Extension Leadership Team Meeting Minutes June 30, 2023
Extension Leadership Team Meeting Minutes
Date: June 30, 2023
Time: 10 AM to 3 PM
Location: 218 Randall Student Center, UMA
Facilitator: Jason Bolton
Note taker: Hannah Carter
Please note: Due to the confidentiality and sensitivity of some agenda items, these ELT minutes do not represent the full content of each meeting.
Meeting Focus
Agenda items relate to one of these three goals with corresponding action items and/or priorities.
- Make Extension a sustainable, equitable and enjoyable place to work
- Work on structural, (county offices, staffing patterns), cultural and leadership issues that will lead to this
- Focus on employee experience
- Restructure Extension
- Right size based on budget
- Mission delivery that is current, and responsive to changing demographics/community needs
- Overall efficiency and effectiveness
- Define focus areas
- Make PFAS a priority for Extension (define what this means; not necessarily a piece of everyone’s job, but an organizational priority nevertheless).
Check-Ins
Jason/Hannah
- FY24 budget update – no final budget yet
Tori
- Offer stage for the Downeast ag position–excited about the top candidate.
- Zoom interviews on July 14th for York County.
- Maine Ag Mediation program is launching a free farm financial coaching.
Jason
- Re-advertising the Seafood Safety Faculty position
- November 7th PFAS Workshop at Colby
- System updates going live.
Jon:
- Sean Horan starts July 10 – Jason Lilley mentor
- Working on Provost annual report
Lisa
- NASA visit on Wednesday the 28th at Brunswick Landing went well. Lisa was able to introduce myself to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and share with him briefly about our NASA funded grant work with GMRI.
Ryder
- Summer camp is going well. Enrollment is strong across all four camps.
- Bridge week programming at Bryant Pond and Blueberry Cove partnering with Jason and Brian Olsen.
Michael
- Year-end: PO closures and chartfield review across chartfields subject to University Fiscal Year End – Going Good
Discussion Items
The focus of our meeting was primarily on Extension’s statewide needs assessment and on continuing planning on our organizational restructuring.
Extension Statewide Needs Assessment
The ELT continues to move forward with the development and implementation of a statewide needs assessment to help the organization understand and prioritize our research and educational activities. We have selected a consultant that will be conducting the assessment and are working on scheduling initial activities including initial consultant meetings with staff, volunteers and interested parties beginning in mid-July.
Extension Roadmap and Organizational Structure
The ELT continued to move forward on plans on organizational structure and changes that will be forthcoming. Portions of these have already become public and we expect a more complete rollout in the late summer/early fall.
One-Time Funding Proposal
The ELT approved a one-time funding proposal for Mary Wicklund to attend 50th Anniversary Master Gardener Conference 50 Years and Counting: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Tacoma, Washington, September 27-30, 2023
Updates
Professional Association Conferences Support
The ELT has revised how we support staff attending professional association conferences. Hereafter, the ELT will allocate $2,000 per association (NAE4HYDP, NAEFCS, NACAA) per year to attend the annual professional conference with an additional $1,500 for other requests such as the Extension Conference on Volunteerism and Master Gardener Conference. It will be up to each state association to determine how the $2,000 is allocated to faculty and staff wanting to attend the conference. Section 3.4 Professional Development – Plugged In: For UMaine Extension Staff and Volunteers
One-time Funding Proposal Requests Process
We are reviewing and updating our one-time proposal process and will communicate changes when they are finalized. Our current process is posted on Plugged-In at:
Search Updates
INITIATED, JD & RTF IN PROGRESS
- Labor Education Professional, BLE
WAITING FOR APPROVALS IN HIRETOUCH
- Research Assistant in Sustainable Agriculture – Orono (3/6 approvals as of 6/5)
- Assistant Diagnostician and Accreditation Program Manager – Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab (3/6 approvals as of 6/5)
- Open Air Classroom Program Coordinator – Tanglewood (3/6 approvals as of 6/5)
ADVERTISING / ANTICIPATING APPLICANTS
- Scientific Research Specialist, CL2 – DRL
- Parent Education Professional, Maine Families Visitor – Knox/Lincoln
- Asst Professor, Maine Sustainable Agriculture and Farm Business Management Educator – Knox/Lincoln/Waldo
- Asst Extension Professor, Maine Sustainable Agriculture and Livestock Educator – Hancock/Washington
- Asst Professor Sustainable Agriculture and Ornamental Horticulture Educator, Faculty – York County / Southern ME
- Oh YEA! 4-H Professional – And/Sag
- Oh YEA! 4-H Professional – Cumberland
- AgrAbility Coordinator – statewide
- Urban Agriculture Professional – TBD, NRCS office
- Admin Specialist CL2 4-H – Cumberland
- Parent Education Professional, Maine Families Visitor – Knox/Lincoln
- Assistant/Associate Professor, Seafood Technology, Food Safety Specialist
INTERVIEWING / OFFERING
- Oh YEA! 4-H Professional – Washington
- Parent Education Professional, Maine Families – Waldo
- Communications Professional – Penobscot
HIRED
- Climate Smart Agriculture Professional – South Paris NRCS office – Sean Horan, July 10
2023 ELT In-Person Meeting Dates
| Dates | Facilitator | Notes | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 7 | Dill | Harrington | Virtual |
| September 20 | Harrington | Jackson | Hancock |
| October 18 | Jackson | Prichard | Knox/Lincoln |
| November 15 | Prichard | Phelps | York |
| December 20 | Phelps | Scott | Virtual |