend.
• A commodity marketing seminar presented by Tony Windham and Gene Martin (Arkansas Farm Bureau) on February 5 in Morrilton was well attended by Arkansas River Valley row crop producers.
• A Livestock Marketing In-Service Training for Ouachita District Agents will be presented on March 24th in Arkadelphia.
• Bobby Coats will be publishing in each of the Rice Journals' 2004 monthly issues on rice situation and outlook and public policy related issues.
• Bobby Coats produced a series of five 2-minute radio shows with Gary Digiuseppe (KARN Agricultural Radio Network) on 2004 agricultural outlook. The shows can be heard on 16 Arkansas radio stations March 8-12, 2004.
• On March 4-5, Ron Rainey took a group of farmers and UAPB faculty on a "Horticulture Marketing Tour,” visited both the fruit and vegetable substations and the Institute of Food Science and Engineering. Faculty from the stations, the Institute and the AEAB Dept. as well as ATTRA presented sessions. The purpose of the activity was to provide producers with resources to aid in the development of improved marketing plans.
• Ron Rainey held a "Horticulture Producers' Marketing Conference" at the LRSO on February 26. 30 participants from all four corners of the state
• On February 20, Hunter Hauk attended the Lee County Horticulture Producers meetings to present information on "Organic Certicification."
• Ron Rainy attended the regional Joint Council of Extension Professionals (JCEP) meeting in Atlanta on February 1-3.
• Several Specialists attended a "Grantsmanship Workshop" in Fayetteville on February 24 sponsored by the College.
Lalit Verma/Dennis Gardisser – Bio & Agricultural Engineering
• Dr. Verma participated in a National BAE Dept Heads Retreat, March 5-7.
• Dr. Matlock and Dr. Chaubey participated in a NSF review panel in Washington, DC in February.
• Dr. Costello and his graduate student participated went to NASA/Cape Canaveral to report on the work he did last summer.
• Extension Program Associate position is currently being advertised.
• ARPAWG training held last month in Fayetteville included a guest speaker from IN TIME.
• EPA Region 6 training will be held. Anne Lindsay, deputy director for pesticide programs, and some members of her staff will attend.
• Core competency training for agents will be held the third week in March at the 4-H Center.
• Dennis Gardisser has been assisting with the Arkansas State Plant Board trainings.
• Dennis Gardisser – Fly-Ins begin March 26.
• Phil Tacker - Responding to request from Lee County, Irrigation Short Course will be conducted at Farm Bureau in Marianna on three Tuesday evenings - March 9, 16, 23 - by Phil, Earl and Scott Stiles.
• Phil Tacker - Conducting a special 2 hr. Irrigation Workshop for 3 southwest counties- Lafayette, Little River, Miller - March 10. This is being coordinated with the county agents and an irrigation dealer who is sponsoring the mtg.
• Phil Tacker - Planning a March 16 mtg. with agents in the six counties of the L'Anguille Watershed to discuss the special projects that we will be conducting with them over the next 3 to 4 yrs.
• Gary Huitink - On February 20-21, the U of A Cooperative Extension Service & Arkansas Farm Bureau jointly held a successful Farm Accident Rescue training in Jefferson County. Included in participation were most of the related rescue, fire, law enforcement agencies and a coordinator for the statewide association of volunteer fire fighters.
• Karl VanDevender - Due to Extension effort in a Cattle Mortality Composting Demonstration that Jodie Pennington and I had the lead in Livestock and Poultry has approved the Composting of large animals as an acceptable means of mortality disposal. This increases the options for beef, dairy, and horse operations.
• Karl VanDevender - Work continues on the Reg. 5 meetings.
• Karl VanDevender - Work proceeds on the Excess Nutrient Management education effort. Mike Daniels and Tom Riley have the lead with support from Karl VanDevender and Leo Espinoza.
Jim Barrentine – Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences
New Employees:
• Frank Groves is the Cotton Verification Coordinator effective March 1. Frank received his BS at U of A Monticello and completed his MS at the U of A Fayetteville. We look forward to his contributions to the Cotton program.
• Carly Meins is Program Technician working with Dr. Jason Kelley in the Wheat and Feed Grains program. Carly received her BS from Arkansas State and is off to a good start.
Crop Update:
• Wheat crop of about 700 K acres is in good condition. Most growers have applied their nitrogen.
Miscellaneous:
• Specialists have completed their county meetings and in most cases, the attendance was good and considerable interest in the information that we were presenting. They are busy planning for their applied research programs.
• Several faculty attended and participated in the Rice Technical Working Group meeting.
• Use of poultry litter for crops in eastern Arkansas is of high interest. Effort will be required to determine the best use of this resource for the producers.
Nina Boston – Information Technology
• Steve Rea and Bruce Knox are working on a project that will simplify time sheet approvals for district directors and other administrators who supervise multiply orgs. The time sheet approval e-mail we generate will give all the pertinent information on the time submitted and a new Banner form will be created to allow administrators to approve leave for all orgs at one time.
• IT has a vacant web site coordinator position we hope to fill soon. While we are so shorthanded, we ask for your understanding and patience as we get material posted to the web. Wilma Lewis, Susan James, and Dorothy Martin from IT have been very helpful in helping Donna stem the flow. Jennifer Vickery and the publishing associates in communications have also been very supportive.
• The virus threat increased in the last month as new versions rolled out almost as fast as the virus protection vendors found fixes for the current versions. Our greatest risk was on February 25, when the Netsky virus hit our network about an hour before the McAfee virus definition file was available. A quick warning to all employees kept most from opening the infected e-mails and the virus definition file cleaned up those who were infected. No data was lost.
• Ed Erwin has located 9 more sites that we will move to DSL, saving Extension an additional $16,000 per year.
• Chalmers Davis is wrapping creation of the Farm Bill Glossary for the Division of Agriculture. The 6,000 definitions will be in a fully searchable database that is accessible from the web.
• Steve Hall has begun work on the Division of Agriculture Directory update. The program will be updated to the Division of Agriculture log and style and will include pictures of Extension employees.
• Wilma Lewis has created a database that will simplify how counties submit their FSNEP budgets. Beverly Hines will begin training counties on the program this month.
Darlene Baker – 4-H Youth Development
• 949 4-H record books were submitted for state judging the last week of February
• The highest number ever of applicants were received for the 4-H Governor’s award – 20
• Over 300 scholarship applications were received for 52 state 4-H scholarships
• Five 4-H members will be participating in National 4-H Conference this month in Washington D.C.
• 52 4-H members and adult chaperones will be participating in the Kansas City Leadership Conference
• Two 4-H faculty members, Mike Klumpp and Connie Phelps made presentations at the Southern Region 4-H Biennial Conference held last week in New Orleans
• Three 4-H in-service trainings will be held this month, one in collaboration with FCS: Health Rock, Keeping Youth in Sports (a character development program) and 4-H Projects.
• 4-H Faculty members are working on grant proposals to fund a Kid Fit program focusing on healthy lifestyle choices
• 4-H members will be serving a “hosts” for the Cinaposium, sponsored by ADED, at the UCA Reynolds Auditorium the last Saturday of this month
• As part of the tri-state collaboration, Mississippi will be providing training for the Health Rock in-service as well as partial funding.
Lynn Russell – Family and Consumer Sciences
• The Food Stamp Nutrition Education Team and Associate District Directors have scheduled regional work sessions to assist agents who were unable to attend training in February with FSNEP plans for FY 2005. These meetings will be held in Heber Springs and Brinkley.
• The Women’s History Institute will highlight the history of AEHC on March 27 at the Statehouse Museum in Little Rock. A full day of activities designed to celebrate the rich history of the organization have been planned.
• The FCS Initiative teams are being restructured. The three teams include: Marriage, Parenting and Family Life, Nutrition, Health and Food Safety, and Family Resource Management. The first meeting of the newly formed teams will take place in June during the AEHC State Meeting in Hot Springs.
• Walk Across Arkansas (Spring Contest) began February 29.
Tom Riley – Environmental & Natural Resources
• Master Farmer Program plans are progressing. We have selected two, with potentially a third candidate to interview.
• The Nutrient Sensitive Area Project Coordinator position vacancy has been announced. Two applications have already been received.
• The final interview for the Forestry Instructor position has been conducted. We should be prepared to make an offer sometime next week.
• The management team for the Nutrient Sensitive Area Project met with County Agents and other interested specialists within the region, Friday, March 5 in Ozark. Attendees discussed the Eucha/Spavinaw court decree, the rule making process for AFO/CAFO and nutrient sensitive watersheds.
• Master Tree Farmer satellite broadcasts are on going. This program is coordinated by Dr. Walkingstick and is conducted in cooperation with Clemson University.
• Specialists from the section are conducting a focus program in service training associated with “Alternative Agriculture Enterprises” titled “Wildlife on the Farm.” The training includes agents, specialists, and research faculty from both 1862 and 1890 institutions.
• Urban stormwater is a major issue for the section during March and April. New permits are being written and we have been asked to participate in the development of the permits and design of education programs required under the EPA required program. We are meeting with urban communities and planning authorities in Benton, Jefferson and Washington Counties in an attempt do develop partnership education projects that help cities meet this new environmental program demand.
• Marty Matlock, Bob Morgan, Mike Daniels and I have been notified of a project award. We have been selected to coordinate the design of the new five-year plan for Arkansas’ 319 Non-Point Source Pollution Program. The award is $100,000 and the project is to be completed in one year.
• Work continues on the In-House Poultry Litter Management Project. There has been great cooperation between interested parties in the Poultry Science Department, Bio and Agriculture Engineering, Environmental and Natural Resources, Entomology Department and from the Research folks on the farm at Fayetteville. There are some interesting numbers being gathered from the processes to date.
• We are also continuing to prepare for the core competency training. Our segment of the training is to be conducted March 18, 2004.
Joe Waldrum – Organizational, Staff and Leadership Development
• LeadAR Class 11 had a very successful trip to Washington DC and a beneficial meeting with our Congressional representatives and staff.
• New Employee Orientation is coming up on March 29-30 at the Little Rock State Office and the 4-H Center.
Kelly Bryant – Southeast Research & Extension Center, Monticello
• Beef Forage Field Day at Monticello will be held on Thursday, May 6.
• Crops Field Day at Rohwer will be held on Thursday, August 5.
Mike French – Agriculture & Natural Resources
• Rice Board Funding - The Division received over $3 million from the Rice Board to support Research and Extension projects for 2004.
• Strategic Planning - We have finished all 15 area meetings and are beginning the process for input from our own employees.
• ANR Core Curriculum Quarterly Training to be held March 17-19.
• A review of all CES Focus Programs to be held on March 12 to determine if progress has been made and whether goals need to be redirected.
• The Wheat Promotion Board will hold its quarterly meeting on March 11.
• ANR Retreat is scheduled for March 9-10, 2004.
• The Rice Technical Work Group (RTWG) held its biennial meeting in New Orleans February 29 - March 3, 2004. Dr. Rick Cartwright received the Distinguished Research and Extension Award. Dr. Karen Moldenhauer and Dr. Fleet Lee received the Distinguished Research and Extension Team Award. Dr. Fleet Lee received the Distinguished Service Award. More than a dozen Arkansas county agents attended with all costs supported by Extension specialists.
Kent Rorie – Delta District
• Preparing to conduct interviews for vacant county agent positions.
• Beef Forage field Day planned for May 6 at SEREC in Monticello.
• District Administrative Conference on March 25 at Brinkley.
Quinton Hornsby – Ouachita District
• District Administrative Conference on March 23 at Arkadelphia.
• Conducting interviews for vacant county agent positions.
• Some vacant positions will be filled by county agent transfers.
Mike Hamilton – Ozark District
• District Administrative Conference on March 24 at Harrison; everyone is welcome to attend.
• Strategic planning meetings went very well; had five in each district.
• Judy Riley is assisting with FSNEP.
• Trying to fill some vacant positions.
• Ag. core curriculum training is right around the corner.
Bob Reynolds – Communications and Marketing
• Have been interviewing candidates to fill the position vacated by Sheresse Kondo. Two finalists are meeting with Bernadette this week.
• Working on 21st Century Families Conference material.
• Time to meet and plan rice and soybean tabloids.
• Planning meeting for spring/summer issue of Land and Life coming up April 16.
Charles Whitaker – Physical Plant
• Currently have only two custodians; in the process of trying to hire two more.
The next meeting is scheduled for June 14 in Classroom 3 using interactive video.
Minutes taken by Donna Taylor.
|
© 2006 |
|
|
University of Arkansas • Division of Agriculture |
Mission
•
Disclaimer
•
EEO
•
|
