Present:
Nina Boston, IT, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension
Charles Cox, 4-H, Oklahoma State University
Tim Cross, ANR, University of Tennessee
Thelma J. Feaster, PSD, North Carolina A&T State University
Beverly Howell, FCS, Mississippi State University
Ed Jones, PLC Chair, CRD, North Carolina State University
Dan Lyons, MM, North Carolina A & T University
Gloria Mosby, Past PLC Chair, Chair of PLN-EC, COMM, Prairie View A& M Univ
Louie Rivers, ANR, Kentucky State University
Kent Rorie, MM, University of Arkansas
Thelma Sanders-Hunter, PLC Chair-elect, FCS, Tennessee State Univ.
Larry Turner, 1862 Advisor, University of Kentucky
Dorothy Wilson, 4-H Youth Development, Langston University
Ex-Officio:
Ron Brown, ASRED
Kathy Ibendahl, SRDC
Absent:
Shirley Calloway-Pope, 1890 Advisor, Alcorn State University
Noland Williams, AEA Representative, Kentucky State University
Program Leaders Committee Meeting
Sunday, August 28, 2005 - 3:30 p.m.
Welcome
Ed Jones, chair, welcomed everyone to Charleston and this joint meeting of PLN, ASRED, and AEA. He reviewed the agenda for this afternoon's meetings.Nominating Committee
Ed asked for volunteers to serve on the nominating committee to nominate a chair elect for the coming year. This individual needs to be from an 1862 institution since Thelma Sanders-Hunter (1890 institution) will be serving as PLC chair.Gloria Mosby, Louis Rivers, and Kent Rorie agreed to serve on this committee and nominate an individual at Wednesday morning's meeting.PLN Logo
Gloria Mosby presented a PLN logo idea created by the Communications Committee. It includes a plant in a light bulb and the words, "Southern Region Program Leaders Cooperative Extension." Comments from the group included 1) too many words, 2) not sure about the light bulb, and 3) needs a modern networking image. Gloria will take these suggestions back to the Communications Committee.Last Year's Meeting
The joint meeting will take place August 27 - 31, 2006 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Dr. Brown, Kathy Ibendahl, and the Puerto Rico Extension staff will be working together to select a meeting hotel. Plan of Work for PLC
Last December, Ron Brown suggested that PLC develop a plan of work in order to determine what needs to be accomplished in the coming year. The group decided that one is needed and will revisit this issue Wednesday morning.
PLC, Committee Chairs, and Vice Chairs Meeting
Sunday, August 28, 2005 - 4 p.m.
Those present included all of the above plus the following:
| ANR | Jimmy Henning, ANR Chair, University of Kentucky Marion Simon, ANR Vice-Chair, Kentucky State University |
| CD | Charles Shepphard, CD Chair, Alcorn State University Deborah Tootle, CD Vice-Chair, LSU Ag Center |
| COMM | Garvin Quinn, Communications Chair, University of Tennessee Bob Reynolds, Communications Vice-Chair, University of Arkansas |
| FCS | Jean Baldwin, FCS Chair, North Carolina A & T State University Sandy Zaslow, FCS Vice-Chair, North Carolina State University |
| PSD | Debra Davis, PSD Chair, LSU Ag Center |
| 4-H Youth | Marilyn Norman, 4-H Youth Development Chair, University of Florida Lemar Nichols, Auburn University |
| IT and MM Chairs and Vice-Chairs were not present. | |
Welcome
Ed Jones, PLC chair, welcomed everyone and each person introduced themselves. Ed briefly explained the function of today's meeting.eXtension Update
Ron Brown gave a brief eXtension update. He reported that this project is the only new line in the President's budget. There is $1 million in the budget line in the House and $2 million in the budget line in the Senate. We are hoping to get something in between; however, the eXtension team wanted a higher amount. Next year, CSREES is going to ask for $5 million. This is a great show of support. The team announced a call for engagement this summer for groups to organize and present a proposal to develop a Community of Practice. They had 70 proposals-three times more than they expected. Eighteen were selected to submit a full proposal. These are due September 9 and the review committee will meet in late September. Ron Brown and Carl O'Conner are managing this process. Several institutions have selected institutional teams. Those teams will be key liaisons with eXtension. If your Extension Director/Administrator hasn't chosen a team, encourage them to do so. eXtension will be meeting with these teams to develop the Frequently Asked Questions Initiative. This will be a system to identify the top 10 most frequently asked questions to be a resource for agents and help identify the Communities of Interest. Please encourage participation in these teams. Terry Meisenbach, our new Head of Communications for eXtension, will be working on a 60% FTE contract from CSREES. We are heavily involved in CECP. This project is alive and well. Remember, CECP is internal-it's for our internal training-and eXtension is for our external constituents. Task Force Reports
Ed raised the question of whether or not these groups need to continue.
- CES Leadership. Paul Warner and his team finished the full report. PLC decided to declare this project complete
- Obesity. The group listed a number of obesity initiatives and state and regional programs that have come out of this organization's leadership in this area. It seems that the intent of the task force was accomplished with the obesity conference. However, the issue of obesity will continue to be a large effort and this task force may be called upon to organize future efforts.
The committee decided to come back to this issue during the Wednesday morning meeting. They agreed they should not let it drop.Committee Reports
- Agriculture and Natural Resources - Tim Cross and Louis Rivers reported that ANR is working on four CECP modules. They will be revising their work plan this week and will meet with the IT group. Jimmy Henning said that Carrie Casteel at LSU will be demonstrating tri-state Master Farmer Program she has been coordinating.
Communications - Gloria Mosby said they will be addressing the PLN logo issue in their meeting. Garvin Quinn added that they will be revising their annual work plan, reviewing taxonomies and current CECP modules, and Terry Meisenbach from CSREES will be here to talk about the role of Communication in Extension. Communications will be meeting jointly with IT at some point in the schedule this week. Another issue Communications will be addressing is Spanish language materials.
Community Resource Development - Charles Shepphard reported that CD has met regularly over the past eight months via conference calls. On-going issues being discussed are core competencies, NACDEP (National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals), and CECP module development. CD certification is one of the immediate issues they will be discussing this week. They hope to update and finalize these recommendations. The committee is looking at regional strategic planning through the SRDC. They will update and finalize their annual plan of work which will include organizing some CD leader trips to Washington, DC this year.
Family and Consumer Sciences - Jean Balwin said that FCS CECP module development is going strong. The committee met in Atlanta this year to discuss module development and over 40 people were in attendance. Specialists across the country are being contacted to help with this project.FCS worked jointly with 4-H on the obesity conference this past February in Orlando. Each state developed an action plan as a result of this meeting. These are listed on the FCS website. They will be working again with 4-H on children's issues and Lisa McKinley from USDA will be working with the committees.
4-H - Marilyn Norman told the group that her committee is busy with CECP module development as well. They will be meeting with FCS on obesity issues and other joint projects as time goes on.
IT - Nina Boston reported that IT is looking at various CECP module topics: reporting systems, content management, collaborative tools, and data standards to name a few.
MM - Kent Rorie, Dan Lyons, and Tony Tyson said that the Urban representative meeting went well today. They had good participation. During the committee meeting this week, Middle Management plans to elect another PLC representative, work on the annual plan of work, and work on CECP modules. The Middle Management conference in New Orleans was a success. This is held every other year and will be held in Blacksburg, VA in 2007.
- PSD - Thelma Feaster and Debra Davis announced that PSD has completed three of four CECP modules. Issues they will be discussing this week include performance indicators, economic impact reporting, training modules, cross state training (using technology to train across state lines), and identifying stakeholder input.
Important RemindersAfter years of service to PLC, Charles Cox will be stepping down from the committee next year. He has served as a committee representative, task force member, chair-elect, chair, and past chair/Executive Committee chair. His advice to the group is to not give away your power. This group is the leadership body of PLN and must stand firm on issues it feels are important and not give its voice away to the directors/administrators.Kathy Ibendahl reported that 240 people have registered for this joint meeting. This is exciting and shows that we are getting much more involvement as time goes by. In addition, she gave the chairs folders with a list of items (such as membership list updates, action/information items, etc.) she needs from them and the dates/times they must submit these items. The group reviewed the list of those committees that must select new representatives to PLC this year. Please make sure these individuals attend Wednesday morning's meeting at 7 a.m. and the joint PLC/AEA/ASRED meeting at 10:30 a.m.The committee decided that it would hold its winter face-to-face meeting in Atlanta rather than Puerto Rico where next August's meeting will be held. This will save on travel expenses. Winter meeting dates will be determined at our Wednesday morning meeting. August's meeting will be held Sunday, August 27 - Thursday, August 31, 2006.Ed Jones talked about the Newcomers' Orientation session at 5 pm in the Calhoun Room. Everyone is asked to attend and welcome our new members. He outlined what will happen during this hour-long session.The Executive Committee will meet this evening at 6 p.m. in this room.
The meeting was adjourned at 5 p.m.