News and Notes: January 6, 2022

During the past two years, OSU Extension professionals have demonstrated that we know how to implement COVID-19 precautions while maintaining our educational mission and providing our communities with exceptional customer service.

Each Extension office (county or state-level) should continue to follow local health guidelines (i.e. mask requirements, physical distancing, school/business closures, or remote work conditions). As has been the case throughout the pandemic, there will be different precautions implemented across the state between counties, Ohio State campus offices, and other entities; and that may also vary from procedures at the Columbus and regional campuses. This is about ongoing employee and audience comfort and safety based on local circumstances.

As shared by Ohio State President Johnson earlier this week, the university is prioritizing in-person teaching and learning on the Columbus and regional campuses. At those locations, when possible, other in-person events, gatherings or meetings should be transitioned to virtual formats. No timeframe was given, but President Johnson said the university will closely monitor the situation and provide updates as needed. It was also stated for campus locations, that food and drinks should not be served at any in-person event, gathering or meeting and masking should be strictly enforced.

At the county level, if you are planning programs, the following are reminders:

• You CAN postpone, reschedule, or move your meeting/event to virtual, depending on your local circumstances.
• You CAN require participants to wear masks.
• You CAN set up the meeting space for optimal physical distancing and what you intend to accomplish with each meeting.
•  You CAN decide not to serve food or beverages at any event or meeting.
• You CAN ask potential participants not to attend if they have been exposed to COVID-19 or have symptoms themselves.
•  You MUST keep a record of all attendees.

As a reminder, best practices for in-person programming during COVID-19 have been summarized and can be reviewed here.

• When planning local office staffing and public-facing availability, consider the following:
• Work as a unit to provide the best flexibility to maintain our service to Ohioans and protect one another, in conjunction with your supervisor.
• Work as a team if you need to change your current county office staffing plan and/or adjust the hours you are open to the public.
• If this means your local office needs to close (or require appointments), work with your supervisor to determine next steps and communication to stakeholders.

We will continue to monitor the situation, adjust Extension expectations accordingly, and provide updates. As always, you should also refer to the Safe and Healthy Buckeyes webpage at safeandhealthy.osu.edu. Thank you for your continued effort to address this ever-changing situation, consider local needs, and do your part to keep one another safe. You are much appreciated!

The recipients of the 2022 CFAES alumni awards have been announced; and the ceremony to celebrate these award winners will take place in person on Saturday, March 5 at the Fawcett Center. A livestream component will be offered for those unable to attend in person, as well as the larger CFAES community.

• Meritorious Service Award: Steve Loerch, Pamela Thomas (MS, rural sociology), Henry Zerby
• Distinguished Alumni: David Brown (BS, dairy technology), Dr. Keith Howard (PhD, plant pathology), Juan Moreno (BS, dairy science), Dr. Alexandre Pires (PhD, ruminant nutrition), Dr. Ivanete Susin (PhD, ruminant nutrition), Bill Tom (BS, animal sciences), Dr. Robert Torres (PhD, agricultural education)
• International Alumni Award: Lucas de Araujo Souto (MS, animal sciences), Dr. Ilhami Yildiz (MS, agronomy, PhD, agricultural engineering)
• Young Professional Achievement Award: Dr. Stephanie Langel (BS, animal sciences), Dr. Wendong Zhang (PhD, agricultural economics)

Nominations for the 2023 CFAES alumni awards are due by June 30. Once an alum is nominated, they stay in the pool for up to three years; and you can update their nomination each year if they are not selected or re-nominate them if their nomination expires. More information about the process and this year’s winners is available online at advancement.cfaes.ohio-state.edu/alumni/alumni-awards-and-recognition.

The Office of Outreach and Engagement is seeking applications from university community engagement programs for the internal process to select Ohio State’s nominee for the 2022 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. The regional award recognizes extraordinary community engagement initiatives. Applications are due by Jan. 14.

Read more at engage.osu.edu/kellogg-award-internal-selection-application. Note: Extension Administration is working on identifying and collaborating with the dean’s office to nominate some of our most outstanding examples of community engagement. A few of you may be contacted to provide some additional supporting materials. If you have already identified yourself or another entity to be considered, please reach out to Jackie immediately (wilkins.201@osu.edu).

Extension Today is a pilot project and partnership of NBC4 WCMH-TV, OSU Extension, and CFAES. We are sharing viewer-focused stories about gardening, cooking, and other tips and resources for improving central Ohioans’ gardens, lives, families, and local communities. For the past several months, NBC4 has aired an Extension Today segment on Daytime Columbus each Wednesday, as well as on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Daytime Columbus is a locally-produced talk show which takes a closer look at area businesses, organizations, and resources available in central Ohio. After NBC4 also promotes the show on its Facebook, OSU Extension shares a link to each video, as well as CFAES and Extension resources such as fact sheets, photos, connections with our specialists, etc. online.

We are always looking to make the content on these new webpages more robust for our viewers. If you have any resources you feel might be a good addition to any of the topics at any time, contact Cheryl Buck (buck.19@osu.edu), Extension communication manager. Special thanks to Tim McDermott and Jenny Lobb, educators with the Franklin County office of OSU Extension, for hosting this segment and partnering with numerous guests. Visit go.osu.edu/ExtensionToday to check it out and see if there are any resources you can add to this project!

Recordings of the sessions from the fall 2021 Ag Policy and Outlook Conference presented by the CFAES Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics (AEDE) are now available on AEDE’s YouTube channel. The expert presenters addressed several issues important to producers, agribusinesses, and elected officials. The full playlist of all six sessions can be accessed by clicking here.

The Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award celebrates diversity efforts at Ohio State and rewards individuals and groups for their commitment to diversity. Honorees are recognized for their impact in making diversity and inclusiveness a part of university best practices by changing daily operations, program components or cultural awareness on the basis of any diversity qualities. Faculty, staff, students, student organizations, and alumni can nominate their colleagues and peers. Each recipient receives a commemorative trophy and $1,200 cash award. The nomination deadline is 5pm on Jan. 24. Read more or make a nomination at hr.osu.edu/awards-events/ddea.

Effective September 2021, OSU Extension is tweaking how we apply the university brand to our OSU Extension identity. This is officially a secondary signature under The Ohio State University; it is a “brand mark” that is to be used in conjunction with the CFAES tag and the college name. Visit brand.cfaes.ohio-state.edu/guidelines/brand-guidelines/logos/osu-extension to see the new mark and basic instructions, as well as download the relevant files.

Our original date for use of the Extension brand mark on all new or reprinted materials was year-end 2021; however, we recognize the constraints of current project workloads, COVID-19 challenges, updated template needs, etc. Our adjusted goal is by July 1, 2022. Please note – this is not an option; you must implement the new Extension mark. We are simply extending the deadline to do so. Please be patient as the brand changes are made at the central level. More information will be shared in the near future as we work with CFAES Marketing to finish updating the existing Extension-specific instructions and templates and add new items to our branded materials.

If you need to use a template sooner, you can download the mark and switch it out. There are several other materials this change will affect; those will all also be addressed over time. A Word document also will be developed soon for very basic announcements/content. We also will work on any co-branding needs with Central State University Extension. Extension nametags will remain as is for now. Any brand updates for the Extension state, county, and related unit websites will be handled at the state level. Do not adjust any branding on your county or unit website.

If you have any questions, contact Cheryl Buck (buck.19@osu.edu), Extension communication manager. I am also working on a summary about a variety of marketing and communication resources available to you. That should be available in the next few weeks.

Brand approval reminder: ALL materials created by OSU Extension professionals for distribution to the public must be reviewed and approved by the CFAES brand approval team. Those items can be submitted to cfaes_bat@osu.edu.

If you were able to attend the virtual 2021 Extension Annual Conference, thanks for joining us live! You can listen to session recordings via the link to the LOD YouTube at go.osu.edu/2021eacrecordings. The keynote address with David Horsager will be removed from the playlist on Jan. 15. Also, the JCEP award winner list is posted on the LOD website at go.osu.edu/2021eacrecordings.

The new year marks a new chance to grow both personally and professionally, and the OSU Leadership Center will hold several workshops in the coming weeks. To help with your new year's resolutions, the Leadership Center is offering 22% off all workshops held in January through June when you register in the month of January. Learn about upcoming workshops at leadershipcenter.osu.edu/events.

The National Day of Racial Healing – to be celebrated this year on Jan. 18 – was started by the Kellogg Foundation in 2017. CFAES will be partnering with the Moritz College of Law to host a series of seminars to commemorate the day. This will be our second year participating in this event, hosting sessions and handouts from 9am to 3:30pm. Everyone is welcome to participate in all the sessions, or one or two as your schedule permits. Additional information will be available soon.