agInnovation South Mini Land-Grant Meeting Notes
Texas A&M University – May 16-18, 2022
Agenda (PDF)
Agenda Briefs (PDF), Joint Session Agenda Briefs (PDF)
agInnovation South Business Meeting
May 17, 2022
Action Items:
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| 2 | Multistate Research Committee Report –Nathan McKinney
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| 6 | agInnovation South Budget Presentation (Executive Session outcomes) – JF Meullenet
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| 7 | Program Reports
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| 8 | General Discussion Topics
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| From ARD-agInnovation South joint meeting – Gary and Alton to work on a proposal for a joint winter meeting format and will share with both organizations. | |
| From S-APS-agInnovation South joint meeting- Gary and Wendy Fink will develop a proposal for possible funding to create and support a regional student database. |
Agenda and Discussion
| 1 | Welcome and Introductions – Rob Gilbert
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| 2 | Multistate Research Committee Report –Nathan McKinney
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| 3 | Liaison Reports
Questions on “Written Only” ESCOP Committee Reports:
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| 4 | Strategic Roadmap Implementation Report – Implementation Working Groups – See PowerPoint Presentation- Strategic Roadmap Mid-Term.
General Discussion:
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| 5 | Executive Directors Report – Gary Thompson (30 minutes)- See Agenda Brief.
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| 6 | agInnovation South Budget Presentation (Executive Session Outcomes) – JF Meullenet- See PowerPoint Presentation- Budget Presentation
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| 7 | Program Reports
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| 8 | General Discussion Topics
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| 9 | Resolutions – Lesley Oliver
agInnovation South Excellence in Leadership Award Presentation – Rob Gilbert.
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| 10 | ESS Chair Engagement – Chris Pristos
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JOINT SESSIONS NOTES
ASRED-agInnovation South Joint Session
May 17, 2022
Joint Best Practices Session: Preparing and responding to severe weather disasters at RECs and local offices. Panel: Jerry Fankhauser (UF), Gary Jackson (MSU), Jamie Mathews (UKY), Mike Yoder (NCSU).
Three Focus areas: Preparation, Short-term Responses, and Long-Term responses. See PowerPoint presentation- ASRED-agInnovation South Panel.
Jerry Fankhauser
- Proper planning is a leadership effort.
- You can prepare all you want, but things change quickly.
- UF has overall university emergency plan and a “Continuity of Operations Plan.”
- Major concern is how to adequately prepare for a response
- Plans in place to move equipment to IFAS sites that are impacted.
- Protection and continuity of equipment (i.e. -80 freezers stay running to protect research)
- How to work in the field or at these affected sites is an issue?
- Since 2018, whenever there is a storm off the Florida coast, they establish a Microsoft Teams site so Extension and research can communicate and establish mobile hotspots.
Mike Yoder
- Communication with our people is key and starts pre-storm (with hurricanes).
- 4-5 days before a hurricane makes landfall they will hold daily calls, which continue until no longer necessary.
- 24 hours after disaster they expect all counties to report the status of the people and facilities.
- Work with state emergency management teams, mostly on communications. County emergency managers often have their own plans that involve Cooperative Extension.
- IS-100 (Introduction to the Incident Command System) and IS-700A (National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction) FEMA training is requested.
- EDEN – Extension Disaster Education Network.
- Helps prepare for, respond or mitigate disasters
- Short-term
- Resource dashboard is very beneficial
- Response notes- EDEN representatives in every state complete the daily response notes indicating what is the state doing in response to the disaster. NIFA uses the response notes to keep track of responses to disasters. Key to ensure someone is filling those out daily!
Jamie Matthews
- Reminder that disasters are first and foremost about “people” and communication.
- People are hurting and angry at the situation. Mental Health resources are important.
- Most people know Extension and they want to communicate with people they know.
- One issue is managing all the “help” people want to give.
- Operations after the initial disaster can be a problem. How to spend the money can be an issue. Insurance issues take time to navigate.
- Want to rebuild back better but may be difficult to navigate with insurance settlements.
Gary Jackson
- Southern region deals with a lot of natural disasters.
- Pandemic is an emergency management operation as well.
- Need disaster education professionals on your Extension faculty and staff.
- Assist in making decisions
- Help writing the continuity plan
- Certified nationally in incident command
- Need well-defined roles in the state and federal system emergency management operations.
- Other state agencies understand that trained Extension staff play critical role. Mississippi State Extension roles include:
- Education and certification (number one role)
- Agriculture/forestry damage assessments
- Animal recovery
- Human shelters, nutrition, and health.
General Discussion
- All had different experiences with state disaster management. Making that a meaningful engagement starts with developing university relationships with county commissioners
- What are the emergency plans for the release of pathogenic materials or data that hasn’t been released yet?
- Knowledge where BSL 2 or 3 labs are located is important and having appropriate PPE etc. ready to address needs. Loss of data is a problem. Ability to move generators to keep -80s running is essential.
- Use 4H camps as a base of operations. Research and Extension work very closely to protect communities and people.
- Director of facilities is key person. Get press releases out early.
- We are at high-risk with all the basic research that is happening in coastal areas.
- Communicate with research sponsors who will want to know if facilities are going to be functional next year?
- Inventory of equipment and data. Is data in a printed only format? Key word is redundancy for data. Don’t neglect personal effects in the inventory.
- Continuity plan of your organization defines how everyone should respond.
- Where is the command center located?
- Where are the server files backed up?
- Who is in charge if the center director is unavailable or harmed in the storm?
- Must have a communication expert as part of your professional team for disasters.
- Insurance often requires you to build back exactly where and how it was before even if it doesn’t make sense.
- Your “experts” often learn on the job. EDEN, FEMA, and EMI (Emergency Management Institute) offer training. Disaster training should be up to every Extension professional.
Leadership Engagement – Kevin Kephart (NIFA), Doug Steele (APLU BAA), Bridget Krieger (LBA)
NIFA Update – Kevin Kephart, Deputy Director, Institute of Bioenergy, Climate, and Environment, USDA/NIFA
- Staff changes continue with the top three administrative positions are currently “acting” staff designations.
- NIFA facilities in Kansas City: most people are still working remotely. Anticipate visitors will be allowed to visit the NIFA headquarters this summer.
- Zoom review of proposals is going well and may continue for the foreseeable future.
- Application deadline standardization is ongoing.
- Planning a climate summit this fall to establish a dialogue within the community with the goal of developing a roadmap for NIFA on climate issues by the end of the federal fiscal year.
BAA Initiatives Updates and Comments – Doug Steele, Vice President for Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources, APLU
- Mark Becker, former President of Georgia State University has been named next President at APLU.
- Staff have returned to work at the new offices on an abbreviated schedule. Private offices will be available for people visiting DC and needing a place to temporarily work.
- Three general sessions at the Joint COPs meeting will be open for everyone to attend.
- FANR Focus comes out the first week of every month. Let Doug know if you are not receiving it in your email.
Budget Update and Discussion – Bridget Krieger, Senior Principal, Lewis-Burke Associates
- Lewis-Burke Associates is a government relations firm that has been in DC for about 30 years.
- Represent only research universities, math, science, and health care entities. Very specialized in that realm.
- Please feel free to reach out. They are in the initial learning process and will be for a while.
- FY22 appropriations were completed in March and FY23 came up 3-weeks later. Lots of dual tracking right now. Some growth in our accounts, but not enough. There is no new money.
- Next year work will proceed in earnest on the farm bill. Will be asking everyone to weigh in, but Arkansas folks specifically to talk to Senator Boozman.
- A LOT of new staffers on capitol hill that will require considerable education about the system. Most have limited to no knowledge of the Land-grant universities and functions of the experiment stations and Extension.
CARET-agInnovation South Joint Lunch Session
May 17, 2022
- Introductions
- CARET Strategic Plan reviewed (in Agenda Briefs)
- Open discussion
- What does CARET need from us collectively? How can we best help them carry our message to the people who make decisions on the hill?
- Communication- they need information in a digestible format. Too often our impacts are not written to be understood by the general public.
ARD-agInnovation South Joint Session Notes
May 19, 2022
Research program relationships in South Carolina – Dr. Louis Whitesides and Dr. Paula Agudelo
Past Experiences…laid the foundation
Intentional relationships rely on:
- True communications – equal partners…sharing cell phone numbers
- “If they don’t have your cell phone number, they aren’t your true partner”
- Intentional discussions about past relationships and funding histories
- Joint visits to congress and state legislature
- Joint, mutually agreed upon messaging, “one band, one sound”
- Communication message is “Land-grant”
- Complementarity of programs rather than competitive
- Collaborations on grants is deliberate…administrative priority and requires faculty education
- New & Beginning Farmers programs and SARE offer opportunities
- Find common ground and submit projects together focusing on complementarity
- NRCS Climate Smart Commodities proposal was a significant step forward in breaking the ice
Present Experiences
- Communication is always a work in progress
- Common state appropriations request to meet the needs of the “Land-grant System”
- Joint meetings held between university administrators and legislative staff
- Provides opportunities to discuss the “ask” with staffers well ahead of final decisions
- Schedule joint legislative meetings with the Ag Commission in South Carolina (advocacy group)
Future Aspirations
- Faculty and student exchanges
- Joint appointments at Research and Extension Centers
- Co-location of researchers
- Leadership development programs
- Exchange faculty profiles and interests/expertise along with matching complementary faculty
General Discussion: Proactive Steps to Build Strategic Partnerships
- This is the first formal meeting that our two associations… this is the time for change
- How can we engage on larger-scale activities? How can we facilitate work as a region?
- Multistate and intrastate relationships
- “communications lead to relationships which lead to trust which lead to resources”
- Support for reciprocal liaisons
- Moses Kairo (University of Maryland Eastern Shore) proposed as the first ARD liaison to agInnovation South then rotate
- agInnovation South will propose director to be a liaison to ARD
- Support for a Joint ARD-agInnovation South Winter Meeting
- Focus on our research interactions as a region
- Co-convene with CARET-AHS was proposed but concern expressed about keeping the focus on the joint meeting
- Alternating in-person and virtual meetings was proposed with in-person scheduled for opposite years from the ARD research symposium meeting.
- Gary and Alton to work on an agenda together to share with the group
- Relationship design strategy
- Consider what is to be accomplished and what collaborative resources are available
- Strategically collaborate to facilitate connections
- Consider existing successful models to develop and fund collaborations
- Florida State model for state-funded collaborative projects through the Alabama Agricultural Legislative Alliance
- Need to ensure the relationships don’t fizzle out after a few years
- Record the genealogy of collaborative relationships and efforts
- Continual education of new Directors and faculty about the importance of partnerships (include during faculty on-boarding)
S-APS – agInnovation South Joint Session
May 19, 2022
Joint Best Practices Session: Building the Pipeline from Undergraduate to Graduate Studies. See PowerPoint presentation of two student pipeline case studies- APS□agInnovation South. (Note: Pathways may be a more appropriate term than pipeline)
- Need to address the barriers. Tennessee State University (TSU) and Vanderbilt created the “Earth Horizons” program that is team taught between Geography and Forestry.
- Aim to strengthen the pathway for minority students entering geoscience graduate programs to address social, economic and environmental issues are informed by the geosciences including natural disasters, public health, resource management and climate change.
- Brought in speakers who could relate directly to the students “looked like them.”
- Students of color from urban areas often know nothing about Ag, so need to introduce concepts at an earlier age.
- Need to introduce the principles of Graduate School early in an undergraduate student’s career (freshman/sophomore).
Internships and other programs
- HBCU Summit at Virginia Tech – Graduate school comes to the colleges.
- Faculty are asked to bring 2 students, which has resulted in student recruitment and enhanced collaborations between faculty.
- “Deans Scholars programs” and “Research Scholar programs” so students get 4 years of research experience with an expectation that they present at a conference.
- Success partnering with Extension for internships.
- Undergraduate research internship program at the University of Florida is available in the summer and spring/fall semesters.
- To disseminate information about these internships and other programs, send to the Academic Programs as they are connected to academic advisors and faculty.
- Coordinate with Gary who can coordinate with Wendy Fink.
- Faculty academic advisors at the University of Florida are following a more “career coach” model.
- They also have professional advisors helping students with the day-to-day.
- Faculty can be a key person to connect students with professional opportunities.
- Research and Extension Experiential Learning for Undergraduates (REEUs)
- How do we institutionalize the concept?
- Oklahoma State University – REEU-type projects are being expanded as a regular part of the university through internally funded REEU projects.
- University of Florida – Has incorporated professional development aspects into a cohort-based internally funded REU.
- College of Engineering is the major player providing $5K for students.
- Had a difficult time recruiting Ag students into the program so they stopped participating.
- College of Engineering started an undergraduate database where students interested in graduate school at any engineering school in the country that participates in this program can submit information (self-reported by students).
- Rich recruiting database that could be developed in other disciplines to attract graduate students or to be part of an REEU.
- University of Florida has a database of potential graduate students they can mine, but it isn’t quite as powerful as when connecting like universities.
Action Item: S-APS and agInnovation South to look at possible funding to create and support this a regional student database. Wendy and Gary to work on this.
- Industry internships appear to be a priority with legislatures (training the workforce).
ASRED Report to the agInnovation South
May 2022
(Not included in the meeting agenda briefs)
AHS Data Collection Question
- The Southern Region Administrative Heads have proposed initiation of a regional database related to personnel, programs and budgets. ASRED members agreed that this could be useful, and it must be well-defined. ASRED suggested that data collection be every 2 or 3 years rather than annually. Directors also would like to have a representative on the planning committee. Currently, it is difficult to find appropriate comparative data when comparing institutions or when an administrative head needs to advocate for resources to enhance a particular area.
National Academies Report Responses (Regional response was provided by April 29)– ECOP Chair, Wendy Powers asked for regional responses. Directors are asked to go to https://nap.nationalacademies.org/land-grant-collaboration/form/ to review the report and respond on the form as well as provide comments to Ron Brown for a regional response to ECOP by April 29. Following questions may facilitate thoughts and responses.
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- What is your initial reaction?
- What is missing in this report, with explanation why it should be included.
- What is good in this report and/or anything that should be stressed more?
- What increases Extension collaboration, with:
- Within and among LGUs (internal integration of Extension with other mission areas)
- With partners
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Section 1: Collaboration in the Land-Grant System
- In the 1890 and Southern regions, the Program Leadership Network (PLN) in Extension includes all 1890s and 1862s and is organized around 8 standing committees. Leadership for this overall effort and most of the 8 committees alternates annually between 1862 and 1890 institutions. The PLN (http://srpln.msstate.edu/) provides for multistate and multi-institutional cooperation in Extension programming, with each of the 8 committees having annual multi-institutional plans of work.
- In addition to multistate research, there are Extension and Research groups (known in the Southern Region as SERAs or Southern Extension and Research Activities) in multiple subject or issue areas that involve faculty from multiple institutions from both a research and Extension perspective, including 1862s and 1890s (https://saaesd.org/southern-extension-research-activities-sera/). These types of multi-function, multi-state and multi-institution groups exist in all regions of the U.S.
- In addition to SERAs, there are also groups like the Southern Region Extension committee, North Central Farm Management Extension Committee and Western Extension Committees that collaborate on regional projects, national conferences, in-service training, including Farm Bill training and more. The regional Risk Management Education Centers sometimes provide support for the committee projects and often support multi-state projects proposed through grant processes. Through academic professional associations multi-state relationships and collaborations are fostered not only among LGUs but with other institutions as well.
- An example of national-level multistate and multi-institutional collaboration is the ECOP-supported Program Action Teams. Currently there are teams in the following areas: Climate, Workforce Development, Urban Agriculture, 4-H Youth Development, DEI, Health Equity and Well-Being, and Broadband Infrastructure Access and Literacy. Team members include faculty from 1862, 1890 and 1994 institutions throughout the US, as well as non-university partner groups.
Section 2: The Rationale for Collaboration
- A key component is also collaboration among scientists from different colleges (engineering, sciences, medicine, veterinary medicine, etc.) within the same institution. This brings expertise to a college of agriculture that may not normally be within the existing faculty.
- Both the various SERAs and the multiple PLN committees, mentioned above, allow for reducing duplication and redundancy of effort, reducing costs and benefitting from the diverse mixture of faculty talent. Often strengths at one institution can cover for weaknesses at another.
Section 3: Barriers to Collaboration and Ideas for Overcoming Them
- The report in this section identifies some real barriers to collaboration, including inequities, institutional culture and policies, and time commitments of faculty. Examples of successful and sustained cooperation/collaboration, however, raise the question of how and whether type of funding impacts sustainable collaboration. The authors of this report might be justified in exploring whether there is significant advantage to cooperation/collaboration in capacity funding over competitive funding. Sustained and beneficial cooperation in the Southern region, for example in the PLN, depends on capacity funds. Dependable funding promotes a sustainable infrastructure where collaboration is planned and on-going, as opposed to a start and stop exercise.
- Based on changing budget situations, the following statement from the report is true also in many 1862 institutions: In 1890 and 1994 institutions, fewer faculty members are generally available to share teaching, research, and extension responsibilities.
- In understaffed units, having temporary funds from indirect costs for additional support is of limited value in sustainable collaboration.
Section 4: Amplifying and Communicating the Impacts and Outcomes of Collaboration
- The National Impacts Database (https://landgrantimpacts.org/) includes impact statements from both research and Extension Land-Grant programs and is supported by ECOP and ESCOP. This database is being improved on a continuing basis and is expected to become closely aligned with the APLU BAA Communications and Marketing Committee.
- There are also examples of multi-institutional and multi-functional planning and reporting (to NIFA) of 1862 and 1890 institutions.
- The national EFNEP leadership team is another example of multi-institutional cooperation that has some success in using common indicators to report on collaborative impacts.
- Good communications and commitment to work together at the highest levels as well as at the working level influence the nature of collaboration. Accountability in the process from the beginning when there are collaborative efforts, shared recognition and sufficient funding and time to accomplish the goals promote effective collaboration.
- In communicating impacts, there is a need for institutions to demonstrate their individual relevance and significance in order to maintain state funding. State legislators and constituency groups value what gets done in and for their state.
County-based staffing of 1890 LGUs
- ASRED Chair Rich Bonanno commented on a recent poll related to this topic. It will be placed on upcoming agendas for follow up discussion.
Follow-up of 1862/1890 Dialogue & the CTRU Program (from Rachel Welborn of the SRDC)
- ASRED Directors agreed that CTRU training for middle managers from different institutions would be helpful. This same action idea surfaced as a need in last week’s Coming Together state team call. The states believe this would help mid-managers understand the dialogue more completely so they can better support county level conversations and involvement of county agents/educators. Ron Brown will contact the SRDC.
Key Ideas Discussed at the Action Forum
SNAP-ED FUNDING
- Advocate for all LGUs to receive SNAP-Ed funding to support nutrition education efforts to reach SNAP eligible audiences
- Work together to increase funding for SNAP-Ed for all 1862 and 1890 LGUs in our region
TRAINING/LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- CTRU training for middle managers from different institutions
- Create a regional leadership opportunity for Southern/1890 Region, similar to North Central National Extension Leadership Development to meet the specific needs of the region.
RECRUITMENT/RETENTION/ADVANCEMENT OF DIVERSE STAFF AT ALL LEVELS
- Assessment of our efforts relative to diversity
- Proactively recruit diverse people to Extension positions
STRATEGIC PLANNING – VISIONING (not selected for exploring during the Action Forum)
- Develop a vision, focus area, and plan as a Southern Region (goals, priorities, key steps, timelines)
- AEA/ASRED task the PLN committees in the Southern Region to develop action plans related to equity and inclusion for Administrators and Directors
- 1890 and Southern Region Land Grant NUEL leadership accepted state proposals to host the 2024 National Urban Extension Conference.
Other Items
- ASRED Directors discussed Language Access Plans. Review of institutional programs is underway with regards to language services.
- Civil Rights Reviews will be placed on the upcoming agendas. Ron Brown will poll to determine when each institution last had and next expect a CR review.
- ASRED members discussed the issue of definitions of Cooperative Extension, Extension, Engagement and Outreach and how these words and definitions impact structure, roles, assignments, funding and opportunities at the university level, particularly as related to the broader university outreach functions. A consensus definition of these terms may be helpful in our work with partners and administrators. Laura Stephenson, Tom Dobbins, Damona Doye, Ron Brown and Laura Johnson are assigned committee to draft definitions of the terms.
- DEI Needs – a review of current in-service training programs will be conducted. Experiment Station and Extension Directors collaborated on identifying DEI Points of Contact at each institution.
- As ECOP’s representative on the National ECOP 4-H Leadership Committee, Laura Stephenson announced and congratulated Ed Jones as the new Committee Executive Director. Ed will continue as Director at Virginia Tech until a successor is named.
Upcoming Dates
- June 10 – ASRED Monthly Meeting
- July 10 – ASRED Monthly Meeting
- July 19-21 – Joint COPs meeting is being planned as an in-person meeting at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington DC
- Aug 22-25 Joint PLN/AEA/ASRED in Texas, Oct 14
- September 25-28 – National Extension Director and Administrator (NEDA) meeting is planned, jointly with Experiment Station Directors, for Baltimore, MD at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel.