ELT Minutes, May 17, 2012

Extension Leadership Team Minutes
May 17, 2012
Room 102 B Libby Hall
9:00 am to 3:30 pm

Facilitator: John Rebar

Note taker: Jon Prichard

Present: Lisa Phelps, Jon Prichard, John Rebar and Fran Sulinski (for the morning portion).

Absent: Dennis Harrington

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

Camp Leases – The camp leases have been approved by the UMS Board of Trustees and are soon to be approved by the Tanglewood and Bryant Pond boards.

Personal Sustainability Project – The ELT received an update from Aileen Fortune and Jen O’Leary of the Personal Sustainability Project (PSP) team, and discussed ways to support the project. The ELT supports this effort and encourages staff to participate and engage with it as opportunities are made available to do so.

Moving Forward with Technology within UMaine Extension The ELT met with Tanner Kelleter, Jen O’Leary and Cindy Eves-Thomas to discuss Extension’s IT vision, collaboration among IT staff, and the future of Extension technology.

Inviting President Ferguson to schedule events/activities – We have been informed that any staff or department that elects to invite President Ferguson to attend an Extension event will be expected to complete a request form. The general rule is that if any of our staff members want to invite the President to an event that they work through the Director’s office as a central point of contact. Staff should contact Joan Day with the information, and she will consult with John about the invitation and proceeding further on the request.

PCI Security Standards – We have been asked by Janet Waldron to meet PCI (Payment Card Industry) Security Standards at all of our locations. We believe that all county offices and camps will be processing credit cards through UMaine in the near future, especially as our database registration capacity expands. The ELT and IT are taking the steps to meet this request and will be communicating with our effected county and state offices in the near future.

UMaine Extension Habitat Stewards program – This program is currently inactive and the only staff person supporting it is re-focusing her time to align with UMaine Extension’s programming in food systems. In light of that, the ELT is officially terminating UMaine Extension’s involvement in the Habitat Stewards program. The publications (that are not connected to other UMaine Extension program areas) and web resources for this program will be removed immediately.

Chancellor Page meeting with John Rebar – Chancellor Page will be meeting with John on June 28th to discuss Extension. This will be a good opportunity for John to reinforce with the Chancellor our value to the University and Maine citizens.

Announcements:

  • Congratulations to Scott Olsen, who has been awarded $23,081 from Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife to support the 4-H Shooting Sports training and education program at Bryant Pond.
  • Scott Olsen has also been awarded $30,000 from the Betterment Fund to provide scholarships to children in Oxford County attending summer camp at Bryant Pond 4-H Camp & Learning Center.
  • Congratulations to Debbie Bouchard, who has been awarded $65,542.98 from Pfizer Animal Health, through the Department of Industrial Cooperation for the project “Pfizer product screening in Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar).”
  • Debbie Bouchard has also been awarded $4,193 from the Maine Sea Grant College Program to do a statewide baseline health assessment of the European Oyster for culture diversification and increased production.
  • Congratulations to John Jemison, who has been awarded $145,421 from Northeast SARE for his project “Using winter canola and highglucosinolate mustards to protect and improve soil resources and enhance on-farm profitability.”
  • Congratulations to Karen Gagne and Scott Olsen, who were awarded $129,341 from Purdue University to conduct adventure camp programs for military youth.
  • Congratulations to Louis Bassano, who has been awarded $4,750 from Eastern Maine Development Corp. to help support the cost of facilities rentals for the Hancock County Business Conference and Trade Show.

Status on searches as of May 16, 2012:

POS#193 Communications Technology Professional – Approval to Hire
POS#195 Tech Wizard Assistant – Approval to Hire
POS#197 Parent Education Professional — Waldo – Approval to Hire
POS#198 4-H Professional – York – Accepting Applications
POS#199 4-H Professional (Campus) – Screening done on 5/14
POS#200 Crops Professional – Presque Isle –on HOLD
POS#201 Program Development & Marketing Professional – Accepting Applications
POS #202 AgrAbility Professional – Screening Applications on 5/23