Plugged In: For UMaine Extension Staff and Volunteers

Extension Leadership Team Minutes September 29, 2016

Extension Leadership Team Minutes

September 29, 2016
Farm House 11, University of Maine at Augusta

Facilitator: Lisa Phelps
Note taker: John Rebar

Search Committee Orientation Sessions

The group has decided that Fran will provide an orientation session for search committee within Extension.  This session will be a mandatory part of the process.  The intention of the session is to ensure compliance with University policies and protocol and consistency across searches.  Fran will communicate with the chairs of all future searches.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) 

Supervisors of impacted employees have had conversations with Fran about the situation and transition.  A letter will be issued to impacted employees on October 3.  The number of employees impacted within Cooperative Extension is eight. John will conduct an online session explaining what is happening and what decisions have been made by the University of Maine System to comply with the federal rule for FLSA.

Professional Development

The FY 2017 allocation of professional development to all base funded employees will be decided upon once the University E&G FY 2018 budget situation is known.  The ELT aspires to announce a decision at the All Organizational Meeting on October 26^th. However, this may be too soon.

USDA-NIFA Capacity Funds Survey

Dennis and John will complete the USDA-NIFA Extension Capacity Funds survey that is due October 7^th.

Announcements:

Congratulations to Leslie Forstadt and co-PI Tori Jackson who have been awarded $61,002 from USDA – Northeast SARE to advance the skills of agricultural service providers who are part of Maine’s Beginning Farmer Resource Network and their colleagues to meet the needs of beginning farmers on a wide range of topics.

Congratulations to David Handley, Tori Jackson, Erin Roche, and Pamela St. Peter who were awarded the USDA Risk Management Agency’s Targeted States Cooperative Agreement.  This Agreement provides $204,580 for “2016-2017 Crop Insurance Education for Maine”.  The goal of this program is to deliver a broad outreach program of crop insurance education to Maine farmers and will target diversified crop and beginning farmers.  Approximately 300 hours of education will be offered in meetings, reaching about 1,000 farmers.  An additional 6,000 farmers will be reached through web and print media.  As a result of this project farmers’ knowledge of risk management programs and their likelihood of enrolling in these programs will increase.

Congratulations to Debbie Bouchard who has been awarded $40,000 from USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to determine the feasibility and utility of Commercial Aquaculture Health Program Standards (CAHPS) in establishing disease freedom status for Atlantic salmon aquaculture in Maine.

Congratulations to Jason Bolton who has been awarded $9,991 from the American Scallop Industry to support research on scallop glazing.

Congratulations to Lisa Fishman, Nutrition Education Professional who was honored recently at the National Extension Association for Family and Consumer Sciences 2016 annual session.  She received the Distinguished Service Award.  Lisa was recognized for her work in conducting food preservation classes, programming with adults in neurological rehabilitation, coordinating a healthy potato cooking contest, and supporting breastfeeding moms at the Northern Maine Fair by collaborating with a coalition to open a breastfeeding station on the fairgrounds.  The Distinguished Service Award is the highest award presented by the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. The award recognizes members for leadership, outstanding program efforts and personal and professional development.

ELT Meeting Dates –2016/17 – Meetings are from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm – unless otherwise noted.