UPCOMING
EVENTS |
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October 20-23
2009 eXtension
October 27-28
Restoring the West Conference 2009
Logan, UT
Click here to visit Extension's Upcoming Events Web page.
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Extension News
October 2009
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4-H Meat Donation Program Helps Fight Hunger
 Food banks and charitable organizations are usually successful in collecting cans and boxes of food, but donated meat is
harder to come by. A group of Utah State University Extension 4-H youth and
leaders are working to change this with the 4-H Meat Donation program.
On Saturday, Sept. 26, 120 4-H youth worked at the Utah Food Bank
warehouse in Salt Lake City sorting meat into
small boxes that will be shipped throughout Utah to feed hungry families.
Approximately 120,000 pounds of meat were donated through
the program. According to Utah Food Bank statistics, the 4-H Meat Donation
Program accounts for about five percent of the annual donated meat.
"This amount of meat is something we wouldn't normally
get at the Food Bank - high quality beef, pork and lamb," said Jim Pugh,
executive director of the Utah Food Bank. "This donation will make a huge
difference in what we can offer needy families."
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USU Extension Professionals Receive National Awards
Utah
State University Extension professionals recently received national
awards for outstanding performance at the 2009 National Extension
Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Awards of Excellence annual
meeting in Birmingham, Ala.
The awards program provides recognition for members in areas of professional development, communications, program
development and public relations.
"It
is an honor for our employees to have received awards on the national
level," said Chuck Gay,
associate vice president and associate director for USU Extension. "This shows the caliber of professionals we have working with our
Utah publics."
Award winners include Marilyn Albertson, USU Extension family and
consumer sciences agent for Salt Lake County, who received first place,
western region winner and national winner in newsletters. This award
was the result of a Salt Lake County team entry, including Sara
Oldroyd, Sarah Petersen, Elizabeth Garn, Maruja Luis, Stephanie Young
and Mary Gedge. Joanne Roueche, USU Extension family and consumer sciences agent for Davis County, was selected as National
Distinguished Service Award winner.
Ann
House, USU Extension bankruptcy area agent in Salt Lake County,
received the first place regional and national Dean Don Felker
Financial Management Award, along with her team of Utah family and
consumer science agents. The award was given for curriculum developed
and taught statewide to help those in low-income households learn
financial management skills. Team winners for the award include Teresa
Hunsaker, Weber County; Carolyn Washburn, Washington County; Jana
Darrington and Dean Miner, Utah County; Ronda Olsen, Uintah County;
Marilyn Albertson, Salt Lake County; Darlene Christensen, Tooele
County; Ann Parkinson, Sevier County; Susan Haws, Summit County;
Margaret Hopkin, Morgan County; Margie Memmott, Juab County; Kathleen
Riggs, Iron County; Michael Johnson, Grand County; Christine Jensen,
Emery County; Joanne Roueche, Davis County; Ellen Serfustini, Carbon
County; Adrie Roberts, Cache County; Ann Henderson, Box Elder County;
Clint Albrecht, Beaver County; Anita Raddatz, Sanptete County; SuzAnne
Jorgensen, Garfield County; Lou Mueller, San Juan County; and Jenna
Innis, Salt Lake County.
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Just Right
According to the results for our recent Marketing and Communications survey, this newsletter is about the right length and frequency.
More than 90 percent of respondents said that the newsletter's length was "about right" while only two people thought it was too long and nobody thought it was too short. About 80 percent responded that monthly was the preferred frequency with only 21 percent preferring bi-monthly or quarterly. Nearly 70 percent of those who responded said they watched the webcasts live and another 17 percent watched the recorded versions.
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4-H Clover to Top 150 MPH
Utah State University Extension 4-H members anxiously awaited seeing the
4-H clover prominently displayed on NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon's car during the kickoff for National 4-H Week, Oct. 4-10.
 The 4-H emblem made its debut appearance in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
race where the 4-H emblem was featured on the 'TV panel' of the No.
24 DuPont Chevrolet driven by Gordon at Kansas Speedway Oct. 4. The
placement of the 4-H clover was made possible through a donation by
DuPont, sponsor of both the No. 24 team and of 4-H.
USU Extension Director of 4-H and Youth Programs Kevin Kesler anticipated the race and was anxious to see the 4-H emblem.
"What better way to show the world that 4-H is alive and well than to
have our clover seen on national television by millions of NASCAR
fans," he said. "This is a landmark opportunity for 4-H, and it is
great that the 4-H emblem will be so widely seen. We are grateful for
DuPont's generous support, and we are sure that the combination of
DuPont, Jeff Gordon and 4-H will be a winning team as we launch into
National 4-H Week." |
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Tech Tips: Grading Your Writing
From Dennis Hinkamp, USU Extension Communications
Are your verbose missives tantamount to being obsequious? Or do you write simply? One way to check is to use a simple word analyzer such as the one available at http://bit.ly/WriteMeasure. Simply cut and paste in some of your text and click "check." This will give you both a grade level and readability score. You may suspect that 8th graders don't read, but grade 8 to 10 is about the level you should shoot for in popular publications.
As a bench mark, I plugged in a typical New York Times news story and it rated at Grade: 8 and Readability: 43 (the higher number, the more readable). I also pasted in the transcript from President Obama's most recent health care speech. It rated Grade: 10 with a Readability: 47.
If you would like a more in-depth (free) text analysis tool that calculates word and phrase frequencies, I highly recommend this one http://bit.ly/TextAnalysis
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Recent Extension Publications Please take a look at these recently posted Extension publications.
Visit the USU Extension publication site by clicking here. |
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Help Spread the Word About
Extension Career Opportunities Professional positions within Utah State Extension are currently open, and we would like your help in spreading the word. Below is a list of open positions. Please forward this list to anyone you know who might be interested in applying.
4-H Youth Programs
Northern Region
Southeast Region
Southwest Region
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