Extension
It Starts With Us
Author: Patrice Thompson
Major Program: Staff Development
During the 2019 4-H year, I was able to collaborate with my colleagues to implement the SPARKS curriculum during our Bred for Excellence Lesson Study. The SPARKS Curriculum was designed to identify youth strengths and develop them to thrive in their environments. Sparks encourage youth to set goals and achieve things. A Spark is considering a particular talent, gift, or interest a youth may have, including acceleration in certain academic subjects. These sparks can be anything from a hobby
Author: Amanda Dame
Major Program: Staff Development
The University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service strives to provide practical education to communities across the commonwealth in the areas of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Family and Consumer Sciences and 4-H Youth Development. Unfortunately, there are times Extension Services across the state may have a vacancy within a community which leaves communities without an Extension Agent in one or more program areas. Steps were taken to help a
Author: Amanda Dame
Major Program: Staff Development
At times Cooperative Extension Agents can struggle with developing ideas to engage program advisory councils throughout the year once the plan of work and/or needs are identified. Additionally, at times there can be issues with locating Extension supported materials to utilize with program advisory councils. Steps were taken to help address these issues for Family and Consumer Sciences Agents. The first action taken was the development of a compiled list of materials the UK Cooperative Extension
Author: Tad Campbell
Major Program: Staff Development
Amidst structural changing of Districts to Areas and the ongoing COVID pandemic, the District 1 Agriculture (ANR) and Horticulture (HORT) Agents worked together as a district to plan and host the 2021 KACAA Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference. During the planning process the group deemed it necessary to go virtual for the annual meeting. By doing so at that juncture, more detail could be offered during the planning process. Although most wanted to have an i
Author: Kenneth Jones
Major Program: Staff Development
Kentucky Extension has hosted a rigorous on-boarding process for county agents, which includes an orientation as well as core training sessions. The purpose is to ensure that county staff are able to acquire the tools necessary to hit the ground running, thus gaining success in their new roles. However, there has been no formal comparable process for state Extension associates and specialists. In the past, the Director of Program & Staff Development would meet one-on-one with individuals as
Author: Alex Butler
Major Program: Staff Development
In-Service Training Success Story It is essential that new County Ag Agents be adequately trained for the jobs they are asked to do. Agents must rapidly build a fundamental understanding of skills ranging from working with elected officials and reporting their work to fescue toxicosis and synchronization protocol for artificial insemination for beef cattle. By working with University Extension Specialist and Campus Staff, new Agents can get the proper training to fulfill the Universit
Author: Nicole Breazeale
Major Program: Staff Development
Findings from a recent survey by the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems (2020) found that respondents from land grant universities were half as likely as their peers from nonprofits to expect significant racial equity related progress in the next five years, emphasizing the importance of increasing the capacity of these land grant professionals – especially those in Cooperative Extension – to work more effectively in addressing social inequities. The UK College of Agriculture, Food
