FOCUS ON STAFF:
I would like to welcome Kristin Horn , Accounting Specialist, to the Extension Administration offices. After Danielle Charbonneau pursued other opportunities, Kristin became the successful candidate. Her first day was yesterday, May 19. She will provide accounting and bookkeeping support for the Cochise and Navajo County Extension offices and her position in supported by county funding.
FOCUS ON PROGRAMS:
- The Community Vitality Initiative working group is assessing aspects of Community Development work in Arizona Extension. Within the next couple of days Extension Agents and Specialists will receive an email with a link to an on-line survey. This survey will take approximately ten minutes to complete. "Community Development" refers to those efforts that involve and enable residents to be a part of the decision-making processes that lead to social and economic development within their communities. The information obtained from this survey will help the CVI working group develop training opportunities. No identifying information will be used and all reports will contain only group-level results. If you have any questions, contact Dan McDonald (520.626.5161).
- The UA Water Sustainability Competitive Grant Program for FY09 has funded 16 projects - 10 of which are led by investigators in CALS: 1) Impact of Temperature and Precipitation Events on Recreational Water Quality in the State of Arizona - Kelly Bright and Chuck Gerba (SWES); 2) Simple Techniques for Backyard Water Harvesting: An Online Instruction Module - Theresa Crimmins and Katherine Waser (OALS); 3) Use of Secondarily Treated Wastewater and Ground Water in Algae Photobioreactors for Biofuel Production - Joel Cuello (ABE); 4) Rainwater Harvesting Certificate Program and Demonstration Project - Cado Daily (Cochise County Extension), Candice Rupprecht (Master Watershed Stewards) and Cynthia Warzecha (Coconino County Extension); 5) Detection and Intervention of Vulnerable Tap Water Via Customer Surveillance and Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring - Ian Pepper (SWES); 6) Seasonal Reclaimed Water Quality: An Assessment of Nutrient, Chemical and Biological Variability - Channah Rock and James Walworth (SWES); 7) Preliminary Evaluation of Antibiotic and Illicit Drug Contaminants in the Colorado River and Their Potential for Food Chain Transfer- Charles Sanchez (Yuma Ag Center); 8) Optimum and Minimum Irrigation Requirements of Landscape Trees - Ursula Schuch (Plant Sciences), Ed Martin (Maricopa Ag Center) and Rick Gibson (Pinal County Extension); 9) Science Education That Makes a Difference - through Inspired Teacher Leaders - Kerry Schwartz (Ag Education/WRRC); and 10) Ground Water Age Dating for Water Budget Development in the Show Low Watershed, Navajo County - Kristine Uhlman (WRRC) and Steve Campbell (Navajo County Extension).
PROGRAM FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES:
For fiscal year 2008-09, there are two opportunities for Extension funding -- Working Groups and State Initiatives. All requests for funding are due to Extension Programs by 5:00pm on Monday, June 2 . The request for proposals can be found at: http://cals.arizona.edu/internal/programs/fy08-09rfp.pdf. For questions about funding requests, contact Patti B. (520.621.5308).
FREE CALS GRANTS ALERT EMAIL SERVICE:
CALS Grants Alert is an email service to help CALS faculty, staff, and students identify potential funding sources and grants-related professional development activities. Subscription information is at the end of each issue. If you have questions or comments about “CALS Grants Alert”, email the Grants Editor. Previous issues can be viewed at: http://cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/grantsalert/ and they can be searched at http://cals.arizona.edu/aes/grants/search/. You can subscribe to this free periodical announcement service at http://cals.arizona.edu/aes/grants/subscribe . To unsubscribe, send an email to GrantsEditor@ag.arizona.edu. The subject list should be “drop from Grants Alert”. No text message is necessary.
CEAC NEWSLETTER AVAILABLE:
The Winter/Spring issue of the CEAC Newsletter is now available. The Controlled Environment Agriculture Center now distributes CEAC, their quarterly newsletter, by way of a mail list program which makes it easier to automatically subscribe, unsubscribe, and forward the newsletter link on to others. Comments, ideas, and suggestions to make this publication more useful and informative are welcome and can be directed to Connie Hackathorn.
NEW PUBLICATION:
Managing Slash to Minimize Colonization of Residual Leave Trees by Ips and Other Bark Beetle Species Following Thinning in Southwestern Ponderosa Pine by Tom DeGomez, Christopher J. Fettig, Joel D. McMillin, John A. Anhold, and Christopher Hayes.