We now have all the new MAEA officers and committee chairs in place for 2001. In the course of recruiting and assigning committee chairs, I was reminded that very few of us are aware of the committees in MAEA. The National Association reorganized several years ago and MAEA reorganized last year with new bylaws to mirror their organization. In MAEA, there are now three committees: Program Recognition, Professional Development and Extension Development.

These committees rotate through the six administrative regions of MSU Extension. Each region selects three agents to serve a two-year term on a committee. These people are the rookie members of the committee, for one year, and then the senior members the next. We set it up this way so that no one person would have a large amount of work dumped on them without warning because they volunteered some time to our Association. In the past, often the person who was in charge of the committee would do the lions share of the work and the other members didn't even know what the committee did. This did not train our members to be productive members of our Association. Hopefully, the new committee structure will allow agents to learn about our Association and make them productive members without being burdensome.

All our previous committees became sub-committees in the new Program Recognition Committee. Now there is a lot more work than one or two people can do. Actually there are seven subcommittees in this committee. These committees are the six old committees that rotated through our Michigan regions.

The County Agent is no longer a jack of all trades generalist. County Extension Agents need to know a lot about a lot of things and usually, especially here in Michigan, we also have a specialty. With our AoE structure, we have agents in field crops, livestock, horticulture, natural resources, financial management and economic development. We also have sea grant agents. NACAA recognized this and set up committees to provide professional improvement in many of these areas. It seemed to me that the best way to connect with NACAA and our Michigan AoE Teams was if the AoE Chair or someone in the AoE was designated as the contact between MAEA and NACAA. All these Committees are under the Professional Development Committee, chaired by Ira Krupp. Since this committee is responsible for providing Extension agents with opportunities for their professional development here in Michigan.

The primary Mission of the Professional Development Committee is the Spring Meeting

Inservice. I have heard several complaints that this in service does not have opportunities for agents in their specialties. After the first year we decided not to. Training opportunities in an area of specialty should be provided by the individual AoE team, not necessarily by MAEA. I think MAEA should focus on training that ALL agents need, not just those in a particular AoE.

The last committee is Extension Development and it is the least developed. This committee is responsible for the development of agents during the beginning of their Extension careers. In Michigan, we refer to these as Core Competencies.

I am excited to be your president for 2001 and hope that during my tenure as president we can establish a solid and viable committee structure so that all our Michigan Agents can develop into the best possible Agents for MSU Extension and MAEA.

The Wisconsin Agents Association has asked for state organizations to volunteers to host meals at the 2003 AM/PIC in Green Bay. They wanted to see which states were interested in hosting and are also going to canvas the Wisconsin Agricultural groups to see which are interested in donating product or other help. This will allow them to match up states and meals with sponsors. Minnesota had already spoken for the Sunday night dinner, which truthfully was the meal we wanted. The meals will be in the Green Bay Convention Center, located on the Waterfront. Some of us had talked about bringing a schooner over from Traverse City, as an attraction across the street from the conference center, at which we could serve a Michigan Fish Boil. Michigan has volunteered to host the Monday evening meal, before the talent show. The Wisconsin agents think a fish boil is an excellent idea and they are pretty excited about the thought of a tall ship in the harbor. I think that it should be easy to get potatoes and corn for the fish boil from Wisconsin or Michigan. I asked whether we could serve the meal, of if we had to pay servers at the conference center. There is no union rule that requires us to hire servers, but the Wisconsin group had not yet looked into Food Safety Issues. So far we are off to a good start planning the meal. I hope all of you come to Green Bay in August of 2003.

Soon we will all receive the Annual NACAA Awards issue with guidelines for applying for all the national communication awards. I urge each of you to take the time to apply for at least one award. Look at all the different categories. I am sure that many of us have done something good, in at least one category. Apply for an award in that category. I know we are all busy but at least learn how the application process works. If you don’t feel that what you have is good enough, then look at what you do during the course of the year and see what you are planning to do which could win an award. Then do it, with the intention of winning an award for it. NACAA Awards are recognition by both the state and national organizations of programming excellence in Extension education. Some regions are better than others in applying for and winning these awards. If you are aware of someone who is doing good work suggest to him or her that they apply for these awards. There are also the Distinguished Service and Achievement Awards from NACAA. These awards are for agents who have shown programming excellence for more than or less than ten years respectively. These are not generally self-selected awards. We need nominations for these awards. Next year we will be able to grant these awards to six agents, three DSA Awards and three AA Awards. If you know agents who disserve this award, nominate them. They need to attend the 2001 AM/PIC in Albuquerque this August to receive the award. I hope we can award six this year.

For several years the Community and Economic Development Agents at MSU Extension have felt that our association of [Agricultural] agents was not serving their interests. The emphasis on agriculture is theirs, not ours. I do not agree. MAEA is an Association of all Extension agents at MSU Extension and includes more than agricultural agents. In fact, we offer a $15 reduction in our annual dues to any members of other Extension organizations. I do know that there is a national organization for Natural Resources Extension, but Michigan is rather unique in the Extension programming we do in community and economic development, which in most other states is done by other county employees outside extension. I can understand their point, County Agricultural Agents founded NACAA, our National Association, but our national organization is changing as Extension changes and now has educational opportunities for many different specialties. NACAA has Sea Grant and Forestry Committees to serve these specialties. I believe that our organization has tried to represent its entire member, regardless of the programming area in it dealings with MCEA and MSU. , a group of MSU Extension Agents has begun forming an organization to represent Community Development, Economic Development and Natural Resources Programming Agents. They have asked for MAEA support in changing the bylaws of MCEA to allow this new organization to participate and become a part of the MSU Extension family. I plan on supporting their efforts. If you disagree with me please let me know. E-mail me at longstro@msue.msu.edu.

Last May, the Travel Scholarship Program provided more than one-third of Jane Herbert's expenses to attend the Second National Extension Natural Resources Conference. According to Herbert, District Water Quality Agent at the KBS Land and Water Program, the scholarship was key to securing travel funds to attend the conference in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada. "This conference was a great opportunity for me, as a new agent, to network with other natural resource agents and learn about all the great natural resource Extension work going on around the country." Herbert gave a presentation on the Michigan Watershed Management Short Course entitled, "Locally Relevant Watershed Education for Michigan Communities." The presentation focused on the host community's role in the agenda customization process. She would like to thank MAEA for supporting this professional development opportunity.

The MAEA Board of Directors includes the Officers and the Regional Directors.

President – Mark Longstroth, VanBuren County

President Elect – Stan Moore, Antrim County

Vice President – Jerry Lindquist, Osceola County

Secretary – Don Smucker, Montcalm County

Treasurer – Paul Wylie, Allegan County

S.E. Mike Score Dean Krauskopf

Washtenaw County Wayne County

E.C. Mark Seamon Jim Kalishek

Saginaw County Midland County

N. Steve Fouch Phil Durst

Emmet County Ogemaw County

W.C. Mira Danilovich Kara Griffith

Oceana County Kent County

S.W. George Silva Bruce MacKellar

Ingham County VanBuren County

U.P. Ray Clark Warren Schauer

Ontonagon County Delta County

Chair – Hannah Stevens

Vice Chair – Jane Herbert

Members – Paul Marks, Betsy Dierberger, Jeanne Himmelien, Julie Pioch

The Program Recognition committee has the major responsibility for the awards that are annually recognized in the MAEA and then forwarded to the national competition. This includes appointing a committee member to represent MAEA for each of the following NACAA committees:

Communications Hannah Stevens, Macomb County

Extension Programs Paul Marks, Monroe County

4-H and Youth Angela Eichorn, Wayne County

Professional Excellence Jane Herbert, Kellogg Biological Station

Public Relations Betsy Dierberger, Livingston County

Recognition and Awards Jeanne Himmelien, Kalamazoo County

Scholarship Julie Pioch, VanBuren County

Chair – Jim Isleib

Vice chair – Jim Zook

The Extension Development Committee coordinates association sponsored Extension improvement at the state and national level. This includes appointing an MAEA member to represent Michigan on each of the following NACAA Committees and coordinating their activities:

Public Relations and Agricultural Issues OPEN

Early Career Development OPEN

Administrative Skills Development OPEN

Teaching and Communications OPEN

Chair – Ira Krupp

Vice-Chair – OPEN

Members – Collene Boyer, Charles Gould, Roberta Dow, Jill O’Donnell and

The Professional Improvement Committee is responsible for coordinating association sponsored professional improvement at the state and national level. This committee also selects MAEA members to represent Michigan on each of the following NACAA Committees:

Agronomy Ned Birkey, Monroe County

Agricultural Economics Roger Betz, Calhoun County

Animal Science Kevin Gould, Ionia County

Aquaculture/Sea Grant OPEN

Forestry Jill O’Donnell, Wexford County

Horticulture Roberta Lawrence Pascha, Washtenaw County

Dues forms are available on the MAEA website at:

http://www.msue.msu.edu/maea/maeadues.htm.

Dues are needed by this date so we can establish our number of members for NACAA delegates and the number of DSA awards we are eligible for in 2001.

Your cooperation is appreciated.

• MAEA Board Meeting dates have been set as follows: