April 7, 2020
Edition Topics
- Message from Dr. Silvertooth
- Cooperative Extension and 4-H Join Fight Against COVID-19
- 42nd Annual UT/AZ Range Livestock Workshop & Tour
- Engaging Local Communities to Restore Fire-adapted Ecosystems Webinar
- 18th Annual Rangelands Partnership Meeting Held Virtually
- AZ4-HYF Move FOURWARD
- WRRC Brown Bag Series Webinars
- Workshop Dates for Promotion Review Dates
- Educational Communication - Cooperative Extension YouTube Channel
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Message from the Associate Dean and Extension Director Since the formal organization of the Cooperative Extension Service in 1914 with the signing of the Smith-Lever Act (changed to the Cooperative Extension System in 1989 on the 75th Smith-Lever anniversary), Cooperative Extension has stepped up to serve communities across Arizona many times.
Cooperative Extension was involved in assisting communities during World War I, the 1918 influenza pandemic, dust bowl, depression, World War II, etc. The COVID-19 pandemic and impacts on the U.S., Arizona, our communities, and families is unprecedented in our lifetime.
The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension System has encountered significant challenges before, along with the communities we serve, and it has successfully responded. In communities across the state, Cooperative Extension is now experiencing citizen response first-hand to these new challenges and the expectation from stakeholders is very clearly for us to engage and do our job.
Cooperative Extension professionals are working diligently and effectively across the state to deliver on our mission to “Bring the university to the people of the state and to bring science to bear on practical problems.”
There are many outstanding examples of the great work people across the state in Cooperative Extension are providing by stepping up and working with their communities in a positive manner during these challenging times.
I am continually impressed by the outstanding examples provided by the people of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension System.
Please continue to take good care of yourselves, your families, and your communities.
______________________
COVID-19: Employee Resources
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| University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and 4-H Join Fight Against COVID-19
The Blue Ridge University of Arizona 4-H Fab Lab is joining the fight against COVID-19 by making personal protection equipment and prototypes of new designs for ventilator parts.
A partnership between 4-H and the Blue Ridge Unified School District in Navajo County, the fabrication laboratory, or Fab Lab, includes a collection of digital fabrication equipment and electronics platforms normally available for use by students and community members.
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| 42nd Annual UT/AZ Range Livestock Workshop & Tour
In light of the regulations and guidelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still planning on holding the 42nd Annual UT/AZ Range Livestock Workshop and Tour, but the workshop will be online and the tour will be postponed until September 17, 2020.
The workshop will be an evening program (7 pm-9 pm Utah Time/6 – 8 pm Arizona Time) for 3 nights running from April 7-9, 2020. Registration is required and the online Zoom link to the workshop will be provided after you register. Check out the flyer for topics, speakers, dates and times. Remember each participant will receive a workshop hat, a proceedings and a chance to win a rifle. For each evening workshop attended, participants will receive a chance to win the gun. Some sponsors have donated door prizes and we’ll give those away during the workshops. All paid ranch sponsors receive a hat and a chance to win a Ruger Wrangler .22 pistol.
Registration Link: https://tinyurl.com/u9m6uch
For participants who have never participated in an online workshop, we’re using the “Zoom” platform. Please download the zoom app on your phone/tablet or go to Zoom.com and download the application so you can view the workshop. We will be holding a test broadcast on Monday, April 6, 2020 at 7 pm (Utah Time) where you can log on and test your connection so everything will go smoothly the night of the workshop.
Lastly, we appreciate our sponsors who have continued to support the workshop. Please patronize their businesses and show like support for them.
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| USDA Renewable Resources Extension Act (RREA)
Please join us for our third (in a series of nine) webinar!
April 23rd at 1:00 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
This webinar is open to all! Please distribute to your colleagues and other interested people.
Register Here
Engaging Local Communities to Restore Fire-adapted Ecosystems
Webinar Summary:
Nationwide, the frequency and scale of catastrophic wildfires are growing at alarming rates, challenging forest and rangeland managers’ abilities to maintain ecologically resilient landscapes and fire-safe communities. To meet these demands, research and extension professionals are devising interactive and novel programs to engage and build capacity among landowners, agency land managers and decision-makers, environmental non-governmental organizations, and technical service professionals to address ecological, economic, and social dimensions of wildland and prescribed fire.
Webinar series sponsored by Renewable Resources Extension Act (RREA)
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18th Annual Rangelands Partnership Meeting Held Virtually March 30-31
The 18th Annual Rangelands Partnership (RP) meeting was held via Zoom for two full days on March 30th and 31st. More than 40 participants representing range scientists, ag/science librarians, and IT specialists from the 19 western land-grant university member collaboration were actively engaged through facilitated discussions, polls, and breakout rooms in a well-choreographed event. Special welcomes were given by Barbara Petty, University of Idaho Director of Extension and the Partnership’s Administrative Advisor for this WERA Multistate Research & Extension project, and Jerry Perry, Associate Dean of the University of Arizona Libraries. Also welcoming the membership were CALS’ Associate Dean Silvertooth, who provided a video, UA Cooperative Extension: Past, Present, and Futures, and SNRE Director, John Koprowski, who provided a virtual look into the ENR2 building. While RP members were disappointed not to be able to gather in person, they rose to the occasion with creativity and enthusiasm.
With only a few days’ notice, state teams prepared voice-over Powerpoint reports summarizing their year’s rangelands Extension programming and library activities, particularly noting special projects and innovative approaches. Other highlights included a panel session: Communication with Purpose: Science for Society Panel with speakers Theresa Crimmins (USA National Phenology Network), Elise Gornish (SNRE), and Rosemary Brandt (UA CALS Media Relations). Presentations were also given on the Natural Resource Users Law and Policy Center (NRULPC) and Clinic by George Ruyle (SNRE) and Priya Sundareshan (College of Law). Dr. Leslie Roche (UC Davis), gave a dynamic and thought-provoking keynote address: Socio-Ecological Systems - Emphasizing the Human Dimension. All sessions were recorded and will soon be available on the RP member site.
The meeting would not have been a success without the assistance of Dave Bogner (CCT) and excellent coordination by the Arizona RP team (Amber Dalke, Sheila Merrigan, Jeanne Pfander, and Sarah Noelle) as well as the RP Executive Committee. A special thank you to meeting sponsors: The Kemper and Ethel Marley Endowment for Sustainable Rangeland Stewardship and The University of Arizona Libraries. Links to more about the RP: Introduction to the RP (7 minute video (Box)) and Global Rangelands.org. Submitted by Barb Hutchinson.
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| Will you help the AZ4-HYF move FOURWARD to invest $142,400 in Arizona 4-H youth?
The Arizona 4-H Youth Foundation passed a 2019-2020 budget to support the Arizona 4-H program with $142,400 to ensure Arizona 4-H youth have a great program. The board is excited to share they will raise or invest:
$72,100 for State 4-H programs,
$48,300 in higher-education scholarships
$22,000 in endowed County and specific program support dollars
Support our FOURWARD Motion Today
Today, is Arizona Gives Day. AZ Gives Day is sponsored by the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and Arizona Grantmakers Forum. The Arizona 4-H Youth Foundation participates in AZ Gives Day because we can receive matching grants and it helps us move forward even more to help support the Arizona 4-H Program. You are all aware the Arizona 4-H Youth Foundation has had a long 50 year history. Today, our future looks bright with a board committed to supporting Arizona 4-H youth, volunteers, and the staff who make the program happen. The Arizona 4-H Youth Foundation is asking you to join us moving FOURWARD with a $4 for 4-H gift, $20.20 gift to celebrate our next 50 years, or a $118 gift to celebrate the founding of 4-H, the organization we all love. Go here for the AZ4-H Giving Portal.
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| WRRC Brown Bag Series
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Human-environment dynamics in the Sonoran Desert and Ae. aegypti, the vector of dengue, Zika and chikungunya
Speaker: Kacey Ernst, Associate Professor and Program Director of Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Arizona
Time: 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Location: Webinar Only
Aedes aegypti is an invasive mosquito that has become established throughout the urban landscapes in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. A native of the tropics, the urban landscape facilitates its survival in the arid desert region. We conducted field collections and analyzed mosquito surveillance data to better understand the primary anthropogenic drivers of its abundance in southern Arizona and northern Mexico. Our results will provide a basis for a discussion on water use in the desert environment, how extreme heat mitigation plans may result in higher mosquito abundance, and implications for household and community water management practices.
Speakers: Nat Bransky, MS Student, Environmental Sciences and Policy Program, Northern Arizona University; Sean Schrag-Toso, MS Student, Hydrology and Atmospheric Science and Water Policy Certificate Program, University of Arizona, and Christopher Yazzie, PhD Student, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona
Time: 12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
This Brown Bag will feature presentations by students who received research grants in 2019 through the WRRC from the Water Resources Research Act, Section 104(b) grant program.
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| Workshop Dates for Department Heads and Committee Members on the Promotion Review Process
Online workshops for department heads, unit directors, and separate workshops for committee members, are available for registration. These workshops will provide an overview for the given roles in the promotion review process for 2020-2021 and include training in Review, Promotion and Tenure system.
All workshop dates will be recorded. Register for a workshop date appropriate to your role in the promotion review process with one of the links below. Please save the date, time and Zoom information before submitting the RSVP. If there are any questions, please email asya@arizona.edu.
Heads/Directors Workshops RSVP: https://uarizona.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_exGeAsX0Ame0hmJ
Committee Members Workshops RSVP: https://uarizona.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cwPZ1wxT7lvB2Pr
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| Educational Communication: Cooperative Extension YouTube Channel In the "digital age" - with the quest for information, but shorter attention spans - educational organizations are communicating more and more via social media, websites, and using digital communications, like Zoom.
Arizona Cooperative Extension is working to be at the forefront of this trend, in communicating with short, to-the-point videos.
Check out the Arizona Cooperative Extension YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/azcoopextension
Please make sure you're helping us advance the Cooperative Extension message. Please like, share and link through your social media channels, and help us do all we can to share with all stakeholders and communities.
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