Thursday, April 25, 2013

Journal of NACAA Chair/Editor Opening - Deadline Extended

Journal of NACAA Chair/Editor Opening


 
The NACAA Board of Directors is currently seeking an Editor/Chair for the Journal of NACAA. This is a 3 year appointment. Members who are interested in submitting an application for this position are encouraged to download a copy of the application which can be found at http://nacaa.com/committees/2013/journal_chair_application.doc
For this committee appointment - the application process is not set up for "Electronic" submission. You must complete the Word document and submit directly as an attachment to NACAA Secretary Richard Fechter at rfechter@ksu.edu by no later than May 5, 2013.
 
Here's a brief summary of the job description for the Editor of the Journal of NACAA:

Job Description for Journal of NACAA Chair

  • The Candidate must have a working knowledge of various types of technology used in the creation of documents for publication. Some examples are; the NACAA Web Page, internet links, the creation of spreadsheets for data tabulation, various document creation programs, wiki discussion pages, and photograph and chart creation and insertion techniques.
  • The Candidate must establish a close working relationship with the NACAA Executive Director, the NACAA Electronic Communications Chair, the NACAA Internal Publications Committee, and the NACAA Secretary.
  • The Candidate must administrate and communicate with the Journal Committee via conference call on a regular basis.
  • The Candidate must administrate the recruitment of 25-50 reviewers for the reviewing process.
  • The Candidate must design and provide training for reviewers that will improve the reviewing process for the journal.
  • The Candidate must communicate regularly with reviewers to ensure timeliness in the reviewing process.
  • After the deadline for receiving submissions has passed the Candidate must communicate with the participants informing them that their submission has been received.
  • After the reviewing process is complete the Candidate should communicate with participants to inform them of the acceptance or rejection of their papers.
  • Prior to or immediately after the "Call for Papers" the Candidate should communicate with NACAA membership to encourage the submission of papers.
  • The Candidate must administrate the journal publication process to allow for publishing the journal at least on a biannual basis.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

NACAA - OYF/Special Assignment

The NACAA board of directors has approved a new special assignment position to work with our friends at the Outstanding Young Farmer Fraternity. This prestigious award program provides recognition to the very best of America’s young farmers. NACAA has partnered with the OYF to help provide nominees for the program for several years. In an effort to provide more assistance to this program, NACAA is seeking a person to work with OYF in securing more nominees and coordinate publicity for the event. A more complete listing of the duties and expectations is listed below.

Please feel free to contact me for more information or if you have questions.

To be considered for the position, send your name, title, history of NACAA committee work and qualifications that make you uniquely qualified for the position to Paul Craig, NACAA President at phc8@psu.edu. The deadline for applying for the position is May 5, 2013

Sincerely,
Paul Craig
NACAA President

The NACAA Special Assignment will work with the Ag Issues and Public Relations Committee in securing nominees for the Outstanding Young Farmer Award from every state.  This can be done by working with the regional directors and state presidents to help insure proper publicity of the award and the application deadline.  OYF has developed a brochure that gives an overview of the program.  This brochure should be made available to the regional directors for distribution as they visit the state meetings each year. 

The NACAA Special Assignment will be responsible for coordinating publicity at the OYF annual meeting each year.  To insure that the annual meeting is given media coverage each year the special assignment shall work with the local extension office and affiliated Land Grant Institution(s) to help publicize the annual meeting.  Television, Radio, and local print media should be involved. 

The NACAA Special Assignment shall attend the National OYF conference with expenses being paid by NACAA.  This is in addition to the Ag Issues and Public Relations Committee Chair that is responsible for insuring that NACAA involvement is continual and of the highest level possible at the NOYF conference.  In the event that the NACAA Past President is not asked to serve as a judge of the National finalists, the special assignment and committee chair shall continue to attend and conduct their duties. 

A critical service this designee shall fulfill is continuity of programming and enhanced communication between the NACAA Board of Directors, the AI&PR Committee and the OYF.  The designee of the NACAA Special Assignment, before final confirmation, shall have written approval from their respective extension administration to allow them to carry out the required functions of this assignment for the duration of the term as determined by the NACAA Board of Directors.
 

Friday, April 12, 2013

April E-County Agent Update

Horticulture Tour Deadline Fast Approaching

The 2013 horticulture tour will be on September 20th and 21st 2013. It will be held as a post tour this year due to Galaxy. We are still in the planning process but the first day’s schedule is lined up.

Our first stop will be to Bob O'Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park. This course is Audubon certified to enhance wildlife habitat, reduce pesticide use and other possible harmful impacts. Our second stop is to a Master Gardener demonstration garden followed by lunch with the Master Gardeners. After lunch we will visit Harvest Valley Farms, a fourth generation family farm that provides produce through CSAs, farm markets, and roadside stands. Our last stop will be to Quality Gardens of Valencia. This nursery/garden center offers landscaping services, educational seminars and a farmers market.

Sponsorship for the tour has been attained from EcoScraps thanks to Jim Hruskoci, a former NACAA member and extension educator. With the sponsorship we hope to pay for most of the tour expenses (hotel, food, and tour transportation) for NACAA members. Non-members are welcome if room permits but their costs will not be covered.
The deadline to apply for the tour is April 15th 2013. For more information about registration please see page 7 of The County Agent. http://www.nacaa.com/countyagent/2012-12.pdf

For more information on the tour stops please see the following links.

Harvest Valley Farms- http://harvestvalleyfarms.com/

Quality Gardens of Valencia- www.quality-gardens.com)

For more information on EcoScraps- http://ecoscraps.com/

Stacey Bealmear
Urban Horticulture Agent
Yuma County Cooperative Extension
928-726-3904

Teamwork Award Deadline May 1st

            Excellence in Teamwork Award
Sponsored by
JOINT COUNCIL OF EXTENSION PROFESSIONALS
The Joint Council of Extension Professionals sponsors this award annually to encourage and recognize successful Extension team programs or projects that demonstrate effective performance and significant result impacts at community, area, state or multi-state levels.
AWARD
Two awards of $500 each and one plaque per team and certificates to individuals will be presented.
 PURPOSE
 The purpose of this award is to recognize outstanding Extension programs or projects in the nation conducted by a team and reward those that have achieved significant outcomes.
ELIGIBILITY
  1. Entries must be submitted by a team of three or more members
  2. Program/project must have been conducted within the past three years.
  3. Program/project must involve at least two or more different program areas (i.e. agriculture, 4-H  Youth Development, family and consumer science, natural resources or community development).
  4. At least 50% of the team members must be current members of at least one of the national Extension professional organizations and employed by Extension at the time the program/project was conducted.
  5. There is no limit on the number of entries from any one state. 
DUE DATE
 All applications must be submitted electronically using the online submission procedure.  All applications must be submitted no later than 11:59pm on May 1, 2013 to be considered.  See the specific submission requirements in the application section below.

Galaxy IV Registration Soon to Open

Registration for Galaxy IV (NACAA Annual Meeting) is scheduled to begin May 1, 2013.  The direct link for registration (which is being handled by Galaxy directly) is http://www.galaxy-2013.org/registration.html. 

NACAA members who have submitted poster abstracts and presentation abstracts, should be notified prior to May 1st.

NACAA has worked closely with the Galaxy Committee to secure the vast majority of normal (AM/PIC) activities and functions.  The Northeast Region has worked hard to prepare a number of great Professional Improvement Tours (like we always do)…to be held on Monday, September 16, 2013.

The next edition of The County Agent magazine is being worked on…and should be in the mail by no later than May 1st (and on its way to you)…so you will have it no later than May 15th.

Earlybird Registration for Galaxy is from May 1st through July 15th.  Details of Galaxy and NACAA activities will be listed on the NACAA website (www.nacaa.com) as well as in The County Agent magazine.