TopicsOctober 3, 2023
- Message from the Associate Vice-President and Director of Extension
- Congrats to 2023 Heart of Extension Award Recipient
- ALVSCE Research Workshop
- WRRC Water Webinar: Covering and Powering Canals
- Sabbatical Application Window Open
- RISE Symposium Coming Soon
- Yavapai Assistant Livestock Agent Candidate Seminar
- Requesting CRED Team Evaluation Support
- Job Opening
- New Publications
- Maricopa 4-H Agent Presentations
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Message from the Associate Vice-President and Director of Extension
Recently, I attended a meeting of the Extension Advisory Board for Pima County Cooperative Extension. Many thanks to the Advisory Board members who give so much to our county offices and their continued support of Extension across the state. The office provided updates from all the programmatic areas within Pima County Cooperative Extension, and the meeting was very informative for all who attended. At one point, I was asked about what I see as the issues or priorities for UArizona Extension over the next five to ten years. I wasn’t expecting the question, but I went on to answer as best I could. Afterward, I reflected on my reaction; that is, I was not expecting that question. I thought, why would I not expect that question?
Over the next few months, we should all expect that question. With our Strategic Positioning process just underway, we must reflect on what we believe to be important for Extension in the next five to ten years. The process will include faculty, staff, volunteers, stakeholders, partners, and collaborators across the state.
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Heart of Extension Award
Eight Extension teammates from across the state earned Heart of Extension Awards in 2023. Each received a plaque August 4 at the Annual Conference in Tucson. Each week, TEN is featuring the presentation speeches from the conference. Congratulations!
Joslyn Beard
Assistant Extension Specialist, Livestock; Department of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Joslyn’s nominator listed several of her outstanding accomplishments and said her work is very worthy of the Heart of Extension award. Just a few of her accomplishments include:
Supporting agents’ programs across the state including training producers at the A.I. Clinics in Willcox and at the VBarV, helping agents navigate difficult discussions between adversarial stakeholder groups, and giving individual agents advice, guidance, and support.
Joselyn has revamped the AZ Beef Quality Assurance training to incorporate newly required state and national requirements and is developing a comprehensive multisession Arizona Cattle Operators Workshop Series to provide an enhanced learning opportunity for ranchers, resulting in better stockmanship, stewardship, and profitability.
She is proactive in building relationships with our state partners and is currently participating in an AZ Foot and Mouth Disease Working group that is developing plans for distributing vaccinations and animal/human resource plans in the case of an outbreak.
Joselyn is leading and collaborating on research that is pertinent and appropriate for the AZ livestock industry and serving AZ stakeholders in a manner that meets our Land Grant mission.
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Welcome Extension's New IT Support Tech
We are delighted to introduce Bryan Fouts, our newest addition fulfilling our Information Technology (IT) role for Arizona Cooperative Extension. Bryan joins us with a wealth of experience and expertise in the field, bringing a fresh perspective and a dedication to delivering top-notch IT support. His role will revolve around three essential pillars: General Technical Support, Strategic Networking and Infrastructure Support, and Technical Educational Support.
In the realm of General Technical Support, Bryan will serve as the go-to expert for all things IT-related within Extension. With his strong problem-solving skills and extensive knowledge of IT systems, he is well-equipped to address a wide range of technical issues efficiently and effectively. Bryan's commitment to providing exceptional customer service will ensure that Extension personnel have the support they need.
Strategic Networking and Infrastructure Support are critical components of our IT ecosystem, and Bryan will play a pivotal role in optimizing these areas. His strategic thinking and hands-on experience in managing complex network infrastructures will contribute to the stability and scalability of our IT environment. By proactively identifying opportunities for improvement, Bryan will help us stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving landscape of technology.
Finally, Bryan will be instrumental in enhancing Technical Educational Support within our organization. With a passion for knowledge sharing and a knack for simplifying complex concepts, he will facilitate training sessions and provide resources to empower our staff with the technical skills they need to excel in their roles. Bryan's dedication to education aligns perfectly with our commitment to fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth.
Please help welcome Bryan to our Extension team and we look forward to the valuable contributions he will make in these three pivotal areas. To contact Bryan for support, please utilize our existing ticketing system.
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This Friday - ALVSCE Research Workshop
The ALVSCE Research Office is offering a workshop to provide a comprehensive research introduction to all ALVSCE employees, including faculty, specialists, agents, administrators, business officers, post-docs, graduate students. Topics will include a Research Office overview, ALVSCE grant support staff introductions, PIVOT - finding funding opportunities, proposal and budget basics, Grant Writing 101, ORCID and SciENcv, communications & cyber technologie, Tech Launch Arizona, data and dashboards, and speaking with the media.
When: 9 a.m.-noon, Friday, October 6
Where: UArizona Forbes Building, 124 or via Zoom
An optional one-hour networking lunch will follow the workshop (RSVP required). Please RSVP here for Zoom or in-person attendance. General questions may be sent to Zaida Zalbidea at zaidaz@arizona.edu or 520-621-5242.
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WRRC Water Webinar: Solar River, Covering and Powering Canals with Photovoltaic Energy
In 2015,Tectonicus started researching the feasibility of canal-solar systems in the U.S. This WRRC Water Webinar will provide information about how the company has built a controlled environment to test evaporation, algae growth, and photovoltaic performance to measure the micro-climate effects on the water and air. The analysis compares the economics of existing utility-scale solar systems with canal-solar projects of the same size. Preliminary results from the ongoing analysis show canal-solar has a greater net value than utility-scale solar, with water quality being the biggest benefit.
When: Noon – 1:15 p.m., Thursday, October 12
Speakers: Ben Lepley, architect and researcher, Tectonicus; David H. DeJong, Ph.D., director, Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project
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The 2024-25 Sabbatical Process Now Open
Faculty interested in applying for sabbatical can now visit the Faculty Affairs website to download an application and review the process and related policies.
The dealine for sabattical applications is close of business Friday, November 18. Applications must be submitted a single PDF and must be signed by the Unit Head or CED. Requests from Cooperative Extension faculty must also be signed by Director of Extension Ed Martin. Applications should be submitted to Jean McLain at mclainj@arizona.edu with the Unit Head or CED cc'd.
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The 19th annual RISE Symposium is set for next month on the University of Arizona campus. Objectives include sharing recent research results from the USDA-ARS Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed and University of Arizona Santa Rita Experimental Range, encouraging research at the WGEW and SRER, and promoting the WGEW and the SRER as scientific laboratories. Speakers will present recent or ongoing research on the WGEW, SRER or other outdoor laboratories. There is also a student poster competition with monetary awards.
Scheduled speakers include Nico Franz describing the NEON Biorepository; Michael Kotutwa Johnson describing what we can learn from indigenous ingenuity; Joel Biederman describing early results of a precipitation manipulation experiment; and Betsy Arnold describing the diversity of soil microbes and mushrooms.
When: 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, October 21
Where: Marley Building Auditorium (Room 230), University of Arizona, Tucson
Please see the symposium website to read the program, register, submit poster abstracts or enter the student poster contest, or view talks and posters from past years.
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Yavapai Assistant Livestock Agent Candidate Seminar
Yavapai County Cooperative Extension is hosting Assistant Livestock Agent candidate Kathryn Hazlewood on Tuesday, October 17, 2023 at 1:15 pm. Kathryn will present on Building and Strengthening a Vibrant Livestock Extension Program in Yavapai County. There will be time after the seminar for Q&A.
When: 1:15 p.m., October 17
Where: Yavapai County Cooperative Extension, 840 Rodeo Drive, #C, Prescott, Arizona; or via Zoom at this link. Password: 386617
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Requesting Community Research, Evaluation and Development (CRED) Evaluation Support
CRED is excited to have more dedicated time this year to support Cooperative Extension and its program planning, proposal writing, and evaluation efforts. While CRED will continue to focus on evaluation capacity building by offering training and workshops on topics that Extension personnel have told us are important, we are also available to all Extension programs to help with using the Statewide Needs Assessment materials, writing proposals, program and evaluation planning, designing surveys, program evaluation, analysis, and reporting.
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Job Opening
Extension Specialist (Assistant/Associate/Full), Program Evaluation – The Norton School of Human Ecology is seeking an Evaluation Specialist (rank to be determined). This position serves as a leader, partner, and resource in program planning and evaluation for the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension system and communities and organizations across Arizona. With expertise across the spectrum of evaluation (including strength/needs assessments, developmental, process, and outcome evaluation), the Evaluation Specialist provides leadership, coordination, and capacity building in program planning and evaluation to support data-informed decision-making and effective communication regarding needs and program impacts with an array of stakeholders. The Specialist will maintain a program of extension, research, and scholarly outreach in community-based program evaluation in content areas relevant to UACE and Norton School expertise. This position will involve 60 percent Extension, 30 percent research, and 10 percent service. This is a continuing track (i.e., tenure track) position. For more information or to offer recommendations or nominations, contact search committee Chair Dan McDonald at mcdonald@arizona.edu. Please share this position profile link with your professional networks.
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New Publications
Amy Nickel
La jardinería en el desierto presenta una serie de desafíos que incluyen: suelos pobres, altas temperaturas, sol intenso, poca humedad y vientos frecuentes. Todos estos factores se ven agravados por una árida a un clima semiárido con escasas precipitaciones, lo que hace riego un componente vital para cualquier jardinería exitosa empeño. El riego por goteo es ampliamente aceptado como uno de los más sistemas eficientes para regar en jardines y paisajes desérticos porque minimiza la pérdida de agua por evaporación o escorrentía entregando cantidades medidas de agua directamente al suelo (Schuch, 2016). Sin embargo, el riego por goteo puede no ser adecuado para áreas remotas con baja tecnología y/o sin presión y sistemas de agua sin filtrar. Los sistemas de goteo pueden ser costosos, dañados, y los emisores se pueden bloquear fácilmente con sedimentos, sal y varios insectos (Ezekiel et al., 2017). Poco fiable o poco práctico fuentes de agua para riego pueden desanimar a aquellos que desean desarrollar un jardín. Para estas situaciones, utilizando la antigua el método de riego con olla puede ser una opción.
Hope Wilson
Gardens provide a hands-on learning environment for engaging young children. While they do require some planning and resources to build and maintain, incorporating gardening activities into your early childhood classroom or center can be rewarding for teachers and children. Below we provide suggestions for planning a garden, gardening activities and how to use gardening activities to promote learning and development.
Dari Duval
Arizona’s agricultural industries are diverse, producing a wide variety of field crops, orchard crops, fruits and vegetables, livestock, and livestock products. Western Arizona, including the Yuma area, and Central Arizona to a lesser extent, play niche roles in the production of specialty vegetable and melon crops. Because of geography and climate, Western and Central Arizona serve as the leading source and at times even exclusive source of certain commodities at the national level. This analysis provides an overview of Arizona’s seasonal role in supplying certain commodities nationally.
Shaku Nair, Naomi Pier, Matt Halldorson, Jeremy Weiss
Grapes have been cultivated in Arizona since very early times starting with native varieties, followed by European introductions by Spanish colonists around the 16th century. Today, grapes are widely cultivated in three American Viticultural Areas as well as man home gardens in Arizona. An important pest affecting grapevines in Arizona is the western grapeleaf skeletonizer (WGLS). The pest i native to the southwestern US, including central California, Arizona New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Colorado and extending to northern Mexico.
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Maricopa County 4-H Agent Presentations
The Maricopa County Cooperative Extension has interviewed two candidates for the 4-H Agent position. Please take some time to contribute to the selection process, and provide your input. Below are the links for recordings of both presentations, CVs, and the link for the evaluation form:
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