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The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service

 

  
Vol. 13, No. 30  June 5, 2007


IN THIS ISSUE...

...Word from the Associate Director - Extension and Applied Research
...Security Improvements to the Research and Extension Intranet
...Tuition Assistance Application Deadlines Change
...Unclassified Vacation Leave Questions
...More Response Needed for 2007 Kansas 4-H Curriculum Survey
...Last Chance to Register for Public Issues Facilitation Workshop
...USDA Rural Development to Host South-Central Kansas Regional Initiative Meetings
...CMS Websites Update (On-Campus and Local Unit)
...Denise Dias Completes MS Degree
...Employee Resources Website
...Communities, State to Benefit from K-State Center for Engagement and Community Development Grant Projects
...Thank You from Gary Kilgore
...Congratulations, Quarter-Scale Tractor Team!
...Marie's Pick of the Week
...Plant Management Network Available to KSRE Faculty and Students
...Making the Most of Your Fair Booth
...4-H Afterschool

...Master Schedule

                                                                                                           ...Tuesday Letter Archives


WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
A message went out to the system on Friday, June 1, announcing the new Professional Development System is on-line and available for accepting subject matter training and professional development offerings.

System access is easiest through the Employee Resources website:
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/Employee_Resources .

Select Professional Development from the left column
Select Proposal entry/ Catalog of offerings

Submitting training proposals. ANYONE with a K-State eID may access the system and enter a subject matter training or professional development offering. Take a look; there are a few offerings already listed that can be used as examples in developing your submissions. All subject matter and professional development offerings for Fall 2007 and all of 2008 should be submitted into the catalog system by August 1. Offerings do not need to have 100% of the details worked out to be posted in the catalog. The system allows for continual edit and updating. A set of instructions will be available on the proposal entry website.

Once you have entered a proposal, you will see it show up on your professional development "home page" as your professional development proposal. This makes it easy to edit, update, and access a list of those who are interested enough in it that they have checked it in their catalog.

Why August 1 submission? A goal we have is in providing all Extension faculty with as much training information as possible. This is especially important in accessing the Professional Development Scholarship funds. Faculty without an agreed and approved professional development plan will not be able to access those additional resources through their administrative supervisor.

Surfing the catalog. As training and professional development offerings are posted, Extension professionals can use the catalog to explore opportunities and prepare a personal professional development plan. Extension Agents will be asked by area directors to utilize the Professional Development Plan form linked within the Professional development website in preparing their plans for review by the Extension executive board and area director.

You will note that you can sort the offerings according to the core competencies and/or focus areas for easier navigation. Putting a check mark in the box on the left of the listing will allow you to more easily track that offering by bringing it to your professional development "home page."

From the Professional Development site you will notice several other links including: Program Focus teams, Core Competencies, Professional Development Plan, and Professional Development Scholarship.

Any questions in navigating the site, entering a training proposal, or searching the catalog can be answered by Margaret Phillips, margaret@ksu.edu ; Paula Peters, ppeters@ksu.edu ; Pat Murphy, jmurphy@ksu.edu ; Pat McNally, pmcnally@ksu.edu ; and Jim Lindquist, jlindqui@ksu.edu .

My thanks to the professional development task force in leading through a process to design and develop this input and catalog system. We will continue to take input and make improvements to the site. But, now it is up to the program focus teams and all faculty who have training and development offerings to see to it that they get posted to the catalog in the next couple months! --Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu

 

SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS TO THE RESEARCH AND EXTENSION INTRANET
To better protect the eIDs and passwords of the K-State Research and Extension staff, IET will implement the use of a secure certificate on the KSRE Intranet. Starting Monday, June 11, 2007, http://intranet.oznet.ksu.edu will no longer work. The new URL to use will be https://intranet.oznet.ksu.edu (note the 's' after 'http'). Links and bookmarks to the old URL will be broken; our web server URLs are being updated.

Please report any broken links to Kat at kburton@ksu.edu  or call IET at 785-532-6270.

Also, there will be a change to how people log in to the KSRE Intranet, FrontPage, and other KSRE webs where a username and password box pops up. When prompted for your username and password, you must now put ad\ in front of your username. This triggers additional password encryption, and therefore better security. This change does not affect CMS webs as the usernames and passwords are handled differently. --Larry Jackson ljackson@ksu.edu

 

TUITION ASSISTANCE APPLICATION DEADLINES CHANGE
The KSU Policy and Procedures Manual Chapter 4870, College Study by
Employees, has been revised effective May 30, 2007 to separate intersession and semester submission deadlines for Tuition Assistance Program applications. You may view the PPM Chapter at http://www.ksu.edu/policies/ppm/4870.html . --Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu

 

UNCLASSIFIED VACATION LEAVE QUESTIONS
We've received several inquiries regarding the vacation/annual leave balances for unclassified employees for pay period ending 5/19/07.

Unclassified exempt employees earn vacation/annual leave the first and second bi-weekly pay periods during the first 11 months of the fiscal year. The maximum leave accrual limit is 22 days (176 Hours) per fiscal year.

This year, those appointed full-time at the beginning of the 2007 fiscal year will reach their maximum accrual limit the 23rd pay period of the fiscal year (4/22/07-5/5/07).

These employees will not earn annual leave the last three pay periods of the fiscal year because they will have reached their maximum accrual limit and because a third pay day occurs in June.

* 5/6/07-5/19/07 ... Paid 6/1/07 ... 24th Pay Period of FY 2007
* 5/20/07-6/2/07 ... Paid 6/15/07 ... 25th Pay Period of FY 2007
* 6/03/07-6/16/07…Paid 6/29/07 … 26th Pay Period of FY2007 (3rd Pay Day of the Month)

Unclassified exempt employees appointed after the beginning of the fiscal year or appointed part-time will earn annual leave the 24th and 25th pay periods of the fiscal year, as long as they do not exceed the 22-day maximum. Questions may be directed to Alma Deutsch at almamd@ksu.edu  or Kristi Fronce at fronce@ksu.edu . --Division of Human Resources

 

MORE RESPONSE NEEDED FOR 2007 KANSAS 4-H CURRICULUM SURVEY
We need more counties to respond to the 2007 Kansas 4-H Curriculum Survey so that the Curriculum Task Force will have enough information to make future recommendations. You can download the survey on the Kansas 4-H Website at http://4-h.k-state.edu/welcome.asp . --Jim Adams jadams@oznet.ksu.edu

 

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR PUBLIC ISSUES FACILITATION WORKSHOP
The core skills of effectively facilitating a public group are at the heart of Extension work. K-State currently has requests for facilitated public forums on environment, health, economic, and community development subject matter. Public forums allow community members to express ideas and learn more about an issue or subject and to explore options available to them.

The Public Issues Forums workshop (see www.ksu.edu/icdd ) this June 11-13 will provide:

* Information on setting up a successful forum
* Skill development for facilitating large group conversation
* Skill development for structuring and guiding constructive conversation
* Resources for models and methods of forum facilitation
* Contacts for future projects

Extension professionals registering for the workshop may bring a local representative with them for no fee. This will help build awareness and appreciation of the public issues forums process, and will provide local facilitation support. This is an exceptional opportunity for professional development. Register today at www.ksu.edu/icdd .

Please contact me if you have questions. --Dan Kahl dkahl@oznet.ksu.edu

 

USDA RURAL DEVELOPMENT TO HOST SOUTH-CENTRAL KANSAS REGIONAL INITIATIVE MEETINGS
USDA Rural Development State Director Chuck Banks announced that the Agency will host four south-central Kansas regional informational meetings during the month of June. The presentations, as part of the Agency's recently announced USDA / South-Central Kansas Regional Initiative, will cover USDA Rural Development programs available.

“USDA Rural Development’s South-Central Kansas Regional Initiative will provide an excellent opportunity for communities to expand affordable housing opportunities and job opportunities, along with enhancing local infrastructure.   Whether it be improving local housing or upgrading community projects such as health care services, USDA Rural Development is positioned to assist in this important Kansas economic development opportunity,” commented State Director Banks.

The four meetings will be held:
Winfield / June 6, 2007:  12:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Middle School (Commons Area); Winfield
Eureka / June 7, 2007:  8:30 a.m. to noon, Jefferson Street Baptist Church; Eureka
Hesston / June 13, 2007:  12:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Crosswinds Conference Center; Hesston
Pratt / June 14, 2007:  8:30 a.m. to noon, Pratt Community College; Pratt

These informational meetings will be followed with a Community Development Academy July 11, 18, and 27 in Newton, in which teams from area communities will learn and practice approaches to engage communities in planning and community development. Extension professionals are encouraged to participate. Additional information regarding USDA Rural Development’s programs and the USDA / South-Central Kansas Regional Initiative can be obtained by contacting the Agency’s Newton office at 316-283-0370. Individuals may also call the Agency’s state headquarters at 785-271-2700 or log onto the state’s USDA Rural Development website at: www.rurdev.usda.gov/ks . --Dan Kahl dkahl@oznet.ksu.edu

 

CMS WEBSITES UPDATE (ON-CAMPUS AND LOCAL UNIT)

Congratulations to Kiowa County, http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/kiowa , for going live with their CMS site. A few more counties are very close to making the change over, and many of the sites in progress look great. For a complete list of sites in progress and live, please go to http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/techweb  and click “KSRE County CMS Training” in the top-right corner of the page.

 

All of the scheduled out-in-state trainings have been complete. Thank you to all who participated. Those who have not yet signed up for a training and would like to schedule one, please contact Linda Sleichter or Neal Wollenberg,  nealw@ksu.edu . We will also be conducting another round of trainings throughout the state in August or September.

 

In addition, we are offering on-campus trainings for the CMS, especially focused on on-campus Websites. Those trainings are scheduled for June 12, July 6, and July 9. If you are interested in attending one of these sessions, please RSVP to KaCee Thompson at kaceet@ksu.edu .

 

For any CMS troubleshooting, please contact the IET helpdesk at 785-532-6270. Otherwise, contact Linda Sleichter at lsleicht@ksu.edu . --Linda Sleichter

 

 

 

DENISE DIAS COMPLETES MS DEGREE
Denise Dias, Sedgwick County Extension Agent, has completed requirements at Kansas State University for her MS degree in Apparel and Textiles with an emphasis in Fashion Merchandising. Denise has been on sabbatical leave this semester as she finished her coursework. Congratulations Denise! --Jim Lindquist jlindqui@oznet.ksu.edu

 

 

 

EMPLOYEE RESOURCES WEBSITE
Emily Nolting, Commercial Horticulture Specialist, is the newest featured employee on the Employee Resources website. Each month the site spotlights a different individual employee by K-State Research and Extension. View the article at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/employee_resources . --Stacey M. Warner swarner@ksu.edu

 

 

 

COMMUNITIES, STATE TO BENEFIT FROM K-STATE CENTER FOR ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GRANT PROJECTS
Projects involving various Kansas communities and issues have been selected for grants from Kansas State University's Center for Engagement and Community Development. According to David Procter, center director, the following projects, all involving K-State faculty members and various community services, have been funded:

* The development of a pilot learning community at Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community. This project will involve K-State, the retirement community, Manhattan Area Technical College, K-State Research and Extension and the Kansas Association for Homes and Services for the Aging. It will include a student internship program to work at Meadowlark Hills to provide staff education; coordinate research in the retirement community; and address lifelong learning needs of Meadowlark Hills residents. KSRE contact on this project is Debra Sellers, aging specialist, K-State Research and Extension.

* Expanding Institutional Markets and Local Food Production in the Kansas River Valley is a project to engage K-State faculty, local farmers and ranchers, and local institutional, school system and restaurant buyers to build a sustainable food system. An Internet-based brokerage system will be introduced, developed by K-State and the Kansas Rural Center. Intended outcomes include K-State researchers learning the information needs of local food producers and buyers; connecting local producers and buyers and identifying the constraints and challenges of local food demands; and connecting local buyers and consumers with local suppliers and producers, as well as providing information on where to purchase local foods through the Internet-based brokerage system. Principal investigator and KSRE contact for the project is Rhonda Janke, associate professor, horticulture, forestry and recreation resources.

* Building Bridges with Rural Communities: Building Web Site Templates to Support Rural Communities and Immigrant Populations in the Great Plains is based on strategies formed from a 2006 pilot project in Junction City. The strategies show how K-State can work with rural communities to immediately address cross- linguistic communications problems, as well as how to sustain that effort through the use of Web sites developed with the involvement of the Hispanic community. The project will use community-based participatory research and apply interdisciplinary research to create websites that are “new resident friendly;” provide technical assistance to a wide variety of community communication issues; identify and foster community experts to lead local aspects of the project, and provide training and education to the local audience. KSRE contact for this project is through the CECD office at
cecd@ksu.edu .

* The Impact of Civic Discourse on Citizen Participation in the Political Process will increase K-State's engagement with Kansas communities on important community issues. This project will conduct public forums on public smoking. The project will also seek to engage community research to study the impact of public forums on citizen participation. The research will include focus groups, observations, photographic documentation and video taping for process analysis, body language and interaction. The KSRE project contact is Mike Bradshaw, K-State Research and Extension. --Dan Kahl dkahl@oznet.ksu.edu

 

 

 

THANK YOU FROM GARY KILGORE
My retirement has resulted in an outpouring of kindness. Kindness that can only be described as awesome. I want to thank each of our K-State Research and Extension family members for all the calls, letters, e-mails and contributions to the KSU Foundation and Kansas 4-H Foundation scholarship funds. My wife and I will add to those funds to help students in Agronomy. You have shown your care for me.

Please realize that I shall always care about you and think about you as you "take the University to the people." --Gary Kilgore gkilgore@oznet.ksu.edu

 

CONGRATULATIONS, QUARTER-SCALE TRACTOR TEAM!
The 2007 Biological and Agricultural Engineers 1/4-Scale Tractor Team earned the 1st Place Award as the Competition Champion for the 2007 ASABE International 1/4-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition. This is the sixth 1st place win for the Kansas State University team in the 10 years of this competition. Twenty four teams competed in the 2007 contest. 

The K-State Powercat Pullers also received the "Sound Quality Award" for having the quietest tractor and minimizing noise pollution; they earned the First Place Award for the written design report; and Second Place from the four pulls of the "Tractor Pull" portion of the competition. 

Team members include:  Cory Friedli, Matthew Grollmes, Bret Jacob, Jesse Koch, Phillip Lange, Kyle McKinzie, Benjamin Norris, Jonathan Propheter, Benjamin Ross, Jonathan Schmidt, Jared Sell, Matt Shepherd, Isaac Spare, Bradley Stewart, Kevin Swenson, Zane Unrau, Jeff Wessel, and Brandon Winter.  Team advisors are Mark Schrock, Darrell Oard, Pat Murphy, Randy Price and Lou Claassen. --Pat Murphy jmurphy@ksu.edu

 

MARIE'S PICK OF THE WEEK
While continuing to review the Project Accomplishments database for items especially effective at helping us understand how our work can be highlighted to share outcomes, impacts, and success stories, this week’s selections come from Jan McMahon’s EFNEP report.

Outcomes: 95% of clients who completed the program showed improvement in one or more nutrition practices (i.e., plans meals, makes healthy food choices, prepares food without adding salt, reads nutrition labels, or has children eat breakfast); 83% of clients showed improvement in two or more nutrition practices; 64% of clients showed improvement in three or more nutrition practices; and 41% of clients showed improvement in four or more nutrition practices.

A Logic Model IF/THEN Statement:

In a 1993 study, 14% of all deaths in the United States were attributed to inadequate activity and diet. IF clients learn the importance of healthy food choices, THEN they will be able to make changes to improve their quality of life.

Examples of testimonials:

I learned I can make a healthier Hamburger Helper myself and it costs less too.

I did not realize how much bigger our portions are today than twenty years ago.

Wow, soda pop has almost a teaspoon of sugar per ounce.

Since I began following the "My Pyramid" my kids are behaving better.

We are not eating out as much, therefore saving money.

I am using the palm size rule to measure serving of meat for myself and older kids.

I now buy fruits and veggies for my family every time I go to the grocery store.

I use to get a lot of headaches. Since I learned about water in my nutrition class I drink more water. I have fewer headaches.

I learned to use my leftover vegetables in homemade soup.

After a lesson on breakfast, one client said, I have changed my mind about the importance of breakfast. I will start eating breakfast from now on.

My family now eats more fruits and vegetables, thanks to the nutrition class.

I am learning to increase my fiber and my physical activity every day.

A Hispanic family is now buying whole grain bread after having nutrition class in Spanish available to them.

Clients made yogurt parfaits in class and now enjoy them for dessert at home. One client stated she was going to try at least one fruit or vegetable each week.

I am using vegetable oil for cooking instead of shortening.

--Marie Blythe mblythe@ksu.edu

 

PLANT MANAGEMENT NETWORK AVAILABLE TO KSRE FACULTY AND STUDENTS
All KSRE faculty and students should be aware that K-State is a partner in the Plant Management Network, www.plantmanagementnetwork.org , making its resources fully available to anyone with a ksu.edu e-mail address.

The Plant Management Network is a unique cooperative resource for the applied plant sciences. The Plant Management Network offers an extensive searchable database comprised of thousands of web-based resource pages from the network's partner universities, companies, and associations. In addition, the network's four peer-reviewed citable journals, Applied Turfgrass Science, Crop Management, Forage and Grazinglands, and Plant Health Progress, provide credible current information in areas important to practitioners, policy makers, and the public.

People who sign up receive a free user name and password that's good even when you are not on the K-State network. You also receive the monthly PMN Update newsletter that alerts you to new articles of interest. You do need to use your university e-mail account when registering. The link below is set up specifically to activate KSU accounts.

KSU Sign Up 
www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/subscriptions/activation/default.cfm?ID=103663

Questions concerning the Plant Management Network can be addressed to Doug Jardine at jardine@ksu.edu . --Doug Jardine

 

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FAIR BOOTH

Fair time is nearing (or already underway) for most of you. With a month's worth of activities packed into a week, it might be easy to do the minimum with your booth space. But that booth space, if done well, can speak for you even when you are busy coordinating an event. The fair booth is also a great way to introduce a new program or attract new clientele. But how can you do that with an 8-by-8 area?

 

Here are some tips, some from www.MarketingProfs.com ,  to make the most of your fair booth:
 

-Set your goals. What two to three messages would you like your fairgoers to learn from visiting your booth? Then focus on expressing those.
 

-Refer to your Event-In-A-Box kit. The fair is a great time to use your nice metal sign and the many resources within the Event-in-a-Box.
 

-Make it snazzy. A picture is worth a thousand words, and the appearance of your booth will be some people’s first impression of K-State Research and Extension. Don’t have the budget for a fair-facelift? Consider borrowing one of the window-screen K-State Research and Extension displays for your fair. (Those can be reserved through Steven Graham’s office.)
 

-Make it interactive. Consider including a hands-on activity that teaches or have a video showing a presentation.
 

-Give them a “what’s next” action step. Distribute cards with your Web address and encourage fairgoers to visit your site. Have a sign-up for your newsletter or an upcoming program. Use that momentary connection to establish new customers.
 

-Reflect. After the fair, make a list of what went well and what could be improved, to make next year even better.

 

For more information on this and other marketing topics, please contact Pat Melgares, melgares@ksu.edu  or Linda Sleichter, lsleicht@ksu.edu . --Linda Sleichter

 

 

 

4-H AFTERSCHOOL
Even though this school year is winding down, those of you providing 4-H learning experiences in the after-school setting will want to get these dates on your calendar. "4-H Afterschool: Realizing the Possibilities" is a pre-conference to the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference will start at noon on October 20 and conclude at noon on October 21. Focus areas will include funding, collaboration and partnerships, effective programs and curricula. Registration information will be available on the main NAE4-HA conference registration site.

If you've had an exceptional year with programming, please consider sharing your story on the national 4-H Afterschool website - Success Stories: http://www.4- hafterschool.org/default.aspx  . --Diane Mack dmack@ksu.edu  & Pam Van Horn pvanhorn@ksu.edu

 

 

VIEW THE MASTER SCHEDULE OR ADD NEW ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

Submit corrections to previously submitted items to jzarger@ksu.edu .

DATES TAKEN FROM THE MASTER SCHEDULE FOR JUNE 13, 2007, THROUGH JUNE 19, 2007:

Wednesday, June 13, through Sunday, June 24
.... Citizenship Washington Focus, Washington D.C., Justin Wiebers
jwiebers@ksu.edu

Thursday, June 14, through Sunday, June 17
.... 4-H Photography Adventure Camp, Rock Springs 4-H Center, Statewide, 1:00 p.m., Rod Buchele
rbuchele@oznet.ksu.edu and Pansy Fryman
.... Pioneer Trails 4-H Camp, Rock Springs 4-H Center

Friday, June 15
.... Friends of 4-H Day, Rock Springs 4-H Center, Statewide, Kansas 4-H Foundation, Gordon Hibbard
ghibbard@ksu.edu

Sunday, June 17, through Wednesday, June 20
.... Sunny Hills 4-H Camp, Rock Springs 4-H Center

Tuesday, June 19
.... State Horse Judging Contest, Manhattan (CiCo Park), Statewide, Sharon Breiner
glaenzer@ksu.edu

 

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Please Submit Items no later than Noon on Monday to include in the following Tuesday Letter to:
tuesday@oznet.ksu.edu . Put the word "Tuesday" in the subject line.

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