WestNileVirus-L: Merrill's Monday Morning Memo

From: Deena Haines <deh8_at_cornell.edu>
Date: August 07 2000

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Merrillâs Monday Morning Memo 
August 7, 2000 
 
Dear Colleagues, 
 
Hope that you all had a good week and weekend!  I had very
enjoyable visits to the Otsego and Chemung County fairs.  These felt
much like the agricultural county fairs that were such an important part
of my life when I was a 4-Her back in Minnesota.  (I just wish that
I could have seen a few more Holsteins!)  Lets start our Monday
morning by talking about the future: 
 
1.  The future of Cornell Cooperative Extension - For
several months, weâve been talking about the need to transform Cornell
Cooperative Extension.  We have to do it and do it now. 
Why?  Four reasons come to mind:  First, the citizens of this
state are demanding better access to the research and intellectual
resources of Cornell University.  CCE should be an effective
statewide portal to the university. Our stakeholders feel we could do a
better job of this.  Second, Cornell/CCE is perceived as not being
as responsive as we ought.  Some of our systems, structures,
and traditions are getting in the way. They must be changed.  Third,
we have not been as accountable as we should be.  Some key
leaders are telling us that weâre not able to document the impact that we
are having; they do not see what they are receiving for their investment
in CCE.  Fourth, some of our programs are not perceived as
excellent; on the contrary, some are being criticized for failing to
measure up to stakeholder expectations. 
 
     This is a wonderful opportunity for us. 
The Agricultural Initiative process last fall was tremendously helpful --
it enabled us to build some new and stronger relationships with the
industry.  It helped us engage stakeholders in the process of
defining what New Yorkers want from us.  People who didnât know us
well are committing to helping us move ahead if we show ourselves willing
to make needed change.  We made real progress in connecting as a
system with the leadership of the agricultural system. 
 
   To help us move ahead with our planning process, I appointed
two task force groups to review several issues.  First, a group made
up of campus and off-campus professionals is looking at the
foundations of extension and the role of the extension educator in
the future.  A second (also consisting of a cross-section of our
system) is looking at what elements might be included in an extension
system that is positioned to address the needs of the 21st
century.  They are looking at the models or principles that
are working in extension systems around the country. 
 
     The foundations group consists of: 
Chris Wien (Horticulture), Robin Travis (CCE Yates County), Cliff Scherer
(Communications), Arthur Wilson (Education), Scott Peters (Education),
Kevin Ganoe (Central New York Dairy and Livestock team), Mike Voiland
(formerly Government Affairs; now working on accountability for the
research office and CCE), Carol Divine (Nutritional Sciences), Ed
Harwood, and myself.  The groupâs task is to think through what
learning means in an extension context and to propose what this means for
us as we look to the future.  They are looking at the knowledge and
skills that the extension educator of the future needs for the
future. 
 
     The models group includes:  Ann
Lemley (Textiles and Apparel), Margaret OâNeill (CCE Monroe County), Andy
Novakovic (Agriculture and Managerial Economics), Dan Decker (Research
Office, Paul Trader (CCE Rockland County), Mike Voiland (joint
research/extension appointment).  Glenn Applebee, Jo Swanson,
Margaret Smith, Ed Harwood, and I are also working with this group. 
This group is considering the elements that might be included in a new
CCE system.  They are reviewing data (the Olson/Lacy study, task
force reports, etc.).  They are examining our systems and
structures. They are looking at how Cooperative Extension is structured
and how it functions in other states. (A subset of this group has visited
Illinois and Michigan; a visit to Washington State will occur next
month.)  They will review what the foundations group learns. 
This group will propose a framework around which we will build a new
extension system. 
 
<x-tab>        </x-tab>At the
Executive Director/CCE Association Board Conference in September
(15th and 16th), what we have pulled together will
be shared with and discussed by our systemâs leadership team.  (This
will be a meeting for Association Executive Directors, CCE board members,
Department Chairs and DELS, and SPC Chairs.)   Between
September 15th and early November (about two months), we will
have a system-wide conversation about the elements we want to see
included in a new CCE system.  During that time, the Associate
Directors of CCE will be fanning out around the state (and campus) to
talk with associations, boards, stakeholders, and departments.  This
is where we discuss what we want our system to look like and how it
should function (not the specific details but the general principles,
systems, and structures). 
 
    In November, we will convene a two-day meeting for
Executive Directors, Department chairs and DELs, and SPC chairs to hammer
out the details. For want of a better term, weâve labeled this event, a
ãbuilding party.ä   We will then take the product of that
building party, refine it, and implement a plan that will help us more
effectively deal with the challenges facing New Yorkers.  We would
implement parts of that plan early next year. 
 
     Please note that this process is pulling
together a number of pieces on which we have been working for quite some
time: 
 
     (a) Accessibility We are building on the
work of several task forces that have examined system-wide issues for us
and pulled together information that will help us make Cornell more
accessible to New York citizens.  The Olson/Lacy has helped us
understand that people want from us and how they want to obtain
information.  The statewide connectivity RFP about which I have
written in the past is part this conversation as we seek to determine how
best to invest our information technology dollars.   The
discussion that the Statewide Program Committees are having with their
stakeholders is helping us clarify how we need to position ourselves for
the future.  An important part of the Agricultural Initiative
involves helping the industry access high quality applied research. 
The conversation around AI is driving the schedule (we have to meet
certain deadlines as part of the budget process) but this is not the sum
total of what we are trying to change.  AI must link seamless with
the rest of our system. 
 
     (b) Responsiveness We are revitalizing
the SPCs and strengthening the ways through which New York citizens help
shape and/or influence our research and extension agendas.  
Our decision to use the County Law 224 increase for focused community and
economic vitality activities is part of this. The Diversity Catalyst Team
has as part of its agenda, helping CCE address the needs of those
audiences that may be left out of our programs and portfolios. 
Information generated by the Disaster Task Force will feed into this
conversation as well. These initiatives are now coming together to help
us position CCE for the future. 
 
     (c) Accountability We have posted our
CCE plans of work on the WWW for all to see.  Our stakeholders want
to know what we are doing for them on campus as well through county-based
programs so we need to make these program plans public.  Citizens
also want to see what we accomplished.  While federal reporting
requirements are becoming much more stringent, the call for
accountability is coming from taxpayers who want to know what they are
receiving for our investment.  We intend to show them.  More
effective use of the WWW will help us do so.  So will the shared,
research office/CCE accountability position (occupied by Mike
Voiland).  
 
     (d)  Excellence We have adopted a
performance management system.  We have completed a classification
and compensation study.  We have a Learning Task Force that has
proposed a strategy for professional development.  High expectations
and appropriate rewards that are commensurate with performance are two
keys to building and maintaining a culture of excellence. 
 
     We will have many important decisions to make
during the next few months as we move ahead.  However, there are
several immutables, things that are not up for negotiation. 
Whatever the details that ultimately emerge from our planning
processes  as we move forward, we will: 
 
-<x-tab>       </x-tab>Maintain
a strong county base 
-<x-tab>       </x-tab>Create
the most seamless link possible between campus and county 
-<x-tab>       </x-tab>Maintain
a high standard of excellence 
-<x-tab>       </x-tab>Take
a regional approach to some of our work 
-<x-tab>       </x-tab>Build
stronger partnerships with other educational institutions in
New  
<x-tab>       </x-tab>York (SUNY,
community colleges, Ag and Techs). 
-<x-tab>       </x-tab>Create
a vital information technology infrastructure 
-<x-tab>       </x-tab>Institute
system-wide change. We are not fixing an ãagricultural extension
<x-tab>     </x-tab>problem.ä  We are
positioning CCE for the future--as a system.  What we
<x-tab>        </x-tab>develop
must work for all of CCE. 
-<x-tab>       </x-tab>Align
all of our assets to implement our vision. 
 
     I ask for your help.  We can build an
extension system that will help New Yorkers build strong, healthy
communities.  We can help Cornell achieve the Kellogg Commissionâs
vision for the engaged university of the future. We can and will be New
Yorkâs resource of choice as it wrestles with the difficult issues facing
our state. This is a wonderful moment of opportunity for Cornell
Cooperative Extension!  
 
     We will talk much more about this in the weeks
ahead. 
 
2.  West Nile Virus: Commissioner Novello urges ã· prevention,
not panic.ä -  Details regarding WNV detections are changing so
rapidly, Lois suggests, that the details probably don't really matter. On
Friday, August 4, NYS Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia Novello described
the bigger picture: "We continue to find West Nile virus in birds in
counties well outside of the area originally affected and it is likely
that the virus is present throughout New York State." 
 
     By late Friday, the first human WNV case this
year was confirmed: a 78-year old man in Staten Island. 
WNV-positive birds or mosquitoes had been detected in 19 NYS counties (as
compared with 10 counties one week ago). Most counties in the State have
submitted dead birds for testing and results are pending on a number of
these tests.  NYS DOH is now issuing daily updates and weekly maps
on its website: 
<a href="http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/westnile/index.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/westnile/index.</a><a href="http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/westnile/index.htm" eudora="autourl">htm</a>.
WNV-positives have also been detected in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and
New Jersey, but not in the many other East Coast and Gulf Coast states
where surveillance is ongoing.  With the spread of the virus, Dr.
Novello urges prevention, not panic, noting that "Less than one
percent of the people infected with the virus will have symptoms that
require hospitalization."   Moreover, it remains very
possible that the disease in bird populations will not spill over to
human populations around the State. 
 
     To reduce risk from WNV, NYS DOH is urging
people throughout the State to take common sense precautions to reduce
their exposure to mosquito bites and to continue to eliminate stagnant
water where mosquitoes breed.   The NYS WNV materials do not
advocate widespread application of mosquito adulticide pesticides,
acknowledging that methods chosen for mosquito control are up to local
jurisdictions.  CCE educators throughout the State (perhaps
especially in previously unaffected counties) are encouraged to work with
their county departments of health and other local agencies to help in
developing locally appropriate IPM-based mosquito control plans, as well
as to help implement and disseminate educational and risk reduction
programs.  
 
     For more information and suggestions of ways to
reduce risk, see the Environmental Risk Analysis Program's West Nile
Virus website
www.cfe.cornell.edu/risk
or contact Lois Levitan (LCL3@cornell.edu, 607-255-4765). 
 
3.  ACCEE membership and fall conference - We invite
you to join ACCEE (Association of Cornell Cooperative Extension
Educators),  an inclusive professional organization for all
employees of the CCE system.  It is open to everyone!  If you
don't "fit" into another Extension organization (NACAA, NEAFCS
or 4-H) but would like to benefit from networking and career development
opportunities, please join ACCEE.  If you belong to NACAA,
NEAFCS, 4-H or Epsilon Sigma Phi, you are automatically a member of
ACCEE.  However, if you don't belong to one of those
organizations, $10.00 in annual dues will bring you into the ACCEE
circle.  ACCEE will co-sponsor (with Epsilon Sigma Phi, the NYS
Association of County Agricultural Agents, and the NYS Association of CCE
4-H Educators) a statewide Conference in Syracuse on October 25-27,
2000.  Please contact Jennifer Rowe, CCE Herkimer County for the
list of workshops, tours, and other activities.  Jennifer also has
conference registration information. Contact her at:
jlr34@cornell.edu. 
 
 
4.  Lifeâs persistent questions - As I drive around the
state, like Guy Noire, I often ponder lifeâs persistent questions. 
(Let me frame the context: I usually have my laptop running on the seat
beside me with a road map on the screen.  The GPS receiver is
connected to the computer and resting on the dash.  Iâve got Brahms
in the CD player, a tall latte in the cup holder, and my phone in the
cradle.)  This combination somehow helps me think. 
 
     While visiting two fairs this week, I kept
hearing people talk about hippology.   It made me wonder
why people refer to a 4-H horse program as hippology rather than
horseology?  (Actually this has bothered me a lot over the
two years. It just came to a head this past week.)  Maybe I should
explain why this sounds so strange to me.  When I lived in the
Congo, people would go tubing on the Kwilu River (100 kilometers
downstream from where I lived).  The Kwilu was populated with hippos
that kill a number of people each year.  Hippos, you see, float just
beneath the surface.  The only way you know theyâre coming is if
they surface, or if they blow bubbles or make rings in the water by
breathing out.  Hippos are a nasty bunch; their powerful jaws can
snap a personâs body in half.  Alternatively, theyâll stomp someone
to death just for the heck of it.  Frankly, theyâre mean
buggers. 
 
     My friend, Dan, liked to go out on his inner
tube and cool off in the Kwilu.  Meanwhile, his wife Miriam (who
doesnât like water) would keep watch through her binoculars from a spot
above the river.  If she saw bubbles, water rings, or a dark shadow
moving through the water, she would know that some hippos were floating
into the area form upstream. She would urgently wave a big white flag
which meant, ãTheyâre coming; everybody out now!ä  It goes without
saying that Miriam learned a lot about hippos. 
 
     Jeannie Griffith (Department of Animal Science;
affectionately known to 4-Hers around this state as ãthe Horse
Lady) is doing great work on our behalf. Nonetheless, itâs Miriam
(not Jeannie) who comes to my mind when I hear people talk about
hippology. Someone who studies peopleâs psyches is a
psychologist.  Someone who studies society is a sociologist. 
Someone who studies hippos is not a hippologist, but someone who
works with horses is?  Hello? 
 
5.  The Northeast Agricultural Development Symposium - 
On November 9 and 10, 2000, the Northeast Training and Support
Network for Agricultural Economic Development will hold a 2-day symposium
devoted to integrating agriculture, communities and economic
development.  This conference is a highly recommended professional
development opportunity for all CCE educators working in the area of
agriculture-base economic development as well as local economic
developers and other agricultural leaders. 
 
      Several noted speakers will participate
including NYS Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets, Nathan Rudgers,
and Philip Gottwals, a prominent agricultural development specialist in
the mid-Atlantic region. Sixteen workshops will address such topics as
the role of agriculture in Smart Growth, integrating agriculture and
economic development, farm viability enhancement: model state programs,
and more.  Watch for more details on the program speakers and
workshops.  This symposium promises to be one of the best
professional development opportunities in ag-based economic development
this year. .    
 
     The symposium will be held at the Best Western
Albany Airport Inn in Albany, NY.  Primary sponsors of the event are
the New England Small Farm Institute and Cornell's Farming Alternatives
Program. Partial funding comes from the NE Sustainable Agriculture
Research and Education Program. The CALS/CCE Agriculture and Food Systems
Working Group (AFSEV) is a co-sponsor.  For registration materials
and more information about the program, contact Kathy Ruhf at
nesawg@smallfarm.org or 413-323-4531, or Roger Clapp at
rclapp@together.net.  For further details, please check with Maureen
Maloney Robb, Agricultural Industry Development, Enhancement and
Retention,
mr68@cornell.edu
or Dave Smith, AFSEV chair and CALS Professor of Sustainable Development
rds4@cornell.edu. 
 
6.  Meeting Mr. Rumor - Have gotten to know a very
interesting fellow since I became Director.  I first met Mr. I.R.
Rumor (known affectionately to his drinking buddies simply as IR) on my
third day in this job.  At that time, IR told me that the new CCE
Director was closing New York Stateâs 4-H program.  That was news to
me.  Since I didnât have a clue at the time as to what I would
eventually do about the problems facing our 4-H program, I was absolutely
fascinated by this new information.  I subsequently learned that he
knows a lot of stuff that I donât.  He stopped by again this
week.  I thought that you might be interested in our
conversation.  I recorded it so if any of you meet him this week,
you will know what I said to him: 
 
IR:  Merrill, I understand that as part of the planning
process that CCE is going through, you will be shutting down the county
associations. 
 
DME:  No.  It will snow in hell before that
happens. 
 
IR:  Really? 
 
DME:  What was unclear?  The ãnoä part, or the ãsnow
in hellä part? 
 
IR:  Well, ah ah·.Why do you say that? 
 
DME:  Cornell Cooperative Extension is the envy of the
nation.  Thirty-six percent (actually 35.9%) of our total budget
comes through the local associations.  No other state even comes
close.  We have a unique partnership between the campus and county
associations that mobilizes community resources and grounds our programs
in local reality.  New York citizens feel a stronger sense of local
ownership over their associations than that felt by citizens in other
states.  States that took away this sense of local ownership have
paid (in every sense of the term) dearly; weâre not going to repeat their
mistake! 
 
IR:  So everything is fine! Whatâs the big fuss? 
 
DME:  Whoa!   Iâm not saying that.  Things
are not fine!  We have to position the county associations as part
of our commitment to making Cornell more accessible.  We have to
redefine how the colleges and associations work together in creating an
applied research and extension agenda.  We have to become more
publicly accountable (both in associations and on campus) for outcomes,
for demonstrating clearly how our activities translate into observable
impacts.  We must raise the bar; our programs and staff must
demonstrate high standards of excellence or we place ourselves at
tremendous risk. 
 
IR:   Who says so? 
 
DME:   Industry leaders.  Growers.  The
leaders of organizations with which CCE works.  Community
leaders.  Legislators.  Heard it again this week.  On the
other hand, Iâve also had people tell me in recent weeks that they like
what they hear us doing.  We are addressing their concerns head-on
and people are noticing our commitment to change. 
 
IR:   I heard that the Agricultural Initiative (AI)
is dead. 
 
DME:  You heard wrong.  We are working with key leaders
within the agricultural industry to move this forward as part of the next
budget.  Without getting into the details, there are specific
meetings and conversations planned throughout the next few weeks to move
this ahead. 
 
IR:  This talk about reinventing CCE is really just about
agriculture, isnât it? This doesnât really affect the rest of us. 
 
DME:  Wrong again!  The changes that we must make in
our system are not unique to agriculture.  The timing of New Yorkâs
budget process is partly driving the scheduling for our planning. 
Political leaders have told us that we must demonstrate significant
changes in our system before they will bring AI forward.  If we
donâtâ change, they wonât do it.  (If we donât make some of these
needed changes, I have had some industry leaders tell me, they are
prepared not only to sit on their hands relative to AI, they are willing
to tell Albany to invest its dollars elsewhere.) They are not messing
around; we better not either.  Let me be clear, however, that some
who have been critical in the past are also working closely with us as we
plan for the future.  They have demonstrated their commitment to
CCE; they will not only stand with us, they will promote our
interests.  They know that they will succeed if we do so will work
hard to help make that happen. 
 
IR:   Youâre going to do this (define the directions,
make all the decisions, etc.)  in Roberts Hall, right? 
 
DME:   No, we are going to do this as a
system.  The CCE leadership team (Executive Directors,
Department Chairs, DELs, SPC Chairs, and Extension Administration) will
take the work of the task force groups and make that the focus of the
executive director/board meeting in September.  This will be
followed by two months of system-wide conversation involving everybody
(our boards, educators, staff, faculty, and stakeholders).  The
leadership team will come back together (sometime in November) to process
the conversations that we have had around the state, and to refine what
we want to do and determine how we will do it.  From that, we will
lay out an action plan that we will subsequently implement. 
 
IR: Can you pull this off? 
 
DME:  I canât, but we can. 
We must.  We will. (Particularly if you back off just a
little and help the rest of us build this thing.) 
 
7.  The week ahead - I hope to see many of you at Empire
Farm Days in Waterloo.  This is always fun!  We have a number
of different displays in the Cornell tent.  Come and meet (new) Dean
Susan Henry at the CALS alumni get-together on Wednesday afternoon. 
Next weekend, Iâm moving one of my daughters to Chicago where she will
start a one-year assignment as an Americore volunteer with the Housing
Authority on the south side.  About three days later, Iâm moving my
other daughter to the west side of Chicago where she will be a freshman
at Wheaton College.  In between, I hope to spend an afternoon in
Sammy Sosaâs playground.  That being the case, I donât know if Iâll
get to an MMMM next weekend or not but Iâll give it a shot.  Have a
good week. 
 
See you at Empire Farm Days! 
 
Merrill 
 
P.S.   Have you ever noticed that food at the fair tastes
better than it does in a restaurant run by the same people?  (Same
cook , same recipe, same process.)  There are several
differences.  Think about it; at the fair, the chicken is warm
instead of hot, they serve your food on a paper plate instead of on
china, you eat with plastic forks instead of Oneida cutlery, the table
rocks back and forth on the uneven ground, the table cloth (if there is
one) is plastic instead of cloth (and probably torn), the hard, metal
chairs are uncomfortable, there is dust on the ground, and the smell
manure permeates the air.  Yet the food tastes even better than it
does back at the restaurant.  Strange, isnât it?  Donna Brooks
(Otsego County) and I struggled (over barbeque chicken) to figure this
out.  We basically concluded that fairs must be magic! 
 
 
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Received on Mon Aug 07 10:51:05 2000