Plugged In: For UMaine Extension Staff and Volunteers

ELT Minutes, March 1, 2012

Extension Leadership Team Minutes
March 1, 2012
Room 102 B Libby Hall
9:00 am to 3:30 pm

Facilitator: Dennis Harrington

Note taker: John Rebar

Present: Lisa Phelps, Jon Prichard, Fran Sulinski, Dennis Harrington and John Rebar (Lisa and Jon participated by Google Plus).

Guest: Tracey Nelson

Please note: Due to the confidentiality and sensitivity of some agenda items, these ELT minutes do not represent the full content of each meeting.

Extension Publications

Tracey Nelson conducted a review of all publications and compiled a report for the ELT.  There are a number of publications that don’t have an “owner.” The summary section of the report will be shared with all employees through these minutes.

• 717 publications available through UMaine Cooperative Extension
• 87% published by UMaine Extension
• 13% trade books that account for 23% of all sales
• 47 publications contain videos, many have more than one video embedded
• 32% of content new or updated in the past five years
• 50 different authors/contacts
• 7 authors are no longer with Extension
• Publications account for over 40% of UMaine Extension’s web traffic with visitors spending an average of four (4) minutes per page.  This means over 600,000 web hits.  The multimedia aspect of integrating publications with online video is proving to be very successful.
• Sales: almost $77,000 in sales in publications and an additional $51,000 in workshop/events sales that go through the Publications website over the two-year period review (2009-2011)

The ELT reviewed the list of publications that don’t have an “owner” to determine what should be done to continue, discontinue, find a new contact person or abandon the publication as a part of our portfolio. John will write to faculty and professionals that will be asked to assume responsibility for the publications that currently don’t have an owner; but we want to continue them.  The ELT decided to eliminate many publications that are not generating much public interest.  The ELT thanks Tracey for her excellent work in developing this report and for the thoughtful recommendations. For next steps, the ELT is asking Tracey to provide additional information on the rest of the publications portfolio that does have “owners.”

Updates – camps and other things

Caribou Hall – the front of the building is being redesigned and the President has contributed $25,000 to the project.

The UMaine Regional Learning Center will host the Master of Social Work cohort in the fall of 2012. Lisa has also connected with the Graduate School regarding their interest in holding an event in Southern Maine.

County program funds that need to be managed within UMaine

Dennis provided an overview of issues that he is hearing regarding the movement of county-based program funds under the management of the University of Maine. Lisa raised issues that she is hearing from staff. One significant issue is fund raising done on behalf of Extension and where the funding is held. Funds raised by staff and volunteers in support of Extension programming ought to come to UMaine. John is suggesting a communication effort to connect with staff and address their concerns. The method for that communication can be variable depending on the preferences of the staff. The PA’s should attend county meetings with Dennis. Dennis and John met with Claire Strickland, Director of Business & Budget Services to explain the transition and seek her support if needed.

Performance Assessment

John reviewed the performance assessment training that he attended recently that was conducted by the Office of Human Resources. A similar training will be held for Extension through Adobe Connect with Fran and Nivea Deshane. Fran will send a reminder to all supervisors.

Reappointment and Post Tenure

The group reviewed the list of faculty and timeline for reappointment and post-tenure compensation. John will formally notify the faculty Promotion Review Committee of the faculty that they will be reviewing this round.

Announcements:

• Tobacco-Free Campus Policy Adopted by Some Extension Locations – The University of Maine adopted a Tobacco-Free Campus policy effective January 1, 2012. Subsequently, Extension locations with “campuses” owned by the county or 4-H Foundation were invited to adopt the Tobacco-Free Campus policy. We are pleased to announce that the following locations did decide to adopt the policy. They are: Bryant Pond, Oxford County, Hancock, Knox/Lincoln and Waldo. If you have questions about the Tobacco-Free Campus policy, please contact Fran Sulinski at 581-3186 or by e-mail at:  fran.sulinski@maine.edu
• Congratulations to Scott Olsen, who has been awarded $7,812 from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for the project “A Partnership to Deliver Youth Shooting Sports Education Statewide.”