Monthly Archives: August 2019

August 27, 2019

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In this week’s issue:

August Journal of Extension

The August 2019 issue of the Journal of Extension is now available. The entire issue can be accessed directly on the JOE website at www.joe.org.
Several of your colleagues were published this month! Congratulations go to:
Curious about publishing your Extension impacts in the Journal of Extension? Check out their Guidance for Authors page and consider submitting!

Navigator Digital Strategy Update

Heads nodded in agreement these past weeks, as we bounced around the idea of adding more stories to the website to show the value of Extension’s work. Also, new solutions arose as content teams talked about who and how to enter and organize their content. This week’s blog post takes a look at what is taking shape, and the role of content strategy in facilitating it.

Diversity Highlights

Please contact analu.fonseca@oregonstate.edu with any questions, and if you have suggestions for content to include in Diversity Highlights.

Statewide Events & Resources

OSU-Cascades offers community learning workshops (KTVZ)
Oregon State University–Cascades’ fall adult community learning workshops begin in September and are open for registration. Geared toward personal and professional development, the workshops cover topics including health, film and art, leadership development, and equity and inclusion.

Student success film screening: As a special University Day event, the Office of Institutional Diversity and Office of Undergraduate Education are hosting a screening of “Unlikely,” a new documentary exploring barriers to college completion, followed by a conversation on OSU’s student success initiatives. Tuesday, Sept.10, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the LaSells Stewart Center, Austin Auditorium.

Social Justice Education Initiative: The Social Justice Education Initiative schedule for summer and fall is up, and there are still seats for summer sessions. From Faculty Affairs, the SJEI is a foundational professional development program for faculty, staff and graduate students. SJEI offers a varied schedule of Tier One and Tier Two workshops, all open now for registration. Join your colleagues to begin, or expand, your equity and inclusion journey in this well-reviewed program. Interested in this work for your unit? Contact SJEI Director Jane Waite for further information: jane.waite@oregonstate.edu

 In the News

Girls’ Side and Boys’ Side? Not at These Summer Camps (NY Times)
Sleep-away programs for L.G.B.T.Q. youth offer all the standards — s’mores, canoeing, friendship bracelets — plus gender-inclusive cabins and courses on identity.

Native American Tribes Say Indian Horse Relays Are America’s First Extreme Sport (KLCC)
One of the ways Native tribes in the West celebrate their history and culture is through annual summer horse races. They’re known as Indian Relays, and tribes call them America’s first extreme sport.

Do private prisons have a role in our society? (Rifkin Radio podcast) 
In this podcast, Brett Burkhardt, Ph.D, a sociology professor at Oregon State University, joins us to discuss the key elements of the debate over prison privatization: cost, quality and morality.

Extension in the News

Young ‘Iron Chefs’ show off new skills
The LaGrande Observer
Four teams of middle school students battled it out at the Oregon State University Extension Services office Wednesday afternoon. They were showing off all they had learned the last eight weeks as members of the Iron Chef in the Nutrition Kitchen competition.

Holey Cow! (Really)
Baker City Herald
As part of their two-week program in August, the students took various field trips in addition to brushing up on math and reading. Their visit to the Extension Office focused on natural resources.

Neighbors Concerned About Malnourished Cows Near Roseburg
KEZI
Frieze said the cattle’s owner has been very cooperative through the whole process and has been working with Oregon State University extension services and the sheriff’s office to come up with feeding plans.

OSU launches ‘Global Hemp Innovation Center’
KOBI
“It has so many beneficial uses that I am quite excited that it’s now becoming more and more mainstream as an agricultural commodity and going into products that we use,” Richard Roseberg, director of the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center, said.

August 20, 2019

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In this week’s issue:

Quarterly Conversation

The August Quarterly Conversation is now available for viewing. If you would like to take a closer look, the slides are available for download. Topics of the conversation include the following (numbers denote where you will find the segment on the video):

  • Bright Spots (Anita Azarenko and Lindsey Shirley) – Highlights and celebration of the work our people are doing across the state (1:16)
  • Leadership Update (Anita Azarenko and Amanda Bielenberg) – Anita shared information about her background and provided an update on status of Extension Director position and reflections on her five weeks in the Division. Amanda shared exciting news about new features at Extension Annual Conference. (9:50)
  • Language Access (Ana Lu Fonseca and Jennifer Alexander) – Language access is the strategic and systematic management of multilingual communication. Transport, an easy online translation portal, was introduced. (32:30)
  • Navigator (Jennifer Alexander) – A status update on the Navigator initiative and highlights since the May Quarterly Conversation. Learn more and sign up for updates at beav.es/navigator. (55:05)
  • The Water Initiative (Dave Hansen) – The Water Initiative Team is making recommendations on how best to coordinate water initiatives across Extension. Click here to see the report. (1:12:20)

Extension Borrowables

EESC is raising awareness of Extension at various events. In the process, the department is accumulating various items that might be useful for county offices and others as they promote the services of Extension. The newest items for the borrowable inventory are six 3-ft x 4-ft vinyl banners featuring the four thematic areas of Extension. Three of the banners fit in a 10-ft wide booth space and can be hung with hooks or rope. Mix and match or use all six. To request the use of the banners or other borrowables, contact Sandy Reichhuber.

Extension Web Update

This week’s blog  goes over next steps and time commitments to get to our next goal, CRM practice. How and when will we get there.

Diversity Highlights

Please contact analu.fonseca@oregonstate.edu with any questions, and if you have suggestions for content to include in Diversity Highlights.

Statewide Events & Resources

Special Education: What You Need to Know
This FREE info session includes an introduction to key special education definitions and developing a successful individualized education program. Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM at 2019 A. Main Street, Baker City, Oregon.

Race and White Women (non-men) at Work
Transformational Conversations about Racism, Oppression, & Getting Free Together. Saturday, August 24 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM at the Oregon State University Native American Longhouse Ena Haws. $149 workshop fee, includes materials.

Volunteer opportunity for Fall 2019 – New International Students Orientation Week: Engage with new international students and help welcome the new Beavers from around the world during Fall 2019 Orientation Week. For more information and to sign up go here. Volunteer training day (required for all volunteers): September 13, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at ILLC 155. Volunteering dates: New students move-in day: Sept. 16-17. Orientation week: Sept. 18-24. Different volunteer shifts available to fit your schedule. For more information or questions, contact Carla Portugal at  intl.orientation@oregonstate.edu or go to the INTO OSU website.

In the News

Students With Disabilities Deserve Inclusion. It’s Also the Best Way to Teach (Education Week)
“Students with disabilities face substantially increased rates of abuse and restraint in schools. As an education and disability advocate seeking to change that, I frequently encounter well-meaning arguments for separating higher-needs students from the general population.”

Study finds health research disparities for Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians (KLCC)
Oregon State University PhD candidate Lan Doan found that over the past 26 years the NIH has allocated 0.17 percent of its budget toward 529 studies.

Child care crisis: Famillies struggle with rising child care costs, finding safe providers (Statesman Journal)
According to the report “Oregon’s Child Care Deserts” by Oregon State University, these costs equated to more than $14,000 a year for toddler care at a center. “The big thing we’ve seen change is the affordability of care,” said Megan Pratt, assistant professor of practice at OSU’s College of Public Health and Human Sciences and one of the report’s authors.

Extension in the news

Dormant-season grazing eyed as tool in reducing fire risk
Capital Press
In a 25,000-acre study area east of Owyhee Reservoir, cattle numbers traditionally are reduced before Nov. 1 — right around the time perennial grasses go dormant and temperatures become nearly perfect for germination of invasive cheatgrass and medusahead, Oregon State University Extension rangeland and livestock specialist Sergio Arispe said.

Nuts for hazelnuts: growers can’t keep up with demand
Capital Press
“The demand for hazelnut trees is huge,” said Jay Pscheidt, an Extension plant pathologist at Oregon State University.

February snowstorms pummeled Oregon research forest, opened door to Douglas-fir beetles
KVAL
“This year was pretty epic,” said David Shaw, a silviculture Extension agent in the Oregon State University College of Forestry, “because it was heavy, wet snow.”

August 13, 2019

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In this week’s issue:

Sustainable swag

According to a recent survey conducted by Nielsen, 73% of respondents said they would either definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment. With this in mind, we are adding items to the mix of Extension swag that are reusable and have longer life spans. One such item is the Extension mesh bag. Priced at $4/bag, it encourages users to reduce reliance on plastic produce bags (and they see the Extension name each time they shop). Another example is the $1 Extension healthy living tote. It is reusable, washable and made from 100% recycled materials (except the web handles). You can order these and other Extension promotional items by using the “Marketing/Promo Item” link on the OSU Extension Employee Intranet.

What do you think about adding a reusable straw kit and/or a reusable utensil kit to the Extension swag mix? Share your feedback and ideas for other eco-friendly items with Ann Marie Murphy.

Communication and connection opportunities

Is there anything about which you are interested, curious, or concerned? Here are some ways to share and ask:

  • Online form to submit questions (Think of this like a virtual comment box.)
  • OSU Extension Slack workspace or informal communication and collaboration
  • Read ConnEXTion weekly, and contribute!
  • O&E blog with First Monday videos (Engage via the comment section!)
  • Outreach & Engagement Quarterly Conversations (Next: August 16, 2019)

Agri-tourism Coordinator (Internal Employment Opportunity)

The Extension Service Marion County office is seeking an Agritourism Coordinator. This is a full-time, 12-month, fixed term professional faculty position. This position will be assigned to Marion, Polk and Yamhill Counties in the Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Western Region. Reappointment is at the discretion of the Regional Director. Posting# P03249UF. Closes August 22. Contact Mark Chien, search chair, with any questions.

Extension Web Update

Now that focus areas have been live for a few months, we took a look at analytics in this week’s blog to see how effective they have been in meeting the goals we had for them.

Diversity Highlights

Please contact analu.fonseca@oregonstate.edu with any questions, and if you have suggestions for content to include in Diversity Highlights.

Statewide Events & Resources

2019 POC Bridge-Building Mixer
The Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and LGBTQ+ BIPOC on staff at Oregon Community Foundation, in collaboration with the Latino Partnership Program, want to get to know you better! BIPOC/LGBT+ BIPOC who wish to network, connect, share stories and create links to foundation resources are highly encouraged to attend this event. Wednesday, August 14 at 525 SE Stark Street, Portland, OR 97214.

Venezuelan Arts & Culture Festival, PDX
Venezuelan artists, performers, and crafters (displays and vendors). Authentic Venezuelan cuisine from La Arepa. Sunday, August 18 at the Oaks Park Dance Pavilion in Portland. Sponsored by the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition.

All of Us Exhibit
The All of Us exhibit will be on OSU’ Corvallis campus from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 19-23 on the brick mall off the northeast corner of the MU. The goal of the research, education and enrollment center is to advance health care that is based on you as an individual. Part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, All of Us aims to sign up 1 million or more people who will share information about their health over time. Researchers will study this data to improve health for generations to come. It’s hosted by the College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Benton County, and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health.

The 1619 Project: An Evening of Conversation on August 13
Four hundred years ago, on August 20, 1619, a ship carrying about 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Point Comfort, a coastal port in the British colony of Virginia. Though America did not even exist yet, their arrival marked its foundation, the beginning of the system of slavery on which the country was built. In August, The New York Times Magazine will observe this anniversary with a special project that examines the many ways the legacy of slavery continues to shape and define life in the United States. Register to watch the livestream here.

In the News

Requesting accommodations: Another challenge for older workers (Forbes)
Other research has shown that people with disabilities refrain from requesting accommodations if they think coworkers would find the request “normatively inappropriate” — meaning not in keeping with the office culture. Research by David C. Baldridge and Michele L. Swift of OSU’s College of Business, published in Human Resources Management, studied the effect of age on such requests. Workers’ fear of seeming old, they found, may trump their fear of seeming to have a disability.

OSU-Cascades presents Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Employee Award (Bend Bulletin)
Oregon State University – Cascades  has given its 2019 Employee Awards to five faculty and staff members for outstanding contributions in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion; outreach; outstanding staff engagement and support; scholarship and creative activity; and teaching excellence.

’Squad’ is creating a safe space for teenage girls online (Tech Crunch)
Led by Crawford, a graduate of Oregon State University, Squad’s compelling founding story and organic growth helped them close a $5 million seed round led by First Round Capital general partner Hayley Barna, the only female partner at the historically all-male early-stage investment fund known for being the first institutional check in Uber.

Extension in the news

Bend 4-H pig’s hefty fair price goes to worthy cause
KTVZ
Cooper, a 10-year-old 4-H student from Bend, sold Guss at $100 a pound ,which totaled $26,400 at the Deschutes County Fair. He decided to donate all of the money to charity.

OSU brings back mechanical cultivation field day
Capital Press
This year, OSU Extension Service is partnering with Washington State University Extension to offer two events — the first on Aug. 27 at WSU’s Puyallup Research and Extension Center, and the second on Aug. 29 at OSU’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Ore.

Garden tour draws crowds
The Madras Pioneer
The event, presented by Oregon State University Extension and the Central Oregon chapter of OSU Master Gardeners, provided gardening enthusiasts with an opportunity to learn from other gardeners.

August 6, 2019

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In this week’s issue:

Available now: Out There videos in Spanish

Our collection of Extension Out There videos is now available in Spanish (including captioning). Find the in the “Marketing Templates, Tools and Inspiration” folder in Box by going to the Employee Intranet website and clicking on the link under Popular Links. Look for the “Out There Videos” folder.

As a reminder, there is a silent version that is appropriate for using at events. You also will find the full video (one minute and twenty seconds long) and six thirty-second story clips – all available in English and Spanish with captions – featuring a variety of Extension activities. Please share them on your social media channels to help spread the word about the great things Extension is doing in and for Oregon.

More Extension stories will be captured on video in the coming months. We anticipate another Out There video and three more story clips will be available in the fall. For questions, please contact Ann Marie Murphy.

Extension Web Update

Imagine if you could ask your smart speaker to search the OSU Extension website for events located near you, or ask Siri to find all of the blueberry pruning publications in the OSU Extension Catalog? See our blog this week to see how we are preparing for the future.

Diversity Highlights

Please contact analu.fonseca@oregonstate.edu with any questions, and if you have suggestions for content to include in Diversity Highlights.

Statewide Events & Resources

NEW SCHEDULE! Social Justice Education Initiative
The Social Justice Education Initiative schedule for fall is now up, and there are still seats for summer sessions. From Faculty Affairs, the SJEI is a foundational professional development program for faculty, staff and graduate students. SJEI offers a varied schedule of Tier One and Tier Two workshops, all open now for registration. Join your colleagues to begin, or expand, your equity and inclusion journey in this well-reviewed program. Interested in this work for your unit? Contact SJEI Director Jane Waite for further information: jane.waite@oregonstate.edu

EXTENSION OFFICES, TAKE NOTE: Jane will deliver her introductory 2-day SJEI course in your County Office if you can get a group of 12 people together. Contact Jane or Ana Lu with any questions.

Bend YP DevLabs, Session 3: Our Community – Where Will You Make Your Impact?
Have you ever wanted to make a difference in your community but have been unsure of how to get started? Thursday, August 15 from 5:00 – 7:30 pm at the Deschutes Brewery- Mountain Room (901 SW Simpson Ave, Bend, OR). Hosted by the Bend Chamber of Commerce.

Hiroshima – Nagasaki Commemoration event
Wednesday, August 7th, 2019 from 7:00–8:30 pm at the Corvallis Riverfront Park. Co-hosted by the OSU School of History, Philosophy and Religion.

Trystan Reese Recorded Presentation
Trystan Reese presented “The Seahorse Dad: My year as a pregnant man” at the Whiteside Theater in Corvallis, Oregon in April 2019. Sponsored by The Arts Center of Corvallis.

In the News

Discrimination Is Hard to Prove, Even Harder to Fix (NY Times)
“It’s a difficult process, more difficult than it needs to be,” said Jeff Vardaro, a civil rights attorney in Columbus, Ohio. These cases can become complex and expensive, and defendants and their attorneys have incentives to drag them out.

Phillips Collection modern-art museum opens new exhibit (Oregonian)
To transcribe the journey of 68 million refugees, the Phillips yielded its floors to 75 international artists.

Need a Mental Health Day? Some States Give Students the Option (NY Times)
An expert called the laws in both Utah and Oregon a “win” and said students who are “quietly suffering” from mental illness will benefit most.

Extension in the news

OSU ‘statewides’ plan return to full staffing
Capital Press
Oregon State University is preparing for a hiring spree in its Extension service, agricultural experiment stations and forest research lab due to a funding boost from lawmakers.

Large wasps descend on Central Oregon in search of cicadas
The Bulletin
In recent weeks, the extension center in Madras and the Oregon State University Extension Service in Redmond have received numerous calls from residents who are concerned about the wasps.

A little heat brings the wheat
Dalles Chronicle
While yields are yet to be determined, retired Oregon State University Extension Agent Sandy Macnab expected bushels-per-acre to be around average.