October, 2004

"Penn State Cooperative Extension is a community of dedicated individuals applying university knowledge and processes to help individuals, families, businesses and communities make life better in Pennsylvania and beyond."

--Daney Jackson

In this Newsletter:

Message from the Director

As we enter the third month of my new responsibilities as director of Penn State Cooperative Extension, I am making the necessary personal adjustments in my life at the same time all of us in the organization are adapting to change. While many of the faces may remain the same, we are forming new teams, adjusting our organizational focus, and working to set priorities for the next three years. As part of the priority setting, we are involved in the strategic planning processes of both the College of Agricultural Sciences and Outreach. We are also implementing the new Plans of Work and the new CASPAR planning and reporting system. All of these activities will provide a framework for our program directions in the future.

As a leadership team, we continue to examine the organizational issues related to how we are organizing and directing Penn State Cooperative Extension. Several steps we've taken, in addition to the regional reorganization, include the formation of a committee to examine the promotion guidelines for extension educators (see News to Know) and a change in the organizational structure for the staff development function. We are in the process of building a partnership with Outreach to support staff development for employees. Additionally, we are reviewing the issues related to filling the position of Associate Director. A decision has not been reached about whether or not the position will be filled or what the responsibilities might be for that position.

Looking toward the future, our priorities include establishing statewide leadership for economic and community development; strengthening the leadership component of our programs; providing more leadership development opportunities for our faculty, educators, and staff; and leveraging our limited staffing dollars while focusing on the critical needs of our clientele. There are other issues on the horizon as our transformation moves forward: 1) adapting our programs to meet future needs; 2) structuring our organization for the future; 3) increasing resources to strengthen our revenue portfolio; and 4) addressing staffing needs.

I am excited about our future. We are poised to further strengthen Penn State Cooperative Extension and the programs we deliver. We are one of a small number of leaders in the profession nationally, and we must all accept the responsibility of that leadership. Although we have begun functioning as "futurists," building the extension system of the future, we need to position ourselves to look forward and be ready to address new challenges as they emerge. It gives me great pleasure to work with all of you in this endeavor.

Best wishes,
Daney Jackson
Director of Cooperative Extension

News to Know

Appointments
We are pleased to announce several new appointments. Shirley Bixby has assumed the role of Penn State Cooperative Extension's coordinator for special program initiatives. Shirley will provide statewide leadership to help enhance the program development skills of extension educators and faculty, with the goal of ensuring high-quality and consistent programming across the state. Shirley also will provide leadership for strengthening extension program advisory committees.

David Filson is now serving in a new leadership role as director of Penn State dairy programs. David will establish a united, forward-looking, comprehensive cooperative extension dairy program.

Promotion Guidelines Committee
The following extension educators, faculty members, and administrators are serving on the Promotion Guidelines Committee: Bill Kleiner, Chair; Chris Tomascik; Michelle Rodgers; Dennis Calvin; Jack Watson; Deb Dietrich; and Craig Altemose. The charge of the committee is to design a promotion system that prepares Penn State Cooperative Extension to support the 2014 Extension Educator. A final report and recommendations are due March 1, 2005, to Daney and the Extension Leadership Team.

College of Agricultural Sciences Study Groups
As you know, several college study groups were formed to identify areas of opportunities for excellence over the next 10 to 15 years. The study groups include Animal Science, Plant Science, and Social Science, Food Science, and Natural Resources. To date, the final reports of the first three study groups listed above have been posted on the Web site at http://www.cas.psu.edu/strategicplanning/. We encourage you to visit the site, review the final reports, and provide your comments. Your input, as well as that of your clientele, is very important. If there are issues you think should be included that were not addressed, we urge you to provide feedback.

CASPAR
The CASPAR planning and reporting system opened on August 1 for extension educators and faculty members to develop their individual and team action plans. The transition to the new system has been relatively smooth, with a few minor adjustments, and we've received many positive comments. The reporting section is now available for entering Activities and Contacts for FY2005 and for reporting Issue Impacts as users begin collecting evaluation data.

Program Updates and New Directions
Plans of Work Issue Team Co-Chairs Meet
The Plans of Work (POW) Issue Team co-chairs met at the end of September for updates and a discussion about the continuation of their planning and implementation of the new POW. The co-chairs learned about their leadership orientation and the importance of having team members with different perspectives. They received updates on e-Extension, multistate activities, integrated research and extension, and the value of innovative program partnerships. The co-chairs spent time determining additional action steps needed to fully implement their plan of work. Some action steps recommended for consideration included:

• develop a four-year in-service training plan
• determine curriculum and educational materials that need to be prepared or acquired
  
• develop Web sites as needed
  
• prepare and test evaluation tools

Several issue team co-chairs presented information on their recent activities and how they are conducting their work through conference calls and retreats. Each POW team developed a short, one-minute description that could be used to express why their POW issue is important and what Penn State Cooperative Extension is doing to address the issue.

Jackie Rosenfeld, Outreach Marketing, wrapped up the session with information about the services and products that Outreach Marketing can produce to help present a professional image.

Penn State Dairy Programs
Faculty members and county-based educators who develop dairy extension programs met on October 13 to further refine their program plans for the future. The primary program area of focus over the next year will be defining bottlenecks to improve profitability. A series of subgroups have been formed around this main theme that will address more specific topics such as nutrient management, business management, and a number of other important topic areas. For more information on dairy programming, contact Dave Filson at 814-863-6424 or by e-mail at DFilson@psu.edu.

We Are Penn State Extension Proud

Congratulations to the Penn State Cooperative Extension Berks County 4-H Program for developing a program partnership with Borders Books and Music, Inc., in Wyomissing to host a promotion and 4-H Member Appreciation Event. The 4-H program will be visible in the store with window displays, story hours, and 4-H members sharing their stories about the value of 4-H during the month of October.

Congratulations to Denise Continenza of Leigh County for winning the New Professional Award from the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. One national award is given per year and it recognizes Denise's two-and-a-half years of service as an outstanding new professional. Way to go!

Penn State Cooperative Extension was well represented at the national 2004 Outreach Scholarship Conference held at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, October 3-5. Congratulations to the following extension educators, faculty members, administrators, and staff who participated in scholarly presentations and poster sessions: Kathryn Brasier and Timothy Kelsey, Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, and Tim Collins, Adams County; Daney Jackson, Marilyn Corbin, Nancy Ellen Kiernan, and Margaret Koble, Director's Office; Paul Webster, Potter County; Claudia Mincemoyer and Daniel Perkins, Agricultural and Extension Education; Theodore Alter, Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology; Christy Bartley, 4-H; Mary Jo Depp-Nestlerode, Regional Director and James Ladlee, Clinton County; William Shuffstall and Jeffery Bridger, Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology.

If you haven't seen the new 4-H Afterschool promotion materials, go to http://pa4h.cas.psu.edu. Link to the 4-H Afterschool site (on the right panel). Then click on the last bullet, 4-H Afterschool Promotional Brochure, or go to http://pa4h.cas.psu.edu/Enrichment/PDFs/afterschoolpromobrochure.pdf. The new brochure is bright and colorful and gives a great image of 4-H programs. Wonderful marketing materials such as this product have been developed by Outreach Marketing in cooperation with Claudia Mincemoyer, extension specialist, 4-H/youth curriculum development and state coordinator for the Pennsylvania 4-H Afterschool initiative.

Leadership Thoughts

In the following e-mail message, Peter Bloome, former associate director for cooperative extension at Oregon State University, shared some thoughts from a Paul Axtell workshop:

In January of 2002 Paul Axtell opened a Conversations Skills session with these instructions. "Write down three things you are going to do this year that will create possibilities you can't imagine now."

How can we create possibilities we can't imagine? Some ideas that occur to me are:

• become more organized and more intentional;
• feed our curiosity;
• broaden our sphere of interest;
• acquire a new skill or ability;
• get out of our comfort zone;
• listen for understanding to someone with whom we disagree;
• build and strengthen our most important relationships; and
• achieve success in our cooperative projects.

It is often said that life is a journey rather than a destination. It seems to me that living a full life requires taking advantage of possibilities we create for ourselves and others-possibilities that make it a meaningful and fulfilling journey.

What are your ideas for creating possibilities you can't imagine now?