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News and Notes: January 27, 2022

OUR VISION: Ohioans have the knowledge and resources they need to actively engage in creating conditions in which they thrive.

OUR MISSION: We create opportunities for people to explore how science-based knowledge can improve social, economic and environmental conditions.

In This Issue:

Leadership Notes

  1. Thoughts from Jackie

COVID-19 Updates

  1. COVID Reporting Update

College Connections

  1. 2022 ACEL Alumni Award Nominations due by Jan. 31
  2. AEDE Economic Outlook and Policy Webinar Series
  3. 2022 CFAES Alumni Award Recognition Postponed to September
  4. Knowledge Exchange Offers a Primer on a Complex Issue – Water Quality
  5. Knowledge Exchange – See What is New

Campus Connections/Partnerships

  1. Webinar on Carbon Offsets and Quality Challenges to be Held Feb. 1

Programming Perspectives

  1. Extension Publishing: 2021 by the Numbers
  2. Register Your Extension Program with the National Registry of Cooperative Extension Programs and Assets
  3. 2022 ESP Conference Proposal Deadline is March 7
  4. 2022 Ohio Forage and Grasslands Council Conference to be Held Feb. 18
  5. Ohio Pork Congress Moves to Lima on Feb. 8-9
  6. CYFAR Requests Applications to Support Sustainable Community Projects – due by Feb. 28
  7. 2022 Ohio Woodland Water and Wildlife Conference to be Held on March 2
  8. Mid-Ohio Small Farm Conference to be Held on March 12
  9. OEFFA Conference Offers Free Registrations for Feb. 17-19, Feb. 12

Award Opportunities/Reminders

  1. Applications are Open for the Annual Ohio State Energy Partners Awards – due Feb. 11
  2. Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity – 2022 Warner Endowment Fund Proposals are due March 1

Professional Development Opportunities

  1. LOD Offers Digital Accessibility Essentials Training Series in February
  2. Leadership Center February Workshops
  3. Upcoming ACEL to Extension Sessions
  4. Summer Intensive on Community-Engaged Scholarship – Apply by April 4

Health and Wellness

  1. Adult Mental Health First Aid Courses are Offered this Spring
  2. Farm Stress Teams is Offering a Certified Training Program

  1. Thoughts from Jackie

    Friends,

    The entry into the New Year often brings renewed focus on what is important and a chance to think about our intentions, goals, and plans for the forthcoming year. For myself, I have named 2022 the year of Quantum Health – including physical, financial, emotional, and relational health. I am committed to identifying and protecting time for morning exercise, daily meditation (10 minutes, but it is a start), scheduling annual wellness visits, menu planning (so I stick to healthy choices when busy), walking meetings on the phone instead of Zoom, shorter Zoom sessions with time for breaks between appointments, and making and protecting time for relationships at work and at home. I know it seems impossible to make time for these things when there are so many opportunities and demands for our time and talents. I would encourage you, however, to be intentional about planning and protecting your time, how you use it, how you prioritize, and what makes your 2022 list of key goals for work and home.

    In addition to a focus on well-rounded health and well-being, I am dedicating deep work time focused on Extension’s strategic future. I will be sharing what we have learned in this last year of listening and navigating challenging times and elaborating on the vision, key areas of emphasis, and resource priorities in March during my State of Extension address (stay tuned for a save-the-date and registration). I am also asking each of us to focus in this new year on our Extension keys and how we each can implement them in our daily lives as lived behaviors. Last month, I talked about being intentional about inclusion in OSU Extension. Today, I want to encourage each of us to think about how we can incorporate the key of CARE into our mission of Extension, with our colleagues and our clientele.

    CARE

    • I provide safe, fun, and enjoyable environments for learning and service.​
    • I support and model life work balance for co-workers and clientele. ​
    • I value professional development, proficiency, and career growth for all.​
    • I treat all with kindness and respect.​
    • I value all partners and community members.

    Please join me in finding ways in which we can each demonstrate CARE in our work. Perhaps we implement an office activity or staff tradition to increase fun or social team engagement; share a skill or talent with our team members to raise the knowledge of all; ask someone how they are doing and offer to help them with something (task or deadline, etc.) if they are stressed or overwhelmed; take time to thank someone for something positive they did or said OR offer an apology when you have said or done something that wasn’t so positive; send a hand-written note or make a phone call aimed at making someone’s day. I am saving Fridays at 4 p.m for sending SPARKS (Specific, Personal, Appreciation/Recognition of Kindness and Success). I look forward to seeing how our focus on living our value of caring will strengthen our culture of caring in Extension.

    Finally, I ask that you all continue to demonstrate CARE as we continue to navigate an ever-evolving COVID-19 environment, being flexible and understanding when there are specific needs of individuals associated with local spread, personal illness, or other considerations (e.g., ill family members, child care or elder care constraints, etc.). I also remind you to STAY home if you are not feeling well. DO NOT come into the office if you are sick, especially if you have symptoms of COVID.

  2. COVID Reporting Update

    As a reminder, employees are still required to report their status to the HR business partners who will log the cases with contact tracing. Any employee who does not test through an Ohio State testing facility or the Ohio State testing program (i.e. through Vault or at one of the campus testing sites) will also be required to complete the self-reporting form found at this website: covid19-test-result-upload.it.ohio-state.edu.

    Communications from the Contact Investigation and Contact Tracing Team (CICTT) are expected via email. For employees whose positions are not computer/email-focused, HR business partners are able to escalate cases and request a phone call update/release to be provided. 

    As a reminder, the updated guidance on safeandhealthy.osu.edu is intended to inform employees of general expectations. Please note, employees are to remain off campus/out of office until officially released by CICTT. If telework options are available, they are permitted to telework; otherwise they are to use their available leave.  

  3. 2022 ACEL Alumni Award Nominations due by Jan. 31

    The CFAES Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership Alumni Board is currently seeking nominations for the 2022 ACEL Alumni Awards. This is the fourth year of the ACEL Alumni Recognition Program, which is designed to highlight alumni from ACEL who are doing great things in their careers, communities, and the Ohio State community. Consider nominating a former classmate, colleague, or mentor for one of the three categories – Mentor of Students, Young Alumni, and Distinguished Alumni. You can learn more about the awards and complete the nomination forms at acel.osu.edu/about-us/alumni/acel-alumni-award-program. Submit the forms to Lauren Prettyman (lprettyman.5@gmail.com) by Jan. 31.

  4. AEDE Economic Outlook and Policy Webinar Series

    The Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics (AEDE) is hosting a new monthly webinar series this spring. This series features a different AEDE economist breaking down an interesting topic every month throughout spring. Join us to explore what's going on in key commodity and labor markets, as well as the supply chain with uncertainty, rising prices, etc. All webinars will be held from 12-1 p.m. To register for one of the webinars, click here. Dates and topics are as follows:

    • Feb. 2: Food Prices and Inflation
    • Feb. 16: Commodity Markets
    • March 9: International Trade
    • April 6: Economy and Inflation
    • May 4: Labor Markets
    • June 1: Energy and Carbon Prices

  5. 2022 CFAES Alumni Award Recognition Postponed to September

    Due to the rise of COVID-19 infections and the university’s priority on in-person teaching and learning, the 2022 CFAES Alumni Awards event has been postponed to Homecoming week. Tentatively hold Sept. 29 for an in-person event on campus. Official event information will be shared as details are confirmed. Contact Amy Jo Baughman (baughman.261@osu.edu) with any questions.

  6. Knowledge Exchange Offers a Primer on a Complex Issue – Water Quality

    Keeping our waterways clean and healthy starts with understanding how different factors impact our environment. Learn the basics with the new KX 101: Balancing Agriculture + Water Quality, developed by the water quality Extension associates and the Knowledge Exchange. Read more at kx.osu.edu/page/kx-101-water-quality.

  7. Knowledge Exchange – See What is New

    KX connects researchers, Extension professionals, decision-makers, and communicators to share, explore, and engage with the world-class research from CFAES at Ohio State.

    Collaborations:

    • KX actively partners with researchers, Extension professionals, and other colleges at Ohio State. Our goal? To bring great minds together and make connections between individual research projects. To understand what those connections mean.
    • We believe knowledge should be accessible to everyone, and we’re always looking for new ways to share what we know with our communities.

    Projects:

    • Our integrators stay engaged with researchers, specialists, Extension educators, faculty, and staff to explore the important work happening in our college and the potential impact of that work for the state and region. Integrators focus on the people, their research, and the big questions being asked in CFAES. How do we solve water quality issues? What can we do to address food insecurity? Who should collaborate to improve the health of livestock, crops, and communities?
    • Last year, we focused on the food system. You’ll find information on our site about how researchers are addressing food security, recent publications around soil health, a new podcast series highlighting emerging research, and a new product, our KX 101, offering the basics around water quality and agriculture.
    • In 2022, we’ll examine human, animal, and environmental health to showcase the connections between the research in CFAES surrounding this topic.

    Themes:

    • KX is committed to the ideals of knowledge, exploration, interdisciplinary communication, and outreach in the context of food, agriculture, and environmental sciences. Our work seeks to reflect each of these ideals in a unique way. We explore research within larger themes of water quality, food security, farm stress, and health.
    • Visit the current research around water, agricultural sustainability, and food waste.

  8. Webinar on Carbon Offsets and Quality Challenges to be Held Feb. 1

    This webinar will address the evolution of the carbon offset market and the nature of the persistent quality challenges, as well as the potential role of universities and colleges in guiding the offset market through research-based procurement. Facilitator Barbara Haya will discuss the University of California’s developing offset procurement program, involving research into the quality of offset project types and projects, and the development of university-initiated offset projects. The webinar will be held on Feb. 1 at 12 p.m. To register and for more information, visit go.osu.edu/carbon-offsets.

  9. Extension Publishing: 2021 by the Numbers

    Do you wonder sometimes what happened to 2021? Not to worry! It did happen, and Extension professionals were busy as ever. The evidence is all the content creation that took place among OSU Extension professionals. Extension Publishing offered 16 new or revised publications and 76 new or revised fact sheets. The 2021 Annual Summary page is here: go.osu.edu/extpubsactivity.

    Let’s not gloss over December’s accomplishments though. The fact sheet Food Preservation: Making Jerky (2017) did NOT make it to the top spot, but it did get all the way up to number 2. For the second month in a row, Calculating Cation Exchange Capacity, Base Saturation, and Calcium Saturation (2019) maintained a firm grip at number 1. Details are at the same link above.

    Many thanks for all you do. If you want to talk about publishing a bulletin, fact sheet, or project book, please contact Jane Wright (wright.646@osu.edu), interim assistant director of Extension Publishing and 4-H curriculum manager. The Extension Publishing team looks forward to supporting your efforts.

  10. Register Your Extension Program with the National Registry of Cooperative Extension Programs and Assets

    The National Registry of Cooperative Extension Programs and Assets will enable Cooperative Extension professionals to register their projects, programs, or curriculum for nationwide collaborating among Extension colleagues. The intent of this tool is to quickly find other like-programming efforts across the system to reduce duplication of work and help speed up access to digital assets that would be useful to the development of new programs. To register an Extension program, visit extension.org/registry.

  11. 2022 ESP Conference Proposal Deadline is March 7

    Submit a proposal by March 7 to showcase your innovative or successful Extension programs for presentation at ESP hosted by Missouri State University Extension on Sept. 26-29. Presentations will be accepted in four categories – concurrent, ignite, research, and poster sessions. For more information, visit 2022 Conference Proposal Information. Questions can be emailed to Travis West (west.222@osu.edu).

  12. 2022 Ohio Forage and Grasslands Council Conference to be Held Feb. 18

    The Ohio Forage and Grasslands Council Annual Conference will be held in-person on Feb. 18 (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) at Beck’s Hybrids in London, Ohio. The program theme is “Foraging for Profit.” All Ohioans involved in forage production and feeding are invited to attend.

    The keynote speakers will be Greg Braun, Victor Shelton and Bob Hendershot; all three are retired NRCS grassland conservationists from Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio respectively. Additional featured speakers include Marilia Chiavegato, assistant professor at Ohio State, and two of her students, who will provide a university forage research update. Several producer talks will include hay producer Glen Courtright, dairy producer Jason Hartschuh, and sheep and goat producer Shawn Ray. Additional details and online payment are available at ohiofgc.square.site. Registration is due by Feb. 11. For more information, contact Gary Wilson, OFGC executive secretary (osuagman@gmail.com, or 419-348-3500).

  13. Ohio Pork Congress Moves to Lima on Feb. 8-9

    Ohio Pork Congress is moving to a new location this year. The event will take place Feb. 8 and 9 at the Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center in Lima, Ohio. The Ohio Pork Council invites all producers and members of the pork industry to attend. Steve Lerch, former Google executive, will provide the keynote address and share his insight into the topics of digital issues, consumer behavior, and innovation. In addition, Ohio Pork Congress includes educational seminars, the largest pork-specific tradeshow in the Mid-East, and recognition of industry leaders, as well as an opportunity to support the Friend of Pork political action committee. See the attached press release for more information. Registration is available at ohiopork.org/events/ohioporkcongress.

  14. CYFAR Requests Applications to Support Sustainable Community Projects – due by Feb. 28

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has invited applications to fund new projects for the fiscal year 2022 Children, Youth and Families at Risk Sustainable Community Projects. The mission of the CYFAR grant program is to marshal resources of the land-grant and Cooperative Extension systems so they can collaborate, develop, and deliver educational programs that equip youth who are at risk for not meeting basic human needs with the skills they need to lead positive, productive, contributing lives.

    For the initial year, the maximum funding per grantee will be $80,000 for a single institutional applicant and $160,000 for joint institutional applications. To apply, visit Children, Youth, and Families At-Risk Sustainable Community Projects (CYFAR). Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on Feb. 28.

  15. 2022 Ohio Woodland Water and Wildlife Conference to be Held on March 2

    Registration is now open for the 2022 Ohio Woodland Water and Wildlife Conference. The conference will be held at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center in Mansfield. The program offers updates on spotted lanternfly and beech leaf disease, as well as presentations on management for wild turkey, ticks, and tick-borne pathogens, European frog-bit identification and control, streambank stabilization, and more. For more information and to register, click here.

  16. Mid-Ohio Small Farm Conference to be Held on March 12

    The Small Farm team is excited to be holding the Mid-Ohio Small Farm Conference at the Ohio State Mansfield campus on March 12. The theme is Sowing Seeds for Success. Topics will include horticulture, produce production, natural resources, livestock, specialty crops, farm management, and marketing. See the attached brochure for the schedule, and register via go.osu.edu/osufarmconference2022.

  17. OEFFA Conference Offers Free Registrations for Feb. 17-19, Feb. 12

    This year, Ohio USDA SARE funding allows complimentary registrations for OSU Extension faculty and staff to participate in the annual conference of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Conference on Feb. 17-19 (in Dayton) and Feb. 12 (online). To receive complimentary registration for the online and/or in-person portions of the conference, follow the directions and the link at conference.oeffa.org/registration/?hogan=osuex.

  18. Applications are Open for the Annual Ohio State Energy Partners Awards – due Feb. 11

    In collaboration with Ohio State Energy Partners (OSEP), the Office of Academic Affairs has opened a call for grant proposals that align with the university’s sustainability goals, advance Ohio State priorities, and promote interdisciplinary and community collaboration. Submissions are due Feb. 11. Faculty, staff, and students are eligible to apply. Awards range from $10,000 to $50,000. Learn more at oaa.osu.edu/osep-academic-collaboration-awards.

  19. Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity – 2022 Warner Endowment Fund Proposals are due March 1

    The CFAES Sustainable Agriculture Team and Agroecosystems Management Program (AMP) have issued their annual call for proposals to conduct on-farm research on sustainable agriculture topics. Farmers are invited to partner with Ohio State scientists and Extension educators to carry out on-farm projects.

    This program is made available through the Paul C. and Edna H. Warner Endowment Fund established specifically for on-farm research in sustainable agriculture related to crop and animal production systems that are intended for human consumption. Research is intended to identify and publicize sustainable agricultural practices and systems that are profitable, socially responsible, energy efficient and improve water quality and other environmental concerns relevant to Ohio farmers. For more information and to see the request for proposals, visit go.osu.edu/2022-warner-grants; or contact Doug Jackson-Smith (jackson-smith.1@osu.edu).

  20. LOD Offers Digital Accessibility Essentials Training Series in February

    The Learning and Organizational Development (LOD) instructional design team is offering digital accessibility training for all Extension personnel. This will be a four-part training series in February, held on each Wednesday at 10 a.m. All sessions will be recorded if your calendar is already booked. Dates and topics (with registration links) are as follows:

    Automatic closed captioning will be provided via Zoom for each session. If you require an accommodation such as live captioning or interpretation to participate in this event, contact Amy Kohmetscher (kohmetscher.1@osu.edu). Requests made 10 business days prior to the event will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

  21. Leadership Center February Workshops

    The OSU Leadership Center will hold several workshops in the coming weeks. Learn more at leadershipcenter.osu.edu/events.

    • Feb. 2: Communicating to be Understood (online)
    • Feb. 3: CliftonStrengths (online)
    • Feb. 10: Leadership Institute (online)
    • Feb. 17: Resilient Leadership (online)
    • Feb. 24: Team Dynamics (online)

  22. Upcoming ACEL to Extension Sessions

    Consider attending the next ACEL to Extension session on How the Brain Works, taught by Shannon Washburn. The session will be held on Feb. 10 from 9-10 a.m. See below for details about the next two sessions.

    This is part of the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership (ACEL) workshop series geared specifically to OSU Extension personnel. Visit go.osu.edu/ACELtoExtension to learn more and register for any or all of the sessions, which will run through May 5.

  23. Summer Intensive on Community-Engaged Scholarship – Apply by April 4

    Michigan State University's Office for University Outreach and Engagement will host the fifth annual Summer Intensive on Community-Engaged Scholarship. This workshop is for community-engaged scholars and practitioners with interests in community-engaged research and community-engaged teaching and learning, including service-learning, informal learning, and community-engaged research in courses. Via interactive workshops, field trips, lightning talks, case studies, panel discussions, and individual consultations, Summer Intensive participants explore big-picture issues related to community-engagement in a learning community setting and develop strategies and plans for their own successful engagement activities. Learn more at engage.msu.edu/learn/learning/summer-intensive-on-community-engaged-scholarship.

  24. Adult Mental Health First Aid Courses are Offered this Spring

    The Adult Mental Health First Aid training team has added training dates in each month this spring. This training targets members of the community who work with farmers, others in the ag. industry, or live in rural areas. See the attached flyer for more information. To sign up, visit go.osu.edu/farmstress22mhfa.

  25. Farm Stress Teams is Offering a Certified Training Program

    The Farm Stress Team is offering a three-course training program for mental health service providers to better understand the stressors of those who work in the agriculture industry, as well as get resources needed to assist the agricultural community. Please help advertise this opportunity, which offers free continuing education credits for those who complete the program. See program details in the attached flyer. You can register at go.osu.edu/farmstresscertified.