New marketing initiatives are underway in the Division. Hear about them in this month’s First Monday—which actually is being released on Tuesday—video. Benny the Beaver will be appearing at 31 county fairs to create awareness of OSU and support OSU Extension community engagement efforts. Benny, who is a very engaging beaver, met with Vice Provost Scott Reed and Lindsey Shirley, Associate Provost and Associate Director of OSU Extension.
Use the blog’s comment section to share your ideas on how we can reach more Oregonians through OSU Extension.
Thanks to Steven Ward and Lynn Ketchum from EESC who did this month’s video under the direction of Jill Wells. Promotional videos are being produced for use by each Extension office where Benny will appear (also Jill’s idea!).
Stay tuned for information about the recent changes in the Division.
In the meantime, learn more about the Division and its work and people with this month’s O&E Blog posts.
Hello Scott and Lindsey,
Here in Hood River and Wasco Counties, as more people move here who have not lived in rural areas and/or been involved in 4-H, I find that many are not familiar with Extension. They do not know what is meant by a Land Grant institution. If they have noticed that OSU has a presence in the community, they really don’t know what we are doing here.
I was thinking it would be fun to host some sort of annual community fair? It could highlight each of the projects and programs we are doing, but I’m thinking that it could be some sort of family friendly fair that would center around something of interest to everyone… maybe healthy living? If it included music or other fun activities, it could perhaps draw out many people.
Ann,
What a lovely idea! I really like the idea of using a gathering of some sort to highlight all of Extension’s programs.
-Ann
I have talked to the director of the OSU Marching Band and they like to do community support. Maybe worth following up as a component of a mid Columbia gorge event!!
Great! I will follow up with my local colleagues and see if there is interest!
Thank you!
I just reviewed the latest statistics for our Oregon Ask an Expert. Once again I see that of those who submitted questions, 50.4% either had never heard of Extension, or never used it. So Ask an Expert is a doorway to reach and inform thousands of Oregonians of our awesome services. I would encourage those who haven’t been active on Ask an Expert, or who haven’t added an accurate profile on their eXtension account to update their information, jump in and reach out!
Jeff,
The Oregonian regularly runs Ask and Expert questions. Have we attempted to broaden that reach with community newspapers?
-Ann
Thanks for the reminder JEFF-AaE rocks!
If Extension programs are the front door to OSU from the community we all are kind of the ambassadors of OSU. I think that as such we would need to be as much as possible really up to date with OSU´s academic offers, programs, opportunities etc. That implies that we have a very strong relation and good communication with admissions, pre-college programs, various colleges etc. Even if we do have a relationship with several entities of OSU I sense a kind of disconnection between the University as an academic body and Extension as a more community oriented body. I think that we need to reunite more those two parts (perhaps including more “academic” entities in O&E Colloquiums, hosting “field” classes for various colleges, co-hosting community events with various colleagues as an engagement but also recruitment strategies etc). Just thinking aloud.
Ana Lu,
It just so happens that in the next two weeks, Lindsey Shirley, Jennifer Alexander (EESC), and I will be meeting with Admissions, OSU Alumni Association and University Relations & Marketing to discuss how we can further Extension’s roll as the front door to OSU. Your ideas are good ones that we can add to our discussion topics. Thank you for your contribution!
-Ann
At times I have referred to our county leaders as “mini-Provosts”–representing the full range of academic opportunities at the local level.