OSU Extension Changes

Here is a listing of changes to OSU Extension as a result of the Strategic Planning process. These updates have been shared over the last few months and weeks. They are listed here in one place for your convenience.

Four Program Areas and Four Interdisciplinary Impact Areas

The administrative cabinet group met in January for a two-day retreat focused on the strategic plan. During that meeting, we recommitted ourselves to providing programming in our four program areas: 4-H Youth Development, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Community Development, and Family and Consumer Sciences. We know that the need for these program areas will not go away and will not change. They are fundamental to our structure and they are our connection across state lines with the national Extension program.

Additionally, we have committed to having Impact Areas. These are the areas that our organization will judge our impact by, and they are designed with the idea to be long-term. You might already be asking, "how is this different from the themes announced nearly four years ago?" To answer shortly, they aren't that different. In 2004, when we announced the seven themes that would function in a similar way, they described the impacts that we make in a lot of ways. However, feedback we received from the system and from county and state advisory committees told us that there are too many of them and they are too wordy and cumbersome to remember. We listened to that feedback, compiled them and revised them into four outcomes that were announced in the 2007 biennial budget materials. We've tweaked the wording on a couple of them to be more clear and distinctive, and now have four Impact Areas:

• Advancing Employment and Income Opportunities
• Enhancing Ag and the Environment
• Preparing Youth for Success
• Strengthening Families and Communities

In addition to representing our long-term impacts, they also show the interdisciplinary way in which we work. Each of these have the potential to involve members of each of the program areas in some way, and that is what our future is about as well. These areas are important to the legislators and stakeholders that fund us, so reporting impacts to them on a regular basis will be a constant reminder of our relevance to the state of Ohio. URS is being updated to reflect programming within the Impact Areas.

In addition, we plan to conduct an internal search to hire leaders for the Impact Areas. These will be A&P positions to help build Impact Area programming to address our focus areas, which are currently:

• Economy
• Education
• Health

OSU Extension has many such programs, and we believe these leaders will help the organization facilitate this programming throughout the state. See the May 2 Communique  for FAQs regarding these positions, as well as position descriptions.

Signature Programs

On May 15, we will introduce five or six "Signature Programs" -- interdisciplinary programs that have met with great success and that can be replicated in areas throughout the state. We'll be asking every county to offer at least one Signature Program each year. Materials, curriculum and evaluation tools are included, and Communications and Technology is working on marketing materials for each program. As we expand this project, we will be asking you to identify new Signature Programs to share in the future. Contributing to Signature Programs will be included in performance reviews.

Centers Closing

We will be making some fundamental changes to the "Center" concept in Extension.

• Center structure will end effective July 1
• Commitment to strengthen ties between specialists and Educators
• Center specialists report directly to Assistant Directors  (see attached file, "ReportingLines.pdf," for information on new reporting lines)
• Work locations remain the same
• Support staff continue working with current specialists
• Earned cost recovery/grant dollars will follow specialists
• Center Directors will have new responsibilities within the organization; Tom Worley will remain Director at Piketon Centers
• Center concept will remain
• Statewide, interdisciplinary programming approach
• Efforts of Center specialists to move interdisciplinary programming forward have been much appreciated
• Specialists conducting applied research
• Team-oriented, with depth from multiple subject-matter areas

For more details, view the March 20 Video Communiqué online. Just go to CommTech's Educational Multimedia Services "Seminars and Special Events" page and click on "OSU Extension Video Communique March 2008."

Release-Time Funds

When OSU Extension employees apply for grants, it's common to build in release time to pay for the time spent on the grant-funded program. Beginning July 1, OSU Extension will retain 40 percent of those release-time dollars. This will release some state dollars on salary funding and will allow OSU Extension to invest additional dollars to support new programming. The other 60 percent of the release-time dollars will be given back to the originating unit, and our recommendation is for the unit to keep one-fifth of that money, and allow the faculty/staff person who originated the grant to receive the remaining funds to provide additional support for their program.

IT Staff Reporting Shifts

In an effort to coordinate and build consistency across the state in our use of and access to technology, we are reassigning the six Extension tech reps to report directly to Rob Luikart, the college's Chief Information Officer, beginning July 1. This will allow our technology staff members to work together as a team to implement security structures that the university is requiring as well as improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Extension's technology support. Although the reporting lines for these staff members will change, there will be no change to their physical work location, nor will there be a change of their support responsibilities to existing customers.

Standardization of Cost Recovery Efforts

OSU Extension's current cost-recovery policy  needs some work. We are reviewing the policy so it can be fairly applied to Extension offices at every level across the state. Standardizing the implementation of cost recovery should allow us to bring more funds in to the state level, which can then be used to improve programming across the state.