|
Spring
2007
Presidents
Message
National
ESP News
Regional
Committee
Reports
Special
Correspondence from:
Presidents
Message - from Fred Davis
Alpha
Omicron Chapter is off to another great start for 2007 with
a talented and dedicated Board and Committee Chairs, ready
to do the business of the Chapter. Last year's President,
Jeff Myers and Past President Michelle Rodgers set the benchmarks
with a remarkable record of achievement and recognition by
the National organization. It is my hope that we can replicate
those achievements, especially in the areas of membership
and award and recognition submissions.
Our membership
remains fairly constant (161 as of February 1, 2007), although
we have had a shift in the balance of annual and life members
this past year. Six members have retired since last year with
five of them recognizing the value of life membership as a
way to stay connected to our association. It also remains
for all of us to encourage our colleagues to continue their
membership support and to invite other co-workers to join
this great organization. Currently, our by-laws require employment
for two years before application for membership.
I am happy
to report that nominations for appointment or re-appointment
to five of the six National Committees have been recently
submitted. They include: Duane Stevenson, Global Relations,
Fay B. Strickler, Membership Recruitment and Retention, Karen
Vines, Professional Development, Jeff Myers, Resource Development
and Management, and Debra Gregory, Member Services. We should
hear shortly as to those who have been appointed for this
year.
This past year, the Alpha Omicron Chapter has received the
National Merit Recognition for its work in member recruitment
and recognition, and also the Certificate of Achievement for
being the second highest chapter participant in the support
of the National Development Campaign. We also were recognized
as a Platinum Standard award winner in the Chapter of Merit
Program, the highest level achievable as an active chapter.
This year, our score for the Chapter of Merit will be even
higher, due to the great participation by Alpha Omicron members
at the National Meeting in Annapolis, Maryland. Twenty-four
annual and life members were in attendance for a great conference.
And speaking
of the conference, kudos to our own Nancy Crago, who did a
great job as National President as she presided over the conference.
Nancy has given her heart and soul to the leadership of ESP
and now steps back to her role as Immediate Past President
and Chair of the Membership Recruitment and Retention Committee.
Nancy Wallace has also been elevated to Chair of the National
Member Services Committee as her new and important role of
Northeast Regional Vice President.
Michelle
Rodgers also played a major role at the National Conference
as Chair of the Live and Silent Auction. Michelle and many
of the PA delegation helped to raise almost $10,000 for the
National ESP Endowment Fund.
National
ESP News
2007
Richard R. Angus Scholarship Recipient
Congratulations
to Alpha Omicron's Tom Weber, recipient of a 2007 Angus Professional
Development scholarship. The $500 scholarship is presented
in honor of long-time ESP member, Richard Angus, from Maryland.
Additional recipients this year are Gretchen Ferenz from New
York and Susan Hansen from Nebraska. Congratulations, Tom!
2006
National Recognition Recipients
Congratulations
to the 2006 Epsilon Sigma Phi Northeast Regional Recognition
Recipients from Alpha Omicron:
Distinguished
Service-Nancy E. Wallace
Mid Career-Martha R. Gregory
Administrative Leadership-Michelle S. Rodgers
International Service-Leon Ressler
Alpha
Omicron Awards:
Chapter of Merit-Platinum Standard
Certificate of Achievement for membership participation at
or above Twenty-Five Percent
Certificate of Achievement as a Silver Chapter in the ESP
Development Campaign
2007
National Conference
The
2007 ESP National Conference will be held in Charleston, South
Carolina on September 10-15, 2007. Bridging Strengths of People
and Nations is the theme. The Francis Marion Hotel is the
conference site. It is an historic hotel with architectural
beauty and charm. The hotel rooms are small and quaint. We
have exciting speakers, excellent member presentations and
fabulous tour opportunities. Charleston is consistently voted
as the most gracious city in America.
Charleston
is home to Middleton Place, the oldest landscaped garden in
the country. The African-American National Heritage Museum
focuses on contributions to Charleston's history and culture.
Charleston is often called the "Holy City" because
of its many beautiful and historic churches. You can wander
through their cemeteries and see the final resting places
of such famous people as John C. Calhoun and John Rutledge.
Enjoy Lowcountry culinary delights such as shrimp and grits
and Beaufort Stew.
Conference
tours include: Georgetown, Charleston and Harbor, Agriculture
tour, Plantation tours, Savor the Flavor Tour, and others.
Hold the
dates (September 10-15) and make your plans to go!
Regional
JCEP
North Eastern Regional Meeting - February 21-23, Valley Forge
PA - Vicki Lewis
"Internationalizing
Extension Service" was the theme for this meeting and
the agenda certainly included opportunities to learn how other
states are doing this, and to reflect on how our own careers
might be broadened to include international work.
Fifty
attendees from Maryland, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Delaware, Connecticut, West Virginia, Oregon, District of
Columbia, Maine, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania participated
in discussions, panels, and video clips which featured the
whole aspect of extending extension efforts to the world.
Dr. Daney
Jackson, our own Director, shared his vision for this segment
of extension work and the importance of the impact that it
has on individual educators.
One panel
told about their successful approaches to internationalizing
extension, and about the benefits to clientele. Another shared
the overlap between multicultural and international: innovative
programs for working with immigrant populations in local communities.
One important
aspect of the meeting was the Association Meetings, in which
valuable information was shared by Nancy Wallace and the assembled
representatives from surrounding states.
I encourage
members to attend this conference (the format will change
in 2008) as this opportunity will expand your thinking about
professional development and other aspects the field of extension
education.
Committee
Reports
Committee
chairs - If you have not received your committee notebook
check with the 2006 chair
to do so.
Chapter
& Career Awards - Janice Stoudnour
Do you
know someone in your unit, department, county, or region who
is deserving of the ESP Distinguished Service Award? A quick
approaching deadline has just come to our attention (sorry,
we didn't know the deadline had changed from Sept. to May
until now) for the ESP Distinguished Service Award. The deadline
for award is April 23. The process is simple. Write
a letter of recommendation no longer than 2 pages with at
least 12 pt. font size and submit it electronically to Janice
Stoudnour by the deadline. The committee will review the
applications and submit the final selections no later than
May 1 to National ESP. Below you will find the guidelines.
With a membership of 150 or more, we can have 2 award winners.
We are all doing great work, and I know you work with someone
that would be thrilled with this peer recognition. Please
take the time and consider nominating someone.
Executive
Board:
Minutes 4/5/07
Conference
call began at 9:30 a.m. when all had signed on: Fred Davis,
Karen Vines, Rich Stup, Jeff Myers, and Vicki Lewis.
Fred asked
Vicki for a review/summary of the minutes, which were discussed,
corrected and approved.
The following
changes in meetings were noted: March 8 meeting was cancelled
(since we were in Valley Forge together and handled many items
of business there); June 14 conference call moved to June
20; August 16 face-to-face meeting changed to August 15, plans
to be announced later (likely a dinner meeting in State College).
October 11 conference call remains as planned.
Fred asked
Vicki for a report on the status of the spring edition of
the state newsletter. It is being written and will be completed
following today's meeting. Fred will do an article from the
President and send to Karen. Vicki is responsible for duplicating
and mailing to members who require postal mail. Vicki also
reported that she had gotten an article from Mary Alice Gettings
on the Diversity Workshop to submit to the April edition of
Communique.
Karen
reported that the list of standing committee chairmen and
co-chairmen is still under construction. Fred made some suggestions
and Karen will submit the list to National.
Fred indicated
that PA will support a second Vice President nominee from
New York or Maryland, rather than ask for a nomination from
PA. Motion to approve and seconded. Motion passed.
Annual
Meeting issues:
Annual
Extension conference will be held October 18 with the joint
dinner and auction to be held that night, and ESP Business
meeting over lunch from noon to 3 on Friday the 19th.
Karen
reviewed the matter of our professional development session
being in conflict with other association business and board
meetings. After some discussion, it was decided that no professional
development activity will be held in conjunction with the
annual meeting on October 19th but may be presented as a possibility
as part of the Extension program on the 18th or as a stand-a-lone
program on a future date.
Karen
noted that some ad hoc committees are listed in the constitution
and that these need to be removed. Karen will make changes.
Rich reported
that he has record of 65 paid members with 5 new lifetime
members. The last paid list indicated a membership of 78 paid
members. Rich will send the complete list of paid and unpaid
members so we can make personal contact to encourage folks
to pay dues. Fred stated that we can accept dues up to May
1 for purposes of allocating voting delegates at the National
meeting. Karen and Rich will work with Marilyn Corbin to send
a note to the listserv to encourage them to rejoin. Rich agreed
to report to Fred weekly so his Achievement and Chapter Member
Recognition Report will be as accurate as possible as of May
1, 2007.
Financial
Report: Expenses were $1,842; Income was $1,968,50, which
includes extension extended. Current checking account balance
is $5,525.96 and savings $5,348.41. Rich is pursuing the investment
account changes mentioned in the minutes. Dues have been sent
to National. The books are balanced, and as far as we know,
the audit was conducted on December 8. He expressed concern
that National dues are increasing from $30 to $40 in 2008,
so we will need to increase our dues also. Jeff as membership
chairman needs to recommend the increase and our dues will
be $60.00.
For the
President's report, Fred stated that he and Beth Raney have
been involved in planning the Annual meeting. At the joint
banquet on the 18th, ESP will most likely present the Staff
Assistant, Friend of Extension, and the JCEP Forgivable Loan
Awards. It is also planned that one of the associations will
collect all registration fees and the treasurers will reconcile
following the meeting. Chairmen of committees are responsible
to see that certificates are presented.
Fred also
reported that Karen, Vicki, and himself attended the JCEP
Regional Meeting in Valley Forge. After several false starts,
none of us could attend PILD, so the budgeted amount of $500
to apply to that conference will be a carryover in the new
budget year.
With regard
to National Committee representation, Fred reported that PA
has nominees for five out of six committees, with Public Issues
being the one with no nominee. Otherwise, PA members whose
names have been submitted are: Professional Development: Karen
Vines; Resource Development: Jeff Myers; Global Relations:
Duane Stevenson; Member Services: Deb Gregory; Member Recruitment:
Faye Strickler. We will wait until the National Spring Board
meeting to see which members get final appointment.
Award
submissions included:
Jan Scholl for Diversity Recognition Team; Christy Bartley
for Distinguished Mid Career; and Duane Miller for Distinguished
Early Career. Voted to recommend these submissions for Regional
consideration along with other non-PA nominees for other recognition
awards. Fred will forward them on to National.
In the
Chapter Report, our scores looked really positive, with the
only place where we had no score was on attendance at PILD.
Otherwise, our score was much higher this year because of
our representation at the national meeting. Because of the
24 people who attended, our total score for this report is
67.
Discussion
about dates for submission for Distinguished Service Award.
Vicki agreed to contact Janice Stoudnour to get out a note
from her committee to encourage DSA nominees. These need to
be submitted through Janice to Fred by April 23.
No action
was taken on the issue of archiving old records.
Fred indicated
that ESP will not participate in the money exchange which
has been traditional with PA professional associations. All
associations are questioning whether or not to participate.
There
being no further business, the call ended at 11:00.
Respectfully
submitted,
Vicki
Lewis, Secretary
Recognition
on Retirement - Want to be an ESP Life Member?
The mission
of ESP is to foster the standards of excellence in the Extension
System and to develop the Extension Profession and Professional.
Members
of ESP are the personnel and retirees of the Cooperative Extension
System of the United States Department of Agriculture; 1862,
1890, 1994, institutions and counties. ESP is open to all
faculty, staff, administration or retirees who have/had responsibility
for and who are/were funded by the Extension Service.
Life membership
is extended to staff and faculty who will retire in a current
year. It also may be extended to former employees who chose
not to join when they retired. The cost of Life Membership
is five times the annual dues or $200.
Even though
some may feel they want a break from their extension profession
at retirement, there are others who want to stay connected
with their colleagues and the organization. They want to give
service as they have time and resources and will benefit from
the continued association with Extension professionals.
Interested?
Contact Natalie Ferry for
more information.
Special
Correspondence
Dear
Fred, Shirley, Karen and Michelle: Thank
you so much for the Penn State clock! It definitely brings
more class to my office! It has been such a privilege to serve
the Alpha Omicron Chapter alongside each of you this year.
You each are both generous and talented-a winning combination
for a board. I can honestly say this has been one of my finest
experiences in my Penn State tenure! Always,
Jeff
"Thank
you for your generous gift to the Epsilon Sigma Phi Development
Fund. The generous contribution from Alpha Omicron Chapter
is helping ESP reach its goal. Thanks much!" Linda Cook,
National Executive Director
back
to top
|
