Commission on Public Service and Extension Minutes of Meeting on April 11, 1995 Room 400D Burruss Hall Members Present: Ralph Badinelli, Bill Mashburn, Deb Williams, Connie Kratzer, Brenda Olafsen, Thomas Hohenshil, Doug McAlister, James Jones, Bill Allen,Ted Settle, Bob Martin, Patricia Edwards, Gregory Brown Not represented: SGA, College of Business, David Johnson, Donna Dunay, Patrick Liverpool, Terry Swecker, Heather Pert, Fred Lamb, Fred Krimgold 1. The meeting was convened and chaired by Ralph Badinelli, who amended the agenda to include a discussion of the candidates for the chair of the Commission next year. There being no other requests for alterations, the agenda was adopted. 2. The minutes for the meeting on February 13, 1995 were revised in response to a request for correction by Bill Allen of a statement attributed to him in the minutes. The minutes were then approved. 3. The floor was opened for discussion of the preliminary report of the Provost's Task Force on Outreach. Deb Williams began the discussion by mentioning that she thought the definition of outreach contained in the document is rather broad. Greg Brown, who co-chaired the Task Force responded by saying that the committees of the task force entertained even broader definitions and that the definition in the report represents a "trimming" of some concepts of outreach. He said that a final version of the report should be completed some time in May. Bill Allen then asked how the Task Force arrived at its recommendations about organization of outreach administration. In particular he expressed concern about a section in the report that suggested that the Extension Director report directly to the Provost instead of to the Dean of the College of ALS. This point initiated a long and lively discussion. Greg Brown reported that the Task Force believed that there should be better coordination of all outreach programs motivating the recommendation about Extension's reporting arrangement. Bill Allen commented that such a change in the reporting relationship of the Extension Director could weaken the political support from some key constituencies that VCE has benefited from - especially in recent years. The community of farmers and others involved in the agriculture industry may feel alienated by a change in the reporting relationship of the Extension Director that might appear to separate the Director from of the College of ALS. Bill emphasized the point that he did not disagree with the intent of the proposed reorganization. He also emphasized his commitment to all aspects of VCE's mission, including the expansion of services in the areas of Community Resource Development, Urban Planning, etc. mentioned by Pat Edwards. The point of his argument is that, in today's funding climate, it is crucial to have a base of support for any programmatic or administrative change before making such a change. Bill mentioned that some other states have lost the support of their farm bureaus. In the case of VCE, the Farm Bureau has been essential to receiving state support of Extension and loss of backing of the Farm Buraeu would be serious. Discussion regarding the history of VCE and the reorganization implemented by President McComas continued. Bill Mashburn wanted to know why VCE has never instituted an industrial extension program and why the last two governors tried to reduce or eliminate VCE. Pat Edwards questioned the positioning of VCE in the CALS under President McComas as this seemed to move VCE away from its missions in CRD, urban planning, family assistance, etc. Bill Allen responded by saying that VCE is continuing a long-running effort at trimming the number of programs it offers and ensuring that its programs meet real needs within the State. From 220 programs a few years ago, VCE now runs 116 programs. This number could eventually reach approximately 40. The needs that VCE responds to in developing and maintaining programs and in eliminating others are needs that are not restricted to agriculture. In recent months, however, this effort was disconnected from the Governor's agenda as the executive branch seems to have changed its expectations of VCE in an effort to justify budget cuts. As far as the reorganization brought about by President McComas is concerned, Doug McAlister, the Commission's historian, suggested that President McComas may have received some biased advice in the matter. Doug also made the following points. - Bill Allen has consistently represented VCE, not the more narow interests of agricultural extension in his job as VCE Director. - The Governor's agenda has changed over the last year because of budget constraints. Furthermore, some people in the budget office of the executive branch have little understanding of VCE and its services. - The work of the Task Force should be followed by a study of the external customers of outreach. - Any plans for improving our outreach efforts should include the establishment of a single point of entry for someone outside the University. This point was driven home by comments made to Doug by people at the Volvo-GM plant in Dublin. Greg Brown responded to the request for a market survey by saying that the idea came up in the Task Force's deliberations and was rejected due to the cost and time that it would require. Instead, the Task Force's interviews with department heads elicited information about the how well the constituents of different departments were being served by outreach programs. Commission members pressed the point of taking an external survey. The Commission chair promised to draft a statement to the Provost recommending such action. This statement would be available for review by the Commission before the next meeting. 4. The Commission Chair asked members to comment on the plans for Continuing Education drafted by Harold Kurstedt. Of particular interest is the potential for diversion of the resources of Continuing Education towards high-profit, externally staffed programs at the expense of programs that would assist faculty and Colleges to expand their outreach connections and influence. Bill Allen commented that the outreach mission should be able to embrace both paying and nonpaying customers. Bill Mashburn expressed the opinion that the University had drifted too much in the direction of non-profit types of programs and would benefit from some renewed emphasis on profit-making outreach. Tom Hohenshil raised the issue of faculty rewards as an impediment to faculty involvement in outreach apart from the amount of assistance provided by CEC. Bob Martin affirmed the relevance of faculty rewards in outreach by asserting that in his college, outreach is rewarded and, consequently, he does not expect to see the level of faculty outreach activities diminish as the CEC changes its focus. Ted Settle updated the Commission on Harold's plan. He made it clear that Harold's responsibilities focus primarily on continuing education as opposed to outreach in general. Also, COTA is now a budget line in the Continuing Education budget. As such, the COTA's funding is not restricted to the hiring of a certain number of people to be designated COTA scholars, associates, and fellows of some type. Instead, the money can be used for a variety of activities including market research, program development, site selection, etc. 5. Doug McAlister added the following resolution to the agenda which was adopted. Whereas the University Public Service Awards program is a long-awaited stimulus to the propogation of outreach work among faculty and staff, and Whereas, the Commission experienced great difficulty in trying to implement the University Public Service Awards program in previous years, and Whereas, the Commission allowed very little time this year for selection of award winners, Therefore, be it resolved, that the Selection Committee of the Commission on Public Service and Extension have earned the praise and gratitude of the Commission for successfully implementing the awards program this year. 6. Ted Settle said that he would try to make arrangements for the next meeting of the Commission at the Hotel Roanoke. 7. The Commission Chair asked everyone to consider whom they would like to nominate for next year's Chairperson. The meeting adjourned at 11:30.