Comments from the Dean

Congratulations!

At the recent National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) meeting held in Overland Park, KS, the eXtension HorseQuest team was presented the Excellence in Teamwork Award sponsored by the Joint Council of Extension Professionals. The award recognizes successful Extension team programs/projects that demonstrate effective performance and significant result impacts at community, area, state, or multi-state levels. Congratulations to Kathy Anderson and Dan Cotton for their excellence work with this eXtension team!

Nebraska was represented at the NACAA meeting by 23 Extension Educators in attendance. Many of our educators were recognized for the excellence in extension including:

Bob Scriven - Hall of Fame Award Winner North Central Region
Dewey Lienemann - Distinguished Service Award (DSA) for Nebraska
Brandy VanDeWalle - Achievement Award (AA) for Nebraska
Dave Varner - Winner Search for Excellence in Remote Sensing and Precision Agriculture
CropWatch Web Site - North Central Regional Winner for Web Site
Tracy Behnken - Educational Poster Finalist
Jenny Rees - Educational Poster Finalist
Jenny Rees - Applied Research Poster North Central Regional Winner

Tom Dorn, Larry Howard, Randy Saner, and Gary Zoubek also play key leadership roles within NACAA and are to be commended for their service. In addition, John Hay was also instrumental in the development of a new Bioenergy pre-tour, tour, and educational track during the conference. Finally, UNL Extension was well represented by our Educators who shared posters and workshop presentations. My congratulations go to our Educators for their excellence in representation of UNL Extension.

Northeast VIP Tour

The Northeast VIP Tour at the Haskell Agricultural Laboratory was held on Tuesday evening, August 16. Special guests were Extension Board members. The information presented by faculty and graduate students was both timely and relevant. Don MaCabe of Nebraska Farmer was recognized as recipient of the 2011 Northeast Nebraska Agricultural Award. Congratulations to Don for his support of agriculture and to Twig Marston and Northeast faculty and staff for arranging for and hosting the VIP tour. It was a great showcase for some of the research and extension programs being led and conducted in the Northeast District.

Reminder of Faculty and Staff Appreciation Receptions

UNL Extension Administration will be holding two faculty and staff appreciation receptions during your State Fair. Both will be held in the Hospitality Suite in the Livestock Expo Building. The first is Saturday, Aug. 27, from 10-11:30 a.m. The second is Saturday, Sept. 3, from 10-11:30 a.m. Light refreshments will be served at both. We hope you can join us during one or both of these receptions in recognition of your work, dedication, and successes!

-- Elbert C. Dickey