[All-extension] Director's Update

[Rennekamp, Roger A.]

Hi Everyone,

This was certainly a week of big news, wasn’t it? Here is a recap of what has been going on.

Budget
The first relates to the Extension budget. As you probably saw in Dean Kress’ message on Wednesday, the Ohio Senate Finance Committee released Substitute House Bill 166 that includes slightly more than a four percent increase in funding for OSU Extension. Of course there are still many more steps to the process, but this proposed increase is a direct reflection of the value that members of the Senate committee place on the services they see OSU Extension providing to their constituents. At the federal level, I had previously mentioned that Smith-Lever funding for FY19 increased by five percent. Because those funds are distributed to the states through a formula which benefits Ohio because of some state-specific criteria, OSU Extension received an increase of nearly $600,000 in federal capacity funds. At the county level, more counties have increased funding for Extension in CY19 than have reduced their level of funding. Having these three sources rise in unison is critically important to maintain the appropriate balance across our tripartite funding arrangement. When one lags, it limits what we can do with the others.

Relocation of NIFA Headquarters
The destination for the highly controversial move of NIFA headquarters out of the Washington, DC metropolitan area was announced on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced yesterday USDA’s intent to move NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) and ERS (Economic Research Service) headquarters to Kansas City. We anticipate various challenges to that move, but for now that is the intended destination.

National 4-H Guests in Town
This week was also a big week for out-of-town visitors. The National 4-H Council Board of Trustees and the ECOP 4-H Leadership Committee were in town for their regular meetings. Kirk Bloir, Dean Kress, and I participated in a joint reception for both groups on Wednesday evening at the Franklin Park Conservatory. Kayla Oberstadt led a panel discussion on inclusivity with Ohio 4-H alums Nathan Grine and Micah Shaffer.

ANR Retreat
Last week, I had a chance to participate in a portion of the ANR retreat held at Deer Creek State Park. The program included a stakeholder panel, comments from Dean Kress, a visit to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, educational sessions, and lots of great food. It was a pleasure to spend time with this outstanding group of innovative and forward-looking professionals

Social Media Audit Update
You may have read in mid-April (in onCampus) that the university’s new social media policy was effective at that time. As the first step, the university will conduct an audit of all social media outlets in early July. We will get an update message from the college soon with information about how we will assist with that audit. There will be several steps to the process; and any Extension-specific details will be shared as they are available. Cheryl Buck, Extension communication manager, is working with Mitch Moser, CFAES social media lead, on the project.

Next Director’s Video Updates
Please remember to save the dates for my next video updates on July 2 (9-10am) and Aug 13 (9-10am). More details with the Zoom link will be shared before the updates.

Best regards, Roger

[he Ohio State University]
Roger A. Rennekamp, PhD
Director, OSU Extension
Professor and Associate Dean
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
3 Agricultural Administration Building
2120 Fyffe Road
Columbus, OH 43210
614-292-7614 Office
rennekamp.3 at osu.edu<mailto:rennekamp.3 at osu.edu> osu.edu<http://osu.edu/>
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