Action Items
1. Joint Extension Service / Experiment Station Activity to Improve and Expand Multi-State and Multifunction Programs (Proposal Attached)
Information Items
1. Southern Region Program Leaders Annual Meeting
Theme: Issues to Answers: Building on Opportunities
Date: August 29, 1999 - September 1, 1999
Location: Billow, Mississippi
Registration Fee: $100
Sunday, August 29
Southern PLC Meeting
Monday, August 30
General Session: Challenges and Opportunities
Dr. Bristol, Acorn State University
Dr. Con Brown, Mississippi State University
Video Presentation: "Get On With It"
Thinking Outside the Box
Committee Meetings
Tuesday, August 31
Concurrent Sessions: Multi-State Programs that Worked
4 concurrent sessions
Emerging Issues for Multi-State Collaboration
4 to 8 concurrent sessions
Committee Meetings
Wednesday, September 1
Committee Meetings
2. Southern Region Water Quality Conference
Over 250 participants from 19 states participated in the Southern Region Extension Water Quality Conference held April 17-21, 1999, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Representative totals from each of the 13 Southern states included the following: 2--Puerto Rico, 4--Tennessee, 6--Texas, 9--Kentucky, 10--Florida, 12--Louisiana, 14--Arkansas, 15--Oklahoma, 16--South Carolina, 17--Virginia, 18--Alabama, 18--Mississippi, 22--Georgia, and 81--North Carolina. Jim Thomas, Mississippi State University, is chair of the Conference Planning Committee and Greg Jennings, North Carolina State University, served as local arrangements coordinator. The Southern Rural Development Center provided logistical support.
3. Communications / Information Technology Committee
Representatives from Information Technology have been identified by each of the 13 Southern states. These folks have been invited to participate in the joint Communications / Information Technology Committee.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Leaders
Committee Chair:
John M. O'Sullivan, North Carolina A&T State University
Informational Items:
1. Suggest Rafael Olmeda (ANR Leader- University of Puerto Rico) as Program Advisor to SERA-IEG 1 as well as the Pesticide Coordinators and Education and the Pesticide Impact Assessment Advisory Committees. This nomination is made to replace Chuck Ogburn from Auburn University who is retiring.
2. The ANR Leaders are continuing discussion of Farm Safety Virtual Center. Bill Harris, Roger Crickenberger, Ross Love and Clint Depew are providing leadership. The ANR leaders are expecting to proceed with this concept and develop a plan to do so.
3. Image Enhancement. It was pointed out that many states are not reporting success stories of CES in ways that really show all the important and credible work being done by Extension. The national database at Purdue has evolved and could be an important forum in which successes can be presented to key stakeholders. These need to be filtered and sorted so as to really have an impact. Examples of ways of doing it right will be shared at the Biloxi meeting.
4. The Southern Region ANR is exploring the idea of hosting a national conference on Sustainable Communities/ Smart Growth sometime in 2000. Issues of off-farm employment, rural communities, agriculture change and implications for CES programming are the focus of the discussion of the proposed conference. Curtis Absher is the chair of a subcommittee with David Holder and Greg Crosby, both of CSREES, Bo Beaulieu and Bonnie Teater both of the SRDC, as well John O'Sullivan. The subcommittee will meet this summer at the PLC meeting in August in Biloxi to develop a proposal to bring to the ANR committee.
5. SERA-IEGS. These were discussed in terms of multistate programming efforts. These are essentially information exchange groups and so have not reported outcomes or impacts. Discussions will continue in Biloxi at the PLC meeting both in terms of the SERA-IEGs and in terms of multistate programming. Michael Ouart discussed a Master Gardener and Home Horticulture Program about which a meeting was held at the February SAAS conference as a potential new multistate collaboration. It will be part of the Biloxi meeting discussion.
6. Small Farm Program. We had a short discussion of the national Small Farm Program. The national Small Farm Conference is scheduled for October 13-15 with several people planning on attending. There was a brief discussion of the Time to Act Report and the follow-up report card. It seems that a substantive discussion of the definition of the Small Farm audience as served by both 1862 and 1890 institutions with their separate program focus and collaborative partnership is needed. That discussion should include the 1890 community in greater numbers than were present at the spring meeting.
7. Sustainable Agriculture. Several institutions have not spent money that was allocated to them in 1996 and therefore the money will be lost if not spent by September 30, 1999. The Professional Development Project Sustainable agriculture Regional Soil Project will be held the third week in September in Raleigh NC. The Annual Meeting will beheld at Jekyll Island GA with the Southern SAWG (sustainable agriculture working group) on January 20-21, 2000.
8. Upcoming meetings of note: The national ANR Leadership meeting will be held in San Antonio Texas, March 27-29, 2000. It will supersede and be the site for the Southern Regional ANR Leaders Meeting. The NACAA will meet in Omaha NE on September 12-16, 1999. The NACAA will meet in Jackson MS on August 6-10, 2000.
Family and Consumer Sciences
Committee Chair:
Gina E. Eubanks, Southern University Cooperative Extension Program
Action Items:
1. The Family and Consumer Sciences Program Leaders Committee requests the name of the administrative advisory to this group from the Directors.
2. The Accountability Workshop has provided the opportunity for state teams to explore and expand accountability efforts in designated focus areas of nutrition and parenting. The Family and Consumer Sciences/Program Leaders (FCS/PL) request support to continue our efforts with accountability in the form of a midyear meeting. The purposed areas for state teams to develop accountability are health and family finances.
3. A discussion by FCS/PL about new National Initiatives (Health and Child Care) prompted the following request of Director's support concerning the monetary start-up of the initiatives, such as team building (conference calls) and promotional/marketing (fact sheets and brochures).
Informational Items:
1. Monthly conference calls are held with the four FCS regional chairs, National Extension Association for Family and Consumer Sciences (NEAFCS), President and Anna Mae Kobbe, National Program Leader. The purpose of the conference calls are to discuss national FCS opportunities and challenges and to share regional plans.
2. A major emphasis for the Family and Consumer Sciences Agenda at the Joint Southern Region Program Committee Meeting in Mississippi will be Multi-State, Multifunctional and Multidisciplinary Programs.
3. Pat Sobero (Tennessee) and Carolyn Carter (Louisiana) provided the leadership for the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Pre-Conference for all regions. The conference provided an opportunity to establish networks for increased communication among administrators/project leaders.
4-H Youth Development
Committee Chair:
Susan Holder, Mississippi State University
Information Items:
1. Charles Cox reported that the 4-H curriculum contacts voted by roll call to disband the S.R. curriculum fund. The recommendation is to dissolve the fund, but to maintain the committee. Mike Davis, NC moved that the state 4-H leaders support the recommendation to dissolve the fund, return monies to the states at the level contributed recognize the Southern Region Curriculum Committee for their outstanding efforts. The work of specialists, the leverage of the CMS funds and the curriculum that has been developed is excellent. Damon seconded the motion. The motion carried.
2. National State 4-H Leaders Meeting is April 14-17. Meetings will be at the National 4-H Center and the hotel facility is 8 miles from center.
3. The "Partnership/Leadership" meeting was held. Bo Ryles represented the SR. Several items concerning relationships between State 4-H Leaders, USDA/CREES, and National 4-H Council were discussed for presentation at the April meeting of all State Leaders.
4. National Impact Study - 2 Southern States piloted instrumentation and process - Georgia and Texas; 3 are random states from project: Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Puerto Rico.
5. Discussion of Philip Morris funding for National 4-H Council was discussed.
6. The Triennial Conference in Williamsburg for 4-H specialists and administrators was excellent. 106 persons attended and the evaluations rated the program as well planned, very diverse in interest and meeting the needs of the broad research and programmatic needs of the specialist in the South. Our special thanks to Virginia and the wonderful job they did in hosting the event!
Middle Management
Committee Chair:
Susan Lyday, North Carolina University
Action Items:
1. Clarify and communicate to states who should attend the Southern Region PLC Middle Management Committee and the length of appointment according guidelines in the PLC Constitution.
Rational: Three year appointments of representatives to the Middle Management Program Committee from each state institution will provide consistency in understanding the goals of the Program and Leadership Committee. There is a need to discuss and clarify the appropriate participation in the Middle Managers Committee at the Program and Leadership Committee taking in consideration the role and responsibilities of this group in the different states and institutions. There may be a need to encourage the option of participation in program areas consistent with the job/position of the middle managers who are selected to represent their institutions. This clarification will provide direction to the Middle Management Program Committee in planning and conducting their committee agenda..
2. Year 2001 Middle Management Conference Proposal Attached
Informational Items:
Mississippi hosted the Southern Region Extension Middle Management Conference in Biloxi on March 1-4. 130 person attended from thirteen southern region states. The theme for the conference was "Transformational Leadership...Journey into the 21st Century." Speakers addressed leadership, collaboration, urban programs and role of middle managers. Workshops highlighted programs and issues pertaining to middle managers. The evaluations and financial statement have been completed and sent to the middle-management list serve group. The comments from the participants indicated that the conference was excellent. Plans are underway to submit a proposal for having a similar meeting in 2002.
Program Committee for Conference:
| Rosalie Bivin, Louisiana | Dan Jones, Mississippi |
| Severn C. Doughty, Louisiana | Russell King, North Carolina |
| Helen Brooks, Mississippi | Susan Lyday, North Carolina |
| Fred Custis, Virginia | Patrick Morgan, Mississippi |
| Mitch Flitchum, Florida | Charlene Jacobs, Kentucky |
| Bonnie Teater, Southern Region Development Center |
Regional Conference Proposal
Title:
2001 Southern Region Middle Management Conference
Justification:
Cooperative Extension Service Middle Managers play a critical organizational role as they carry out the goals of upper administration while representing the needs and concerns of county staff. The effectiveness with which they manage and motivate staff impacts program accomplishments and end results. Most states have very little formal training for this level of management of personnel. The training proposed by the Southern Region Middle Management Committee, through PLC, fills a definite educational void identified by this group. It also offers an excellent avenue for networking with other professional expressing similar problems and concerns.
Objectives and Expected Outcome:
100 Middle Managers representing 1862 and 1890 Extension, will:
-enhance basic management skills
-network with and learn from top management authorities in the region
-network and build a support base with co-workers from throughout the Southern Region
-share expertise within the Southern Region
-secure up-to-date management information and identify resources to extend training in home states
Proposed Product:
2001 Southern Region Middle Management Conference, to be hosted in South Carolina.
Time Line:
Early March, 2001, Monday evening through Thursday noon
Suggested Membership:
Southern Region Middle Manager, 1862 and 1890 Extension Middle Management representatives from states in adjoining region will also be invited.
Evaluation:
The 1997 Conference evaluation and a survey of Mid Managers was used in developing topics and soliciting speakers for the 1999 Conference. The same process will be utilized for the 2001. The 1999 Conference evaluation and a survey of current mid-managers will be conducted early in 2000 will be used for program topics. These suggestions will be prioritized and utilized in developing the meeting agenda. A comprehensive evaluation will be developed for the 2001 conference to ensure we are meeting middle management needs.
Funding:
Individual states will pay expenses of delegates, including a $150 registration fee.