ELT Minutes, August 27, 2013
Extension Leadership Team Minutes
August 27, 2013
102B Libby Hall
Facilitator: Fran Sulinski
Note taker: Lisa Phelps
Present: John Rebar, Fran Sulinski, Jon Prichard, Lisa Phelps and Dennis Harrington
Agenda
Grant Applications for Cooperative Extension
The ELT reviewed data that shows a drop in the number of grant applications and successful proposals during the past year. There is no single reason why, although we speculate that Federal funding under sequestration may have reduced funding for some types of grants.
We want to remind everyone that we have increased our ability to search for funding opportunities for the types of projects you may have in mind through our membership in the PIVOT system — PIVOT is an extremely powerful tool used for finding grants based on your specific criteria. Please contact Travis Beyerl and he can set up ongoing search criteria that will notify you of potential funding opportunities. Dennis Harrington and Travis Beyerl will also work closely with you in crafting and submitting your grant proposals by offering support for budget development, writing, and moving your proposal through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and PARS.
Review of future ELT Meeting Dates and Locations
There have been a couple of shifts and conflicts with upcoming ELT meeting dates so the ELT reviewed meeting dates and locations.
Local County Support Staff Working Beyond County Boundaries
County-based Extension faculty and program professionals routinely perform work that extends beyond their county boundaries. This programming occasionally creates work for support staff who are funded in large part by county government through allocations to the County Extension Association. Some staff asked if it is appropriate for county office support staff to be working on programming beyond their local borders. The ELT understands these questions, and we believe that the benefits of programming that comes into a county through cross-county efforts well exceeds the time that local support staff contribute to programming outside of the county. If anyone feels that they have a situation where this is not the case, please contact your program administrator. In the past, the Extension administration did provide some funding for support staff who were working in regional or statewide programming. However, the growth of multi-county and statewide programming has made this unaffordable for our central budget. We also would like to clarify that we currently only pay for county support staff time when it supports a statewide organizational administrative need such as purchasing, marketing, and 4-H Foundation, and we do not help to cover the costs when it involves direct programming. We hope this statement helps explain the situation and encourage anyone with questions or concerns to contact their PA.
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 Lois Berg Stack and Frank Drummond, who have been awarded $4,880 from New England Greenhouse Conference for years 2 and 3 of their project, “Assessing Flower Preferences of Three Groups of Bee Pollinators.”
Congratulations to Scott Olsen, who has been awarded $60,000 from Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife to support youth programming at the UMaine 4-H Camp & Learning Center at Bryant Pond.
Search Updates
POS#208 Small Farm Business Professional – Accepting Applications
POS#209 Research Assistant – Closed to new applications; waiting for screening results from chair
POS#210 Parent Education Professional – Accepting Applications
POS#211 Crops Specialist – Awaiting HR Approval to Advertise
ELT Meeting Dates – 2013
Meetings are from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., unless otherwise noted.
| Dates | Facilitator | Notes | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 19 | Phelps | Rebar | Orono — 102B Libby Hall |
| October 15 | Rebar | Prichard | Penobscot |
| November 6 | Prichard | Harrington | Augusta — Room to TBD |
| November 25 | Harrington | Sulinski | Orono — 102B Libby Hall |
| December 18 | Sulinski | Phelps | Orono — 102B Libby Hall |