The Tuesday Letter
Agricultural Experiment Station & Cooperative Extension Service

  
Vol. 13, No. 44  September 11, 2007

IN THIS ISSUE...

...Word from the Associate Director - Extension and Applied Research
...Tomorrow is the Last Day to Change Your Password
...Registration Now Available for Annual Conference
...USDA CSREES Civil Rights Review Update
...EPSI Loan Program and Travel Study Grants Available!!!!
...Epsilon Sigma Phi - Nominate Your Colleagues for Awards!
...Epsilon Sigma Phi Endowment Fund Grant Proposals Accepted
...Silent Auction Opportunity at Annual Conference
...Adolescent Risk Behavior Conferences Announced
..."Kansas to Kenya," an Opportunity for International Outreach and Professional Development
...Selecting Offerings from Professional Development Catalog
...Getting a Solid Foundation of Community Development
...Master Schedule

                                                                                                           ...Tuesday Letter Archives

WORD FROM THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - EXTENSION AND APPLIED RESEARCH
Last week I focused on the first three factors that E.M. Rogers found to be positively related to the success of a change agent. As a reminder, the eight factors are:

1.) Extent of change agent effort in contacting clients.
2.) A client orientation, rather than a change agency orientation.
3.) Degree to which the program is compatible with clients' needs.
4.) Change agent's empathy with clients.
5.) His or her homophily with clients.
6.) Credibility in the clients' eyes
7.) Extent to working with opinion leaders.
8.) Increasing clients' ability to evaluate innovations.

Today I am going to summarize some points on the remaining factors.

Factors 4, 5, and 6 all point to the importance of the Extension professional understanding the clientele. This is why we devote considerable emphasis on clientele involvement in needs assessment, program planning, and evaluation and feedback. Such involvement will express the empathy and understanding of the critical issues and help build credibility with clientele for you as an Extension professional.

E.M. Rogers points out that credibility comes in more than one way. One is a "competence credibility," and the second is a "safety credibility." Safety might also be construed to mean "trusted," or working in the truest interest of the clientele, which isn't necessarily conveyed with just the competence.

It reminds me of the discussions we had last week with the State Extension Advisory Council, where they emphasized the importance of the Extension agent to build trusted relationships with the key leadership and clientele.

Homophily is really about being like the clientele. One of the clear advantages that Extension has over many other agencies and organizations that are doing "change agent" work, is that our agents live in local communities, and become a part of the fabric of those communities. For clientele to make change, a strong positive correlation exists in knowing the Extension professional understands what they are going through to implement such change. That is an advantage we have that we should truly work to the advantage of our clientele!

Opinion leaders should be a "no brainer." If you can convince the right persons, they can certainly help with the success of the program in affecting change.

And, lastly, it's all about innovative programming that does the job of demonstrating the innovation or change. Showing the successful steps to improvement may be critical if one is going to be successful in creating change. It's not about just evaluating the outcome of the change through a demonstration, but also using a demonstration to exemplify the change or improvement.

Through professional development, one can anticipate effectiveness as an Extension professional to continuously improve when you are willing to look at what it takes to improve and work on those skills. As I've explained the importance of personal and professional improvement, my philosophy is that if you believe you no longer need to work on improving, then you are going backwards and it's time for you to move on. That's harsh, but that's how strongly I believe in personal and professional renewal. You are never too old to continue learning! --Daryl Buchholz dbuchhol@ksu.edu

EPSILON SIGMA PHI - NOMINATE YOUR COLLEAGUES FOR AWARDS!
Please consider nominating one of your colleagues for an Epsilon Sigma Phi award. The nominations are due September 24, 2007. The nomination forms for awards are on the www.oznet.ksu.edu/esp-AlphaRho/awards/awards.htm  website. Download the forms anytime you have a couple of minutes. Send your nominations to Danny Rogers, drogers@ksu.edu , ESP Awards Committee Chair. An electronic submission is preferred. Thank you for taking time to recognize the good work of your extension colleagues.

ADOLESCENT RISK BEHAVIOR CONFERENCES ANNOUNCED
The Kansas State Department of Education is sponsoring the 6 Risk Behaviors workshop at four sites from September through November. This conference would be an appropriate professional development opportunity in youth development.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)  Kansas data and information highlighted by other federal survey systems will be the focus of the "6 Risk Behavior" conference. The Kansas Department of Education collects YRBS data in high schools every two years and the results of the survey helps youth workers from school and community-based organizations:

(1) better understand the extent of these health risks and;
(2) implement hands-on teaching strategies to address these adolescent risk behaviors. 

Dates/Locations:

September 28, 2007 - Garden City, KS
November 16, 2007 - Lawrence, KS
November 19, 2007 - Kansas City, KS
November 30, 2007 - Wichita, KS

Register at http://conferences.ksde.org/Default.aspx?alias=conferences.ksde.org/rb .

For more information, contact Elaine Johannes, ejohanne@ksu.edu . --Elaine Johannes

"KANSAS TO KENYA," AN OPPORTUNITY FOR INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
We are organizing a small extension team (4-6 individuals) to visit Kenya in summer, 2008, to conduct an educational/outreach program at an orphanage of about 150 children near Nairobi. Most of the children are orphans as a result of AIDS.

The orphanage has its own farm and needs assistance in production technologies, especially improved water management, integrated pest management, composting, and waste recycling. The orphanage also has a vocational school connected to it that is in need of development of a training program in agriculture, small business management, and a variety of life skills such as personal hygiene, nutrition, and preventative medicine. We will also explore possibilities for organizing 4-H clubs at the orphanage as an after school activity.

We are looking for 4-6 committed volunteers from ANR, FACS, and 4-H to be a part of this unique and challenging opportunity that will provide a much needed humanitarian service, while providing professional growth and development. If you have interest, contact Bill Hargrove, Team Leader, in the KCARE office, bhargrov@ksu.edu , or talk to Bill at Annual Conference for more details. --Bill Hargrove

SELECTING OFFERINGS FROM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CATALOG
As you prepare your professional development plans, you might also consider giving an indication of participation to those who are planning it. The following descriptions are from the pdf linked to the Professional Development Catalog.

How to select an offering  -

1. Select an offering by clicking in the box to the left of the title.
2. A check mark appears in the box.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the list and click Update/Add to my Selections.
4. After clicking the Update/Add to my Selections notice you returned to My Home.

How to remove a selection -

1. Select Catalog.
2. Click the check mark to de-select your choice.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the list and click Update/Add to my Selections.
4. After clicking the Update/Add to my Selections notice you returned to My Home.

Following these steps will communicate to the contact person who is currently planning to attend. This is not a registration process. Check the section titled Other Information for registration. --Margaret Phillips margaret@ksu.edu

GETTING A SOLID FOUNDATION OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Extension Professionals wishing to better understand Community Development are encouraged to attend the Understanding Community Development break-out at the Extension Annual Conference. We will hear several examples of Extension work and how they contribute to Community Development.

On November 8 and 9, Extension will be hosting a community development resource fair at K-State Salina. This two-day event will feature community development assessment tools and resources, resources available at KSU through the Center for Engagement and Community Development, www.ksu.edu/cecd , and time to network with state and federal community development resource providers.

Make plans to attend now! --Dan Kahl cecd@ksu.edu

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