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Assembly of Extension Program Leaders Executive Committee

Conference Call (Aug. 5, 2005)

Present: Ralph Rayburn (Chair), Nancy Balcom (Chair-elect), Paula Cullenberg (Secretary/Treasurer), Bill DuPaul (Past-Chair), Jim Murray (National Sea Grant), Paul Olin (Pacific Regional Rep) The meeting was called to order by Chairman Ralph Rayburn at 12 noon, Central time.

Review and approval of committee membership to include leadership

The ExCom reviewed and agreed on the membership of the committees as noted and sent by Ralph Rayburn. Paul Olin noted that Pacific Region would like three members from the Pacific region represented on the Fisheries Extension committee – Chris Dewees, from the southern Pacific Region, Paula Cullenberg from Alaska and Pete Granger from the northern Pacific region.

Motion by Bill DuPaul, second by Nancy Balcom to approve the membership of the committees. Ralph will update the membership on the Fisheries Extension committee. Committee list with current membership is attached.

Review of potential immediate actions needed by committees

Ralph had attached a list of upcoming actions (see attached). Discussion took place on a few of the actions.

Bylaws: Paula Cullenberg will call the committee together to change the wording to reflect changes in terms as agreed to during annual meeting. Need 30 day notice of a vote to change the bylaws. Vote is scheduled for approximately mid October. This will enable the nominations committee to use the new bylaws in their process. Bylaws committee might also look at providing more detail on the range of responsibilities of ExCom members.
Education and Professional Development – Mike Spranger has agreed to chair this committee. It will develop a proposal for a Sea Grant Institute for submission to Ron Baird. The institute would be designed for mid-level extension professionals as well as the new entrants currently the target of the SG Academy. Suggested may also have a "Faculty" role for senior staff.
Fisheries Extension – national meeting is still an option but no definitive plans as of yet. Jim Murray noted that it would be a big, first time meeting, so should be planned accordingly.

Assembly meeting 2006

Ralph's been working hard on logistics. Communicators and Educators are considering hosting their annual meeting there as well. Majority of Extension leaders are looking at the May 22nd date. Discussion related to other groups being welcome to meet there but that the Assembly meeting would be organized independently.

Nancy commented that she'll get the meeting planning committee together soon to plan content.

Motion by Nancy Balcom to hold the 2006 Annual Assembly meeting at the Rincon of the Sea Resort in Puerto Rico during the week of May 22nd. Seconded by Bill. Thanks to Ralph for his hard work to date.

Review agenda for upcoming SGA Retreat –

Ralph will attend on behalf of the Assembly. Jon Kramer has invited the leadership of the affiliate groups. Jim Murray noted that Sea Grant's involvement with seafood technology may come up at the Michigan meeting.

Request for Assembly representative on Aquaculture Theme Team

Bill Rickards is reactivating the Aquaculture theme team and has asked the Assembly for a representative for that theme team. Paul Olin has volunteered and the Assembly EXCOM agreed.

Consider follow-up items from Sea Grant Week 05

Performance measures – Jim Murray noted that John Schwartz and Brian Miller have offered to help with this and he will get back to them soon. Performance measures are being developed for all of NOAA.

Dale Baker is just starting to get involved in the climate change initiative.

RFP for regional planning projects is in Leon Cammen's hands and is probably getting to that soon noted Jim Murray.

Report on BBB #5 and future BBBs

Offshore Aquaculture was the subject of the Beltway Brown Bay last week. Worked out very well. See Ralph's earlier email summarizing this BBB. Jim noted it was a great series of meeting. Jim Murray noted that Mike Rubino the NOAA aquaculture lead wants to develop a better dialog with Sea Grant Extension(Jim will pass Paul Olin's name on as Theme team Assembly rep). Great visibility for Sea Grant, all positive stuff. BBBs enable us to have high level meetings in a venue that would not be easy to pull off otherwise.

Ralph noted that Paul Olin has submitted another suggestion from the Pacific Region to do one on the seabird bycatch. ExCom supports the idea and Ralph noted that Jim Balsiger, the Alaska Region NOAA director has moved to DC so may be helpful. Paula suggested that Kate Wynne join with Ed Melvin to illustrate Sea Grant's ability to bridge protected species with fisheries interactions (aka ecosystem management). Jim Murray will look at possible opportune dates for a BBB to focus on this topic.

Review plans for American Fisheries Society meeting

The national AFS meeting is in Anchorage in September. Sea Grant will be hosting a breakfast on Wednesday morning, September 14th. Since this conflicts with the Cooperative Research/Cooperative Management symposium, the date may change.

Any publication contributions for the Sea Grant table should be sent to Paula Cullenberg and she'll get it to the meeting.

Other Business

Some of the Sea Grant Programs have a project working on Aquatic Nuisance Species in cooperation with the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). Ralph represents the Gulf and the Assembly on the team, but cannot make its first meeting in Chicago in conjunction with the AZA Convention due to a conflict with AFS. There are some funds for travel for someone from the Assembly to participate. Paul Olin recommended someone from California and Jim Murrary suggested someone from the Great Lakes program. Ralph indicated he had contact the GL folks before but will make another effort to do so and if no interest visit with Paul.

Meeting adjourned at 1:55 pm (central time)

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