Dear Extension Family,
I hope that everyone has been able to enjoy these long summer days and indulge in outdoor activities, family gatherings, or vacation travel. It is exciting to have our field days and workshops back in full force. The Watermelon Field Day at Edisto REC was last week, the pest Scouting School workshops will be held at the Pee Dee REC on July 27, and the Turfgrass Field Day is scheduled for August 16 at the Walker Golf Course in Clemson. Our Cooperative Extension online events calendar is full of upcoming various educational offerings. Remember that your program team events must be entered into the main University calendar to ensure those appear on our calendar feeds (refer to this helpful PDF file for instructions on how to use the calendar).
For those of you who are involved with managing or contributing to a Cooperative Extension social media account, please plan to attend the Cooperative Extension Social Media webinar on August 2 at 10 a.m. The social media experts from Clemson University Relations have generously offered to help lead a very informative session about the University’s social media policy, guidelines, and best practices. The webinar will be recorded, and more information is available in the Extension Employees Blog post.
I am excited to announce the SC WAgN (Women’s Agricultural Network) Inaugural SC Women in Agriculture Conference will be held November 4–5 in Clemson. All program teams will be invited to exhibit their programmatic offerings. It will be a fantastic event that has the potential to become an annual occurrence. The schedule and keynote speaker will be announced in the coming weeks, and registration will open in early September. I hope that, in addition to our stakeholders, many of you will attend to support the mission of SC WAgN.
This will be a summer to remember regarding Cooperative Extension achievements. Our program teams are bustling with in-person and virtual programmatic offerings to serve the citizens of our state. I’d like to share a few of the accolades. Congratulations to our South Carolina 4-H shooting sports delegation (coached by Mr. Rick Willey) for winning the title of National Shotgun Champion at the 4-H Shooting Sports National Championships, the 2022 SC 4-H Pinckney Leadership program participants, the Agricultural Education Program Team for another successful SCAAE Teacher’s Conference and SC FFA State Convention, our Land-Grant Press contributing authors for a whopping 150 publications to date and doubling the number of visitors to lgpress.clemson.edu compared to this time last year, the Rural Health and Nutrition Program Team for their free statewide COVID-19 Mobile Testing and Vaccination Events, and Dr. Dave Coyle of the Forestry and Wildlife Resources Program Team for being awarded the W.D. Hagenstein Communicator Award from the Society of American Foresters.
As a follow-up to my email from last week sharing the OUR Clemson announcement regarding the general pay base increase and bonus details for Clemson University employees, please refer to the COLA and Bonus FAQs website and contact the Office of Human Resources using the online Ask-HR Chat if you have any questions. Additionally, please take the time to welcome our newest Cooperative Extension team members listed in the new hires and transfers Extension Employees Blog post.
In closing, I am writing this letter from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference this week. I am impressed with the educational offerings and grateful for the attendance of our Cooperative Extension Agents. I cannot wait to share the highlights with everyone in my August letter. We are indeed an exceptional team. We shine among gatherings of fellow Extension Agents from across the nation. And if you are looking for some new accessories to show your Cooperative Extension pride, we now have ties available through our apparel store website.
As always, please take good care of yourselves and your families, and thank you for what you do for Clemson Cooperative Extension.
Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service offers its programs to people of all ages, regardless of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or family status and is an equal opportunity employer.
