CSREES has added a "news ticker tape" feature to its Home Page. Last week SRDC was featured: the Southern and Delta Regional Conference, Sept. 17-18, was billed as "headline news." The conference, "Preparing Leaders to Succeed: Reaching Higher Ground," will put participants in touch with local and regional leaders and equip them with community development skills. It is also sponsored by the US Department of Labor and the American Assoc. of Community Colleges. CSREES Administrator Colien Hefferan is slated to speak.

Last fall the ESCOP’s new Social Science Committee developed three proposals for research, education, and extension on the human aspects of three major issues facing the food and agricultural system:

• Social Science Research and Outreach on Food Safety Initiative
• Building Societal Consensus on Biotechnology: A Research and Education Initiative
• Community Vitality Initiative.

September 6-7 the committee meets again and will discuss steps to find resources to support the work. It is expected to consider several new topics (such as the human aspects of bio-fuels and the environment, and genomics) as social science priorities. Representatives from ESCOP, ECOP and ACOP are expected to participate in the discussion. Contact: John Michael at jmichael@reeusda.gov.

CSREES is collaborating with other REE agencies to improve the National Agricultural Library (NAL) thesaurus to people get better access to information about research, education, and extension activities. Used with the Research, Education, and Economics Information System (REEIS), it will enable users to search more effectively across multiple databases. It will provide a list of broader, narrower, or like terms for searching. Pamela Mason of the Agricultural Research Service is giving leadership to the REEIS Thesaurus Subcommittee. Contact Cindy Dickinson at cdickinson@reeusda.gov.

LIONEL BEAULIEU EARNS NATIONAL AWARD The Rural Sociological Society named Professor Lionel J. "Bo" Beaulieu recipient of its RSS 2001 Excellence in Extension and Public Service Award. As Director of the Southern Rural Development Center at Mississippi State University since 1997, Beaulieu has focused land-grant university research, education, and extension activities to benefit communities and families in the south. At the awards ceremony in Albuquerque August 16, colleagues discussed many of his contributions: spearheaded e-commerce, entrepreneurial development, and business retention; secured external funding for programs to empower rural citizens in the Delta; built partnerships that leverage the Land-Grant system’s contributions though regional development strategies across the country; launched the Community Development Institute, Southern Rural Health Institute, the Millennium Series of applied research reports or emerging issues in the South; launched competitive grants programs to link research to rural development needs; made SRDC an important resource for historically black colleges. One letter endorsing his nomination from an 1980 school praised Beaulieu’s "commitment to addressing the need of people from all social and economic levels of existence." Another endorsement noted the national impact of his work: "Not only is this work invaluable to policy makers, it also gives new -- and rare -- visibility to our scholars and the importance of the Land-Grant institutions for our work in government. He is committed to raising the capacity of our system to respond to the needs of rural America and he is delivering on his commitment."

The SRDC is teaming up with Southern SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) and the Southern Rural Development Center to offer a pilot grants program for projects that strengthen both agriculture and Southern communities. The program will build explicit linkages between sustainable agriculture and community development and improve understanding of the mutual benefits of such linkages. It will fund projects that pursue local strategies that link sound farm and non-farm economic development with agricultural and natural resource management. The Call for Proposals will be on the web sites of Southern SARE (www.griffin.peachnet.edu/sare/callpage.html) and SRDC (http://ext.msstate.edu/srdc/grant/srdc_sare.pdf) late the first week of September, with an official publication date of September 3, 2001. Proposals are due November 2, 2001, with awards of up to $10,000 per project to be made in early February 2002.

CSREES and Cornell University will host a Northeastern Regional Workshop on USDA/CSREES Competitive Grants Programs October 18 in Syracuse, New York. The meeting will examine the latest issues and policy affecting the scope of competitive-grants and higher-education programs and grants administration. It will update attendees on grants programs and give people the chance to dissect grants in specific program areas under particular CSREES initiatives, including the National Research Initiative (NRI) and the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS). Contact Mark Bailey (mbailey@reeusda.gov) to see if a similar meeting can be offered in the south.

The FY 2002 solicitation for applications for the CSREES National Research Initiative (NRI) Competitive Grants Program was published in the Federal Register on August 16. The solicitation invites applications for competitive grant awards in agricultural, forest, and related environmental sciences. Funding Categories for FY 2002 and available funds in each include: Natural Resources and the Environment ($16.3 million); Nutrition, Food Quality, and Health ($16.7 million); Plant Systems ($32.3 million); Animal Systems ($22.9 million); Markets, Trade, and Policy ($3.6 million); and New Products and Processes ($6.5 million). Deadlines for submitting proposals vary from November 15, 2001, through February 15, 2002, depending on the program. See the Federal Register notice for applicable deadlines. For full details, visit http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/frcont01.html. Click on "Thursday, August 16, 2001"; then scroll down to Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.

The 3rd National Small Farm Conference will take place September 17-20, 2002, in Albuquerque, NM. Speakers are needed in the areas of marketing, risk management, beginning farmer programs, small farm specific research, and innovative programs and equipment that help small farmers and ranchers remain economically viable. he conference will continue the groundwork laid at the 1^st and 2^nd National Small Farm Conferences to build partnerships among organizations serving small farmers and ranchers who have not previously collaborated, to increase the economic viability of the nation’s small farmers and ranchers. Rgistration materials and a block of hotel rooms will be released fall 2001, as will solicitations for exhibits and poster sessions. Speaker recommendations and questions can be directed to Denis Ebodaghe, National Small Farm Program Leader (202) 205-0467 or Nelson Escobar, Small Farm Program Specialist (202) 401-4900.

CSREES funding for 2002 is taking shape with current farm bill debates. The House Agriculture Committee approved a new farm bill by voice vote on July 27; the Senate committee is moving move slowly, but is expected to take up farm bill issues after August recess. Details of the unfolding bill can be found on the CSREES website at http://www.reeusda.gov. One disappointment is that the Fund for Rural America was not included in the House bill.

NASULGC NEWS The Board on Agriculture is wrestling with a new structure, including the "COPs" (Committee on Operations and Policy). Gale Buchanan (Georgia) will lead the process. Myron Johnsrud, Extension lead, will retire February 2002. NASULGC is seeking a new Director of Extension and Outreach, who will also serve as the Executive Director, Extension Organization and Policy (ECOP). Applications are due September 15, 2001. For information on duties, qualifications, and application procedures, contact the search committee chair, Richard D. Wootton at Kansas State University (785) 532-5820 or e-mail
dir-search@oznet.ksu.edu.

Jim Moseley and Joseph Jen were confirmed on July 13 - Jim Moseley as USDA Deputy Secretary of Agriculture and Joseph Jen as Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics. Moseley, Indiana’s Director of Agricultural Services at Purdue, was Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment under President George Bush and Agricultural Advisor to the EPA Administrator. Jen was Dean of the College of Agriculture at California Polytechnic State University (since 1992) and has served as Director of Research at the Campbell Institute of Research and Technology for the Campbell Soup Company. His degrees are in agricultural chemistry, food science, comparative biochemistry, business.

Southerner Hilda Gay Legg, of Lexington, Kentucky, is the nominee for USDA Administrator, Rural Utilities Service. She is Executive Director of the Kentucky Center for Rural Development and served as Alternate Federal Co-Chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

CSREES Associate Administrator, Gary L. Cunningham, is expected to begin work late this month. He has been at New Mexico State since 1968 (Biology, Dept. Chair, Associate Dean of College of Agriculture and Home Economics and Director of AES). He is Vice-President for Research at NMSU.

Joseph H. McGilberry, Sr. was named Interim Director, Cooperative Extension Service, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, effective July 1, 2001. A native of Alabama, McGilberry completed his undergraduate work and received his Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University in 1978. He has served as Administrative Support Coordinator, Mississippi State University, since January 1997. He succeeds Ronald A. Brown, who accepted a position with Clemson University, effective June 30, 2001.

Mark Bailey is the new Division Director for Integrated Programs, a new position at CSREES. He oversees the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS) program and the Integrated Research Education and Extension Competitive Grants Program (Section 406). Mark is working with other CSREES staff to reorganize competitive grants programs management. Contact him at mbailey@reeusda.gov. Mark Poth replaces Mark Bailey as Division Director for the National Research Initiative. His responsibilities include programs in Natural Resources and the Environment; Enhancing Value and Use of Agricultural and Forest Products; and Markets, Trade and Rural Development. His e-mail address is mpoth@reeusda.gov.

Micky Paggi has moved on, and ECS is filling a position to focus on natural resources and economics programs that will contribute to rural and community prosperity, the division’s focus. Dan Kugler hopes to interview candidates soon.