Ten new Communities of Practice have been named to join eXtension, a 24/7/365 Internet-based portal to the Nation’s largest educational and information system:
Beef Cattle Clearing House
Family Caregiving; Caring for the Aged and/or Disabled Adults
Youth Literacy in Science, Engineering and Technology
Pork Information Group
eOrganic
US DAIReXNET
Corn and Soybean Production
Urban Integrated Pest Management
Map@Syst: Geospatial Solutions for Rural and Community Sustainability
Diversity Across Higher Education
These 10 new Communities of Practice were named following an extensive review of 19 finalist proposals by the Call for Engagement Review Panel in mid August. The Call for Engagement Review Panel is comprised of Extension directors, administrators, and program leaders representing the five Extension regions plus three CSREES-USDA national program leaders.
“We are extremely excited to welcome these new Communities of Practice into the eXtension family,” said Elbert Dickey, chair of the eXtension Governing Committee. “These new groups broaden the subject matter ‘reach’ of eXtension and allow us to continue to bring the excellent programming strength of the Cooperative Extension System to the world through this innovative effort.”
A total of $500,000 will be divided among nine of these groups and the Diversity Across Higher Education Community of Practice will receive no direct monetary support but will receive in-kind support from eXtension through use of its collaborative space and other development resources.
These 10 newly funded Communities of Practice join eight Pioneer Communities of Practice, named in September 2005:
Building Local Economies of the Future
Consumer Horticulture
Extension Disaster Education Network
HorseQuest
Financial Security for All
Imported Fire Ant Management
Just In Time Parenting
Wildlife Damage Management
In July 2006, eXtension added a pilot volunteer CoP, Pesticide Environmental Stewardship. A volunteer Community of Practice joins eXtension with its own resources and agreement with the eXtension mission, vision, values and guiding principles.
With the newly funded groups, this brings the total to 19 eXtension Communities of Practice.
The leaders of these newly named Communities of Practice are:
Beef Cattle Clearing House
- Rick Rasby, University of Nebraska – Lincoln
- Glenn Selk, Oklahoma State University
- Jack Whittier, Colorado State University
Family Caregiving; Caring for the Aged and/or Disabled Adults
- Mary Brintnall Peterson, University of Wisconsin
- Celia Hayhoe, Virginia Tech
- Sharon Johnson, Oregon State University
- Sarah Kirby, North Carolina State University
- Colleen Jolly, Iowa State University
- Luci Bearon, North Carolina State University
- Thelma Sanders-Hunter, Tennessee State University
- Carolyn Wilken, University of Florida
- Jackie McCleeland, North Carolina State University
- Deborah Killam, University of Maine
Youth Literacy in Science, Engineering and Technology
- Tony Cook, Alabama Cooperative Extension System
- Trudy Dunham, University of Minnesota
Pork Information Group
- Todd See, North Carolina State University
- David Meisinger, Iowa State University
eOrganic
- Alexandra Stone, Oregon State University
- Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, University of Illinois
- Heather Darby, University of Vermont
- Mike Gamroth, Oregon State University
- Bryan Hopkins, University of Idaho
US DAIReXNET
- Donna Amaral-Phillips, University of Kentucky
- Geoffrey Benson, North Carolina State university
- Mireille Chahine, University of Idaho
- Geoffrey Dahl, University of Illinois
- Warren Gilson, University of Georgia
- Arlyn Heinrichs. Pennsylvania State University
- Alan J. McAllister, University of Kentucky
- Mark Varner, University of Maryland
Corn and Soybean Production
- Chad Lee, University of Kentucky
- Seth Naeve, University of Minnesota
- Palle Pedersen, Iowa State University
Urban IPM
- Faith Oi, University of Florida
- Lawrence “Fudd” Graham, Auburn University
Map@Syst: Geospatial Solutions for Rural and Community Sustainability
- Nathan Watermeier, Ohio State University
- John Nowatzki, North Dakota State University
Diversity Across Higher Education
- Wendy Hamilton, New Mexico State University
- Chiquita Tillman McAllister, North Carolina A&T University
- Pamala Morris, Purdue University
These newly named eXtension CoPs are finalizing their Year One deliverables and budgets with eXtension before entering into formal contract agreements. A workshop will be held in mid-October for these CoP leaders to further introduce them to expectations, collaborative tools, and virtual team skills for eXtension.
For more information on these new Communities of Practice, the Pioneer Communities of Practice, the Call for Engagement Process, or information on how to form or join a Community of Practice please feel free to contact eXtension’s Associate Directors for Content Development, Carla Craycraft [carla.craycraft@extension.org] or Craig Wood [craig.wood@extension.org].
eXtension represents more than 70 land grant universities, bringing the best of the best to Americans. It is a 24/7/365 Internet-based resource designed to provide access to objective, research-based programs solving real problems in real time on any Internet ready device. But, most of all, it is designed to be America’s tool for information gathering and education. eXtension is customized for all Americans…where they live, work, and play.