No. 2935
April 16, 2008

CONTENTS:

Comments From the Dean
     - Congratulations
     - Promotion and Tenure Announcements
     - New UNL Extension Web Site Going Live
Revised "Know how. Know now." video
UNL Campus Corner
eXtension Update
Distance Learning Workshop on IPM Funding Options for Extension
A New Book Opportunity
Introduction to Our UNL Extension Water Web Site
Rain Garden Workshop Offered in Lincoln
UNL Termite Workshops in May
Use Windows' Zip feature to speedup file sharing
General Distribution Publications
CPI Database Worksheet

Comments From the Dean:

Congratulations

Rick Rasby recently received the UNL Distinguished Educational Service Award from Chancellor Perlman. Being selected by one’s peers is one of the finest honors our University can bestow on a member of its faculty. This honor carries with it a cash award of $1,500.

Chancellor Perlman wrote: “Over the years, you have achieved a reputation among educational leaders of Nebraska and beyond for your sustained dedication to developing interactive Web sites that serve national audiences. Your success with satellite broadcasts, multi-media presentations around the country, and your in-service programs to benefit the beef cattle industry in Nebraska and beyond clearly distinguishes you as a stellar and creative talent. Finally, you are to be commended for your distinguished service as a faculty member for your mentoring, teaching, and advising of UNL graduate and undergraduate students.”

Congratulations to Rick and a big thank you to him for his fine work!

Promotion and Tenure Announcements

Congratulations to the following UNL Extension faculty and staff who will receive a promotion effective July 1, 2008.

New UNL Extension Web Site Going Live

I'm pleased to announce that the new UNL Extension Web site will go live the end of this week. After months of planning and development in Liferay (the new content management system), the UNL Extension state Web site is ready for use. The URL address will remain the same, http://www.extension.unl.edu. However with every new site there will be a need for continuous adjustments and additions -- it will continue to be a work in progress.

With the UNL Extension site going live, we are now ready to begin work on the county and district sites. The county and district sites will have the same look-and-feel as the state site and incorporate all the state content. In the next few months we will work with CIT personnel to copy the state site, customize it to fit the needs of presenting local information first, and work on the process for automatic sharing of content from the state site to the county and district sites.

My thanks to the Extension Web development committee for all the time it has spent working on this major undertaking. They include: Sarah Browning, Soni Cochran, Rob Eirich, Lana Johnson, Rick Koelsch, Pam Peters, Tracy Pracheil, Charles Shapiro, Linda Tempel, Susan Williams, and Roger Wilson

Elbert Dickey

Revised "Know how. Know now." video

The revised "Know how. Know now." video from David and Associates is now ready to be downloaded. We encourage you to download and use the new video replacing the one that was provided on your flashdrive at last year's fall conference. To download the video to your flashdrive or hard drive click on the URL provided: http://real.unl.edu/download/08-Extension.zip

Linda Tempel

UNL Campus Corner

New Student Enrollment is the formal program designed to assist all new students in their transition to the University of Nebraska- Lincoln (UNL). Elements of the program include:
- Working with an academic adviser to develop a list of courses for your first semester.
- Register for classes.
- Learn about the features of UNL which enhance success including academic resources living options, studying and learning in the academic environment.
- Parents are welcome to attend a separate program for the on-campus participants.
Registration for New Student Enrollment (NSE) is taking place now. For more information, see http://nse.unl.edu/

Lila Tooker

eXtension Update

Does your county or subject matter Web site provide a link to the new eXtension Web resources? Your own Web site benefits by linking your customers with access to a content-rich resource highlighting educational products from our entire land grant system. eXtension benefits all of Extension because search engines weigh a number of links in determining which resources show up on the first page of search results. Linking to appropriate eXtension resources enhances Extension’s presence on the Web.

Below you will find a title and a short write-up for the general eXtension Web site and two CoPs. Please consider adding either the title or the short description at appropriate locations on your county or subject matter Web pages. More brief summaries will be shared in the near future for the 20+ CoPs.

eXtension
eXtension (http://www.extension.org/ ) is an interactive learning environment connecting knowledge consumers with land-grant university experts providing access to our best research-based knowledge. eXtension is an integral activity of Cooperative Extension systems across the U.S. and USDA to provide convenient and timely access to land grant university resources.

eXtension - Gardens, Lawns, and Landscapes
The eXtension Web site, Gardens, Lawns, and Landscapes (http://www.extension.org/horticulture), provides the gardening public access to the land grant university system’s best information on gardening topics, involving vegetables, fruit, flowers, interior plants, turfgrass, and exterior woody landscape trees and shrubs as well as Extension’s Master Gardener Program.

eXtension - Beef Cattle Clearinghouse
The Beef Cattle Clearinghouse (http://www.extension.org/beef_cattle) eXtension Web site offers the beef cattle industry access to national expertise and knowledge on the topics of Reproduction, Breeding and Genetics, Herd Health, Management, Nutrition, Pastures and Forages

Rick Koelsch

Distance Learning Workshop on IPM Funding Options for Extension

Susan T. Ratcliffe, Director of North Central IPM Center, and Mike Fitzner/Martin Draper, National Program Leaders for CSREES, will be our featured guests, providing us an overview of IPM Funding Opportunities for Extension Programming. The presentations will focus on extension and integrated research/extension opportunities for both educators and specialists. This workshop is targeted for UNL Extension educators and specialist with interest in IPM Extension Education.

Date: Tuesday, April 29
Time: 10 - 11 am Central Daylight time
Target Audience: Extension educators/agents and specialist with interest in IPM Extension Education
Video Connection: At the meeting time, click on the following link or copy and paste it into your browser to enter the meeting: http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/nebraska/ . When you go to that URL you will find yourself at a login page. Simply click on “Click to Enter” under the “Enter as a guest” heading. You will then be prompted for your name. Enter your name and click “Enter” to enter the meeting space.
Audio Connection: Your computer will need to have speakers to listen to the presentation. No phone line connection.
Testing My Ability to Connect: Anytime before the meeting you can visit the following URL to confirm your ability to connect to the Breeze server: http://breeze.extension.iastate.edu/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

Rick Koelsch

A New Book Opportunity

The Family Treasures team has been working on a new project called Getting Connected, Staying Connected. It is a book built on the family strengths model that focuses on relationships and the kinds of things couples and families can do to build upon their strengths. Based on the success of the activities for Family Treasures,we are again asking for your help in the process. We are requesting stories that would help us add to the context of the book, questions that families may have after reading each chapter, and tips families may want to share that pertain to the topics discussed in the chapter. If you are interested in making a contribution or more information, please contact one of the members of the writing team:

Gail Brand, Maureen Burson, John DeFrain, Myrna DuBois, Ann Fenton, Jeanette Friesen, Janet Hanna, Kathleen Lodl, Mary Nelson, Dianne Swanson, Cindy Strasheim and Ruth Vonderohe

Kathleen Lodl

Introduction to Our UNL Extension Water Web Site

A comprehensive water Web site is being created to deliver unbiased, science-based, relevant knowledge on the management of water quality and quantity. Our goal is to create a Web site through which we can deliver that knowledge in a timely and effective manner, and in a way that works for our clientele. The Web site is designed to bring all of our water-related content together in one place in order to better serve our public.

The UNL Extension Water Web Team invites you to participate in a webinar "Introduction to Our UNL Extension Water Web Site" on April 30 at 2 p.m. CDT. We would like to introduce you to the comprehensive water Web site being developed and ask for your input and contribution.

The Breeze session does not require pre-registration. Simply go to the Web site http://breeze.unl.edu/ext/ You will find yourself at a login page. Click on "Click to Enter" under the "Enter as a guest" heading. You will be prompted for your name. Enter your name and click "Enter" to enter the Breeze presentation. Audio will be via the phone line. Call 800-910-2399. Enter the participant code: 874758 #

You can confirm your ability to connect to the Breeze server any time before the webinar by visiting the URL:http://admin.breezecentral.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

Sharon Skipton

Rain Garden Workshop Offered in Lincoln

A Rain Garden Workshop is offered on May 6 at the Lancaster County Extension Office, 444 Cherry Creek Road, Lincoln. An early session is meant for Master Gardeners, landscape designers, landscapers, horticulturists, city staff and those interested in building a residential rain garden. It runs from 8:15 to 10:15 a.m., and will cover the steps from planning, design, implementation and maintenance. Participants will receive information required to design and build a residential sized rain garden. The second session is meant for design engineers, city engineers, landscape architects and municipal staff responsible for creating, reviewing, or inspecting stormwater management systems. This session will run from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will include an in-depth training on how to meet stormwater volume controls and water quality using bio-retention, bio-infiltration and other techniques. Instruction will cover the design process, step-by-step, from site layout to design specifications. This seminar will qualify for 5.0 PDH’s. An evening car pool tour of several rain gardens will occur for interested registrants. More details will be made available at the workshop.

This course is cosponsored by the City of Lincoln, UNL Extension and the Great Plains Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. The main presenter is Rusty Schmidt, a wildlife biologist and landscape ecologist with 18 years of natural resource experience. He has created designs for habitat restorations, rain gardens, bio-infiltration swales, bio-retention basins and stormwater ponds for many different sized sites.

Registration Fees are Part A: $25; Part B: $65; Part A & B: $75. Included in Registration is a copy of The Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens: Design and Installation for Homeowners in the Upper Midwest. To register mail fee to: Great Plains Chapter ASLA, Attn: Richard Sutton, University of Nebraska, 377 Plant Sciences, Lincoln, NE 68583-0724. Registration closes on April 28. For additional information contact Richard Sutton at rsutton1@unl.edu or (402) 472-1127, or Amanda Meder at ameder@lincoln.ne.gov or (402) 441-7075.

Tom Franti and Steve Rodie

UNL Termite Workshops in May

Termites are already active and homeowners may be finding mud tubes and swarmers soon, if they haven't already. A workshop for homeowners titled “Everything Homeowners Should Know About Termites and Termite Control” will be held in Hastings, Omaha and Lincoln in early May.

May 5, Hastings: 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Adams County Fairgrounds, 947 S. Baltimore Ave. Local contact, Ron Seymour (402)461-7209.
May 7, Omaha: 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., Douglas/Sarpy County Extension Office, 8015 W. Center Rd. Local contact, Dennis Ferraro (402)444-7804.
May 8, Lincoln: 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., Lancaster Extension Education Center, 444 Cherrycreek Rd. Local contact, Barb Ogg (402)441-7180.

The goal of this program is to educate attendees so they will be able to make better decisions about termites and termite control. Registration is $25, and includes reference materials. Pre-registration payment is not required, but the public is asked to call ahead so enough reference materials are available. A brochure with program details and registration information can be found at: http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/allworkshops08.pdf

Barb Ogg, Clyde Ogg, Dennis Ferraro, Ron Seymour

Use Windows' Zip Feature to Speed Up File Sharing

You can use the Windows XP (and Vista) built-in program to compress a file or group of files into the smaller ZIP format. With the ZIP format you can share multiple files as one file -- only one upload into the UNL DropBox or e-mail attachment. Read this tip for instructions on creating a ZIP file and instructions for using contents in a ZIP file that you receive.

See the CIT Computing Tip of the Month for details: http://citcomputing.unl.edu

Pam Peters

General Distribution Publications

Now Available on the Web

G1829      Retaining Hourly Employees: Nebraska’s Quick Service Restaurant Industry Dilemma
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1829.pdf

G1833      Creating a Strong Family – Appreciation and Affection: The Greatest Gift a Father Can Give His Children
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1833.pdf

G1834      Creating a Strong Family – Appreciation and Affection: Developing an Emotional Bond
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1834.pdf

G1835      Creating a Strong Family – Positive Communication: Wants Never End
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1835.pdf

G1836      Creating a Strong Family – Positive Communication: Life As A Soap Opera
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1836.pdf

G1837      Creating a Strong Family – Commitment: We Are One
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1837.pdf

G1838      Creating a Strong Family – Positive Communication: Listening and Speaking from the Heart
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1838.pdf

G1839      Creating a Strong Family – Commitment: The Importance of Fostering Community
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1839.pdf

G1841      Rhizoctonia Root and Crown Rot of Sugar Beet
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1841.pdf

G1842      Rhizomania of Sugar Beet
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1842.pdf

G1843      Fusarium Yellows and Fusarium Root Rot
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/g1843.pdf

EC198      Feed Nutrient Management Planning Economics (FNMP$)
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/ec198.pdf

EC1774    Trees of Nebraska
                 http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/sendIt/ec1774.pdf

Lisa Jasa

CPI Database Worksheet

DEFINITION OF CATEGORIES

New	--	Publications never listed on database
Revised	--	Publications listed in which content has been changed or updated and will replace older copies
Delete	--	Remove publication record from the CPI database, publication is out of print. Do not discard old copies, use until existing supplies are exhausted.
Destroy	--	Remove publication record from the CPI database, publication is out of print. DISCARD OLD COPIES, CONTAINS OBSOLETE INFORMATION, DO NOT USE
Corrections	--	Lists publication records that exist on current database but require revision of some sort (i.e. title, price code, price, subject, Department corrections, etc.)
Out of Stock Publications (Now Available to Order) -- Publications that have been reprinted with NO CHANGES and are back in stock

# # # # # #

Extension Home Page