Feb. 19, 2007 Extension Update
Dear Extension Faculty & Staff:
This past week was another busy one both in Santa Fe and here on campus. Last week was highlighted by our 2nd U-wide Extension Tour. Twenty agents visited three colleges -- Education, Business, and Engineering. Each college tour was very concise, yet informative. I want to commend the agents for asking many good questions about how college faculty could help them with their individual programs. Gerald Chacon backed up those statements by providing a listing of what we (agents and specialists) are looking for and items we should work/collaborate on between/among colleges. Each college praised Extension as being the best part of the university as we are already out there providing education for NM constituents. There is some conversation taking place about offering more tours during our April Conference, in addition to agents and specialists meeting to discuss programming. The Conference Planning Committee will meet again this week to determine the exact conference format.
Many of our bills are moving through the House and Senate. My role in Santa Fe will continue to be to shepherd our bills over the next several weeks. Also in Santa Fe last week, the executive board of the Extension and Research Support Council met with me. We planned six tentative dates and towns, for upcoming town hall meetings or roundtable discussions. The purpose of these discussions will be to reconnect with constituents, find out what the current and most important needs in communities are, and to see where there are needs that can be addressed through U-wide Extension efforts. Although times of day and building locations are still undetermined, the tentative dates and towns for six meetings are: May 30 - Las Cruces; Aug 22 - Silver City; Aug 29 - Farmington; Aug 30 - Albuquerque; Sept 27 - Clayton; Sept 28 - Roswell. Please plan to attend and bring a variety of community members from elected officials, faith-based members, agency heads, ag producers, education, media, tribal groups, health fields, rural and urban citizens, & families. More information will be forth coming.
Again, I would like to thank those agents who attended the NMSU campus tour last week. I appreciate you taking time out of your county to look at how you can partner with additional faculty to handle some of your important county issues.
Paul