January 12, 2021
Edition Topics
- Message from Dr. Silvertooth
- Welcome Rosie Stewart
- Congratulations - Peter Ellsworth
- Long-Time WRRC Assistant Director Susanna Eden Retires
- Sign up for the EcoRestore newsletter!
- Rangeland Seeding Workshop
- UA-CEAC 2021 Online Short Course
- Collaborative Capacity Building and Sovereign Science with NASA and the Navajo Nation - WRRC Brown Bag Webinar
- New Extension Publication
- 2020-2021 Promotion Workshop Schedule
- Call for Nominations
| |
|
Message from the Associate Dean and Extension Director
From our experiences in 2020, all of us in the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension System (CES) have graphically experienced the challenges of delivering on our mission of bringing the university to the people and science to bear on practical problems. COVID-19 certainly presented a practical problem and the challenges of bringing science to bear on that problem have been huge.
It is encouraging that we are now entering the phase of vaccination distribution and delivery to communities across the nation and every county in Arizona. The science and technology that has been used to develop and test these vaccines is incredible. In addition, we have the technological capacity in this country to manufacture, distribute, deliver, and administer the vaccines in a rather rapid manner.
However, we have segments of the population that do not understand the science behind the vaccines and the importance of their use. As a result, some folks may be resistant to taking the vaccine and helping us move as a population to a level of immunity where we can transition back to more face-to-face interactions in our work and personal lives.
Our challenges as a science-based educational organization remain significant and our role in this process as educators remains vital. We are working with the Arizona Department of Health Services and county health departments to assist in the coordination of vaccinations and the associated educational steps that are needed. The engagement and cooperation of everyone in the CES is important to this effort.
Unfortunately, Arizona continues to experience very high COVID-19 case numbers in all counties and serious pressures are being exerted on our health care systems. In fact, Arizona has the highest rate of COVID-19 infections worldwide. Therefore, compliance with basic public health practices remains essential. For the time being, all CES units and county operations will continue to manage in Phase 0 conditions.
https://extension.arizona.edu/phased-operational-plan
We appreciate your continued diligence and cooperation as we move ahead in 2021.
| |
| Welcome Rosie Stewart
I would like to welcome Rosie Stewart as our new Family Consumer and Health Sciences Area Agent in Santa Cruz County. She holds a Master of Public Health degree with a concentration on Health Education and Behavior Sciences. She is bilingual and has years of experience in evaluation, research, program management, translation, transcribing as well as other expertise. We are very excited to have her and we look forward to working with her. Welcome Rosie Stewart!
------- Evelyn Whitmer, Regional County Extension Director, Cochise & Santa Cruz Counties
| |
| Congratulations - Peter Ellsworth
Please join me in congratulating Peter Ellsworth, Entomology Extension Specialist and Professor, for receiving the 2021 Insect Research and Control Conference Recognition Award for Excellence in Cotton Integrated Pest Management.
This award recognizes his outstanding career contributions across the U.S. Cotton Belt to integrated pest management (IPM), which coordinates multiple control tactics to maximize benefits and minimize hazards to people and the environment. His accomplishments were celebrated in a virtual award ceremony on January 7, 2021.
Peter is a world leader in cotton IPM. His cotton IPM program in Arizona has reduced insecticide use by 82%, and over the past two decades avoided application of 30 million pounds of insecticides and saved growers $542 million.
----- Bruce Tabashnik, Regents Professor & Department Head, Department of Entomology
| |
| Long-Time WRRC Assistant Director Susanna Eden Retires
December 17, 2020 was a bittersweet afternoon at the WRRC, as we “cyber-gathered” to bid farewell to one of our own, Assistant Director Susanna Eden. Dr. Eden (or Susanna, as everyone knows her) first joined the WRRC as a graduate student in 1988 and returned after a hiatus of a dozen years in 2005. While she wore many hats at the WRRC, she is a gifted writer and took on responsibility for the publication of the quarterly Arizona Water Resource newsletter and annual Arroyo after the retirement of long-time editor, Joe Gelt, in 2009. On December 17, dozens of Susanna’s friends and colleagues gathered on Zoom to wish her well and share memories of research projects, writing efforts, and mentoring relationships. We will miss seeing Susanna day-to-day, although she will still be engaged with the WRRC in a new, more advisory capacity in 2021. We wish her the absolute best in her future endeavors and thank her for her past contributions and professionalism, leavened always with friendship and good humor. Please feel free to continue to contact Susanna at seden@arizona.edu.
| |
| Sign up for the EcoRestore newsletter!
| |
| Rangeland Seeding Workshop
Altar Valley Rangeland Resilience Workshop Series:
Rangeland Seeding Workshop
Tuesday, February 2, 2021 | 9AM-12PM MST
In 2021, the Altar Valley Conservation Alliance and the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension are convening a three-part workshop series on rangeland seeding. The first workshop will focus on the history, challenges, and opportunities of seeding efforts in the Altar Valley. The second two workshops will focus on identifying appropriate situations and methods for using seeding to increase the presence of vegetation that can thrive in the Altar Valley under future conditions.
The February 2 workshop will be VIRTUAL, with presentations by local experts and interactive discussions on:
- The history of seeding practices used in the Altar Valley,
- Connections between seeding, soils, and vegetation, and
- Interactions between animals (including livestock) and seeding.
The Rangeland Seeding workshop is part of the Altar Valley Rangeland Resilience Workshop Series, which is designed to support informed and effective adaptation to changing land conditions in the Valley and beyond. It will build upon the first two workshops in the series, Brush Management and Soil Health.
Please RSVP here for the February 2 virtual workshop!
| |
| UA-CEAC 2021 Online Short Course
Join the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center for their 20th Annual CEAC Greenhouse Crop Production & Engineering Design Short Course on March 3rd, 10th, and 17th via Zoom. This virtual conference will increase your knowledge in Controlled Environment Agriculture and hydroponic growing and will allow you to network with industry leaders.
Each day will be jam-packed with incredible presentations given by experts in academia and the CEA industry. Topics will include Greenhouse Structures and Environments, Managing Plant Nutrition, Lighting, Fertigation Systems, Pest Identification and Control Strategies, Hemp and Mushrooms in CEA, Organic Hydroponic Food Production, and much more! Registration is open until February 26th, 2021.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Click here for the 2021 Online Greenhouse Crop Production & Engineering Design Short Course Schedule
For more information, visit ceac.arizona.edu.
| |
| Collaborative Capacity Building and Sovereign Science with NASA and the Navajo Nation - WRRC Brown Bag Webinar
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Time: 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Speakers:
Amber Jean McCullum, PhD, Applied Scientist, BAERI/NASA Ames Research Center
Nikki Tulley, PhD Student, Department of Environmental Science, UArizona
Sustained capacity building and knowledge exchange are vital to increase the use of NASA Earth Observations for Indigenous natural and cultural resource management. This presentation will explore multiple collaborations with NASA and the Indigenous Community including NASA's Indigenous Peoples Pilot project and the Navajo Nation Drought Severity Evaluation Tool project. Given the size of the Navajo Nation, the lack of consistent climate data, limited resources, and the increasing extent and severity of droughts, tools that assist water managers are essential.
Dr. Amber Jean McCullum is a researcher and capacity building specialist in the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center. She serves as the Impact and Transition Lead for NASA's Western Water Applications Office. She is the lead for a project focused on agricultural management with the Navajo Nation and OpenET. She is also the lead trainer in land management for NASA's Applied Remote Sensing and Training Program, a team member and engagement coordinator for NASA's Indigenous Peoples Capacity Building Initiative, and a lecturer with San Jose State University.
Nikki Tulley is a member of the Navajo Nation. She is a third-year PhD student in the Department of Environmental Science with a concentration in Hydroscience at the UArizona. Her research focuses on ensuring that people living in Indigenous communities have access to clean drinking water to sustain their way of life in an ever-changing environment through sustainable practices and water policies and management.
Webinar Attendance Information:
| |
| New Extension Publication
| |
|
2020-2021 Promotion Workshop Schedule
All workshops will be recorded. Links to recordings will be posted here shortly after the workshop date.
Making a Statement for Promotion Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 3:30-5:00 pm. Register here by January 12, 2021 at 5 pm
To get started on preparing the candidate statements that introduces the promotion dossiers, participants in this workshop will learn:
how to write a compelling candidate statement,
highlight impact,
identify key innovations,
use purposeful language for external and/or internal reviewers, and
creating a description of effects of the COViD-19 pandemic.
Candidate Statements are vital to outlining the impact of candidates’ service, teaching, and research. They play an especially important role in documenting the sorts of community-based scholarship, partnerships, and outreach that are highlighted in our Inclusive View of Scholarship. Candidate Statements provide an opportunity for associate professors to discuss their institutional leadership and impact.
Using Portfolios that Document Impact, Innovation, and Leadership Friday, January 22, 2021, 8:30-9:50 am. Register here before January 20, 2021.
The University’s Inclusive View of Scholarship recognizes the integral relations among research, teaching, service, and outreach. To enable candidates to document their broader contributions, promotion dossiers include teaching portfolios, protocols for classroom observations, and an optional service and outreach portfolio, which candidates can use to document their broader leadership. In this workshop, we will also note our support for preparing teaching portfolios and answer questions related to the recent changes with student evaluations.
| |
| Call for Nominations
Each year we recognize our faculty, staff and strong contributors to Cooperative Extension with the Extension Faculty of the Year Award, the Outstanding Staff in Cooperative Extension Award, and the Extensionist of the Year Award.
The Cooperative Extension Faculty of the Year award recipient will receive $1,000 and an award. Click here for Extension Faculty of the Year Award criteria and nomination instructions. Submission deadline – February 15, 2021
The Outstanding Staff in Cooperative Extension award recipient will receive $500 and an award. Click here for award nomination criteria.
Submission deadline – February 15, 2021
The Extensionist of the Year award recognizes and honors a resident of the State of Arizona who has demonstrated extraordinary contributions, through UACE, to improving the lives of people in their community and state. The award will be presented at an appropriate division-wide event. Letters of nomination from UACE or non-UACE faculty and staff and/or peers should focus on the following criteria: 1) the nature and extent of the contribution provided by the individual (35%), 2) how this contribution has benefitted people in the community (15%) and the state (15%), 3) leadership qualities (25%), and 4) support for UACE (10%).
Submission deadline – February 15, 2021
All awards will be presented at an appropriate Extension or ALVSCE event. Please read the criteria carefully, submitting only the materials noted. Submit your nominations and support letters c/o Kristie Gallardo, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, PO Box 210036, Tucson, AZ, 85721 or gallardk@arizona.edu. If you have any questions, contact Kristie (520-621-7145).
| |
|
