The Ag e-Dispatch

Hear ye, hear ye

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:52:28 -0500

On the North Carolina stop of a series of rural town hall meetings to gauge the concerns of rural residents, U.S. cabinet members, as well as SAES representatives, got an earful.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Education Secretary Arne Duncan hosted the meeting at Richmond Community College in Hamlet, where a standing-room only crowd attended. Many of the concerns voiced by the score of speakers were issues directly addressed by Cooperative Extension programs, and Extension representatives Dr. M. Ray McKinnie and Celvia Stovall left the meeting with a potential to-do-list. Of particular note, were issues concerning community development, an area addressed in Extension programming. Agricultural issues that were discussed were also of interested to the A&T delegation, which was led by interim Dean Dr. Donald McDowell and included Dr. Ralph Noble, chair of the department of animal sciences.

There is coverage of the meeting highlights in the Charlotte Observer and many other North Carolina newspapers. Click here to view slideshow from the event.

2008-09 academic year gets five-star scrutiny

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:49:55 -0500

The video that premiered at the SAES academic- year kickoff on Aug. 14 — featuring the SAES’s interim dean, Dr. Donald McDowell, and his team of associate deans — is now available for viewing on the SAES Web page. The milestones and high water marks from the 2008-09 academic year covered in the video are also the backbone of the August issue of on the move, as the current issue of the SAES newsletter also looks at how the 2008-09 highlights stack up with the goals of the SAES Strategic Plan.

The 58 slides from Chancellor Harold Martin's PowerPoint presentation at the annual Faculty and Staff Institute that inaugurated the 2009-10 academic year the morning of Aug. 14 are loaded onto the University Web page.

Evergreen research presented at international forum

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:47:29 -0500

At the 2009 annual meeting of the Plant Growth Regulation Society of America (PGRSA), Dr. Guochen Yang, an SAES plant biotechnologist, and an SAES research associate, Zhongge “Cindy” Lu, presented findings from research into
“In Vitro Galax Seed Germination Under Different Plant Growth Regulator, Culture Medium Strength and pH Factors.”

After holding its 33rd meeting in Quebec City in 2006, its 34th meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 2007 and the organization’s, 36th annual get-together in San Francisco in 2008, the the PGRSA chose Asheville for its 2009 annual meeting in early August. At the conference, Yang received an invitation from the PGRSA’s executive director to serve for three years on the organization’s steering committee, an advisory body that addresses most of the organization’s basic management decisions.

The PGRSA has been giving scientists from many areas of specialization a central agency for collecting and disseminating information on plant growth regulators, plant tissue culture and other propagation techniques since the organization was established in 1973. The organization publishes reference books and a quarterly journal of technical articles.

Biotech research proposals due Sept. 23

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:45:39 -0500

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center will be taking grant applications until Sept. 23 for proposals, with cost projections of less than $75,000, for projects that will strengthen biotechnology research and development at academic institutions and other non-profits involved in research. Among the specific areas on the Biotechnology Center’s wish list this fall are biotech applications for food safety, nutritional and natural products, and also projects that will have specific applications in agriculture.

To give researchers at lower profile institutions an inside track, scientists at the main campuses of Duke, N.C. State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are ineligible for this funding program. Among the grant recipients in 2008 was the SAES’s Dr. Omon Isikhuemhen, who was awarded $75,000 to investigate potential applications for biotechnology methods in mass propagation, inoculation and screening of truffle-inoculated seedlings.

Last day in August is last day for student research abstracts

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:38:28 -0500

The North Carolina Alliance to Create Opportunity through Education is working to increase the number of minority students receiving doctorates in science, technology and engineering. One of the organization’s major projects is an annual Alliance Day, where students showcase their research work, meet with grad school recruiters and attend professional development workshops. The 2009 Alliance Day will be Oct. 2 at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex Special Events Center. The deadline for submitting abstracts is Monday, Aug. 31. An abstract of 300 words or less describing the research is required for both poster and oral presentations.

Cooperative Extension accepting applications for two 4-H vacancies

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:35:05 -0500

The Cooperative Extension Program at A&T has set mid-September application deadlines for openings in 4-H and youth development on both the state-level staff at Coltrane Hall and at the Bertie County Extension Center in Windsor.

The application deadline was recently extended to Sept. 12 for an opening on the state-level staff for a 4-H and youth development specialist, who will assume responsibilities for a wide array of programs, as well as curriculum development and field staff training for Extension faculty, volunteer leaders and program partners. A minimum of three years of teaching or other directly relevant work experience is required, and applicants should have a doctoral degree in family and consumer science, early childhood development, youth development or other closely related fields.

Applicants for the Bertie County opening for a 4-H & Youth Development agent should have a bachelor's degree in child development, family and consumer sciences, or a related area. Bertie County's 4-H programming includes both traditional and non-traditional 4-H clubs, and school enrichment outreaches. The deadline for applications is Sept. 15.

Travel tips

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:32:25 -0500

Through Dec. 16, Amtrak's Campus Visit Discount promotion will be an option for prospective Aggies who would like to visit Greensboro along with a parent or guardian. (Parents and guardians of high school juniors and seniors can get a second ticket at 50 percent off when they buy one full adult fare for travel to college campuses on Amtrak routes.) Visits to Greensboro via Amtrak begin at the Galyon Depot that’s very convenient to campus. Once at Galyon, prospective Aggies will find a HEAT (Higher Education Area Transit) shuttle leaving every hour and arrives at Bluford Circle on the A&T campus 10 minutes later.

Ten and 20 grand grant opportunities

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:30:25 -0500

The Tobacco Communities Reinvestment Project is accepting grant applications until Nov. 11 from individual producers, community groups and farm support organizations in Alamance, Bladen, Caswell, Chatham, Columbus, Cumberland, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville, Halifax, Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, Orange, Person, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Vance, Wake, Warren, and Wilson counties. Grants of up to $10,000 to individuals and $20,000 to groups and organizations will be awarded for proposals with potential to fill the farm-income void resulting from lost tobacco revenue in the region. Projects involving products, services and on-farm resources are eligible, along with new crops and innovative farm-based enterprises. To qualify, producers must be full- or part-time farmers who were depending on tobacco crops for a significant amount of their farm income coming at the time of the Master Settlement Agreement (crop years 1997 and 1998). Community groups must include farmers from the target counties and have farmers active in group leadership.

Global gusto

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:29:34 -0500

A&T students who have been toying with notions of spending a summer or semester studying abroad will have an opportunity to pick up some new ideas to bounce around at the University’s Study Abroad Fair on Wednesday, Sept. 2, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Stallings Ballroom at the Memorial Student Union building.

The SAES has three international programs that will be highlighted at the Study Abroad Fair:
• The Peace Corps Master’s International Program , which is now accepting applications —combines graduate school with Peace Corps service to give students a resume that includes both a master’s degree and two years of work experience in international development.
• Dr. Terrence Thomas has openings to send two more students to Ege University in Turkey next fall as part of an exchange program made possible by a USDA grant.
• Dr. Anthony Yeboah and John Paul Owens of the Dept. of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education are project co-directors for a Capacity Building Grant that is providing SAES students with scholarships for study abroad. The grant also provides funding to help defray the costs of airfare, passports, visas, vaccinations, health insurance, and other costs associated with international travel. Applications are now being accepted from SAES students who would like to apply for study abroad scholarships for spring and summer of 2010.

Might be wise to take 10 while the weather’s still inviting

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:28:33 -0500

Even those members of the SAES faculty with nine-month appointments and those who spent their summer in another hemisphere are probably aware that one of the emergency measures enacted to balance the state budget included a salary reduction of one-half of 1 percent in state employees paychecks in June and July. Don’t wait until January of 2010 to get full details of what was actually a mandatory furlough. In exchange for the pay reductions in June and July, state employees get 10 hours of furlough time, and they must make arrangements with their supervisors for taking these 10 hours of furlough time before Dec. 31.

NCAEPAAT’s annual statewide right here in GSO in ‘09

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:27:17 -0500

The North Carolina Association of Extension Program Assistants, Associates and Technicians (NCAEPAAT) will be holding its annual conference at the Guilford County Extension Center Sept. 11. Registration begins at 8 a.m., workshops start at 9 a.m., and the conference will adjourn at 3:45 p.m. The registration fee for this year’s conference is now $30.

Ron Brown Program may be an option for high quality high school seniors headed to the SAES in 2010-11

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:25:51 -0500

The Ron Brown Scholar Program — named to honor the former U.S. Secretary of Commerce who died in a plane crash in 1996 — awards high school seniors who are selected $10,000 a year for four years at the college or university of their choice. (Students who have graduated from high school and begun their college educations are not eligible.) The program — which has a stated commitment to “accelerate the progress of African Americans into the mainstream of leadership in business, education, government and a wide spectrum of professions, while instilling a strong dedication to leadership and public service — is highly selective. Last year only a dozen students were awarded scholarships out of more than 10,000 applicants. But the scholarship program’s website frequently notes that “Applicants to the Program, in addition to displaying academic excellence and a capacity to lead, must also demonstrate a commitment to service and community involvement.” That facet of selection criteria may be of particular interest to rising high school seniors planning to matriculate at the SAES at the start of the 2010-11 academic year. Skim through the bios of recipients and you’ll notice that backgrounds in 4-H helped several of the Brown Scholars get a leg up on other high-achieving high school students who applied.

The Ron Brown Scholar Program has two application deadlines. Applications received by Nov. 1 will be evaluated for the Brown Scholar Program and also forwarded along to other scholarship programs that seem appropriate. Applications received between Nov. 1 and Jan. 9, the second application deadline, will be evaluated for the Brown Scholar Program alone.

Abstract deadline in Dover is Aug. 30

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:16:26 -0500

Abstract deadline in Dover is Aug. 30

One of A&T’s sister 1890 land-grants, Delaware State University, will be hosting a national conference on agriculture, and natural resources conservation and management Oct. 15-18. This will be the third annual conference that Delaware State’s College of Agriculture and Related Sciences is hosting to bring together specialists in the many areas related to sustainable agriculture and natural resources management for an exchange of ideas. A call for papers has gone out, and the deadline for abstracts is Aug. 30. Papers submitted will be peer-reviewed and must adhere to the guidelines for authors for the Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Restoration. Manuscripts accepted will be published in the “Proceedings of the National Conference on Agriculture and Natural Resource Conservation and Management.”

Good Husbandry Grants may be good news for small-scale livestock producers

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:15:22 -0500

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), a non-profit founded in 1951 “to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by people,” established Animal Welfare Approved in 2006 to provide livestock producers and consumers with food labeling that promotes adherence to animal husbandry and slaughter standards. Last year AWI achieved financial footing that will allow the program to offer Good Husbandry Grants — of up to $5,000 — to farmers with ideas for projects that will improve farm animal welfare. Examples of proposals that secured grants last year include a low-stress loading facility that a network of Nebraska farmers now share, and a mobile processing facility for a group of North Carolina poultry producers. Grant applications are now being accepted for the 2009 Good Husbandry Grants and the application deadline is Oct. 1. The selection committee’s four areas of specific interest for the 2009 funding cycle are genetics, outdoor access (mobile housing in particular), welfare improvements in the slaughter process, and non-lethal predator control.

Staff update

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:13:39 -0500

Kim Slotnick has joined The Cooperative Extension Program at A&T’s field staff as a 4-H assistant in Mitchell County. Slotnick’s responsibilities will include helping to expand the 4-H program in Mitchell County and she will be focusing programming attention on dropout prevention among the youth in the county. She has had extensive experience with grants and budget management in parks and recreation agencies in south Florida.