Plugged In: For UMaine Extension Staff and Volunteers

ELT Minutes, June 26, 2013

Extension Leadership Team Minutes
June 26, 2013

Present: Fran Sulinski, John Rebar, Jon Prichard, Lisa Phelps, and Dennis Harrington

Update from Chancellor Page and UMS Senior Staff: ELT members attended a meeting to hear an update from Chancellor Page and UMS Senior Staff regarding the progress on the Board of Trustees’ Goals and Actions/Initiatives specifically related to Information Technology, Strategic Human Resources, and Procurement.  The meeting included comments and presentations by President Ferguson, Chancellor Page, Dick Thompson on Information Technologies (IT), and Tracey Bigney on Human Resources (HR) and Chip Gavin on Procurement. John will share information from the meeting with Extension staff in his next Adobe organizational update.

New HR Software: HR is implementing a new software system that will allow all applications for employment to be submitted entirely online. Fran is learning more about this and will keep the ELT and organization informed of developments as appropriate.

Emergency Preparedness for Fairgrounds: A plan is being developed for emergency preparedness at fairgrounds including how to evacuate people and animals in the event of an emergency.  Lisa attended a “tabletop exercise” at Windsor Fairgrounds in which such a plan was tested.  The exercise included EM personnel from several counties, animal response team and UM folks.

Annual Evaluations: Fran reported that we are 100% in compliance with annual evaluations. Thanks to all supervisors who completed evaluations on time.

Chronicling Gifts: The ELT has added a chronicling of gifts and fundraising to our periodic updates.

Dennis presented and clarified the FY13 YTD gifts report.

2014 National Extension Directors Meeting: The 2014 National Extension Directors Meeting will be held to coincide with the National eXtension Conference in Sacramento, California on March 24-28, 2014.

Campus Civility Presentation: The Rising Tide Center is sponsoring a program with an invited expert on campus civility who will be presenting from 9:00 to noon on Sept. 19th. John has to attend as the current chair of the Rising Tide advisory committee, and this program may be of interest to Jon, Lisa, and Fran. We agreed that this looks like an excellent program. Since this is the same date as a scheduled ELT meeting, we decided to keep the ELT meeting date and have a shortened ELT meeting in the afternoon.

Office Safety Workshop: The recent Office Safety workshop was well attended and raised a few topics for broader discussion. Staff who attended, or who need further support on office safety issues, can contact their PA and there is the possibility of Public Safety visiting an office to do a safety assessment.

Branding Protocol: Jen O’Leary joined the ELT to discuss branding protocol. ELT members recommitted to the protocol of how branding decisions and conversations occur. All branding questions from staff go to Dana Rickman first and then if there are questions Dana takes them to Jen. PAs agreed to always refer staff back to Dana if they have questions or are seeking exceptions. PAs essentially do not get involved with branding questions and do not overrule what Dana and/or Jen have decided.

Future Agenda Items:

First quarter of each year: Updates from Tanglewood/Blueberry Cove and Bryant Pond Camps.

Announcement Invitation:

The ELT invites you to submit items to be included in the minutes/announcements of the next regularly scheduled ELT meeting. This is an opportunity to share with the ELT and the rest of the organization any of the following:

• Notable programmatic accomplishments
• Development or fundraising success
• Significant new partnerships and/or opportunities
• Important transitions

Please take the opportunity to share your good works through this avenue. Keep it brief…approximately two to four sentences would be appreciated. To submit an announcement, please contact your PA or appropriate member of the ELT.

Please remember to visit University of Maine’s news site for additional University of Maine Cooperative Extension highlight.

Announcements:

Congratulations to Ron Beard who has received the “Gulf of Maine Visionary” Award from the Gulf of Maine Council, which is an interagency organization of state and federal partners. The award recognizes Ron’s long and distinguished career in supporting the sustainable management of the Gulf of Maine.

ELT Meeting Dates — 2013

Meetings are from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted.