Vaughn Hammond Returns Home from Afghanistan
Vaughn Hammond, UNL Extension Educator officed at the Kimmel Education and Research center at Nebraska City, returned from Afghanistan last week after working with Nebraska National Guard soldiers deployed as part of an Agribusiness Development Team (ADT). Much of their work involved teaching the teachers who consisted primarily of the Paktya Department of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock staff. Vaughn’s work the past seven months focused on small fruits and market vegetables, which were important crops decades earlier before the region fell into war.
Vaughn became interested in the project last August when Extension provided professional development in agriculture production for the Nebraska ADT-2. During this educational endeavor, Howard W. Buffett approached Extension with the idea of embedding a University faculty member with the ADT unit. Vaughn’s work was funded by the Department of Defense’s agriculture development program in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Farms in the region are very small, usually about ½ acre. Work is done by hand and products are marketed within a 5-mile region. A small farm will produce about $700.00 per year income for the family. Vaughn and the team are reintroducing management practices related to soil fertility, drip irrigation and raised bed vegetable production. When producers see the success of new practices on yield and income they are more likely to make changes.
While he can only imagine what our first Extension employees experienced, Vaughn shared that he feels like his experience would have been similar to those who started Extension in the 1900's. He was involved with the start of a transformation. We are very proud of what Vaughn and our soldiers have done and we look forward to having all the ADT-2 members back home. We are also thankful for the faculty members that have helped provide professional development for the ADT teams.
-- Elbert Dickey and Susan Williams
Agronomy/Horticulture Permanent Department Head Named
Dr. Roch Gaussoin will become the permanent head of the Agronomy/Horticulture Department on July 1, 2012. There is significant support for naming an associate department head to assist Dr. Gaussoin, and Roch was given approval to move forward with doing so. The IANR administration is very pleased that Roch has agreed to permanently assume the department head role. Congratulations and best wishes to Roch.
State 4-H Program Administrator
Effective July 1, 2012, Kathleen Lodl will officially become the Nebraska State 4-H Program Administrator. Kathleen has been working closely with Beth since our retirement announcement as part of our succession planning. We wish Kathleen the best as she assumes this additional responsibility.
Rural Futures Conference
The Rural Futures Conference was held last week. Many new, innovative ideas were generated. Rather than do another summary, I ask that you look at the May 14 ThisWeeK@IANR story on this event (http://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/ianrnews/1298/7703).
Student Recruitment
In an effort to increase student enrollment at UNL and better meet the needs of Nebraska students, UNL Admissions and Extension are exploring ways to increase their collaborative efforts. As part of that process, the Office of Admissions plans to enhance their presence in Nebraska high schools and other community events, have a renewed focus on college access and youth initiatives, and sponsor additional events throughout the state of Nebraska. To meet these goals, we are pleased to announce the following:
• Lila Tooker has provided great leadership for CASNR, Extension, and the Office of Admissions over the last decade. Lila’s background in teaching, academic advising, and recruitment are critical to meet university’s goals. Due to these unique qualifications, Lila has been asked to support the Office of Admissions by continuing to provide recruitment support for CASNR; but also assist the office with high school counselor relations, transfer student advising, and supply critical guidance to a young new admissions staff. In Lila’s new role she will no longer serve as the liaison for Extension. We want to personally thank Lila for her dedication and passion to Extension and wish her well in her new role.
• With support from the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Ellen Weissinger, the Office of Admissions has hired Michaela Rezac, as the Nebraska Rural Initiatives Recruitment Coordinator. Micaela will be responsible for implementing recruitment and marketing strategies in rural Nebraska and work collaboratively with UNL Extension recruitment efforts. A recent CASNR graduate, Micaela has experience with 4-H, UNL Rural Initiative, and Kansas State Extension. Micaela will begin June 4.
• Brian Bosshamer will continue to serve as the Extension Recruitment Coordinator. Micaela will partner with Brian and Laura Frey to expand UNL’s recruitment footprint across the state.
We believe this functional alignment builds upon the solid foundation Lila and Brian have established while strengthening the future of Extension and Admissions. You will be hearing more about opportunities for student recruitment in the near future. As always, your relationships at the local level are critical to this work.
Please share this news with your colleagues and join us in wishing Lila and Micaela the best in their new roles.
-- Elbert Dickey, Dean and Director of UNL Extension
-- Amber Hunter, Director of Admissions