We’re trying something new(ish) on the O&E blog. We are introducing University Outreach and Engagement faculty and staff. So … please say hello to Michelle Sager, Master Gardener education program assistant for Wasco County in the Mid-Columbia Region.
Michelle Sager, Oregon State Extension Master Gardener education program assistant
How long have you worked in Extension? Two years
What’s the best part of the work you’re doing? Engaging with people in the community.
What work accomplishment are you most proud of? I think it’s the volunteers that accomplish the most around here!
What’s your favorite way to waste time? Drawing, singing and juggling come in at a tie.
Michelle Sager’s canine companion Miss Pepita Pickle: The Lady Sargent Pepperbean Waddleplop Silk Cheek of Pipsqeakery. Pickles for short. Pickles was born in Guatemala.
Do you have any pets? How long have you and your pet(s) known each other? Yes! I met my dog Pickle when I lived in Guatemala three years ago when she was a tiny, scruffy, baby street dog. There was no way I was leaving without her. Her full name, though, is Miss Pepita Pickle: The Lady Sargent Pepperbean Waddleplop Silk Cheek of Pipsqeakery.
What do you do to get rid of stress? I love to hike and be in the woods. I am also an avid yoga and meditation practitioner, and I think that’s really the most important piece. Singing and dancing also help!
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? The assumption that there is one, best way to see and understand the world.
What three words best describe you? Silly is the only one that come to mind! I try to be joyful, perhaps.
What’s the most useful thing you own? I’ve got some hand-made garden tools I’m pretty in love with.
Where is the most beautiful place you’ve ever been? I think Cerro Fitz Roy in Patagonia. But it’s pretty beautiful right here where we live in the Columbia Gorge!
Do you engage in social media? If yes, what’s your favorite social media platform (for work and/or play)? Do farmers’ markets count? 😉
Know any good jokes? Why do potatoes make such good detectives? Because they keep their eyes peeled!
What book genres to you like to read? I love reading books that help bring light to under-represented perspectives, especially things like Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Based on excerpts written by Cole Crawford and edited by Ann Marie Murphy
Cole Crawford, University Outreach and Engagement’s first GTA
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Cole Crawford broke new ground and accomplished plenty during his academic year tenure with University Outreach and Engagement under the supervision of Charles Robinson, special initiatives, University Outreach and Engagement and the College of Liberal Arts. He is the first GTA to work with University Outreach and Engagement.
“Charles Robinson tailored GTA responsibilities to take advantage of my existing digital skills while also providing me exposure to event management and public relations work,” Crawford revealed. “Because of the position’s flexibility and variable work requirements, I was even able to co-teach a digital humanities course in my home department (English, in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film) during winter term, which complemented my University Outreach and Engagement publicly engaged work.”
Crawford worked on two major projects: the Corvallis Maker Fair and Listen Up! Oregon Object Stories.
Oregon State University 2017 Maker Fair
The Corvallis Maker Fair, produced by “The CO•” and now in its fourth year, is an event dedicated to bringing together makers from across campus, Corvallis, and Oregon to celebrate and share their methods for hands-on learning, while exploring and researching the way people learn in these environments. Activities ranged from virtual reality to robotics to origami. University Outreach and Engagement is one of several co-sponsors of the event.
Crawford served as the website and social media coordinator on “The CO•” leadership team, including collaborating with a team of FLUX design students to refresh “The CO•” logo and promotional materials. Recruiting exhibitors, working with the “SEA Through the Eyes on an Artist” partner event put on by the College of Education, gathering exhibitor and attendee feedback, and helping set up and run the actual event were also his responsibility. The event attracted over 60 exhibitors and an estimated 1,900 attendees over two days. See more photos from the event here.
Victor Villegas demonstrates drone technology at the 2017 Maker Fair at Oregon State University
“Being able to jump into planning such a major event was exciting,” Crawford said. “Especially because I strongly believe in makerspaces, publicly engaged research, and an ethos of tinkering and exploration. I loved seeing attendees ranging from children to grandparents interact with exhibitors, learn about the science that facilitates maker activities, and build and play with micro-projects.”
Crawford worked with Robinson and Liddy Detar, Ph.D., an instructor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS), College of Liberal Arts, on Listen Up! Oregon Object Stories. Listen Up! is an accessible, creative, and intellectually engaged digital space which invites Oregonians to digitally represent personal objects through images, descriptions, or 3D scans; imbue those objects with meaning through story-telling in the form of text, video, or audio; and share their object stories across Oregon, starting with Oregon State University and its Extension network.
Listen Up! users can contribute object stories, respond to public events created by other users, and build collections of content which address specific topics or prompts. The project is inherently interdisciplinary and draws on digital humanities building practices, engaged teaching, and community partnerships to create public scholarship. Listen Up! is flexible, and can scale to accommodate individual contributions, classroom collections, and statewide events.
Originally deployed as a teaching exercise by Detar in her WGSS courses, Listen Up!, she transformed the classroom activity into a hybrid online project to collect a broader range of object stories. Users can contribute stories directly through the website, or work with the Listen Up! team at events.
Crawford created the project’s data model, which assures user privacy and agency; developed several iterations of the Listen Up! website; helped write a Learning Innovation Grant proposal and a successful submission to the 2017 Engagement Scholarship Consortium Conference; planned and ran three in-person object story events at “The CO•,” the Valley Library’s Crafternoon event series, and Moreland Hall; and collected, transcribed, and edited forty multimodal object stories from these events.
Object story contributors have spoken on the metaphorical meaning of a sandlewood watch, the importance of hybridity through an implanted defibrillator, and the power of comfort objects to help overcome developmental disabilities. Crawford will present Listen Up! at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute Colloquium in June 2017.
“I highly recommend that graduate students take advantage of alternative GTA positions,” Crawford said. “Assistantships focused on research and teaching are the most common ways for students to support themselves during full-time graduate study, but for students like myself who are interested in alt-academic careers or roles outside higher education entirely, positions that incorporate service and administration work can be even more valuable. Finding the right GTA position can help students tailor their graduate education to their interests while honing numerous marketable skills and making a noticeable impact at OSU.”
Crawford is currently searching for a full-time position in digital humanities research support and program coordination, and his experience with the Division of Outreach and Engagement and College of Liberal Arts has prepared him well for the application and interview process.
Read Crawford’s MA thesis titled “Respect the Gap: From Big to Boutique Data through Laboring-Class Poets Online” here: ColeCrawford_RespectTheGap_DefenseCopy
Charles Robinson sports OSU eclipse viewing glasses at the 2017 Maker Fair
“Cole’s thesis fits solidly in the tradition of digital humanities scholarship, but takes bold steps forward in exploring how narrative, history, and meaning are built within the relational networks of data sets (British labor poetry in this case), and how these networks can be better understood via approaches that blend rigorous data-mining with historical and literary nuance,” stated Robinson. “His use of the idea of ‘boutique’ data sets is a helpful way to stake the claim for the value of smaller and incomplete historical/literary data sets vs. the ‘big data’ notion so prevalent in discussion of data analysis/visualization/etc.”
Written by Ana Lu Fonseca, assistant director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Division of University Outreach and Engagement
Ana Lu Fonseca, assistant director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Division of University Outreach and Engagement, Oregon State University. Photo: Stephen Ward, Extension and Experiment Station Communications.
What is a Diversity Champion? The word “champions” comes from the Latin concept of “campionem” for “gladiator, fighter.” Raaawr! But there’s no need to grab your sword. A champion is also a person who fights for a cause or defends an ideal.
In our outreach and engagement work, Diversity Champions are people who use their superpowers in the name of a diversity value or ideal. That ideal could be a better world, a more inclusive or relevant program, or a greener and more loving future for generations to come. We recognize Champions who strive every day to learn, grow, and create a better future—not just those who have already succeeded at something or are an expert.
We are creating a team of Outreach and Engagement Diversity Champions!
Today’s world is a world of many ideas, thoughts, perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, philosophies, and beliefs. It is a world of individuals with multiple identities. Let’s embrace the opportunity to enrich our selves, our lives, and our work with this diversity.
As Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for University Outreach and Engagement, my vision is to create a loving, united, authentic, inclusive and powerful team with a common vision and commitment to a sustainable transformation.
To realize this vision, we must gather and invest resources to ensure we are thinking intentionally about inclusion at all levels and that people from all walks of life—who have the potential and ability to transform the world through their talents, ideas, and voices—are not just heard but embraced. As a land grant institution, we have the power to impact and learn from every person who we come in contact with.
The Outreach and Engagement Diversity Champions team will be pioneers in this transformation. They will work with me to support our Division to enhance the tools and strategies we will need to work and learn in a diverse and complex world. Our Champions will also be involved in the communities they serve and be part of a larger transformation toward a more understanding, compassionate, and open society. This will be accomplished through planning, developing, coordinating, supporting, and participating.
We will create the work together!
If you want to “strive” and be a pioneer for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive Division of University Outreach and Engagement, please join our Diversity Champions team. Follow this link to a brief survey and let me know more about yourself. All are welcome. This team is not a “committee” with a limit to how many people can participate.
Contact me if you have questions, and stay tuned for more!
Based on the abstract for the University Outreach and Engagement 2017 Vice Provost Awards of Excellence nomination
Coos Bay Watershed assessment areas
Federal and State agencies in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest have invested millions of dollars assessing watershed health and identifying habitat restoration opportunities. Unfortunately, many restoration efforts lack a clear process for prioritization of projects, leading to inefficient application of scarce financial and personnel resources.
In 2005, Guillermo Giannico (PI) and Jon Souder (co-PI) obtained National Sea Grant funding for a collaborative project between OSU Forestry Extension, Oregon Sea Grant and the Coos Watershed Association (CoosWA) to develop a series of watershed restoration plans for six lowland coastal basins north of Coos Bay. Some of the main collaborators in the development of the decision making process included Drs. Phil Roni, Tim Beechie and George Pess (NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, USA), Dr. Gordie Reeves (U.S. Forest Service), Pam Blake (Oregon Department of Environmental Quality), Bruce Miller (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife), Criag Cornue (South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve), and others.
Giannico is an Extension Fish Ecology and Watershed Specialist, has an Oregon Sea Grant appointment and is an associate professor of Fisheries and Wildlife in the College of Agricultural Sciences. Souder is an Extension Forestry and Natural Resources Specialist and assistant professor of Forestry Engineering Resources and Management in the College of Forestry.
There are at least six reasons to prioritize restoration projects. In addition to the fact that funders are asking for it, prioritization:
Leads to strategic planning and evaluation.
Recognizes capacity constraints.
Turns assessments into action plans.
Makes tradeoffs explicit.
Gives the ability to say “no!”
Coffee klatches involve community stakeholders in conversations leading to better outcomes.
In order to maximize public involvement, a series of coffee klatches, i.e., informal conversations, were held within each basin to elicit landowner visions and concerns. Associated with the conversations, work with Oregon scientists led to the development of a flexible and transparent restoration prioritization process that considers both ecological and socio-economic criteria. The process is called the Coos Bay Prioritization Approach (CBPA).
The CBPA was completed in 2008 and has been applied to restoration plans for 14 watersheds on the South Coast. An outcome of these assessments was the establishment of the Partnership for Coastal Watersheds (PCW), a joint effort with the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.
The PCW convened a multi-stakeholder group and used the CBPA to revise the Coos Bay Estuary Management Plan. In addition, a multi-agency group led by the Wild Salmon Center has identified the CBPA as the preferred method for Coastal Watershed Council. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is considering requiring the CBPA for any project requesting state funding to restore Coho habitat on the coast. Several watershed councils in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia have adopted CBPA.
During 2016, Giannico and Souder hosted three workshops, which included 55 participants from 45 organizations in 10 states (and Korea). Many of these participants have requested additional training. International workshops also were conducted in the Netherlands, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, and Mexico.
Words of advice from Drs. Giannico and Souder: “Get out of the office and partner with community organizations!”
The prioritization of watershed projects was recognized as one of 10 outreach and engagement projects to receive the 2017 Vice Provost Awards of Excellence.
Sources: Oregon Migrant Leadership Institute website and abstract submitted for the University Outreach and Engagement 2017 Vice Provost Awards of Excellence
Oregon Migrant Leadership Institute participants building relationships and trust.
Oregon lacks educational resources and programming for migrant youth. To address this need, Oregon State University collaborated with the Office of Migrant Education to create the Oregon Migrant Leadership Institute (OMLI). OMLI focuses on creating a new vision and reality for migrant students.
OMLI is one of several programs at OSU—including Open Campus, part of the Division of University Outreach and Engagement—that help kids think about college as a possibility and part of their future. It was one of 10 programs singled out for a 2017 Vice Provost Awards of Excellence.
The program encompasses elements essential to exceptional outreach and engagement work:
Addresses a need;
Substantiates measurable impact;
Builds on the knowledge of communities and partners;
Offers transformative learning experiences; and
Builds strong partnerships within the university and throughout Oregon (in OMLI’s case, Educational Service Districts, school districts and many other partners throughout the state).
View their presentation at the awards luncheon here.
OMLI’s objective is to develop leadership skills in Oregon’s high school migrant students. It exposes participants to college life and encourages them to attend. They also are encouraged to be proud of their heritage, and envision and build pathways to a positive future.
OSU has hosted OMLI every summer since 2009. Many university resources and community partners work together to build an institute where participants engage in scholarship, leadership and transformational learning. The program provides opportunities for migrant students to interact with other students, mentors, faculty and staff, opening new horizons to their futures. Through the OMLI experience, students return to their schools prepared to participate in leadership activities. One OMLI expectation is for students to give back to their communities.
Oregon Migrant Leadership Institutes participants tackle the Oregon State University ropes course.
Each summer, more than 100 high school migrant students from throughout Oregon make the trip to the OSU campus in Corvallis. Participants immerse themselves in a comprehensive leadership experience where relationships and trust are built, they begin to understand their potential and the importance of making good choices, and much more.
Participants tell their stories through technology, art and creative writing. They challenge themselves and build trust in others on the ropes course. They learn about taking risks and learn from their mistakes.
OMLI creates a supportive environment that creates positive change and growth. The impact of OMLI is immeasurable. From building self-esteem to aspirations of being the first in the family to attend college, the institute motivates participants. To date, nearly 1,000 migrant students have experienced OMLI.
Pre-assessments show that only 50 percent of participants understood how to develop action plans for their goals and 62 percent were familiar with steps to problem solving. Post-assessments show an increase to 90 percent of participants expressing competency in goal setting and problem solving. In addition, assessments indicate that over 90 percent of participants plan to enroll in college after high school.
Through OMLI, students become inspired about their education—they aim higher in their studies and emerge as leaders in their schools and communities. Many transition to higher education, including attending and graduating from OSU.
OMLI gives hope to migrant youth in Oregon as the experience sets them on a different path to fulfill their potential.
Check out this video to see more about the activities of the institute.
Dr. Sam Logan with child in a customized ride-on car.
No commercially produced motorized wheelchairs are available for children under three years old with mobility challenges. That fact and his belief that mobility is a fundamental human right spurred Dr. Sam Logan to start Go Baby Go (GBG) Oregon.
GBG Oregon is a community-based outreach program that works with families and clinicians to provide modified toy ride-on cars to young children with disabilities. The ride-on cars encourage exploration and play. In Oregon alone, there are more than 3,000 children receiving early intervention services who might benefit from a modified rode-on car. To date, more than 200 Oregon families have received modified ride-on cars.
GBG Oregon was founded in 2014 by Dr. Logan, assistant professor, School of Biological and Population Health Sciences, College of Public Health and Human Sciences. Dr. Bethany Sloane, assistant professor, Oregon Health and Science University, joined the project as an equal partner in 2015. She oversees the GBG Oregon program that serves Portland-area families, including an advisory board that includes 10 clinicians, families, and community-member stakeholders.
Team for GO BABY GO OREGON: MODIFIED RIDE-ON CARS FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES at the 2017 Vice Provost Awards of Excellence. From left: Ed Feser, provost and executive vice president; Lindsey Shirley, associate vice provost for University Outreach and Engagement and associate director of OSU Extension; Dr. Sam Logan, Dr. Bethany Sloane, Bethany McNeil, two OSU students from the CARS club, Javier Nieto, dean of the College of Public Health and Human Sciences; and Scott Reed, vice provost of University Outreach and Engagement and director OSU Extension Service.
The 15-member Children’s Adaptive Resources for Social Mobility (CARS) undergraduate club at Oregon State—for which Dr. Logan is founder and faculty advisor—supports the work of GBG Oregon. The club’s mission is to customize ride-on cars for a child’s particular disability. Dr. Logan also developed and taught an Honors College colloquial titled “Toy-based technology for children with disabilities.” This is an experimental learning course where students learn the science behind Go Baby Go, modify ride-on cars, and interact with families to customize ride-on car modifications for their children.
Logan published three peer-reviewed articles in Pediatric Physical Therapy, collaborated with Dr. Bill Smart (Mechanical Engineering, OSU), and published a technical report in Frontiers in Robotics & Artificial Intelligence outlining advances in modified ride-on car technology. He also collaborated with Dr. Kathleen Bogart (Psychological Science, OSU) on a research study that found caregivers’ attitudes toward disability and mobility may be related to the opportunities they provide to their children to use the modified ride-on cars (positive attitudes, more opportunities).
In addition to other scholarly activity, Logan represented OSU while conducting more than 20 Oregon and national workshops teaching the science behind GBG and the skills required to modify the ride-on cars. Dr. Sloane also leads monthly community workshops to modify ride-on cars.
Based on an abstract for the 2017 Vice Provost Awards of Excellence. Go Baby Go Oregon received a 2017 Vice Provost Award of Excellence. Click here to see the Go Baby Go Oregon presentation at the awards celebration.
Editor’s Note:Outreach takes on many forms. The goal most often is to understand the needs of a particular community. In this case, the goal was to improve Latino nursery worker educational materials. The results of the research can improve communication tools well beyond the nursery industry, OSU Extension, and Oregon State University. The “What Workers Think” project is one of 15 university outreach and engagement projects recognized at the 2017 Vice Provost Awards of Excellence celebration on April 17.
“How to Control Slugs in Your Garden” bilingual publication published by Extension and Experiment Station Communications
Spanish-speaking workers make up most of the labor force in Oregon’s horticulture industries; however, few Oregon State University Extension publications and multimedia materials are designed to meet their vocational and linguistic needs.
A team at Oregon State set out to understand how instructional materials can be designed to improve the learning process for Latino nursery workers. The team consisted of Ariel Ginsburg and Dionisia Morales, publishing managers with Extension and Experiment Station Communications (EESC); Luisa Santamaria, Extension plant pathologist for nursery crops and bilingual educator, North Willamette Research and Extension Center (NWREC) and associate professor, Botany and Plant Pathology, College of Agricultural Sciences; and Gilbert Uribe, education program assistant (NWREC), now pesticide registration and certification specialist at the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
EESC translates into Spanish some publications from the Extension catalog. Feedback from Extension faculty working in Latino communities suggested that the choice of topics was not always well-suited to horticultural workers. Publications were often too technical, written at too high a reading level, or required a computer to download and print.
Dionisia Morales (middle) and Ariel Ginsburg (right) accept a Honorable mention for the WHAT WORKERS THINK: COMMUNICATION NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR LATINO NURSERY WORKERS project. Ed Feser (left), OSU provost and executive vice president, presents the award.
This feedback sparked a number of questions: Do workers want information to help them do better at their jobs. Do they want to learn key English vocabulary to communicate more easily with their employers? Are workers more interested in web-based training they can do on their own time, or in face-to-face sessions? Are they more likely to access information on their smartphones?
Using a $1,500 professional development grant from the Association for Communication Excellence, the team conducted three focus groups. They asked workers directly about their needs and interests. Integrating into existing, employer-supported worker training events allowed maximum participation. The three focus groups conducted thus far involved 21 community members. A final focus group will take place in spring 2017.
The findings have already started to shift how EESC delivers translated content. Latino workers want more photo-rich, mobile-friendly information and they want publications in which English and Spanish appear side-by-side.
In 2017, members of the team will write an article for the Journal of Extension. Findings will be presented at conferences to help other Extension and communication specialists learn how they can engage Latino community members to learn what education needs they have and their preferred learning formats.
Based on an abstract submitted for the 2017 University Outreach and Engagement Vice Provost Awards of Excellence.
Written by Gregg Kleiner and Tiffany Woods for Oregon Sea Grant (April 17, 2017)
Editor’s Note: This story is a great example of outreach and engagement work: co-creation of solutions, cross-disciplinary collaboration, applied research, building community capacity, partnerships, and more.
Crab fishing. Photo by Oregon Sea Grant.
West Coast crabbers and faculty with Oregon State University and Sea Grant programs in Oregon and Washington have been exploring ways to reduce injuries at sea.
“The ideas are generated by the fishermen, and the goal is that the solutions are voluntarily embraced and are not imposed,” said Laurel Kincl, the leader of the project and an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at OSU’s College of Public Health and Human Sciences.
Gathering research
To gather the suggestions as well as build rapport with the fishermen, nine community members with ties to the fishing industry were contracted, including several fishermen’s wives. Kincl and others then trained them to conduct outreach, engagement and research.
As part of the project, in the fall of 2015, the nine community members surveyed 365 crabbers in Washington, Oregon and California about the types and number of injuries they may have experienced during the 2014-15 crabbing season. The crabbers reported 65 injuries, 36 of which required them to take time off work or change how they worked. Of those 36, sprains and strains were the most frequent, with 13 incidents. Out of the 36 injuries, hands, arms and shoulders were the most commonly injured body parts, with 17 reports. Nine of the 36 injuries occurred while handling gear on deck, and seven happened while hauling in gear.
When asked what they thought contributed most to injuries, fishermen gave answers that included not paying attention, weather and sea conditions, inexperience, unsafe vessels or gear, a lack of training, and poor physical shape. When asked what they thought was the most important thing for staying safe, responses included having a good captain and crew, being aware, taking care of oneself, avoiding fatigue and having a well-maintained boat and gear.
Co-created solutions
Fishermen suggested the need for a fishing-specific first aid and CPR course. As a result, a wilderness medicine expert was invited to the Oregon towns of Newport and Astoria in the fall of 2016 to train fishermen on how to treat medical conditions and at-sea injuries such as cuts, broken bones, dislocated shoulders and hypothermia.
Another fisherman suggested looking at the design of banger bars, which are metal bars that are welded to the tables where crabs are sorted. Crab pots are hoisted over and slammed against the bars to force the crabs onto the table.
“Some say the bars make it easier on fishermen’s wrists and backs if positioned correctly,” said Kaety Jacobson, a marine fisheries Extension specialist with Oregon Sea Grant and a partner on the project. “But there’s not a standard design, so crabbers make their own – if they use them at all. We’re pretty sure someone has come up with the ideal banger bar, so we’re trying to find that design and share it with the community.”
The research team is considering using fishermen-focused Facebook pages, like the Oregon Sea Grant Fisheries Extension Facebook page, to ask for information about the use, design and benefits of the bars. With this information, she said, Sea Grant could create a publication on what a banger bar is and why fishermen use them. It could also include photos or schematics of designs that work better.
Also because of fishermen’s feedback, Jacobson and the nine community members will interview experienced deckhands and boat captains about what makes a good crew, how to size up a boat to see if it’s safe, and what safety-related language fishermen should look for when signing a contract to become a crew member. Jacobson and her team plan to share this information with novice or aspiring crewmembers.
“We’ll put these findings in an infographic or factsheet that we’ll post on social media or mail out so that fishermen looking for work can have that resource,” she said.
Importance to Oregon
During the 2015–16 season, fishermen in Oregon landed just over 14 million pounds of Dungeness crab, which they sold for a record $51 million, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Dubbed the official state crustacean, Dungeness crabs make up the most valuable single-species commercial fishery in Oregon.
Left to our own devices, most of us aren’t big risk-takers. Humans, by nature, like routine. And once we’re in our routine, it can be challenging to think differently. The thought of coming up with a new idea or launching a new “something” might be hugely intimidating. Fear not!
The work of Extension needs to embrace – and mirror – the changes we see in our communities, in our economy and in the environment. Innovate Extension 2017, produced by OSU’s eXtension iTeam, is organized in a way that will ignite and develop your talents for innovative thinking.
How awesome would it be for you to work with a team of fellow innovation-minded colleagues and have a great idea funded? Pretty awesome! How amazing would it be to create the next great opportunity for Extension to build community vitality and capacity? Pretty amazing! How great would it be to amplify, reignite and reinvigorate your gifts for innovation in an atmosphere of collaboration! Outstanding!
When & where is the 2017 OSU Innovate Extension event being held?
Tuesday May 23rd
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
The LaSells Stewart Center on OSU Campus in Corvallis.
Who is invited to participate? ALL Extension employees are highly encouraged to participate. Please check in with your supervisor before signing up to ensure release time and travel expenses. Registration is limited to 100 participants.
How much does it cost to attend?
This year’s event is free thanks to the generosity of our sponsors: OSU Extension and the eXtension Foundation. Travel expenses to Corvallis are not covered by the sponsors.
What does the agenda look like?
The day starts at 8 a.m. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Participant teams will form up and meet their Creative Coaches. Teams will be coached on and practice idea generation, project design, budgeting, and will develop a short pitch for the team’s idea. Each team will present its idea pitch to a panel of judges and other participants. Your team’s idea could be selected for funding!
Do I need to sign up with a team to participate? Nope! Anyone who is interested in innovation in Extension is encouraged to apply. You may sign up as a team or you will be assigned to a great team.
Register now! Participation is limited to the first 100 to register. Registration deadline is April 10.
Innovate ways to update programs, ways of teaching and working, or just think of creative solutions to Extension challenges. The sky is the limit! (How often do you hear that?!?)
Based on a submission for Vice Provost Award of Excellence
Often times, it is not a high priority for seed companies to engage with or consider the unique needs and preferences of organic farmers and their customers during the plant breeding process. To ensure success, organic farmers need varieties bred under organic conditions in order to select for traits including weed competitiveness, disease resistance, organic nutrient management and stress tolerance.
Organic customers demand superior flavor and culinary attributes and have an appreciation for uniqueness, quality and novelty. Incorporating chefs, farmers, produce buyers and other stakeholders into the plant breeding process gives breeders deeper insight into preferred traits. It also promotes awareness and understanding of organic plant breeding to a broader audience.
In 2012, the Culinary Breeding Network (CBN) was formed to convene breeders and these stakeholders to discuss and identify traits of culinary excellence for vegetables and grains. The Variety Showcase is an annual CBN event. Its goal is to increase communication in order to develop more relevant and desirable cultivars for all parties. Attendees have the opportunity to taste commercially available cultivars, provide feedback on breeding populations, and exchange ideas and perspectives with breeders.
OSU faculty involved in CBN include:
Nick Andrews, Senior Instructor and Small Farms Extension Educator
Pat Hayes, Professor, Barley Breeding & Products, College of Agricultural Sciences
Jim Myers, Professor, Vegetable Breeding and Genetics, College of Agricultural Sciences
Heidi Noordijk, Education Program Assistant—Small Farms
Lane Selman, Faculty Research Assistant, Department of Horticulture, College of Agricultural Sciences
Alex Stone, Associate Professor, Horticulture Extension – Vegetable Cropping Specialist
Impact
Community partnerships are essential to the success of the CBN and the Variety Showcase. Partners include: Organically Grown Company, Oregon Tilth and The Sage Restaurant Group.
Event attendance has more than tripled from 2014 to 2016 and attendees have been exposed to more than 150 commercially available cultivars and 135 breeding lines of vegetables and grains. Seed companies report significant sales increases because of the Variety Showcase events. Creating a venue for the interactive exchange of specific needs has resulted in a greater understanding of what consumers want from breeders. For all other participants, the event creates a greater understanding of the important role breeders play in the food we eat.
Engaging with chefs and buyers through qualitative sensory evaluations like the Variety Showcase to assess cultivars and breeding lines sets this work apart from standard quantitative sensory panels.
The Culinary Breeding Network Variety Showcase will receive a Vice Provost Award of Excellence Honorary Mention on April 17, 2017.
