OSU Open Campus earns national recognition

OSU Open Campus (formerly Oregon Open Campus) was selected as the western regional winner and national finalist for the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Award from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. Congrats to Beth Emshoff, Jeff Sherman and the rest of the OOC team on this well deserved recognition.

Learn more about this award distinction and download the OOC award application

Legislative conversations starting up

As part of the university’s budget, the three Statewide Public Services (Extension is one) are beginning conversations with legislators as a way to gain insights into their priorities and how we can position ourselves to contribute to Oregon’s most pressing needs.

Take a look at the “leave behind” that describes our budget requests and five areas of emphasis (PDF)

OSU to host Oregon Environmental Literacy Program

In 2007, Oregon passed legislation that began six years of planning for a program dubbed “No Oregon Child Left Inside”. Among the outcomes was a rich plan to expand work around environmental literacy. Beginning in 2014, the Oregon Environmental Literacy program (OELP) will be administered by OSU and led by a team of faculty with Susan Sahnow at the helm. The steering committee is scheduled to start meeting this month.

Learn more about the background and commitment to environmental literacy (PDF)

Health Extension Run 2014

Oregon State University’s College of Public Health and Human Sciences will become Oregon’s first nationally accredited College of Public Health and Human Sciences. To bring awareness to this distinction and the power of living a healthy lifestyle, two college undergraduates – and brothers, Isaiah and Jeremiah Godby – are running to 30 out of 36 Oregon counties, stopping at OSU Extension Service offices along the way and encouraging community members, alumni and Beavers fans across Oregon to join them – whether you walk, run or use a wheelchair.

Find out when the run will be in your area

Upcoming professional development opportunities

• Engagement Scholarship Consortium Conference: Oct. 5-7 in Edmonton, Canada
• ADEC CABTS Joint International Conference (PDF): Aug. 26-29 in Beijing, China

The first week in May is historic.

On May 8, 1914, the Smith-Lever Act was enacted that established outreach units at Land-grant universities across the nation. On May 8, 2014, a convocation in Washington, DC will commemorate this national policy and all the associated successes of taking knowledge to the people.

Learn more about plans to celebrate this important milestone.

As a member of the University Promotion and Tenure Committee, I spent significant time in the last month reading and discussing promotion and tenure dossiers for OSU faculty.

Undergirding all conversations about the more than 70 candidates was the question of scholarship. For faculty responsible for outreach and engagement, scholarship is demonstrated in diverse ways—unlike the conventional peer-refereed publications expected of researchers.  To qualify, scholarship must meet three criteria—1) original intellectual work 2) validated by peers, and 3) communicated. I am glad to report that faculty conducting engaged scholarship are recognized with career advancement. It is clear, though, that work remains to better define how peers are selected and how communication helps to implement associated innovations.

Two weeks ago at the Vice Provost Awards for Excellence luncheon, Dave, Deb and I distributed plaques and checks to several outstanding examples of engaged work. Congrats to all of this year’s recipients!

IN THE NEWS

• Learning to talk the talk – online (Military Advanced Education)
• As antibiotics ban nears, organic orchards have new tools to fight fire blight (phys.org)
• OSU develops flower-identifying app (Portland Tribune)
• Coast to coast | Ecampus graduate Colby Mangini (G.I. Jobs Magazine)
• Portland workshop focuses on ethics and responsibility (Beaver Nation PDX Newsletter)

QUESTION OF THE  MONTH

Q. The new Leadership Development Program for Executives is for faculty.  Are there thoughts for a strategic talent pipeline for staff?  Both for movement within the classified system and also from classified to professional faculty?  If we could increase retention of our many talented and dedicated staff, we would also better capitalize on the investment the Division has made in their hiring, training, and development.

A. What a great question! In fact, professional development, skill building and career advancement for division staff are critical to our collective success. While there are some campus-wide programs that include classified staff, we need to consider unique options for Outreach and Engagement, and I invite input and suggestions from all.

Should we consider a special internal development program? What should it contain? How about a job exchange or shadowing program that allows people to experience another setting? Maybe we should design an annual office tour that would spend a day on the road visiting off-campus division facilities. Internships? Your ideas are welcome.

Recently OSU passed the billion-dollar mark on our first-ever capital campaign, with the 4-H Foundation raising over $16 million – strengthening 4-H today and for years to come. Plans are now underway for a post-campaign fundraising initiative, and there is an opportunity for our division to play a significant role. As a first step, we have been asked to identify distinctive qualities that would inspire financial support for outreach and engagement programs.

I’d appreciate your thoughts on the following:

1. What makes outreach and engagement at OSU distinct from similar units at other institutions?
2. What are our emerging areas of strength deserving of additional investment and why?
3. What can the division provide to students so they are best prepared to become leaders?

Please contribute by commenting below. Your answers will be shared with our OSU Foundation team as they work on shaping this new campaign initiative.

DIVISION UPDATES

In March, the OSU Board of Trustees approved a biennial request for the Statewide Public Services that adds $16 million of new funds in addition to a 5.8 percent continuing service level adjustment. Download the “Proposed 2015-17 Legislative Funding Request to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission” document (2.9MB) to read the details of this request, including the five areas of focus put forth by Extension. This information can be found on pages 30-33.

In May, we will begin accepting applications for the division’s new Leadership Development Program for Executives. Curious and want to learn more? Join us on April 25 at the O&E Quarterly Update when Deb Maddy will share additional details about this exciting opportunity.

The spring issue of O&E Magazine is now available in print and online. This issue features stories about STEM-related outreach and engagement activities from across the university. Check out the stories on the new website.

In an effort to advance the division’s diversity goals, we recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of Equity and Inclusion. Learn more about the division’s key diversity goals, as well as details of the MOU.

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

O&E Colloquium
Wednesday, April 16, 2-5pm (reception to follow)
CH2M Hill Alumni Center
Event website

Ecampus Faculty Forum
Over lunch, Eduventures’ President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Nemec will present a national market update on online education based on a 2014 study published by this Boston-based market research firm.
Thursday, April 17, 8am-4:15pm
CH2M Hill Alumni Center
Register

O&E Division Quarterly Update
Friday, April 25, 9-10am
Kidder 202 and streaming online at http://live.oregonstate.edu/

IN THE NEWS

• Trains, Tiburones and Beavers: What do they all have in common?
• Oregon State’s Craft Brewery Startup Workshop offers Ninkasi internship
• Starting from scratch: Food entrepreneurship offered online from Oregon State
• Bovine PTSD? Scared Cows Cost Ranchers Too (OPB)
• A New Use for Your Old Livestrong Bracelet: Monitoring Pollutants (vocative)
• The language of science (Ag Weekly)
• 3 easy Oregon strawberries to plant now (Oregonian)
• Transform fish waste into food for an aquaponics garden (Mail Tribune)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

EdFuture 2014: Global Collaboration for Online Higher Education, presented by the American Distance Education Consortium

This conference, to be held May 13-15 in Orlando, convenes today’s top education thought leaders and practitioners to share their vision of tomorrow’s online education ecosystem and provides a roadmap of how to collectively reach it. Dave King will be presenting on the international projects and the bilingual learning modules being produced by our Open Educational Resources unit. Check out Dianna Fisher’s guest post on her recent trip to China to learn more about work in this area.

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

Q: What is OSU doing to support faculty success?

A: I serve on a Provost’s Council work group that is designing a prioritized approach to helping our faculty be successful. In February, we sponsored a faculty forum to collect input about possibilities. Some of the ideas included:

• The importance of meaningful start-up funds for new faculty, grant support, help in achieving work-life balance, and controlling cumbersome bureaucracy (early career).
• The mixed value of mentoring and need to focus on items that simplify the conflicting demands of serving on the faculty—such as facilities support and ordering equipment. (mid-career)
• Work elements that enhance satisfying relationships, the importance of physical spaces, administrative support. (late career)

Several division faculty members participated in this exercise, and the Provost’s Council will soon consider initiating a systematic program.

 

 

Scott Reed, Vice Provost, University Outreach and Engagement

Welcome to my inaugural First Monday Update.

In these monthly posts I’ll share updates on division initiatives, upcoming events, links to news articles and a Q&A (this month I asked for Deb Maddy’s help in responding). That’s the plan to start, but I’m open to changing up the format and content based on what you want to hear about. If you have suggestions on ways to improve these posts, please let me know.

I hope this can be a conversation, not just a way one-way communication. Share your comments and questions and I will do my best to respond to you as soon as I’m able.

So, here we go.

DIVISION UPDATES

I have been asked to provide testimony to a US Congressional Committee on March 4 about the role and function of Extension’s founding federal legislation, the Smith-Lever Act. I invite you to be one of the first to read my testimony (PDF)

We received a record 31 nominations for the Vice Provost Awards for Excellence. I am looking forward to recognizing these efforts at the awards luncheon on April 16.

I am pleased to share that Dr. Lou Swanson, Vice President for Engagement at Colorado State University, will be the keynote speaker at our O&E Colloquium on April 16. His address “Six things universities must do differently in the next five years to engage learners” will be followed by table conversations and a panel discussion including Provost Randhawa. Look for the invitation coming soon.

A planning team is busy preparing for the OSU Extension Reconsidered: Engaging Communities in the Arts, Humanities & Design forum on April 15. OSU is one of a dozen universities hosting day-long exploratory conversations on the topic as a part of the national Extension Reconsidered initiative. Stay tuned for more information on this exciting event.

The topline report from the recently conducted OSU Extension Service statewide survey is full of interesting findings and I look forward to digging into the data more in the months ahead. I hope you’ll join us this Friday, either in person or by phone, to hear what we learned and to discuss how it can inform our work.

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

OSU Extension statewide survey results presentation and discussion
Friday, March 7, 10am-12pm
Kidder 202 / Lived streamed at live.oregonstate.edu

O&E Colloquium
Wednesday, April 16, 2-5pm (reception to follow)
CH2M Hill Alumni Center

Ecampus Faculty Forum
Thursday, April 17, 8am-4:15pm
CH2M Hill Alumni Center
Register

IN THE NEWS

• Local to the core: Cider becomes latest Pacific Northwest-centric locally sourced item (Sustainable Business Oregon)
• Free textbook movement (KEZI)
• Shortage of Computer Science Grads (KEZI)
• UN applauds natural pest controls used by farmers in Mali (Irish Examiner)
• Satellites can spot underwater volcanic eruptions (KMTR)
• Blackberries: The aromatic, flavorful cultivated variety (The Oregonian)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This year’s Engagement Scholarship Consortium conference in Alberta, Canada will explore the theme “Engaging for Change: Changing for Engagement.” Proposals are sought for presentations, posters and other forms of communication that will inform or advance research on, and the practice of, engaged scholarship and community-university partnerships. The deadline for submitting proposals is March 17.

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

Q: What’s the future of SOARS*?

A: As SOARS approaches the end of its life span, we’ve begun exploring electronic on-line program planning and reporting options.  There are some promising alternatives available on the market and we hope to have a replacement for SOARS established by plan of work time 2015.  If you have ideas on how to improve the program planning and reporting process, please let me, Cory Parsons or Kim Tarrant know.  We will seek input from faculty on a new program planning and reporting system once we’ve narrowed the choices to what appear to be feasible and functional options for OSU Extension.

* For our non-Extension folks, Stories, Outcomes, and Accomplishments Reporting System (SOARS) is the online system used by all Extension educators to prepare their annual Plan of Work and Report of Accomplishment.