As we continue our multicultural organizational change process, all staff members are strongly encouraged to take part in an online survey to evaluate our efforts.

The survey will be available online beginning June 15. Watch for more information in the coming weeks. 

Once the data are compiled and analyzed, the findings will be shared in the Director’s Newsletter and at Fall Extension Conference.

Mary Robb, Kent County Extension educator, will assist in the coordination of MSUE’s professional development efforts.  She will work with Kathy Foerster from May 1 to December 31 and will continue her current work in Kent County.  Contact her regarding professional development at robbm@msue.msu.edu. 

In This Issue

Gov. Granholm kicks off Travel Michigan tour from 4-H Children’s Garden

Multicultural online survey

Robb to help with MSUE professional development

Portal update

4-H Exploration Days coming soon

MSUE retiree honored

Director search committee named

Upcoming events

Other Extension News

The portal is evolving as we learn more about how it works and what it can do for MSUE at the county and campus levels.

Though it looks like a conventional Web site, the portal is a method of organizing information.  The portal works as a database to index information for easy retrieval. 

What will be lost in the conversion from the existing MSUE web presence? Not much. Content pages, documents, Power Points, etc., will all be maintained within the portal. Every county office and unit needs to think about how it will use the portal.  Think about what information/content should be highlighted. Consider grouping the information, not on the basis of programming areas but on how people ask for information.  The content is then organized within the portal modules by the individual issues or topics.

Regional trainers have completed workshops and have been using the portal and training materials in preparation for county portal trainings. Additional training materials are being developed and will become available online, on CD-ROM and through the regional trainers.

Regional trainers:
East Central - Margaret LaShore, Nancy Burd, Darlene Pugsley
North - Dave Glenn, Tom Emling
Southeast- Dave Fenech, Matt Shane
Southwest - Ray Fast, Ralph Heiden
Upper Peninsula - Mike Jensen, Gail St.Germain
West Central- Dennis Pennington, Lynn Vecziedins,  Bill Steenwyk, Kathy Walicki

Portal software editing is in final stages. The final issues should be wrapped up by early June.  Programmer training will occur after this final updating is completed. 

 More than 2,200 youths and adult chaperons from across the state will come to campus for the 34th annual 4-H Exploration Days June 23-25.

As part of this year's "We CAN Do It!" theme, participants will donate nonperishable foods to local food banks. Monetary donations will be distributed to food banks around the state.

More than 160 action-filled classroom and field trip sessions are offered.  Participants attend one or two sessions throughout their three-day stay.  Resource people include 4-H campus and county staff members, specialists, 4-H volunteer and member advisory committee members.  

June 7, the Lansing Area Farmers’ Club will pay tribute to MSUE retiree Bohn Musgrave, who celebrates his 100th birthday July 31.   Musgrave will share highlights of his remarkable life including 38 years as an Extension worker.  He began his career as an agricultural agent in Kalkaska County, but most of his “tracks” as an agricultural agent were left in the sandy soils of Mecosta County.  He came to East Lansing in 1954 to join the administrative team and retired in 1968 as the organization’s personnel director. 

Musgrave currently resides in Haslett, Michigan. Cards can be sent to Bohn Musgrave, 1734-B Huntsville, Haslett, MI  48840.

An MSUE director search team has been assembled, comprising MSUE staff members, the MAES director, other MSU staff members and stakeholders. The team is developing a job announcement and description that will be posted within the next two weeks.  Click here to see the committee list.   The position will be posted for 90 days or until acceptable candidates are recruited. The search committee will meet with Lansing and Associates, an external search firm, to determine the roles of the search firm and the committee. 

Dean Armstrong, Lynn Harvey and two stakeholders, Char Wenham and Josh Wunsch, will seek input from stakeholder groups on the director’s search.  The search firm and committee will work together to ensure that the selection process includes input from campus, field staff and stakeholders. 

The search committee will review the candidates’ applications and hope to bring finalists to campus in October for additional interviews.  The committee plans to name a new director by January 2005.  For more information about the search process, contact Lynn Harvey at harvey@msue.msu.edu.

Ag Expo

Mark your calendars for Ag Expo, July 20-22 on campus. For more information about the 2004 Ag Expo, go to www.agexpo.msu.edu/.

Fall Extension Conference

“Partnerships for Advancing Knowledge and Transforming Lives” is the theme of this year’s MSU Fall Extension Conference, Oct. 12-14 at the MSU Kellogg Center. Nearly 50 concurrent sessions, scholarly panels, poster sessions and keynote addresses will highlight MSUE’s partnerships across the state. .

Tuesday night the Friends of Extension banquet will celebrate Extension’s partners, state council members and supporters. MCEA and Epsilon Sigma Phi are planning a fun-filled Wednesday night with activities and fund-raisers.

You won’t want to miss this one! Mark your calendars now and look for registration information later this summer.

Other Extension News:

FCS Newsletter

Children, Youth and Families (CYF) has developed an electronic newsletter to update the MSU Extension community.  CYF provides educational programming in youth development; family resource management; food, nutrition and health; food safety; and human development. The newsletter is available at: http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/cyf/family/FCS-Resources.html.