TopicsSeptember 12, 2023
- Message from the Associate Vice-President and Director of Extension
- Congrats to the 2023 Heart of Extension Award Recipients
- Last Chance to Nominate for ALVSCE Administrator of the Year
- Become a Growing Greener Ambassador
- Volunteers Needed for Grape Study
- New Publication
- Job Opening
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Message from the Associate Vice-President and Director of Extension
Road Trip Report #41 – I want to thank Gila County Cooperative Extension for hosting me last Friday. As always, I am impressed by the achievements of our faculty and staff.
I also want to thank community leaders and Advisory Board members who joined us to offer input on the successes and challenges of Gila County Extension. I attended a Yavapai County Cattle Growers Association meeting. Attendees, including U.S. Representatives Paul Gosar and Eli Crane and U.S. Forestry Service Chief Randy Moore, celebrated an MOU among the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, Yavapai Cattle Growers Association, Arizona Association of Conservation Districts, Forest Service, and University of Arizona on monitoring Prescott National Forest allotments. The word “trust” was used often at the meeting – trust between collaborators, trust in UArizona science, and trust in Extension agents who work with growers. Host Andy Groseta noted that trust takes a long time to gain but can be lost quickly.
I am proud of the trust these stakeholders have in the University, ALVSCE, and Cooperative Extension. We do not take this trust for granted, and every day we work hard to nurture it across the state and the country.
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Christina Lipin with Ed Martin, state Director of Extension
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| Heart of Extension Awards
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. In the coming weeks, TEN will feature the presentation speeches from the conference. Congratulations!
Christina Lipin
Program Coordinator, UArizona Wildcat Corps – AmeriCorps
Christina’s nominator described her as a professional, intelligent, and highly collaborative colleague who contributes her expertise in various arenas, providing great solutions in complex situations. Her nominator also went on to say that if you are lucky enough to work with Christina in an AmeriCorps setting, you will find an effective, highly organized, extremely knowledgeable professional who ensures positive outcomes for both the member and the program. For example, she connected the Pima County Master Gardener’s program with a member that fit their needs perfectly, and in return this connection allowed the member to gain the experience he needed for his educational aspirations. Throughout the whole process, Christina ensured all parties had access to trainings and resources, and provided opportunities to check in and celebrate the great work being done.
In a team environment, Christina provides valuable information, resources, and takes initiative to ensure the success of the team. As a Vol-a-Palooza planning team member, Christina went out of her way to find and provide valuable resources. The nominator feels honored to work with Christina and was delighted to nominate her for a Heart of Extension award.
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Last Chance: ALVSCE Administrator of the Year Nominations
This annual award consists of a plaque and monetary award of $1,000 to be made to the winner’s administrative unit. Nominations may be made by faculty, staff, alumni, students, or other ALVSCE administrators. Nominees who are not selected will be retained for future consideration by the committee for three years. If you have submitted a nomination in the recent past and would like to add to or edit it, please contact Jean McLain.
The deadline for nominations is September 15. For details and award criteria, please see the Compass website.
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Become a Growing Greener Ambassador
The Climate Working Group is looking for people who want to learn how to facilitate workshops like this one and license the materials for use with groups of adults and children.
This professional development workshop by Mick Smyer of Growing Greener helps groups connect to their favorite natural spaces to move toward meaningful individual and collective climate action. If you are interested in signing up for a train-the-trainer workshop tentatively planned for Spring of 2024, please enter your email address in this survey.
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| New PublicationDebankur Sanyal, Charles Stackpole, Sharon B. Megdal
Cover crops are essential tools to improve soil health and productivity. Traditionally, cover crops are used as ‘green manures’ where the cover crops are not harvested but incorporated into the ground to boost soil health and fertility. Therefore, it has become a common perception that cover crops are meant to be incorporated into the soil. In the desert Southwest, water scarcity forces the producers to utilize water more strategically, and green manure cover crops may not be an economically sustainable option for farmers in the desert.
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Job Opening
Assistant/Associate Agent (ANR), Pima County – This continuing eligible Assistant/Associate Extension Agent position will work with a dynamic team of professionals developing and delivering community outreach programs that provide research-based, objective informal agriculture and natural resources education in Pima County, Arizona. The primary focus of the position will be to develop and deliver education and assistance to small-scale and urban growers in Pima County. In addition, the agent will engage and collaborate with urban food systems work conducted at the Pima County Cooperative Extension (PCCE), The Garden Kitchen, and 4-H farm-focused youth workforce development at PCCE Tucson Village Farm. The Agent will also oversee the Master Gardener Program located at PCCE as well as other natural resources programming related to the environment and natural systems. In addition to outreach, the agent will develop and conduct applied research, produce scholarly Extension publications, present at conferences and meetings, and pursue grant funding to support research and program work. This position is administratively and programmatically responsible to the County Extension Director and the Director of Arizona Cooperative Extension and is located at Pima County Cooperative Extension. Please visit the UA Talent website for more information or to apply. If you have any questions, please contact Debbie Curley.
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