monday, september 24th, 2007 - university of nevada ... · web viewdifficult to communicate...

Monday, September 24 th , 2007

Karen Hinton, Dean & Director, UNCE

Stan Johnson informed Karen Hinton that the committee would like to have a list of additional individuals in UNCE that she felt that the committee should speak with. He noted that Karen would be informed if the committee decided to meet additional people in UNCE beyond that list.

Karen used a Powerpoint presentation to highlight information on UNCE which she hoped would address some of the questions the committee had. She stated that the mission is very broad:

“To discover, develop, disseminate, preserve and use knowledge to strengthen the social, economic and environmental well being of people,” particularly the people of Nevada.

In addition, she shared her vision:

“UNCE will be respected nationally as one of the premier state Cooperative Extension organizations; within Nevada as an essential part of the University and respected and valued by citizens as a source for high quality educational programming; and within Extension, employees will exhibit a high level of pride and personal satisfaction.”

Karen noted that although UNCE can’t compete in size, she feels it can compete in quality. In fact, NASULGC gave UNCE awards for the first time last year, and UNCE took both the national and western Coop Extension awards. She believes it is critical for them to be respected by their clientele and for employees to be satisfied with their work.

There have been the following changes in the past 10 years: UNCE became a separate college in 1998 (although it technically occurred in

1993) UNCE has become a flattened organization, with less administrative layers UNCE has used strategic planning to strengthen faculty positions and determine

critical needs UNCE has increased program contacts, grants, and other metrics

They have increased face-to-face contacts and have done this through utilizing grants and working more efficiently. The publications they have produced have increased as well. Gifts and donations have increased with the addition of a development officer in 1995. Stan Johnson noted success he had seen at another institution with endowments for local offices.

Karen reported that UNCE has academic tenure-track faculty in 19 offices off campus. This is staffing pattern is different across the country. Funding for UNCE comes from federal, state and county. County funds go through county offices. The UNR budget reports only show state and federal dollars (federal dollars come through the state.)

UNCE has additional laws and guidelines they must follow:

NRS 549 (sets UNCE funding at a minimum of $1 million and a maximum of $5 million)Smith-Lever ActAREER (requires that UNCE must spend 25% in multi-state programs & 25% in multi-function programs)

The emphasis for them is on measurable impacts.

UNCE’s greatest challenges are:

No growth in faculty hard-funded FTEs in nearly 30 years. Stagnant state operating funds. Stagnant federal formula funds. Limitations on state budgets—forced salary savings, inflexibility with use of

funds due to earning COLAs.

Karen also provided statistics showing how the number of professional positions has not kept pace with the increase in the State population (unlike NM, WV, UT).

The increase of program participation, particularly in Clark County, was also noted. The #1 source of funding used to be the state, but it is now the counties. Increased LOA hiring by UNCE is also a recent development.

These are the national trends seen concerning UNCE:

Cooperative Extension is managed separate from colleges of agriculture University wide collaborations—working with more colleges Excellence in extension projects, with the development of national metrics Changing portfolio of funding Increased emphasis on urban programming eXtension (a national project that brings faculty across the nation together to serve

the needs of people any place, any time) Communities of Practice in Extension, around subjects and practices (examples:

entrepreneurship, JIT parenting, Fire Ants)—subject matter models and methods come out of these

The future directions planned for UNCE are as follows:

Continue building funding base for expansion of programs Reach additional citizens—face-to-face as well as through technology Expand collaborations with other UNR colleges, NSHE institutions and other

institutions beyond state borders

Question/Answers:

Upon question about the amount UNCE receives in fees, Karen referred the group to the Cost Recovery Sales Account report, Section III, which shows approximately $859,000 in and out. This includes fees, registrations for 4-H camp, etc. Development money goes through the Foundation. These figures are FY ’06. Total expenditures for UNCE were $19.5 million in the ’06 fiscal year. They are still working on closing out the last fiscal year.

Question: How is UNCE work in Clark County understood? Answer: They don’t understand the history of Coop Extension, but are interested in what we can do for them.

Question: How do they find you? Answer: Through targeted publications, word of mouth

Question: How does tenure work for your faculty, especially once a case reaches the University committee? Answer: The same as with other university colleges. The UNCE areas offices are like a department here on campus. The process works well, but the outcome is only as good as the document. Our faculty do that well.

Question: If you look at UNCE, what do you do for the educational and research mission of the university, and what do they do for you? Answer: Regarding research, it is easier because we have faculty working in counties doing research and publishing and bringing their knowledge to share. They are connecting with faculty here and at UNLV and at other universities. This is pretty seamless. They encourage their faculty to work across state lines too. Regarding contributions to degree-granting education, there are some areas where Extension collaborates. We offer student internships (dietetics mentioned) and work experience. We promote UNR’s academic programs through their local offices as well. They have students filling some campus Extension positions after school. We try to cross-fertilize wherever they have opportunities. We like linking 4-H’rs to campus as well.

Question: The areas where you do work have been the same for 10 years? Answer: In 2001 we had changes to areas of effort that are very broad. (Gave examples of how Extension is working with engineering.)

Question: You may need to look at definitions and areas so that other deans can see the connections for their colleges that could be made with UNCE. Response: Our faculty positions are pretty tied up with current programs, but we can look to new areas as retirements and vacancies occur.

Question: Is there interest in changing the name of “cooperative extension”? Answer: Not that I know of. In the rural counties there remains more of a preconceived notion of what UNCE should be doing. This is not true in the urban areas.

Question: Are there any structural impediments to being more entrepreneurial, any procedures and policies preventing this? Response: We have learned to work around those. Hiring of soft funded people is one example. Faculty are entrepreneurial. They are bringing in an average of about $45,000 per member to help fund our programs. There is a limit to how far you can go without state supported staff, however. The ICR rate is the same, except for off campus.

Question: Should the model of funding be roughly the same as the rest of the university? Answer: When it is core programming, we can’t, but if it is beyond the core we can. Also most of the programming is focused on public goods and/or for lower-income groups. The low income groups cannot afford to pay fees.

Question: In fee based programs, are their mechanisms for charging and sharing fees. Response: Yes.

Question: Does UNCE have interactions with OPS? Response: They are in our local office down in Las Vegas. They have interacted with our other local offices several times. We would love to have more interaction with OPS, especially through 4-H. We work with 48,000 kids each year.

Question: How many students are captured by our institution through the 4-H program? Response: We don’t have that figure, but we would love to get them.

Question: Why not change the definition of areas to better encompass all of the colleges n the campus? State legislation is needed to change the existing 6 broad areas for programming. (Last done in 2001.)

Question: How is the relationship between UNLV and UNCE? Response: We have always had a very good relationship with them as well as with several colleges on both campuses.

Tuesday, October 9 th , 2007

Ed Smith, Natural Resource Specialist – Western Area

1. Works with Nevadans living in high risk fire areas. 2. Officially works in Washoe, Storey, Carson, and Douglas counties – unofficially

works with the entire state. 3. There are two issues Nevadans are dealing with:

a. Despite best prevention efforts the state is going to continue to burn. In the 1990s more acres were burned in Nevada than the previous 4 decades combined. We are course to burn more acreage this decade than the previous 5 decades combined.

b. More Nevadans are living in high risk fire areas.

4. Has just been named to the Tahoe Blue Ribbon Commission which will review forest management practices in the Tahoe Basin. Panelists on the commission were appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Gibbons.

Living with Fire (LWF) – Program began in 1997, when Ed Smith and Paul Tueller of University of Nevada, Reno and Fire Chief Loren Enstaad of the Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators applied for and received a Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station / Nevada Cooperative Extension Joint Program grant. Together with Nevada's firefighting organizations, they developed a set of consistent wildfire threat reduction recommendations for Nevadans. These are the foundation of the LWF educational materials and programs. Since then, the program has continued to grow. Today, LWF is a collaborative effort involving the following organizations:

Bureau of Land Management Nevada Association of Counties Nevada Fire Safe Council Nevada Division of Forestry Nevada Insurance Council Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators USDA Forest Service University of Nevada Cooperative Extension

1. Consistency of message from all agencies involved to add credibility. Public will hear same message multiple times from multiple sources.

2. Working together allows for a pool of resources to develop high quality education.3. Program offers publications, DVDs and videos, workshops, primetime television

spots, etc.

In the spring of 1999 a broad coalition of concerned Nevadan’s endorsed the creation of an independent, membership organization focused on reducing the fire risk and increasing the survivability of at-risk communities. This endorsement and the organizational support that followed gave birth to the Nevada Fire Safe Council. There are currently 80 chapters across the state and it serves as a model for other states to follow.

Campus collaboration includes:

University Academy for the Environment DRI Cooperative Extension faculty on campus Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences department Resource Economics Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station

Funded by the BLM a report was created to address 16 Nevada communities that are in ‘Extreme Wildfire Hazard’. Individual courses are developed for each community based on demographics and needs.

Strengths:a. Programs have been highly successful in educating the public.b. Award winning faculty.c. Fire research attracts federal and state funding.d. Lots of expertise on the ecological impact.

Weaknesses:a. Communication flow between Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station – Cooperative

Extension – Public has deteriorated.b. There are no Area Specialists who deal with problems the public is dealing with, for

example, irrigation and agronomist specialists. c. Not enough expertise offered by the university for fire issues that relate to the public.d. There is not enough institutional support. Right now it is just one person reaching out

on these issues. For programs related to fire issues to be taken to the next level, the university needs to be more involved.

e. Campus does not work collaboratively with Cooperative Extension.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Meeting with Extension Specialists from CABNR and HHS

David Thain – State Extension Veterinarian Specialista. Works closely with area livestock specialists as well as outreach activities to livestock

producers in Nevada.b. Works with multiple Nevada Veterinary Medicine State Agencies – USDA,

Department of Agriculture, NDOW, Governors Task Force, etc.c. Extension has high quality people working for them but not enough. They need more

Extension Specialists with an Agriculture background.d. Suggested committee meets with Nevada Cattleman’s Association

Ben Bruce – State Livestock Extension Specialista. Deals with range animal nutrition working closely with BLM regarding grazing

issues.b. Designs programs on accessing and using the Internet and computers on the ranch.c. Agrees that Extension has great people in the field but they need more.

Stan Omaye – State Specialist, Nutritiona. Deals with food safety issues throughout Nevadab. Works with the Nevada Food Safety Councilc. Agrees that Extension has great people but they need more

George Fernandez – Director, Center for Research Design and Analysis and State Specialist, Economicsa. Designs evaluations and acts as a resource for extension personnel

Kynda Curtis – State Specialist, Resource Economicsa. Production economics and finance specialist for the stateb. Definitely in need of another colleague to help with work loadc. Offers risk management education in state run programs and works with other state

extension specialists for evaluations of programsd. Organizer of Agriculture committee for extension which conducts a needs assessment

for agriculture people in Nevadae. Without soft money earned through grants it would be extremely difficult to do her

job. Only receives $2,000 from state funds a year. Because of this it would be difficult for a new faculty member to come in and function.

f. More time is needed to educate faculty on how to obtain soft funds.g. Perception of Extension Specialists has changed in last five years from negative to

positive

Tumen Wuliji – State Specialist, Small Animal Productiona. Works with Nevada sheep and goatsb. Runs sheep and goat education out at Rafter 7 Ranch for community outreachc. There are only 15-20 major sheep producers in Nevada and they all attend the annual

sale at Rafter 7. Opportunity to provide education and demonstrations.d. Demonstrates how to use best equipment for wool production during Field Day or by

visiting private ranches. e. Works with people in 4-Hf. New employee

Sally Martin – State Extension Specialist, Human Development & Family Studiesa. Works with children and families. Focus on early childhood education,

intergenerational literacy, and parent education.b. High risk audiences for the most part.c. Works with a team of people across the state developing needs assessments and

evaluation of curricula. d. Assists off campus faculty with scholarshipe. Serves as a link between Extension and state agencies on the state levelf. Works with other extension specialists across the nationg. Good relationship with extension faculty and administrationh. Challenge is there are no specialists in the Central/Northeast area who focus on

children and parents. It is difficulty to get out to the rural areas to work with them.i. Extension works reasonably well with the exception of the lack of man power

Bill Evans – State Specialist for Youth Developmenta. Agrees with Sally’s pointsb. Noticed a disparity with extension around the state in terms of fundingc. Need to come up with more soft funds in Western and Central/Northeast areas more

than Southern Area due to county contributionsd. Views Extension and Extended Studies as two completely different entities offering

different types of programs – Extended Studies charges for services and Extension does not

e. Feels that extension has moved from an education based model to a behavioral model and wonders about the philosophy of extension

Mark Walker – State Extension Water Specialista. Programs deal with quality and quantity of water supplyb. Feels that there are no longer tensions between CABNR and Cooperative Extensionc. Community members do not care what department/college a faculty member is from,

just that they are from UNR. d. Main focus is helping people.

State Specialists receive $6100 per FTE ($6100 x FTE) from state appropriated funds. Cooperative Extension gives the money to the department and it is up to the Department Chair to determine how much the State Specialists receive. (Greg Wilson – State Administration)

Committee Questions:1. What can be done about relationships/partnerships with Clark County?

a. Sally and Bill do a lot of work in the Southern Area and feel there are no barriers to work around. The programs they do offer tend to be intense with a smaller number of people attending. They supplement intense programs with informational fliers and a mix of marketing to reach out to more people.

b. There are not a lot of issues that CABNR specialists do not deal with in Clark County due to land use in the area. There is not a lot of grazing land down there and issues they do collaborate on deal with endangered species.

c. Generally, Extension programming in the areas it now works in does not have difficulties with Clark County.

2. What are your thoughts on charging fees for services offered in order to generate money to hire more people?

a. Consensus was that a fee system could be set up but that there would be lag of time for people to get used to paying for services they have always received for free.

b. Extension should make new knowledge and services available to the community cooperative with the private sector.

c. Could offer workshops for credit collaborating with Extended Studies and/or other institutions such as Great Basin College

d. Not much evidence that Extension is ready to be entrepreneurial.

3. What do you think about the wisdom of placing faculty in rural/isolated areas?a. Faculty in the field work with a wide variety of issues but are forced to stay on

a narrow track due to promotion and tenure guidelines encouraging them to work differently than if they were just responding to constituents.

b. Missing interaction with on-campus faculty

c. If field faculty were required to have a Ph.D. it may be easier for them in regards to the tenure process.

d. Do not think that it works well for faculty off-campus and does not allow for credibility with colleagues.

e. Strong statement from one of the Extension staff about Ph.D. Specialists off campus and their ability to work to full potential.

Thoughts on web-based classes:

a. Struggle to keep up with technology because it changes so fast and there is not specific IT support for Extension

b. Most use other universities systems (Breeze – add on to Power Point) because UNR does not have its own

c. Seemed to be no cooperation or knowledge of the support services available from Extended Studies.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Jill Ukeiley, Southern Area Director

1. Served as the Director of HR and in January 2007 was appointed as Interim Area Director. September 1, 2007 she was appointed to Southern Area Director.

2. There are about 100 employees in the Southern Areaa. 4 Administrative Facultyb. 18 Academic Faculty (4 with Ph.D.s)c. The rest of the staff are Classified employees

3. There are three areas of focus in Clark Countya. Health & Nutrition – Healthy Hearts Project, Childhood Obesity, Maternal

Child Health & Nutrition Program, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), Chefs for Kids, Senior programs

b. Water, Horticulture, and Economic Development – Master Gardeners, Desert Landscape Design, Healing Gardens in Las Vegas, Nevada Correctional Horticulture Program, Commercial Horticulture (hotels & golf courses)

c. Children, Youth & Family – Urban Youth Programming, 4-H, Aerospace technology programs, Keeping Kids Safe, Project MAGIC, Parenting Skills, Literacy programs

4. Cooperative Extension’s new building in Clark County offers 5 classrooms (4 of them can be combined into one large classroom).

a. All classes offered in building are non-creditb. She has noticed quite a few UNLV students taking Distance Education classes

which are proctored in the buildingc. Building is on 10 acres which were donated by the BLM. Took out bonds

($10M) to pay for construction. What they pay now is less than the rent they were paying for the old building. There is room to grow but they have plans for some of the grounds (gardens, rope courses)

d. Cooperative Extension Administration office for the entire state is located in building (state finance and HR)

e. Space is rented to Office of Prospective Students and Marketing from UNRa. Currently Marketing space is empty but they are paying rentb. OPS participates in mandatory UNR trainings and anything else that is

specific to UNR. f. Possibility of Extended Studies using free space in order to provide a physical

presence in Clark Countyg. Office and classroom offer Live Classroom capabilities

a. Way to offer credit classes from the UNR campus as well as Distance Education

b. Currently being used to provide training to firemen and police statewide (non-credit)

c. UNR campus is the weak link by not offering enough Live Classrooms – have not closed the circuit

5. Horticulture Program – UNR does not really have its own program but there is interest (CABNR)

a. Horticulture Specialists – 4 faculty (1 Ph.D.)b. Angela O’Callaghan (Ph.D.) – works with social gardening and collaborates

with UNR, CSN, and UNLV c. There is a huge economic impact – most of the plants used by resorts and golf

courses are brought in from out of state. Nevada is not capitalizing on the horticulture economic impact.

Committee Questions:

1. How would you feel about being a part of a business program that would come in and compete with UNLV?

a. No problem with it. Cooperative Extension collaborates with different agencies and would whole heartedly support UNR.

b. Feels that the community would not have a problem with it but that UNLV may not accept it.

2. Do you only work with households that are low income?a. The majority of the programs are geared towards low income families

(a) EFNEP(b) Healthy Hearts(c) Chefs for Kids – Nutrition for 1st-3rd graders (50% qualify for free

lunch)b. Health & Nutrition programs for Seniors are geared for all income levels

(majority are higher income households) c. Grants usually dictate who the audience is intended to be

3. What are the biggest growth opportunities (programs) in Las Vegas? What would you want to expand on?

a. There is always room for expansion in the Youth Development programsb. Just hired a state specialist for water quality

(a) Works with UNLV on Urban Water Center (10 acres for growing fruit and vegetables)

(b) UNLV doing a lot of water studiesc. Create new childhood obesity programs collaborating with 24 Hr Fitnessd. Most programs deal fall into 3 categories – Health & Nutrition, Child, Youth

& Family, or Horticulture

4. Ever thought about broadening programs by collaborating with other colleges?a. 4-H collaborates with School of Nursingb. Breast feeding programs collaborate with the School of Medicinec. They have just started to scratch the surface of expanding out to other collegesd. More outreach to other colleges is needed

Jim Menzel – Finance Manager, Southern Area, provided some information on Southern Area finances

a. Majority of funding comes from Clark County - $6-7M per yearb. Supplemented through state funds - $25,000 per yearc. Majority of the faculty are funded through state funds – 18 faculty

(a) Very small percentage funded by county – 4 facultyd. Federal and state funds provide $100,000 for maintenance, and $50,000 for

postagee. Grants account for about $1.5M

(a) Food Stamps grants - $300,000 estimated annual expenditures(b) CDC grant - $800,000 per year (just finished)(c) About 20-40% of faculty are actively pursuing grants to enhance

programs. Grant funding is not spread out evenly across the board.(d) 12.5% of grant overhead goes back to college and the other 12.5%

goes back to PI (total of 25%)(e) Fixed fee grants – balance goes back to program development funds

(flexible)(f) About 20-30% of faculty on grants collaborate formally with non-

extension faculty (g) 2 of the bigger grants are collaboration with other faculty on campus

f. They budget for additional faculty on an as needed base (4 faculty)g. 7 or 8 LOAs working right now (less than 50%)

(a) Most work in Child, Youth & Family programs paid by county moneyh. Only recurring cost is repayment of bond ($10M) about $600,000 per year

(a) 2007 is the first year they are starting to pay down on principle – prior years were all interest

Greg Wilson – Fiscal & HR Officer for Statewide Cooperative Extensiona. Clark County:

(a) State funding as close to 50/50 with county funding for personnel(b) Budget and size of county is bigger than the rest of the areas put

together(c) County funding is determined by state legislature in the NRS

(d) Proportion of total funds come from grants is about 11%(e) Fee for service programs account for close to $1M per year which

accounts for 5-6% of the total budgetb. Biggest Challenges:

(a) A lot of bureaucracy from federal, state, and counties(b) Getting approval for additional faculty through state legislature is very

difficult (c) Trying to keep up with the growth of Nevada(d) Worried about talk from Washington DC regarding taking 3% of B&C

funds – this will decrease the amount of funds that the state will provide

(e) Difficult to communicate complicated rules and procedures to outlying areas

Cooperative Extension External Advisory Committee1. Linda Montoya - Works with Chefs for Kids for the last 16 years

a. Collaborated with the American Culinary Federation of Las Vegas and developed a nutrition education curriculum that promotes practices engendering lifelong, healthy lifestyles in children.

b. Curriculum is taught to children ages 6-8 in 12 Clark County “high needs” elementary schools – reaches about 800-900 students a month

c. Newsletters and monthly wellness calendars written in both English and Spanish are sent home to families to expand into the home.

d. The program is partially supported by a social function that raises more than $90,000 yearly in private funds

e. Feels that the program is highly successful but that there is a need for more nutritionists teaching more every day

2. Christian Kolberg – Joined via teleconferencea. Volunteer who sits on advisory board to provide input to staff on various

issuesb. Cooperative Extension’s goal is educational outreach

(a) 4-H urban programs (Southern Nevada and Reno) - Variety of health educational programs, Self Esteem programs, Blind Dog puppies

(b) Programs for Seniors and Adults(c) Alternative Crops Programs – less alfalfa (high water need) (d) Water Issues – faculty go out and educate communities (e) Beef quality and assurance with beef producers – help ranchers on

how to improve yields(f) Coffee Shop – ranchers can ask questions or provide input online no

matter where they are in the state (peer to peer review)(g) Children, Youth & Family programs – literacy and story telling

(engage parents and children), Project MAGIC – prevention program that helps first-time juvenile offenders leave the criminal justice system and become productive members of society

(h) Natural Resource education – Lake Tahoe Basin issues, invasive species (tall white top), water issues, Living with Fire

(i) Master Gardner - #1 resource for plant issues in Nevada – sharing knowledge and information with communities

c. They have a unique niche (qualitative and quantitative) offering programs to communities

d. Biggest challenge is the availability of resources (financial allocation) in order to bring the most benefit back to individuals they serve

Committee Questions:1. How are you doing with 4-H for urban kids?

a. There is more history with 4-H in the rural areas because it is a part of their lives and a part of the culture.

b. Urban 4-H becomes a choice of the individual.c. Vocational training could be offered through 4-H to reach urban population –

could collaborate with construction industry – carpentry, engineering, electrical, etc.

d. One of the most successful 4-H programs in the Youth Camp in Lake Tahoe every summer – majority of the kids are from urban areas

e. There is a huge need for 4-H city oriented projects which could all be offered through Cooperative Extension

f. There is collaboration with Washoe County for after school programs teaching various life skills

2. Any ideas on how to improve resources?a. Biggest challenge lies with UNR infrastructure

(a) Limited with guidelines you have to work within for the entire university

(b) Hurts individual colleges on deciding where and how resources are used

(c) Restrictions due to what university sees as a priority versus what is best for college – should be based on best donor mesh

b. Believes that collaboration with entire campus needs to start on campus with internal communication of how Cooperative Extension is working with all 17 counties

(a) Other colleges do not reach out to Cooperative Extension(b) Faculty on campus is unsure what Cooperative Extension does for the

most part(c) Cooperative Extension has a venue to deliver education to

communities because of trust and the rest of campus should utilize thisc. Needs to be a physical presence in the southern areas

(a) An ad campaign in the past that promoting UNR in Southern Nevada was going strong for awhile and then suddenly stopped

(b) Paul Mitchell from the School of Journalism is the sole recruiter in So. Nevada by passing out fliers

(c) Marketing infrastructure needs to be better – there is an opportunity to offer education to entire state to meet the university’s needs

Cooperative Extension Faculty & Staff Open MeetingThere were a lot of questions of the committee as to the purpose of the review and what we were looking for. There were a few points and recommendations from them.

1. Faculty are precluded from teaching for credit classes due to funding rules2. Cooperative Extension has their own faculty and staff to educate the community –

Extended Studies acts as a broker3. Cooperative Extension (free programs) and Extended Studies (fee for service) have a

different audience base 4. 80% of the population served are considered at-risk – fee for services is not an option

for them – many of the services provided are preventative5. Cooperative Extension is always promoting higher education through their programs6. Acts as a conduit for population who would not necessarily go to college – consider

themselves recruiters of underrepresented population7. They believe that everything is working fine and there is adequate communication

with campus8. Southern Area should be with UNLV instead of UNR in order to work more

collaboratively without the distance barrier – assign areas to closer university9. Concern that Extended Studies offers programs without consulting Area/State

Specialists for assistance – Exercise Certification Program did not contact HHS or Cooperative Extension and the certificate they offer is not widely recognized

10. In order to offer crossover programs between the two there needs to be a more detailed look at the programs

11. Cooperative Extension should be an NSHE organization – not assigned to one or the other university but affiliated with all schools in the system

12. There is a barrier when working with both institutions – UNLV has been used because of its close proximity but they want to charge for services (PI ends up paying money to both schools)

a. UNLV has waived some fees or faculty go through UNLV for grants in order to cut down on fees

13. Grad students are hard to hire from UNR and would like to be able to hire them from UNLV

14. Feel as if they are 2nd class citizens – university needs to know who they are and what they do

15. They could partner with Clark County high schools in order to recruit – there is already some of that going on through programs

Madeleine Sigman-Grant – Child Nutrition Specialist1. Ph.D. and a registered dietician2. Programs include COPIN (Childhood Overweight Prevention in Nevada), Maternal

Child Health and Nutrition, Let’s Dance3. Collaborates with departments from CABNR, SOM and HHS extensively –

peripherally involved in SOM’s Area Health Education Center4. Feels there is a lack of respect for faculty who have a 3 way appointment

a. Departments want one thing, colleges another, and constituents a third – different missions and expectations

b. Should move specialists from departments into Cooperative Extension5. Southern Nevada Area Specialists are highly trained, independent, and capable6. Distance from campus offers some frustration with getting things done earlier

(OSPA)7. Grants from USDA – some co-PIs are from area others from campus8. It might be helpful for some faculty to be housed on campus but it would be a burden

for othersa. Takes them away from the people they serveb. See things differently than you do when you are on campus – can be more

innovation at county levelc. Campus extension faculty are in a difficult position living in 2 different

cultures9. Conflict between UNR and UNLV hits Southern office very hard – run into issues

with both colleges10. Could offer semester internships to UNR students in Las Vegas through Cooperative

Extension with credit given in home department – students would work with both departments

11. Hold more conferences in Las Vegas and collaborate with AHEC and Extended Studies

12. Works with health professionals and high school students teaching research results to professionals and youth

13. Agrees with the idea of promoting higher education to community for all schools not just UNR

Teresa Byington – Early Childhood Development Specialist1. Programs include: Child care provider training, SIDS, and programs for kids 0-5

years old2. Curriculum is hands on – pulls from different programs as well as her own and

formats them to Nevada’s needs3. Offers 20 workshops per month for child care providers (focus on preschool series or

pre-Kindergarten)a. Short-term – 2 to 3 hours of trainingb. Intense – 15 hours of training c. Charges cost recovery fees to pay for printing and materials for some

workshops(a) In November and December they are offering 6-7 free workshops and

4 workshops for fee ($10-35 per course)d. Training is conducted at Cooperative Extension building as well as off

campus at child care facilities and librariese. Do not license child care providers but they offer the 15 hours of training

needed to get licensed through the State of Nevada4. Needs more staff – currently there are only 25. Would like to be more connected with HDFS department on campus and would like

to see more collaboration with entire campus6. She has been approached by UNLV faculty for research but not by UNR faculty

7. Could hold a ‘Southern Area Research Forum’ by bringing southern area faculty together with on campus faculty to inform all faculty what types of research are going on

Bob Morris – Horticulture Specialist1. Has become the Ag person in Southern Nevada by default2. Programs include – Biosolids for the Green Industry, Golf Course Monitoring,

Interior Plants and Cut Flowers, Irrigation Management3. Does a lot of research in turf grass management and ornamental horticulture4. Center for Urban Horticulture and Water Conservation – 10 acre university center

located in North Las Vegasa. Provides education, research and demonstrations to the residents of Southern

Nevada in issues related to the use of water and horticulture crops in urban landscapes

b. Co-operators include Cooperative Extension, UNLV, UNR, and the City of North Las Vegas

c. Supported primarily by funds from Cooperative Extension and UNLV as well as grants generated from the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Las Vegas Valley Water District and the Clark County Sanitation District

d. Houses the Cooperative Extension Master Gardner’s orchard which grows fruits and vegetables and sells to local area chefs and Whole Foods stores at $6.00/lb

e. Helped start the wine industry in Southern Nevadaf. Biggest limitation is water – should be taken from alfalfa and used for food

products for humansg. Collaborates with University of California, ASU, UA, Utah State, and

University of Sonora, Mexicoh. Receives lots of local media attention – produce 2 newsletters for marketing

for programs and classesi. Only real partnership between UNR and UNLV – works very closely with

UNLVs College of Science5. Has never been told he couldn’t do something but that if he brings in money through

UNLV it would not be counted towards his evaluation – came from the previous dean (not sure if this is a policy)

6. Feels that it is easier to apply for grants through UNLV because OSPA is slow7. UNLV has an up and coming 4 year horticulture program8. Expects to work with both UNR and UNLV horticulture programs

a. UNLV – ecological sideb. UNR – production side

9. Biggest challenge is that there is a lack of specialists need in Nevada such as entomologist and irrigation specialist


1. What needs to happen?a. He needs to start writing grants but he is limited to available time

b. Allow for certain specialists to have Purchasing Cards – cut down on time needed to replace a flat tire for example – current practice is to go back to the office and fill out purchasing approval paperwork – with a PCard he would be able to just go and buy a tire

c. Need a bigger experimental farm to offer more outreach and educationd. He does a lot of clerk type duties which should be handled by an administratore. Collaborate with DRI faculty on archaeological site behind orchard – bring in

high school students to work on research skills at both locationsf. There is a huge market for fresh food in Las Vegas but no infrastructure in

Nevada to support itg. Bring producers and chefs together to facilitate and encourage markets

Mary Wilson – Nutrition Specialist1. Efforts are focused on general nutrition and food safety education as well as nutrition

education related to the prevention of chronic disease. 2. Administers Nevada’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Program (EFNEP) and

Cooperative Extension’s Food Stamp Nutrition Education program3. EFNEP receives the 2nd lowest allotment in the 50 states based on a 1960s mandate

which has never been updated - $190,000 per year4. Partners with specialists in the Central/Northeast Area to bring nutrition education

programs that people can take anywhere in the state5. Provides access through chat rooms, email, telephones for questions as well as

offering accessible videos available online6. Works with a variety of audiences and collaborates with campus faculty from the

Nutrition department7. She sees a disconnect from campus faculty – there is a need for connection8. Campus faculty know who Cooperative Extension faculty are but not the work they

do9. Maybe useful to rename Cooperative Extension to University Extension for more

clarity10. Could offer a ‘Meet and Greet’ between campus faculty and extension specialists11. Collaborates with other colleges – poultry specialists, dairy specialists because UNR

does not have them12. Area specialists are treated as 2nd class citizens as a result of distance – on campus

specialists are misunderstood and should be housed in their own departments13. P&T process takes away state specialists from their jobs as they try to become

tenured – faculty should be granted tenure through Cooperative Extension14. Collaborates with Ag Experimental Station (NAES) on Hatch dollars because

Cooperative Extension cannot usually apply for them on their own – research through NAES is not always research needed to help the public

15. There are not enough operating funds to develop new programs such as Living with Fire

16. Since there is a larger population in the south there are more opportunities for available funds

17. Cooperative Extension has evolved into a rigorous but fair organization with a good functioning group

18. Faculty who are removed from campus are challenged but they can be involved as long as they assert themselves – depends on the individual’s attitude towards service

Angela O’Callaghan – Social Horticulture Specialist1. Areas of expertise are in horticulture, plant science and desert gardening 2. Programs focus on the development of community gardens, teaching horticulture in

the prisons and the Master Gardener Program3. Master Gardener Program:

a. 280 certified Master Gardeners b. 70 hours of training, comprehensive test, and requires a minimum of 50 hours

a year to be recertified c. Monthly hour long lectures from UNLV and CSN faculty as well as private

industryd. 2 classes per year with 40 people per class

4. Corrections Horticulture Program:a. Works with medium and high-medium security prisons (2 men and 1

women’s, county jail, and honor camp)b. Curriculum offered is geared toward jobs preparation program – teaches job

related skills such as pruning, irrigation, tool maintenance, flower arranging, etc.

c. Work with State of Nevada Department of Agriculture for pesticides certification

d. Geared to inmates being release within a yeare. Flower arranging program in the women’s prison has turned into a 6 week

program where inmates earn a Cooperative Extension certificatef. This year 161 men and 10 women finished the programg. Women’s prison is limited by space to offer classes to inmates

5. School Gardens Program:a. Work with 15-20 schools intensely and visit 50 other schools on a monthly

basisb. About 2000 kids actively involved at anytime – of which the majority qualify

for free or reduced lunchc. Idea is to have teachers use the gardens as outdoor classrooms

6. Community Healing Gardens:a. New program designed to teach low income families and seniors how to grow

plants and improve their quality of life7. Conducts compost research with DRI faculty to determine what part of the compost

has value8. Only complaint was that she is supposed to drive to the State Motor Pool located at

the airport when she needs to drive to outlying areas. When she does this it adds an extra 1 ½ hours to her drive time – not cost effective and is a waste of time. If she drives her own vehicle she is only reimbursed at ½ the state rate.

9. She always acts as a recruiter is she is doing her job right – has a weekly radio show, monthly magazine, and a weekly newspaper

10. Cooperative Extension is academically rigorous but needs more staff

11. Feels that water should be used for drinking (human consumption) not for irrigation for alfalfa

Walter Barker – 4-H Youth Development Specialist1. Works with Cooperative Extension faculty, 4-H staff and volunteers, youth and

community members to plan and promote urban 4-H Youth Development programs in Las Vegas which include Aerospace technology programs and GIS/GPS technology

2. Sees lots of potential for 4-H in Nevada and more specifically Clark County3. Right now the percentage of kids served in all programs (4-H, Boy and Girl Scouts,

etc.) is low – only about 50,000-60,000 kids served by these programs combined4. 4-H partnered with the cities of Las Vegas and Henderson offer an afterschool

program which reaches 600-800 students a year5. Offers training for 4-H volunteers6. Kids select a project (specific to urban kids) for 1 year and demonstrate that project at

the county fair7. Looking at having some sort of work study program with university kids (both UNR

and UNLV)8. Multi-dimensional project for high school students preparing for higher education

(either community college or university) – Extension role is to work with those who are not necessarily college bound

9. He would like someone to help with other programs offered as well as recruiting – could be someone from Extended Studies

10. Says it has been a long time since there has been collaboration with on campus faculty and 4-H programs

Committee Questions:1. How do you adequately prepare students for college?

a. Put emphasis on college for kids involved in 4-H and Cooperative Extensionb. Attract more urban kids by removing the stigma that 4-H carries a rural

agriculture backgroundc. Teach abstract with concrete when teaching college prep or life skills

(a) Explain how video games are made – use what turns them on(b) Use the gaming industry to teach computer software

d. Educators have to learn with children and start kids early

October 23, 2007

Tom Baker, Cooperative Extension External Advisory Committee

1. Served as rural director for Senator Richard Bryan for 12 years. Has been with the advisory committee for last 6 years and is serving as chair.

2. Believes that Southern Nevada is going to dominate legislature with committee chairs – will be good for UNLV bad for UNR.

3. Cooperative Extension will help promote UNR through its Southern Area programs – kids, seniors, etc. No other college has that interest in urban areas and UNR is well respected.

4. If agriculture completely goes away there would not be a ripple in Nevada’s economy – need to promote urban programs.

5. Southern Area programs are the ‘bright and shiny light’ – programs are well respected and nationally known.

6. Believes that people tend to stay in ‘safety zones’ – sounds like an excuse from other colleges not to collaborate with Cooperative Extension.

7. Cooperative Extension is a successful operation that with some tweaking could involve other colleges – lay out what Cooperative Extension has and how they can help. It would take a while to plant seeds but could be very successful.

Committee Questions:1. Do you see a problem with pulling extension faculty back into departments on

campus?a. Outreach will become a 2nd thought because it will not be the priority anymore as

it is in Extension.b. Don’t pull faculty from the field, you will lose everything. Pulling people from

the field is like taking the engine off the train.

2. What is your view of where Cooperative Extension needs to go and places they might improve on?a. Amazed at how quickly Cooperative Extension responds to the needs of the

community – other colleges do not. He is ‘scared to death’ that this will change as an outcome of this review. For example the Living with Fire program and how it responds to communities affected to wildfire every year.

b. Cooperative Extension faculty are the fingers on the pulse of the community and they respond to their needs.

c. One of the biggest problems in rural Nevada is the lack of leadership – Cooperative Extension offers leadership programs in collaboration with the state’s Economic Development and Association of Counties in order to develop leaders in those communities. They are training people who have a vested interest in Nevada and will be going in front of the legislature to better Nevada.

d. Current model right now is working so well and believes that the Cooperative Extension model should be used in other colleges. If you roll Cooperative Extension into other colleges, the quick response to community needs will be lost.

e. We should be putting twice as much money into Cooperative Extension because we will double or triple the return on investment.

f. UNR should do everything they can to get presence in Las Vegas by forming partnerships with UNLV – a united front when we go in front of legislature and ask for funding. The only way to be successful is to stop the fighting between the schools.

g. Cooperative Extension acts as a public relations arm for UNR.h. If faulty at UNR are aware of programs currently going on in Cooperative

Extension, we will start getting feedback and collaboration.

3. How can research possibilities that are not being tapped be tapped? How can we get capacities of other colleges (access to people)?a. Part of the problem is that there is so much information out there.b. Get College of Business in rural Nevada – appeal to small retailers by offering

courses in business. Go to Lt. Governor and ask if Economic Development wants to co-sponsor programs.

c. Cooperative Extension faculty are such a great resource that campus faculty should be seeking them out – the hesitancy lies with campus.

d. Need to pull people from all of the colleges together so they can share what they doing and form possible collaborations. Need to bring the Deans together and ask how they can work together.

JoAnne Skelly, Extension Educator, Western Area

1. Tenured Associate Professor and only Extension Educator for Carson and Storey Counties since 2000.

2. Has an additional role of administrator in the Carson office – manages finances and staff

3. She finds out the needs of the community via a needs assessment and acts as a UNR liaison in those counties.

4. Works with the County Board of Supervisors and Western Nevada College Advisory Board.

5. Her biggest task right now is working with gangs a. Educates people on how to diffuse difficult situationsb. Works with parents to give them the tools for education to help kids make

better decisions.6. Partners with Ed Smith on Living with Fire as the Extension Educator for the area

a. Carson City came to her after the Waterfall Fire with $250,000 to provide outreach/education to the community members affected by the fire and wildfire threat reduction education

b. Two year project working with homeowners’ needs and the needs of the community (safety)

c. Hired two Letters of Appointments to assist her with the project7. Also provides education on noxious weeds to the community8. Her programs work with CABNR and people in the professional world (Greenhouse

Gardens)9. Teaches integrated pest program that is 15 weeks long using various people in the

industry to teach 10. Other than Cooperative Extension the university in not in the communities

Committee Questions:1. What could be done to make Cooperative Extension better?

a. Bringing back CABNR’s plant science degree program to offer a BS degree in Ornamental Horticulture. The community is booming and there are not enough horticulture specialists to support them. If the program was offered again

CABNR and Cooperative Extension could collaborate on the Master Gardner program as well as on the BS degree program by offering amazing research and collaboration.

b. Needs to be less paper driven—too much red tape.c. Would love an interactive website she could offer trainings/programs to reach all

17 counties in the state. Rutgers and Cornell are using programs to do this.d. Would like a grant writer and someone who specializes in languages who would

be able to translate the different Spanish dialects in the community as well as helping with Spanish publications.

e. Meetings in the past with CABNR to present programs Extension and CABNR both offer had low attendance rates and little effect.

f. Extended Studies visit showed her the potential of programs and capabilities they have – there is a niche for possible collaboration on business trainings

2. How would you envision an Ornamental Horticulture BS program collaborating with Extended Studies? What resources are critical?a. Need to offer a technical program for maintenance and construction people as

well as a program teaching the science of plants.b. Offer a professional program for upper level managers – owners, supervisors, etc. c. Need irrigation specialists to teach the latest up to date methods – would help with

water issues being faced all over Nevada.

3. Do you charge for your programs?a. Only charge covers the cost of books. b. Cost recovery charges are fine in some instances but she does not want to charge

for her programs – would keep her audience away c. Cooperative Extension faculty have the ability to go out and get grants when they

need more resources.d. Not completely against charging – it would just require extensive set-up and

training of people to get going.e. Her understanding was that Cooperative Extension could not charge to make a

profit.

4. How much recognition is given to UNR through your programs?a. All of the banners in rooms, fliers/slides, paperwork all contain UNR’s logo.

When they answer the phone the greeting is – University of Nevada, Reno Cooperative Extension.

b. They try to put the university’s name out in everything they do.c. There is a lot of public relations potential through the programs offered by

Cooperative Extension and the university should take advantage of that.

5. What other resources do you use at UNR?a. Works with Tom Harris, Center for Partnership Evaluation for surveys conducted

in Carson, Loretta Singletary, and Latino Research Center.

6. Does the general public know what Cooperative Extension does?

a. No, but they know those programs and probably do not connect them with UNR. There is a disconnect with people who don’t attend the university – they don’t think about the university unless it is athletics.

7. Would you collaborate with the Office of Perspective Students?a. She believes it would be a wonderful idea – she does not know a lot of people on

campus but would like to.b. Would be thrilled and willing to work with them – has had other needs to address

and would like OPS to reach out to her.c. Does not collaborate formally but does offer programs in middle schools which

brings the university’s name to young students. d. ALLIANCE program works with Latinas who are not known to attend college

and have a high rate of early pregnancy. Program brings awareness to these girls about college and teaches them college prep. The girls talk to mentors at UNR and Western Nevada College – making it known that there are opportunities for them in higher education.

Sue Donaldson, Water Quality Education Specialist

1. Area Specialist in water quality in Reno – serves Washoe, Carson, Douglas, and Storey Counties

2. Received her Ph.D. from UNR.3. Work is needs based – conducts needs assessments via phone surveys and target

surveys 4. Provides information about domestic well water quality, nonpoint source water

pollution, small acreage management and invasive weed species education and management in collaboration with natural resources agencies

5. Works with direct public and collaborates with media – appears weekly on Channel 4 News – targets audiences dealing with issues on storm water to make sure there is understanding on land use and water quality – reduce impacts for the future

6. Provides regular 4 hour invasive weed trainings for state and local agencies – for example NDOT

7. Cooperative Extension assesses community needs and meets them by providing education in communities – Extended Studies is more focused on certain areas apparently determined by them

8. There is a basic need to teach people how to test well water for their safety9. Her biggest challenge is the university and state bureaucracy and the amount of

paperwork it takes to do something – for example paperwork needed for human subjects research tends to hold up the entire grant and has caused a black mark on the reputation of UNR in some instances.

10. Collaborates with Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences, Civil Engineering, Cooperative Extension on-campus faculty – when grants are involved she facilitates the necessary collaborations. Offers internships with students.

Committee Questions:1. How could Cooperative Extension function better?

a. There is a lack of extension educators and a tremendous demand for their services. Compared to other Western states they are behind in terms of the number of faculty. The population has increased dramatically but there has not been an increase in faculty.

2. Does the community know you are from the University of Nevada, Reno?a. She makes a point to only refer to them as the University of Nevada, Reno

Cooperative Extension.b. Outside collaborations know she is from UNR

3. How are you competing with the private industry by not charging a fee?a. She considers herself a knowledge person not a product broker. She is in the

business of sharing information.b. Does not compete directly with private industry – tries to provide training no one

else is offering.4. Who puts together promotional fliers, educational publications, and press releases?

a. She has one Public Information Officer who helps with editing and marketing. Goes outside for layout issues.

b. Central/Northeast Area uses journalism interns but they do not.

5. How do you respond to new needs?a. There is a protocol to follow – contacting state specialists in those needs areas or

she can develop her own new program.b. Needs assessments reflect pressing issues for Nevada in the next 5 years. There

are concrete issues you can predict. In the case of emergencies you try to be as proactive as possible with water issues. You can respond accordingly by setting up enough information upfront as possible.

c. She networks with colleagues from all 50 states to find out what needs are there and how they fit into Nevada’s needs.

Rang Narayanan – Associate Dean for Outreach (CABNR)

1. Coordinates with Extension/outreach efforts in CABNR and with Agriculture Experiment Station

2. Deals with a lot of producers/ranchers, federal, state, and local governments 3. Serves as liaison with congressional delegation4. Runs a consortium (Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit) for the Great Basin area –

works with 13 western universities and 8 federal agencies5. Conducts rural tours on behalf of CABNR – with town hall meetings to find out what

the needs are and come back with programs to fit those needs6. Takes care of international component of CABNR7. Has a good relationship with Cooperative Extension faculty on and off campus – they

are very competent and do an excellent job8. Since CABNR and Cooperative Extension were split in the 1990s it has been

challenging because the ground rules of how to operate them were never laid down – there are basic issues with grants and split appointments

9. In some instances Cooperative Extension has become a competitor with CABNR

Rang’s Five issues with Cooperative Extension and CABNR:

1. Nationally USDA and CSREES (Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Services) expects Cooperative Extension to work with the Agriculture Experiment Station for outreacha. CABNR have found that Coop Extension did not have help disseminating

information (research) from Cooperative Extension – had to create their own approaches with three faculty and students. Cooperative Extension has said it is not their task to help.

b. Would be extremely helpful for Cooperative Extension to help disseminate information on programs – would cut down on CABNRs budget

2. Budget issues – CABNR receives funds from Cooperative Extension to help with the eight state specialists.a. In 1997 and 1999 over $1M per year came from Cooperative Extension to support

positionsb. Now the amount has been decreased to $770,000 per year (27% decrease) to

support positions but salaries are increasing – COLA c. His question is – where is the money going?d. Decrease in funds has eroded the abilities to connect with communities in

different arease. Money from salary savings for position vacancies was lostf. Funds would help college offer stable positionsg. Would like to manage the funds themselves – autonomy would be helpful.

3. Lack of strong administrative tie between CABNR and Cooperative Extension at the Dean level.a. A lot of things get missed out on because of this issueb. Communication with Cooperative Extension usually occurs at the department

level – Dean’s offices have no mechanism to create programs and trustc. Led to several problems

i. Dual proposals submitted – should be working togetherii. Duplication of efforts – no connection on vineyards around the stateiii. Things done ad hoc by separate unitsiv. Suggests there should be an administrative tie at the Dean level

v. Lack of coordination in terms of state specialists hiring processa. First vacancy took two years to fill – second vacancy took 2 ½ years

i. Comes back to not having any ground rulesii. Disagreements on start-up funds, split appointments, on campus vs. off

campus faculty – every issue had to be solved at the Provost’s leveliii. Better now but still needs improvementiv. Again budget autonomy would be best

vi. Faculty Evaluation and Merit Raisesa. Points of contention for both collegesb. Faculty with split appointments on campus have different role than field facultyc. Department decides on merit protocols and is sometimes questioned by

Cooperative Extension – has to be resolved at the Provost’s leveld. Faculty are pulled in two different directions

Committee Questions:1. What is your feeling about state specialists being moved off campus in terms of

career development?a. Puts state specialists in a difficult position – they do not have disciplinary core

(faculty) to work with.

2. What do you know about Extended Studies? What relationship do you have with them from CABNR’s point of view?a. He is the UNR representative for ADEC (American Distance Education

Consortium)b. Has not had a lot of experience but has had a bad experience with them and has

stayed away.i. Told he would need a 1 year lead on coursed he wanted to offer through them.

Only had 2-3 months.

3. What types of programs do you offer that are different from Cooperative Extension’s programs?a. CABNR brings applied research and informs resultsb. Emphasis is on research not teachingc. Supplying research base that is transmitted into teaching for Cooperative

Extensiond. Cooperative Extension performs needs assessments – ideally they would

collaborate

4. Is there a formalized mechanism to communicate with Extension Specialists?a. Used to have meetings with chairs, Associate Director of NAES and Rang but not

anymore

5. What are your thoughts on offering a Plant Science program again?a. CABNR used to have a vibrant Plant Science department – previous Dean

decided to eliminate program (unusual not to have one)b. The new Dean’s #1 priority has been to restart the program but does not want to

take away from other departmentsc. They have requested UNR to assist with resources every year but it is not a

university priority who did not receive the funds needed from the Board of Regents

d. Was meeting with a state Senator from Las Vegas the day after our meeting to discuss the development of the program

e. Would need help from Cooperative Extension for resources

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

Frank Flavin, Western Area Director

1. Western Area encompasses the following counties: Washoe, Carson, Douglas, and Storey

2. Offices are in Reno, Carson City, Incline Village, Gardnerville, Pyramid Lake3. Also serves as an extension educator for Washoe County4. Pyramid Lake office is located in the Tribal Headquarters at Nixon

a. Offers a unique partnership of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe with Cooperative Extension, Washoe County, and the Federally Recognized Tribes Extension program

b. Programs include youth development (4-H), civic engagement, sense of place, and community and cultural vitality with a focus on agriculture and natural resources

c. Purpose of the office was to leverage university resources on the reservationd. One faculty member acts as a liaison for university to smooth the way to develop

relationships with the tribe for researche. Good Native American student recruitment – symbiotic relationship with tribe

5. Cooperative Extensions has access to future UNR students through programs6. Presence in the community is extremely important – programs are targeted to

minority populations7. Cooperative Extension is in a good position to do a great deal of collaboration with

UNR, state agencies, and other universities8. Western Area Cooperative Extension programs and faculty have won many national

awards including:a. Ed Smith and Susan Donaldson won top national and regional Awards for

Excellence in Extension from the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) in 2006.

b. Sally Martin, Jo Anne Kock, and Dan Weigel received the Western Extension Directors’ Award of Excellence for their Family Storyteller literacy program.

9. Evacuation plans during a wildfire which were developed by Ed Smith will be found in yellow pages in communities with high fire danger all over the country

10. Cooperative Extension is different from other colleges in that it is dictated by community needs – research and publishing for those needs is conducted by Extension faculty

11. Western area collaborates with campus faculty a good deal – it is easier because of their close proximity to campus – collaborate with Engineering, Health & Human Sciences, CABNR, and Liberal Arts

12. You have to have good communities to sustain a vibrant university 13. Cooperative Extension is on the cutting edge because Nevada has unique

circumstances that don’t necessarily allow for traditional Extension roles – they have gained academic renown for their programs

14. Carson City gave Cooperative Extension (JoAnne Skelly) $250,000 to help with the aftermath of the Waterfall Fire – Cooperative Extension did not ask to be involved, the county sought them out because they knew they could help the community

15. Classes in Elko are offered with 2 years of classroom time and 2 years of online classes – possible collaboration opportunity with Extended Studies

16. Western Nevada College gave Cooperative Extension a compressed video unit in order in exchange to use their office space to conduct distance education – Cooperative Extension runs and operates it (sharing resources)

17. Washington State University has Lifelong Learning Centers across Washington – Extension participates a good deal in these centers by offering non-credit and Distance Education offers credit courses – alliance allows them to coexist and sharing resources

18. Cornell University offers AP classes for high school students to earn credit at Cornell – UNR could offer distance education for agriculture classes (attract future students to UNR)

19. Extended Studies offers 30 distance education classes for high school students now20. Possibility for collaboration between Cooperative Extension and Extended Studies for

high school students – Cooperative Extension could facilitate 21. Has heard complaints from high school students that they only have one day visits

from UNR – Cooperative Extension could bring spend more time in schools introducing them to UNR


1. How could Cooperative Extension be improved?a. Some resources are not used as well as they should be such as compressed video

(Washington State University is a good model to look at)b. Cooperative Extension has basic equipment in every office in the state –

compressed video, real time audio, etc.c. Don’t have enough access to state legislators – they do not have the relationship

needed in order to education them on the university’s impact across the statei. Cornell University has an orientation/training program for legislative staff to

introduce programs that were being offered – could use a similar model here

2. How do you determine when collaboration with on campus faculty is needed or not?a. Based on needs assessments which determines what areas you need to work in

and then you can pool resources from specific colleges/departments.

3. The university is not engaged in the private sector of the state – are we missing out on something? There is no institutional outreach that addresses industry in the state.a. Agrees that there are unrealized opportunities for outreach in the business sectorb. Committee suggested that they offer a private sector program and give Extension

the money to do it – would allow for fee based programsc. Would be an area with huge potential for collaboration with Extended Studies

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

Jerry Buk – Director, Central/Northeast Area Cooperative Extension

1. Serves as Area Director for 10 counties: Churchill, Pershing, Elko, Humboldt, White Pine, Esmeralda, Mineral, Lyon, and the northern two-thirds of Nye – dealing with more rural components

2. Works closely with Lincoln County on economic development and land issues3. Long term issue with water – diverting water from Truckee River to irrigate valleys4. Cooperative Extension is involved with water issues with Native Americans – where

water goes and how it’s used5. Cooperative Extension often ends up as part of multi-entity contentious issues – asked

to be involved as a provider of information due to history of university – they offer interest based negotiations

6. Used as facilitators across state to assist in dialogue on current issues, for example, sage grouse issue. There was a need for collaborative planning to improve the environment for sage grouse Cooperative Extension researched sage grouse existence in Nevada. They facilitated meetings with trappers, hunters, state agencies and were able to keep the sage grouse off the endangered species list.

7. Cooperative Extension played a role in providing resiliency to communities keeping graze lands alive and well managed – tried to bring everyone to the table and add a science base to come up with solution – afterwards they went back to the public and asked how they did through a survey – feedback was good and published for record

8. Needs assessment uses community views as one piece designing programming that is critical to them – make sure it matters to a broad base

9. In the early days of Cooperative Extension the idea was to help communities but to keep a low profile – in the last 30 years they have learned to be acknowledged for work we do

10. In the last 20 years they began to compete more visibly for resources (more competitive and more inclined to promote themselves)

11. In Wyoming Cooperative Extension they charge public agencies such as BLM for services but the public receives services for free – agencies should be charged since they are competing for funds out of the same pot

12. Bernard Jones and Joe Crowley moved Cooperative Extension into its own college and turned classified staff positions into faculty positions – when they were staff they tended to lose sight of university mission by bringing them into faculty status solidified them as university employees

13. Need a tag line to help make sure that the public knows that we address university as a whole and Nevadans – University needs to define what they want outreach to be

14. Last four years faculty have generated $10M in grants – project research and educational support. Bringing university faculty to public needs has generated more money

15. System is learner driven – determining issues people are interested in and then faculty build curriculum

16. UNR’s Cooperative Extension thinks out of the box from the norm when it comes to faculty research and science based community assessments –e.g. potential for community partnerships and creating programs in renewable energy

17. Opportunity to be very nimble – trying to understand what is happening and what is coming – moving resources to water research needs to involve Cooperative Extension and entire university

18. Need to work with Deans to make a better connection and communicate to faculty they should be involved in outreach – Deans need to be engaged as active participants

19. Should develop a list of what faculty from entire university are working on to inspire collaborations between colleges – keep colleges apprised of what’s going on – make list accessible to all faculty on campus

20. Could annually create a list of research projects and put in a database – would facilitate collaborations between faculty

21. Need mission oriented teams of research with a facilitator to bring people together on grants


1. How well defined is Cooperative Extension’s mission?a. Bringing the University to You

i. Not the most stimulating tag lineb. Mission is not well articulated for public understanding

i. Hard to describe without sounding pompousc. People lack the knowledge they need to improve quality of life – Cooperative

Extension needs to continue to evolve new knowledge and ways to put into practice

d. It is a big responsibility for faculty and hard to communicate to community while being a part of the communityi. Hard to have someone in the community who does not seem like they are a

university transplant but that they are part of the communitye. Pieces of general public that don’t understand Cooperative Extension – general

emphasis on agriculture environment is becoming less understood

Randy Emm, Director, Federally Recognized Tribe Extension Program

1. Jerry Buk serves as State Director for FRTEP which provides some funding for programs on reservations

2. Serves on Intertribal Council of Nevada – come together for common purposes and funding – worked in Economic Development – wrote plans to prioritize things needed – biggest thing needed was infrastructure

3. Trying to establish offices in Duck Valley and Walker River to provide more access to for people as well as expand office in Pyramid Lake – there is an expressed need in Duck Valley for Cooperative Extension programs – the goal is to establish satellite offices

4. Programming needs – most activity is in economic development and in the livestock industry on reservations – most activity is done by individuals rather than whole tribes

5. Getting to individuals who need help with farming and ranching activities – they are behind compared to others and it will take a while to initiate change and improve business – will take a few progressive people who will lead others

6. Cooperative Extension is the biggest part of the University that reaches out to people both on and off the reservation

7. Veggies for Kids program – work with Natchez & Schurz elementary schools and has been well received a. Issue is obesity and high prevalence of diabetes on reservation b. 10-12 week hands on program for 2nd and 3rd graders to make students more aware

of vegetables – how the taste and how to prepare them8. Walker River Paiute Tribe

a. Filed a lawsuit against upstream water users to get more water to the tribeb. Senator Reid and tribe want to get water to the tribe – combining forces to get

water to the lakec. Tribe looking at a settlement with the US Government d. Water was never metered – first in use first in righte. Tribe only received water for 2100 acres but was given 10,000 acresf. Cooperative Extension has provided research to the tribe on test crops that use

less water9. Western Area (Pyramid Lake) – MOA has tribe contributing to Cooperative

Extension – contributes an equivalent amount of county taxes for programs10. Kerry Emm, Center for Cultural Diversity on campus, works with Native American

students to keep them on campus 11. He is acquainted with a lot of people and schools – more Native Americans going to

UNR with the help of the Millennium Scholarship12. Cooperative Extension needs to identify programs and who they are directed to in the

Native American population – if this is done there will be more involvement in programsa. Right now they are doing what they can with the number of people they haveb. Issue of who do you want to present programs to – went to Tribal Councils but the

information did not get to the people c. More contact with individuals who will use the programs is needed – hands on

contact is best (Duck Valley field day – fire safety and range management programs)

13. Since there are less restrictions on graze lands on reservations there is an opportunity for research to be conducted – need to build a relationship with the tribes and involve multiple agencies

14. He serves as a member on the tribe’s water team – has to be careful not to get involved in local politics – stay neutral to serve everyone

15. Huge opportunities but few resources a. Not very much state support – no state programs other than schoolsb. Schools are joint funded – federal, state, and county – county provide most of the

funding based on property taxes

c. County driven – state directed16. Possible collaboration with the College of Business – Center for Regional Studies

Cooperative Extension Faculty & Staff Open Meeting

Jay Davison – Area Extension Specialist1. Have had the same number of faculty since 1985 – had to become more efficient 2. Works with other Extension people in other states – Nevada is extremely productive

compared to other states – expectations are different and positive for Nevada 3. Every faculty has an obligation of outreach – would like to see all faculty on campus

out there but it is extremely difficult to get campus based faculty to come out and help – works with other universities because he does not have the support from campus faculty to do what is needed in rural areas

4. Would like to have a system where on campus faculty are rewarded to work off campus

5. Extension Educators are conduits for university to public6. They have heard about research that is being conducted by university faculty in

Fallon that Cooperative Extension didn’t even know about – had they been contacted they could have and would have helped – faculty’s first call should be to Cooperative Extension in the area they are working in – great way for everyone to progress

7. Old fashioned Cooperative Extension public brought needs to the university – now they are in communities doing research – need to bring value of university to people

8. Collaborations between faculty need increased incentives 9. Nevada agriculture is small and does not have the support needed – Cooperative

Extension is valuable because they are really the only people to call – they have a definite advantage gaining access to ranches

10. Majority of the public looks at Cooperative Extension – as adding University of Nevada ties, but it is easy to forget

Bus Scharmann, Dean Fallon Western Nevada College Campus1. Has been working with Cooperative Extension for years – using facilities and

videoconferencing2. Developing Senior College – came to Pam Powell and Cooperative Extension for data

and needs assessment in Fallon area – partnered to develop program to offer classes for seniors including: nutrition, Medicare issues, social security, and issues with loss and grief – trying to develop programs in Fernley and Yerington – collaborating with on campus faculty

3. Working with high school students to create a mini documentary and public announcements for emergency preparedness – partnership between WNC, UNCE, and Churchill County High School

Pat Whitten, Campus Affiliate1. She never sees faculty who get paid from Extension funds out there2. When they lost their livestock specialist it hurt the community – campus person

getting paid but does not come out there – with the loss of expertise they reached out to Utah Extension for dairy expertise

3. On campus faculty should be getting to know them and the community – seems like UNR is not available to them

Darla Emm, Medicare Program Coordinator1. Works with dental clinics, setting up programs with tribes, helping seniors with

Medicare D in area, works with pharmacies and insurance companies2. Social security does not come to rural counties except Lyon County – difficult to get

in so she sets up a three way appointment 3. Her contract ends in December – huge problem because of the increase number of

seniors who are not sure what they will do – would like to see program continue because it is such a big problem

4. Partners with pharmacies to better senior lives – her contact information is put into pharmacy bags with prescriptions

5. Cooperative Extension helps seniors find information needed6. When working in senior centers she tells them who she is and who she works for –

they are very excited because they see a part of the university coming to them7. Provides information on Medicare programs that are available – use of computers,

deliver medications or transportation to seniors who need assistance in rural areas

Earl Creech, Extension Weed Specialist1. New faculty member in Cooperative Extension – received Ph.D. from Purdue2. Nevada Cooperative Extension is different from Purdue in that they are tied to

publishing and Nevada is tied to the needs of the people – people in communities are #1

3. Agreed with everything Jay Davison said

Vicki Jones, Program Officer1. Cooperative Extension hires a lot of smart people who have to act as academic and

administrative faculty, financial gurus, and HR specialists2. There tends to be a bottleneck of workload from areas and offices3. Financial and HR processes need to be run more like a corporation – needs to be more

streamlined and consistent4. Policy and procedure changes that happen on UNR’s campus do not always trickle

down to Cooperative Extension – do not receive any training from campus5. Too much paperwork 6. Need electronic signatures – could do in minutes what takes weeks7. University used to be more of a family to help others with process of paperwork –

now they have to be self sufficient8. Community really knows Cooperative Extension – great relationship with county

commissioners9. Important to have people in the community to know what is needed – they become a

valuable asset to community10. Need to offer scholarship information to people in rural counties – a lot of

opportunity to promote university

Jay Davison – Area Extension Specialist

1. Knows very little about Extended Studies2. In order to offer classes to the public you have to arrange everything from location,

refreshments, media etc. – takes away from developing curriculum - if you can find someone to collaborate with it increases productivity

3. Have been told in the past (by the past President & Provost) that they would not have input on State Specialist evaluations even though Cooperative Extension is paying 75% of their salary

4. One of the toughest jobs in Cooperative Extension is Extension Specialists in campus departments because the focus shifts from Cooperative Extension to the department – used to have equal input on evaluations but it has been years since they have had any input – when departments and Cooperative Extension have different missions it can cause conflict

5. There should be closer ties to research and needs of community6. Has worked with UC Davis to help local ranchers with pesticides and protect crops

because there was no capacity to use faculty from UNR7. Cooperative Extension faculty are tough on peer reviews but they are rewarded when

they do well

Committee Questions:1. How could Cooperative Extension improve?

a. Take money for Extension Specialists and put some in pots of money for people who what to work on specific projects and issues – also offer recognition for work done on these projects

b. People in agriculture don’t feel that the university is doing anything for themc. Perception of renewable energy people from university is that they are hostile

towards rancher’s lifestyle (grazing) d. He is the only agronomy specialist in the state – huge demand but little time to

helpe. There is a temptation for extension people to ‘dabble’ in lots of different areas

because there is a needf. Could hire a person to teach pruning classes to the public for a chargeg. Nevada is the driest state in the nation but we don’t have an irrigation specialist –

we should be an example to the rest of the world on water issuesh. Horticulture is a huge market spanning generations but it is not a respected

program for tenure track facultyi. Needs assessment basically stops at Cooperative Extension unless they go out and

recruit faculty to become involved – no mechanism to get ‘teams’ people togetherj. UNR is behind times in recognizing collaboration and teamwork – emphasis

based on individualsi. UNR does not recognize team contributions – needs to come from the top

downii. As a result we are not attracting large interdisciplinary projectsiii. UNR is not recognizing scientific input

k. Nevada does not have good water laws – possibility to bring in political science faculty to collaborate with Cooperative Extension

Pam Powell, Extension Educator

1. There are a lot of different opportunities for research in rural counties – should be a collaboration between Cooperative Extension and campus

2. There was research on soils in Churchill County being conducted by UNR faculty but Cooperative Extension was not notified that the research was taking place in their own backyard

a. Polonium 210 was found in the soil and waterb. Cancer cluster was very tough on community and there has been a lot of

repercussions in the community – medical professionals are hesitant to move there, lost businesses – there is a lot of animosity and concern

c. Cooperative Extension found out the day before the press release and tried to find out information for the community – the major response on Cooperative Extension’s part was to find out what is happening at UNR

d. There were public meetings city and county with a lot of anger and frustratione. One of the county commissioners stated that UNR was only concerned about money

– not what the people are feeling – there were a lot of harsh feelings towards UNRf. It is hard for Cooperative Extension to keep relationship with the county when they

are not kept in the loop – they cannot act as a conduit for UNR if they do not know what is going on

g. They are viewed as university faculty but also as community members – community trusts them

h. If UNR faculty are coming into communities around the state to conduct research their first call should be to their faculty counterparts for information on the community

i. Community needs to be informed upfront – damage control vs. risk communicationj. Cooperative Extension has to go back and rebuild UNR’s reputation in the

community – the whole focus is to develop relationships with the community – they are happy to work with faculty on campus to develop these relationships

k. Could forward research transmittal sheets to Area Directors if the research is being conducted in their area

l. Biggest issue facing them is putting UNR in a good light and having something bad like this happen

3. Oversees the Fallon arsenic study funded by EPA – largest research of its kind in Churchill County testing for arsenic in the drinking water – partnered with community through Cooperative Extension – collaboration proved very successful for all parties

4. Works with youth in programs such as literacy, technology and life-skills – working with National Geographic to develop training opportunities on GIS and emergencies

Norm Frey, Churchill County Commissioner

1. There are certain programs the county relies on Cooperative Extension for and are very much valuable programs to the communitya. Agriculture, 4-H, informational items (leukemia cluster), research on grass,

Nevada Gold – ground water issues and teaching people to maintain septic systems

2. Nevada Gold – group of volunteers teaching water conservation issues to community including kids through the Carson River Days

3. They do not have a lot of communication with Cooperative Extension in other countiesa. There is a possibility to link with extension programs in Eureka County – water

resource issues4. 4-H group are working on digitizing maps of county with the assistance of county

employees5. Cooperative Extension has a good relationship with County Commissioners and City

Council6. Possibility of collaborating on vineyards in Fallon – Cooperative Extension could

assist in marketing and research


1. How do you evaluate investment in Cooperative Extension?a. During the kick off to budget season they come and visit Cooperative Extension

to hear about programs they are doing and what they want to do as well as resultsb. In February Cooperative Extension attends budget hearings and presents

programs2. How could Cooperative Extension improve?

a. It is not so much Cooperative Extension that needs improvement – UNR and CABNR does not meet the needs of Nevada’s agriculture industry

b. Professors are more concerned with getting grant money than studentsc. Too many politics within

Earl Creech, Extension Weed Specialist

1. Has only been with Cooperative Extension for 8 months2. Position is unique in that he is the only State Specialist not stationed in Reno – has

been working out really well3. Weeds are a big issue in rural communities – they use him a lot more because they

have closer access to him4. He has the same concerns as everyone else – they are important issues to them but

could be partly based on what he has heard from everyone since he is new5. Feels that it is a good system and is enjoying working in Fallon and in Cooperative

Extension6. Conducted a statewide needs assessment by visiting every county office to see what

people need and get a feel of what he needs to spend his time working on – water is the #1 issue and weeds are #2

7. He is going to send a written survey to every agricultural producers and public land agencies in the state in February

8. BLM has someone assigned to weeds in every office, Department of Ag has a Noxious Weed person – there are a few around the state but not as many as other states

9. Noxious, poisonous and invasive weeds deal more with agriculture and range lands

10. Only university to have only one weed specialist – people in his discipline are close knit group around the west – has to look outside of the university – unique challenge but not that big of a deal

11. Research in first 3 years:a. Red broom in the Las Vegas areab. Tall whitetop, Russian knapweed, and cheat grass in Northern Nevadac. Research is directed toward control – grazing, fire, etc.d. Field experiments on UNR farms, land owners – he will go out to the weedse. There is no biologic control for tall whitetop or Russian knapweed

Friday, November 2nd, 2007

Jim Middlebrooks, Specialist, Distance Education, Teaching & Learning Technologies

1. He has been administering Distance Education support, scheduling meetings and classes – Extended Studies in their largest customer

2. TLT has 5 units: Classroom Services, Instructional Design, Interactive Video Services, Media Design and Production, and WebCT

3. Karen Hinton calls when someone runs into something they don’t understand – Cooperative Extension has their person a. Believes TLT and Cooperative Extension should all be centralized under the IT

umbrella for classroom technologyb. Compressed video, cable drops, etc. should have all been done through TLT – end

up spending more money when not using TLT contracts with vendors4. Staffing is a serious problem – only 2 full time people with a student assistant – they

try to do everything they can to support entire campus5. Need legislature to provide money to set up community videoconferencing locations

around the state – make independent from universities6. Cooperative Extension has a big opportunity to take advantage of local public access

TV digital technologies – there is not enough content to put on more digital channels right nowa. UNR is eligible to use open slots on government channels to advertise UNR but it

is not being taken advantage ofb. Federal money for Cooperative Extension is being increased but feels that it is not

being used efficiently 7. The university could save thousands of dollars by using videoconferencing

technologies for meetings – allows for spontaneity in meetings, more efficient and also saves timea. University lacks accommodations for large groups – have to send them to DRI

8. They have the technology in central control to transmit digital and HD but the receivers are not ready


1. Why is the university behind in technology?

a. Librarians are in charge of classroom technology now – previous people in charge had degrees in instructional and classroom design and were better suited to run technologies in the classrooms

b. Originally had the same number of rooms with technology as UC Davis and Stanford but UNR has gone backwards and is about 7 years behind the times

c. People are given authority in areas they have no experience in and do not have the time to learn

d. There are a number of rogue units on campus that need to be streamlined and centralized to offer a good system – not an efficient system

e. Needs to be a policy that any cable TV and videoconferencing has to be reviewed by IT

Friday, November 9 th , 2007

Vikki Ford, Communications Specialist, UNCE

1. Part of a team of communications for UNCE – works with 10 Central/Northeast counties

2. Responsible for coordinating regional and national media with campus3. Most of what they do is public information4. Publisher for faculty publications – produced over 130 fact sheets and curriculum last

year – won 14 awards for publications in 20065. The work faculty does has a broad scope with other universities, states and campus

faculty 6. This last year they have been working on updating Cooperative Extension’s website –

making it more user-friendly and to get more information out to the public – website offers a direct link to university, page of resources, and links which are continually updated

7. 35,000 visitors each month – main thing they look at is publications – continuous project to make it easier to navigate – get contacts from all over the world via website

8. They have their own IT manager and web designer9. Use journalism interns to help get information out about Cooperative Extension10. Has a good relationship with University Communications and uses them to help on

answering media questions and public relations11. They refer questions from the public and/or media to appropriate contact in Extension

– when someone has questions regarding wildfire she will direct them to Ed Smith12. Because faculty work in all counties they are the first line bringing public relations

for the university out to the communities – they are very much a part of those communities

13. Cooperative Extension has 19 offices statewide with interactive video capabilities – offer a popular entrepreneur class broadcast through the interactive video system


1. How do you extend scholarship of UNR faculty who are not members of Extension?a. They are constantly working to connect with departments in broad topic areas.

b. They try to hold two meetings with different departments a year to explain outreach mission and invite them to join. Has been very successful joining faculty together.

2. Do you meet with the Deans?a. No, but Dean Hinton does.

3. What do you recommend we look into?a. Positive things are the most important – Cooperative Extension represents the

university all across the state.b. University needs to recognize the role Cooperative Extension plays across the

state4. Have you worked with Extended Studies marketing department?

a. They have not had the opportunity but are aware of what they do.

5. Are you linked with the Office of Prospective Students?a. Not formally – they have information in all of their office from OPS – good

suggestion to form a formal relationshipb. 4-H is a pipeline for perspective students

6. Do you have any programs that try to extend the activity of colleges and departments that do not have extension specialists?a. She has only been in the position just over two years and the opportunity has not

presented itself to her yet. She would be supportive if an opportunity arises.b. Has tried to do some things with Speech & Theatre – nice collaboration with 4-Hc. Could collaborate with College of Business in community development

7. How often do you get out in the field?a. At least once a year – would like to get out more if possibleb. Always gets great insight when she is out in the field

8. Have you seen an issue with the “Mason-Dixon Line” separating Northern and Southern Nevada?a. She has not had to deal with it – if anyone would have an issue it would be the

Southern Area Cooperative Extension because they are in Las Vegas but she knows they work well with UNLV

b. Her information goes out statewide

9. Do you think the web will take over print media?a. Not so much in rural Nevada but more so in the urban areas of the state

John Burton, Assistant Director, Cooperative Extension

1. Performs broad functions as Assistant Director of Extension – has worked in Extension for 30 years, has a Ph.D.

2. Program leader across program areas – annual reporting, makes linkages with faculty, has direct involvement with 4-H, report writing for Dean, attends meetings in Dean’s place, works with other program leaders in other states to develop linkages

3. A few years ago he went on a rural tour with Cooperative Extension administration – people in rural communities wanted credit courses offered via interactive video – Cooperative Extension has the technology but UNR campus is behind the times – people in rural areas are hungry for the university of offer classes

4. There is a decentralized system at the university and Cooperative Extension5. Need to conduct research that will improve the lives and needs of Nevada’s

population6. Some counties have advisory boards but not all of the counties do7. Cooperative Extension is extremely well funded – the fact that they receive a

minimum of $1M from each county is tremendous8. Would like to be viewed as the first place the state comes to for help and information


1. What things should the committee be looking into?a. The environment of the university – we don’t have a culture of outreach at the

university – should be a reward structure for faculty who perform outreach duties – faculty evaluations are limited to about 10% for service and outreach is not eve an element on faculty evaluations

b. There is no culture of outreach at UNR – would like to see university as a whole move into more outreach

c. Needs to be administrative support in university structure – no one sitting at the larger table to speak for outreach – unless outreach is viewed as important it is harder to expand outreach on campus)

d. Cooperative Extension is more open and prepared to work with other colleges but no mechanism to do it

e. He has met with counterparts on campus but has not had much success – lack of understanding of what Cooperative Extension does – they do not get a lot of departments or colleges coming to them it is mostly Cooperative Extension faculty making connections

f. Most people on this campus only think about the Reno area not the entire stateg. University needs to see the needs of the state and people as just as important as

academic disciplines

2. Are there any rules preventing Extended Studies from offering classes using Cooperative Extension’s facilities?a. No, but may have to charge a small fee to pay for staff to run building and

equipment. b. Extension specialists could teach for-credit classes with funds paid by department

– allows them to keep up to date in their fields, integration with other faculty, and saves Extension some money

3. How do we get people to work effectively?

a. Has to be some channeling or structure put on how people work – develop plans of work – structured program

4. How do we incentivize collaboration?a. Should be rewards for outreach with Promotion & Tenureb. Structure interactions with facultyc. Cooperative Extension allows people to work together but they do not structure it

– usually happens by accident

5. How do you make connections to form interdisciplinary teams for research?a. Faculty are not rewarded as a team – only as individuals – need to reward team

effortsb. He has worked with the College of Business before – presented programs they

offer and what they doc. They don’t have the expertise within Cooperative Extension to develop programs

across the board – such as engineeringd. Has not found anyone in the colleges with expertise needed to give them

information or work with them – there are no incentives for faculty to work as teams and he has no money to give them for their assistance

6. Can you charge fees?a. He does not see a problem with charging fees but it is not something that has been

looked at and discussed at length. They do not charge fees for programs they should be charging for.

b. They offer scholarships to those who cannot afford to pay fees for their programs – people do not take advantage of these scholarships very much but they are available.

November 20, 2007

Extension Governing Board Meeting

Members present: Jackie Reilly (Chair-person), Frank Flavin, Jerry Buk, Pam Powell, Connie Beck, Karen Hinton, Sue Lednicky, Donna White, Jill Ukeiley,

Members absent: Anne Lindsay, Chelle Reed, and Leslie Allen

Others Present: Katie Goins, Debbie Cobb, Loretta Singletary, Alissa Mortensen, Maureen O’Brien, Marlene Rebouri and Julie Carney (Board Assistant)

Guests from the Review Committee: Stan Johnson (Chair), Jerry Buk, Kurt Pregitzer, and Kerri Garcia

Stan Johnson opened the meeting by explaining the purpose of the Review Committee. President Glick created the committee to review and make recommendation on Cooperative Extension and Extended Studies to the new Provost when he/she comes into the new job. They are to look at things that are done separate that can be done together and how things might be done better. He explained the timetable and stated that the draft report is almost complete. They still need to finish gathering information from the survey that was sent to all UNCE employees. Stan said the report is being broken up into sections (ideas) with pluses and minuses.

The committee plans on providing the report in early January to President Glick and Jannet Vreeland, Interim Provost. The committee hopes to get the report back by the middle of February so the study can be complete and presented to the Provost when he/she starts the new job.

Several items that the committee has looked at are: the definition of what outreach is; things that might be done to improve Extension and Extended Studies; whether to leave the college (UNCE) and the unit (Extended Studies) as is, to merge the college/unit or decentralize them. A statement was made by one of the EGB members that decentralizing has been done in other states and it didn’t work. Stan stated that the committee will take that under advisement. The Review Committee has interviewed the College of Agriculture. Stan stated that other Colleges have been invited to interview but have not responded. It was suggested by the members of the EGB that the Review Committee talk with constitutions, stakeholders, County commissioners, etc. to see how Extension impacts the public. Without Extension’s training, some people would loose their jobs as they need to be “certified”. Cooperative Extension provides that service. Stan indicated that they would talk to more stakeholders and that they would be talking to deans and ALC.

Karen suggested that they take a look at the statewide programs line item, as these represent other outreach programs that receive a large amount of state funding.

Pam asked if they were thinking of putting Extension staff under colleges, i.e. moving them physically under the colleges. Stan stated that is one thing they are looking at but it is not a major part of their report at this time. He also stated that he believes that President Glick will share the report with all UNCE and Extended Studies employees.

Kurt stated that everyone in Cooperative Extension & Extended Studies have been very cooperative and open. He felt that it is important to understand that the committee has

spent a lot of time and effort on this process. Change is not necessarily bad. The committee will be productive and not a threat. Their goal is a positive one. They hope to uncover little things that will help everyone function better in their jobs. One person from Cooperative Extension, Jerry Buk and one from Extended Studies, Kerri Garcia are serving on the committee and help explain what each college/unit does. Karen stated that she gave a presentation to the committee and gave them documentation on Extension. Jerry will make sure the committee understands the information.

Meeting adjourned.

Next EGB meeting is scheduled for December 14, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. It will be an interactive video teleconference.

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