Volume 22, Number 17 – Aug. 21, 2007

In This Issue

Not Much Time Left for Excellence Award Nominations
New 4-H Blog Browsed by 2,000 Readers
FSE Mobile Fire Training Unit a Hit in State and Beyond
Economic Development Global and Local for Trace Gale
Use 4-H Brand Network's National 4-H Week Downloads
Directory Update
Meeting Notes
People and Places
Important Program Planning and Reporting Dates for 2007

Not Much Time Left for Excellence Award Nominations

The deadline for nominating yourself or your peers for a WVU Extension Service Award of Excellence is almost here—Thursday, Sept. 6.

You may access the nomination forms and descriptions of award criteria by going to the opening page of WVU Extension’s intranet (http://intranet.ext.wvu.edu); select the blue ribbon on the left side of the page. The nomination forms are available in both Word and PDF formats.

Nominators should pay careful attention to each category’s criteria to ensure that people and teams are nominated in the appropriate categories. Awards are given in the following categories:

Diversity Programming
Individual Program
Team Program
New Program(s)
New Employee
Individual Faculty Performance
Individual Staff Performance
Professional Improvement
Unit Performance

Application and nomination forms for the researcher awards and the Howard Shriver professional development awards are also available at that intranet site.

Send completed nominations for all awards to:
Chair, Recognition Committee
West Virginia University Extension Service
c/o Marsha Price
614 Knapp Hall
Morgantown WV 26506-6031
Fax: 304-293-7599
MLPrice@mail.wvu.edu

The recognition committee will screen nominations for the Excellence Awards and forward its recommendations to the Associate Provost, who will make the final selections.

If you have questions, contact Larry Campbell, committee chair, at (304) 624-8650; or LGCampbell@mail.wvu.edu. Other committee members also can answer questions. Their names are listed on the intranet’s recognition program site as are notes about past winners.

New 4-H Blog Browsed by 2,000 Readers

You can keep in touch with WVU 4-H by going online (http://4h.blogs.wvu.edu/) to read “Voices and Echoes of West Virginia 4-H,” the 4-H blog. Written primarily by West Virginia 4-H teens, the blog highlights WVU 4-H activities and experiences throughout the year. The blog’s most recent posts highlight 4-H activities at the West Virginia State Fair.

The blog launched in mid-June at Older 4-H Members’ Conference. It currently features 44 articles by a team of seven 4-H student and staff authors. Since its debut, more than 2,000 readers from 43 U.S. states have browsed the blog.

Readers are welcomed and encouraged to voice their own echo by commenting on blog posts and their own special 4-H memories. At the bottom of each blog post is a “Reply to Article” button that readers can click to share their own feelings and thoughts. Readers also can view others’ comments.

Ann Berry, Claire Brown, Chad Higgins, Wes Nugent, and Jeff Orndorff helped launch the blog with assistance from WVU Web Services staff. For more information about the blog, contact Claire Brown or Wes Nugent.

FSE Mobile Fire Training Unit a Hit in State and Beyond

Fire Service Extension (FSE) continues to make the news nearly every week as it takes the two-story, 53-foot-long Mobile Fire Training Unit throughout the state. Last week, visitors to the State Fair could tour the unit. FSE has trained about 300 volunteer and career firefighters with the unit since its arrival in May.

To date, training has been done at the following sites: Winfield, Fayetteville, Wheeling, New Martinsville, Huntington, Grafton, and Beckley, along with the State Fire School in Morgantown and the Junior Firefighter Camp at WVU Jackson’s Mill.

The unit will visit several other West Virginia locations this fall. It also will appear at the North American Fire Training Directors Conference in Concord, N.H., next month.

FSE’s Aircraft Rescue Firefighting Training Unit also is being used in the state and surrounding areas. It’s been in Cumberland and Hagerstown, Md.; Columbus, Ohio; and in these West Virginia cities: Lewisburg, Wheeling, Martinsburg, Beckley, Charleston, and the Junior Firefighter Camp at WVU Jackson’s Mill. In September, it is scheduled to be in Huntington and Parkersburg.

FSE’s training has garnered much newspaper and television coverage. WBOY-TV had two on-the-scene reports from the Junior Firefighter Camp. Here’s the link to the Aug. 14 account (www.wboytv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=27587). On Aug. 9, WHAG-TV in Hagerstown featured aircraft rescue training conducted by Bill Keller (http://your4state.com/content/fulltext/?cid=12736)

Economic Development Global and Local for Trace Gale

If you heard or read President David C. Hardesty’s State of the University address in June, you may not have recognized the unnamed graduate student whom he acknowledged for her economic development program in Chile.

Trace Gale’s “doc student” status has changed, but her interest in Chile has not. She is continuing her economic development work there as an assistant professor with WVU Extension’s Community and Economic Workforce Development programs.

Saturday (Aug. 18), Trace returned to Chile as the guest of the Chilean Development Corporation (a government agency). Besides presenting her research on tourism as a sustainable livelihood for residents of the region, she will also talk about her WVU courses’ focus on sustainable development and their experiential components.

Before Trace returns to Morgantown on Aug. 26, she will have worked with scholars representing universities, nonprofit organizations, and private industries from around the world.

In December, she will head to Chile again. This time she will lead a diverse group of WVU undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in her new course: Leadership of Livelihood Entrepreneurialism. More details about the course will be available soon, including how her students will apply their skills in West Virginia after they return from Chile.

Use 4-H Brand Network's National 4-H Week Downloads

It’s time to begin planning for National 4-H Week, Oct. 7-13, 2007. The first materials for the special week are now available on the Web (www.4-HBrandNetwork.org).

Bookmarks, print ads, and posters showcasing 4-H’s great work in science, engineering, and technology programs are ready for you to download. Keep checking that Web site because more marketing materials will be posted later, including a brochure, certificates, placemats, and Web banners.

Directory Update …

… The WVU Extension Office in Charleston recently moved. The new address for mail delivery is WVU Extension Service, PO Box 18410, South Charleston WV 25303. The individual’s name also should be included on the envelope. The physical location for deliveries and visits is WVU Extension Service, Building 740, 3200/3300 Kanawha Turnpike, South Charleston WV 25303. Check WVU Extension’s online directory at the end of August for each employee’s room number and phone number.

Meeting Notes . . .

… Vegetable producers and Master Gardeners are invited to participate in a free educational session at Pam and Kirk West’s farm near Lewisburg from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23. The Wests will share the results of their on-farm research project comparing high-tunnel cultivation to field production of heirloom tomato varieties. The farmers received a 2007 specialty crops grant from the W.Va. Department of Agriculture to conduct the project. WVU Extension faculty will discuss several topics during the evening. John McCutcheon will cover gardening for local markets and home use. Brian Wickline will talk about local collaborative marketing efforts. The economics of high-tunnel production and field production methods will be discussed by Tom McConnell. “Trends in Raising Vegetables or Raising ‘Trendy’ Veggies” is the topic of Lewis Jett, who will reveal some “discoveries” he’s made at farmers’ markets and will answer questions about tomato diseases and pests. For more information, contact the Greenbrier County WVU Extension Service Office at (304) 647-7408.

People and Places . . .

… Faculty and Staff Changes

Aug. 1 was the first day on the job for Rebecca Bailey, nutrition outreach instructor in McDowell County. Previously, Rebecca worked as a youth coordinator for Big Creek People in Action in Caretta. She worked with high school students in community service projects and helped them become interested in attending college. She was also a student worker in the business office, computer lab, and development office at Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes, Ky. Rebecca earned her bachelor’s degree in social science from that college in 2006.

Tammy Henry joined WVU Extension Aug. 3 as a nutrition outreach instructor for Harrison County. Under the W.Va. Family Nutrition Program, Tammy will provide basic nutrition, food safety, and physical activity lessons to low-income families. For the past two years, Tammy worked as a program assistant with the WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities, where she was responsible for maintaining case loads of up to 100 people who had different disabilities. Previously, she worked for five years in various departments of Rural Options for Services and Education, including the positions of maternal and infant health outreach worker (MIHOW), family literacy coordinator, and MIHOW coordinator. Tammy studied computer science at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, N.C.

Angela Kraus began working as a nutrition outreach instructor in Braxton County Aug. 6. Previously, Angela was employed for nearly seven years as a special education teacher in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in North Carolina. Between 1991 and 1999, she was a teacher and case manager for learning-disabled students in Hampshire County. She also taught in Preston County in West Virginia and on the Blackfoot Reservation in Montana. Angela’s other employment includes working as a supervisor for Kelly Services in Wheeling and as a secretary for United Hospital Center and WVU. Among her volunteer experiences are serving as an organist for two churches, as a legislative lobbyist for an organization, and as a founding director of an arts council. Angela earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Glenville State in 1986 and a master’s degree in special learning disabilities from WVU in 1994.

Paula Strawder will join the organization Sept. 1 as WVU Extension agent in Wood County. She will be responsible for programs in family and consumer sciences. Since June 2006, Paula has been a teacher/counselor for Pressly Ridge in Ona. She helped develop, implement, and monitor individual and group treatment plans for youths. Earler she was a research assistant for the National Institute for Early Education Research Project in Huntington. Paula received a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer sciences with an emphasis in food and nutrition from Marshall University (MU) in May 2004. Two years later, she received a master’s degree in adult and technical education from MU. As an undergraduate, she completed an internship in the Cabell County WVU Extension Office. As a graduate assistant, she worked in MU’s Office of Family and Consumer Sciences. Paula, a former 4-H member, also worked as an Energy Express mentor in Huntington for four summers.

Joeline Swann became a nutrition outreach instructor in Monongalia County Aug. 6. Previously, Joeline was employed for more than four years by North Central W.Va. Community Action Association as an assistant teacher. She created and implemented lesson plans for 3- to 5-year-old children enrolled in Head Start. She also has experience as a medical assistant and cosmetologist. She is currently enrolled in Fairmont State University, where she is studying early childhood education.

… Have You Heard?

Bill Grafton is a co-author of Checklist and Atlas of the Vascular Flora of West Virginia published by the W.Va. Division of Natural Resources. The 381-page printed document includes names and classification of all the ferns, trees, wildflowers, and other vascular plants and the counties in which they occur and which species are native, introduced, adventive, or exotic. The work is indexed on common names, current scientific names as well as the scientific names used in the classic manual, Flora of West Virginia, by P.D. Strausbaugh and Earl L. Core. The work is expected to appeal to botanists, ecologists, foresters, biologists, land managers, naturalists, horticulturalists, and gardeners.

WVU’s Office of Extended Learning is inviting the WVU community to a retirement reception for Douglas C. Smith from 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, at Elizabeth Moore Hall on the downtown campus in Morgantown. Those planning to attend must RSVP by Thursday, Aug. 23, to Kathryn Sturms at (304) 293-9418 or Kathryn.Sturms@mail.wvu.edu. Doug, whose office is in New Martinsville, is Extended Learning’s regional coordinator for the Eastern Panhandle. He has 34 years of University service, including several with WVU Extension Service.

The WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research has released its latest set of West Virginia County Data Profiles. The reports contain detailed economic and demographic statistics on the state, all 55 counties, and several metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. Statistics highlighting personal income sources, employment by industry, labor force data, and census and demographic information are found in the reports. The profiles are on the Web (www.be.wvu.edu/bber/) under the heading, 2006 Data Profiles.

WVU’s Mountaineer Temps Program has announced some changes, effective immediately, that will streamline and improve its services and comply with state employment guidelines. The primary change affects the duration a temporary employee may work during a 12-month period. The new rule is 8.5 months with a 3.5-month break between assignments. A department can request the same individual only twice, with the required break in between. Background checks will also be required. For more on these changes and other initiatives, go to check the Human Resources Web site (www.hr.wvu.edu/).

… In the News

William “Bill” and Janet Childers, a farm family in Ohio County, received the second annual Farming Heritage Award at the State Fair of West Virginia. The award, sponsored by the State Fair and the West Virginia Farm Bureau, is presented to a worthy family that has demonstrated a commitment to a rural lifestyle and has served as role models to others in the state of West Virginia. Ed Hooper nominated the Childers for the prestigious award. In its Aug. 12 edition, the Wheeling Intelligencer newspaper quoted Ed as saying it was an honor to nominate the family, whom he has known since 1973. Janet Childers’s great-grandfather, William Buchanan, purchased the Rock Valley Farm in June 1889. Four generations—ranging from 5 months to 96 years in age—currently live on the farm.

Ed Rayburn, Ed Smolder, and Rodney Wallbrown will appear on the Cattlemen’s Show on the national RFD-TV network at 9 p.m. Sept. 18. They will discuss how WVU Extension programs relate to the beef cattle industry and forage economy of the state. Their interviews were taped earlier.

… In Memoriam

Conrad Fourney, son of former 4-H agent Betty Jean Fourney (Jackson County), died Aug. 12 in a kayaking accident in Idaho. He was 48. Memorial donations may be made to the Conrad Fourney Memorial Fund, c/o Les Bois Federal Credit Union, 321 Village Circle, Garden Valley ID 83622. The fund will benefit the Whitewater Rescue Unit of the Garden Valley Fire Department. Condolences may be sent to Betty Jean Fourney at PO Box 181, Ravenswood WV 26164-0181.

Important Program Planning and Reporting Dates for 2007-2008

View the full calendar

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Our Continuing Mission . . .

The mission of the West Virginia University Extension Service is to form learning partnerships with the people of West Virginia to enable them to improve their lives and communities. To these partnerships, we bring useful research- and experience-based knowledge that facilitates critical thinking and skill development.

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Extension Focus is a publication of the Office of the Associate Provost for Extension and Public Service. News items should be sent to the Office of Communications, 506 Knapp Hall, P.O. Box 6031, Morgantown, WV 26506-6031.

Issues of Focus are archived on Extension's Intranet
http://intranet.ext.wvu.edu/intouch/orgnews/focus/focus.htm

Programs and activities offered by the West Virginia University Extension Service are available to all persons without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, national origin, and marital or family status.

Submitted by Joyce Bower.