Extension Huddle - April 17, 2025

John Re Author

04/18/2025 Added

35 Plays

Description

Today’s Huddle Talk • NACEB Continues Advocacy • Extension’s Role in Disasters • “Down the Road” Professional Development • PEARS Events Management Section • Revised COI/COC Process • Transition of Extension Fleet Vehicles • NU Executive Memo 43: What Should I Do? • Budget: Phase 1; Phase 2; Pauses • Extension Talking Points • Important Calendar Dates

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[00:00:00.720]All right. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Extension Huddle for April 17th, 2025.
[00:00:07.220]We're excited to have all of you on board today for the next hour or so.
[00:00:10.900]We're excited to have some special guests with us today.
[00:00:13.380]And as usual, a packed agenda of items that are highly relevant to all Extension professionals across the state.
[00:00:21.680]And so here's just a quick look at what we'll be discussing today.
[00:00:26.240]As I said, a lot of topics today, whether you're a specialist, whether you're an educator assistant on campus, off campus,
[00:00:35.180]that are highly relevant to you and the audiences that you serve.
[00:00:39.320]So we're going to jump right in and just, first of all, just a big thank you.
[00:00:42.700]This is some good news.
[00:00:43.620]Thank you to the Nebraska Association of County Extension Boards.
[00:00:47.000]They are continuing to put, you know, a full court press on advocating with elected officials for the NU and Extension support
[00:00:56.080]and participation.
[00:00:56.200]They're doing a lot of work.
[00:00:56.600]They're doing a lot of work.
[00:00:56.640]They're doing a lot of work.
[00:00:56.700]They're doing a lot of work.
[00:00:56.800]They're doing a lot of work.
[00:00:56.860]They're doing a lot of work.
[00:00:57.080]They're doing a lot of work.
[00:00:57.180]This is just a very recent meeting where a group of the exec board members met with President Gold at his office.
[00:01:05.000]I think this is the fourth time they've met with President Gold in the last four or five months.
[00:01:09.560]And the conversations continue to be fruitful and very helpful, I believe, to all involved.
[00:01:15.740]And so when you see your Extension Board members, when you see these directors, thank them for being such a great support mechanism,
[00:01:22.320]not just for Extension, but, again, for the entire University of Nebraska.
[00:01:26.040]So a big thank you to NASEM and keep up the good work.
[00:01:30.700]You know, it's that time of year, in fact, I think maybe even tonight might be one of the first spring storm warning events of the year,
[00:01:41.120]where we start to see, or I should say, where we used to start to see, you know, disasters, tornadoes, thunderstorms hit our state.
[00:01:48.860]But if you've been paying attention, in the last few years,
[00:01:53.640]disasters, issues are happening.
[00:01:56.040]They're happening year-round, and they're coming in all shapes and forms.
[00:01:58.700]And so we're really fortunate to have Sonny Cochran with us, who was our statewide lead for disaster education coordinator.
[00:02:06.620]But it has to do with preparedness, response, recovery, everything involved.
[00:02:11.680]And Sonny does just an amazing job connecting with all of you.
[00:02:14.960]And you know that if you're in a space where you've had a tornado, a flood, a fire, whatever the case, high winds,
[00:02:19.800]you know that Sonny is typically in touch with you very, very soon thereafter, just to check in with you, see what you need.
[00:02:25.900]And see how we can mobilize our resources to help here.
[00:02:28.500]So I want to be really clear here.
[00:02:30.820]Don't tune out on this segment, anyone, because this is everyone's job in Nebraska Extension.
[00:02:35.060]I don't care what your role is.
[00:02:36.540]When we have a disaster, it's one of our primary roles.
[00:02:39.200]We say one of our values is that we are responsive.
[00:02:41.460]And there's no better time that people in Nebraska look to us than during a disaster event.
[00:02:46.640]And so Sonny is going to talk about what that looks like.
[00:02:49.460]And probably open your eyes a little bit as to what that has looked like for the last couple of three years.
[00:02:53.940]It's pretty impressive.
[00:02:55.760]And a little scary, too, right, Sonny?
[00:02:57.560]So I'm going to turn it over to you, Sonny, and I will flip the slides as you need me to.
[00:03:01.680]All right.
[00:03:03.060]Awesome.
[00:03:03.520]Hey, good morning, everyone.
[00:03:04.780]And thanks again for all you do.
[00:03:06.560]And thank you so much, Dave.
[00:03:07.800]So what is Extension's role?
[00:03:11.540]That's a really challenging question.
[00:03:13.140]It comes up all of the time, not just in Nebraska, but regionally and nationally.
[00:03:18.080]And we all have a role to play.
[00:03:20.260]And it's basically a moving target, depending on your program teams, what your community is like.
[00:03:25.620]How we're moving forward after an event.
[00:03:28.000]So extension is a trusted local resource.
[00:03:32.420]And every disaster starts and ends at the local level.
[00:03:37.380]So we have to keep thinking about those what if moments and how we can address those ahead of time.
[00:03:45.020]So we're always ready.
[00:03:46.340]Next.
[00:03:47.500]So Kim Behrens, Owen Eickhoff, who is our disaster education intern,
[00:03:55.500]and I attended the Nebraska Association of Emergency Management a couple weeks ago.
[00:04:01.460]And this information was shared by the National Weather Service.
[00:04:04.280]2024 was a record year for disaster events when it came to severe weather.
[00:04:11.080]So I highlighted a few of those in red so you could take a look at those.
[00:04:16.260]But this is what National Weather Service highlighted during that session.
[00:04:21.740]And what's important to know, and it was a really interesting,
[00:04:25.260]unusual year in that Nebraska in 2024 had five federal disaster declaration events.
[00:04:33.180]We also had numerous state declarations for disasters.
[00:04:37.960]And many of you and your communities and your counties were impacted several times
[00:04:43.840]over that year.
[00:04:45.040]But you look at those high wind events last year,
[00:04:48.160]and those were documented in Surveys by National Weather Service.
[00:04:53.120]I mean, we're looking at winds over 100.
[00:04:55.240]It's no wonder we had such issues with power outages.
[00:04:59.460]So next.
[00:05:01.700]So this slide shows some of the disaster events that were highlighted
[00:05:10.020]by the National Weather Service.
[00:05:11.860]So we started out with winter storms in January.
[00:05:15.360]We had an April winter storm in the Panhandle.
[00:05:19.460]Over the Arbor Day weekend, that's when we had 73 tornado events
[00:05:25.020]in the state.
[00:05:25.920]If you get a chance to look at a National Weather Service map,
[00:05:30.000]you can actually see the tracks, the width, the strength
[00:05:34.240]of some of these storm events.
[00:05:35.880]Then we went into April.
[00:05:37.560]We had multiple severe weather winds during that time.
[00:05:41.040]In June, we had kind of an interesting situation
[00:05:47.220]with minimal risk of severe weather,
[00:05:50.640]but we had major tornadoes in some locations throughout
[00:05:54.800]the state.
[00:05:55.760]So that's where it's always a good idea to stay alert.
[00:05:59.480]And you think about, Dave mentioned the weather tonight,
[00:06:01.800]and actually any time going forward where we need to have
[00:06:06.900]those alerts ready.
[00:06:07.820]Because even though there's minimal risk,
[00:06:09.660]those storms can pop up in Nebraska.
[00:06:11.900]In May, we also had a water spout.
[00:06:14.040]That was unusual in the Lake McConaughey area
[00:06:17.620]that caused damage.
[00:06:19.420]So we moved into June.
[00:06:21.100]We had several tornado events again.
[00:06:23.420]And then in July.
[00:06:25.560]Ironically, Dawes County had the third driest year
[00:06:29.000]on record last year.
[00:06:30.160]And Howard County had the 13th wettest year in record.
[00:06:35.780]So there's a lot of diversity throughout the state
[00:06:39.380]and many of these disaster events and emergencies
[00:06:43.300]that you were all dealing with.
[00:06:45.080]So next.
[00:06:46.540]There we go.
[00:06:54.760]One of the things that I asked for
[00:06:56.240]from Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
[00:06:58.820]was a list of what we're going to call wildfires.
[00:07:04.240]So wildfires, we're going to use the definition
[00:07:06.740]that comes from a trusted resource,
[00:07:12.260]the National Association of Fires.
[00:07:14.260]And that's any unplanned event,
[00:07:17.900]whether that's human caused, if it's planned
[00:07:20.760]and it got out of control,
[00:07:21.880]or natural fire event throughout the state.
[00:07:24.740]So as close as I could wiggle in these little fire on cons
[00:07:29.760]into their community,
[00:07:30.860]this is the list that Nebraska Emergency Management
[00:07:34.100]provided me of fires that were reported
[00:07:36.460]to emergency management,
[00:07:38.500]then taking up to an upper level at the state level.
[00:07:41.080]And as you can see for many locations in the state,
[00:07:45.340]there was not only a severe weather event last year,
[00:07:48.520]but there was also fires.
[00:07:50.940]And we saw a lot of those last fall during harvest.
[00:07:54.720]And many of you on your program teams were proactive
[00:07:57.900]in getting information out to people about those events.
[00:08:01.020]It was just a challenging year trying to stay up on top of that,
[00:08:05.260]those kind of disaster events going forward.
[00:08:08.460]So go ahead and next, Dave.
[00:08:13.020]So we've kicked off 2025 already with winter storm Nyla.
[00:08:18.060]So on April 14th, Governor Pillen has requested a federal disaster declaration.
[00:08:24.700]That impacts 27 counties.
[00:08:26.420]Now it is tough for us to get individual assistance declarations.
[00:08:31.240]And that means assistance for families and those with their individual properties.
[00:08:35.840]During the Arbor Day tornadoes, Lancaster, Washington,
[00:08:40.380]some areas, Douglas-Sarpy County,
[00:08:43.040]those counties were eligible for individual assistance.
[00:08:47.240]This federal disaster declaration is going to be probably for public infrastructure.
[00:08:53.640]That public...
[00:08:54.680]Public disaster declaration for assistance.
[00:08:57.960]So we had multiple days without power,
[00:09:01.440]200,000 people at a minimum in the state,
[00:09:05.420]and the estimates now are at $64.9 million in damage,
[00:09:10.660]a lot of that to public power systems,
[00:09:14.200]those utility poles and those kind of things.
[00:09:16.540]We also had a state-level disaster declaration in late February
[00:09:21.900]for wildfire events in Custer,
[00:09:24.840]and Dawes County.
[00:09:26.040]So there's a lot going on already.
[00:09:28.580]We don't know what this year is going to bring,
[00:09:32.080]but we certainly want to stay alert today and every day,
[00:09:35.980]because not only do we have cold weather in the panhandle,
[00:09:38.740]we also have severe storms possible.
[00:09:41.060]I see a lot on social media of those storm chasers
[00:09:43.980]going to be out in the Omaha area.
[00:09:45.560]So stay alert, be ready,
[00:09:48.420]and we also have some wildfires that have popped up today,
[00:09:51.600]already today.
[00:09:52.620]Next.
[00:09:54.640]So the what ifs, as Dave said,
[00:09:56.660]a disaster may require an all hands on deck approach.
[00:09:59.900]Oftentimes it does because then we can resource,
[00:10:03.140]leverage our resources and we can have a coordinated response.
[00:10:07.840]This maximizes our impact and it supports our communities and our people
[00:10:12.240]and our colleagues when they need us most.
[00:10:14.920]So it's important to know what to do to stay ready and be ready in your
[00:10:20.340]offices.
[00:10:20.700]And I'm going to share because I really think this is important.
[00:10:23.400]Not only at work,
[00:10:24.620]but at home and in your communities,
[00:10:27.700]all of this information applies to you every day.
[00:10:30.640]So next.
[00:10:31.740]I just add there,
[00:10:33.280]sorry.
[00:10:33.520]So regardless of where you are in the state,
[00:10:35.200]you don't necessarily have to be on site to be of great assistance.
[00:10:39.320]You might have resources.
[00:10:40.380]You might have expertise.
[00:10:41.640]It might just be called the collegial support.
[00:10:44.140]Think about what you can contribute when these events are happening all
[00:10:47.840]across the state on almost a weekly basis.
[00:10:50.200]Yep,
[00:10:51.800]exactly.
[00:10:52.380]And I,
[00:10:52.940]one thing I've seen,
[00:10:53.920]especially as,
[00:10:54.660]we've gone through some of these disaster events this last couple of
[00:10:57.380]years is our program focus teams have really stepped up,
[00:11:01.240]whether that's food,
[00:11:02.360]nutrition,
[00:11:02.780]or health,
[00:11:03.320]whether it's the horticulture staff talking about how to trim up trees
[00:11:07.340]that have been damaged,
[00:11:08.360]you know,
[00:11:09.080]our beef folks,
[00:11:09.880]our cropping folks,
[00:11:10.860]all of our program focus areas have really come together to support
[00:11:15.040]these communities and all of you in need with resources.
[00:11:18.440]So,
[00:11:18.980]you know,
[00:11:19.640]one of the things I like to share is that no,
[00:11:23.320]as David said,
[00:11:24.440]no,
[00:11:24.580]no matter where you're at,
[00:11:25.520]we all have resources and expertise that we can help one another.
[00:11:28.880]And that's really,
[00:11:29.620]really important during these tough times.
[00:11:31.420]So I went through and put a little list together of resources to help
[00:11:37.420]to think about,
[00:11:38.200]to be ready and stay ready.
[00:11:39.620]Those emergency action plans.
[00:11:41.620]Don't just put them on the shelf,
[00:11:43.520]grab them,
[00:11:44.500]talk about them,
[00:11:45.720]practice them.
[00:11:46.740]It's really important to practice your plans so that you have that muscle
[00:11:51.580]memory in place.
[00:11:52.500]When something really bad happens,
[00:11:54.880]you don't want to be looking for your book to figure it out.
[00:11:57.520]You want to know what's going on,
[00:11:59.040]where your resources are,
[00:12:00.360]stock those kits,
[00:12:02.000]collaborate with your local emergency managers.
[00:12:05.240]When we were at the NAM conference in Kearney with the emergency managers,
[00:12:09.580]many of them came up to me and are excited to be working with extension and
[00:12:14.400]continuing those relationships.
[00:12:15.980]We are communications and outreach force multiplier for them.
[00:12:20.320]And we have the educational resources.
[00:12:22.780]We have the statewide,
[00:12:24.540]that we can get information out to the communities on their behalf as well.
[00:12:29.340]So next.
[00:12:31.880]Okay.
[00:12:35.500]When an emergency or disaster event threatens like possibility today is
[00:12:40.540]figure out where your resources are.
[00:12:43.740]Does everybody in your office know where the disaster kits and where your
[00:12:47.740]safe zones are?
[00:12:48.820]Get those emergency alert radios out,
[00:12:51.360]listen to your local news and radios and help your community.
[00:12:54.520]Sign up for local alerts.
[00:12:56.300]Many times the signups for those local alerts are on your County
[00:13:01.620]government site under the emergency management department.
[00:13:04.680]Be sure to share resources and updates from reliable sources on social
[00:13:09.400]media.
[00:13:09.700]I got to say during the power outages,
[00:13:11.880]I saw a lot of sharing on social media from our food nutrition folks
[00:13:16.880]about what to do with your food during the power outage.
[00:13:19.960]I also saw where the Fremont folks,
[00:13:24.500]we're sharing information on where people could find resources to support
[00:13:28.920]their community.
[00:13:29.720]Another thing is to think about event safety.
[00:13:33.200]This is best during,
[00:13:34.740]during blue skies,
[00:13:35.960]but are you working with your fair boards?
[00:13:38.500]Are you working with your community partners to think about what to do when
[00:13:43.040]bad things may happen in case of an emergency to get people to safety?
[00:13:47.660]Okay,
[00:13:49.620]next.
[00:13:50.520]So after this disaster,
[00:13:53.620]one of the best,
[00:13:54.480]best things you can do is take a breath and check on your colleagues,
[00:13:58.420]check on your families and make sure everyone is safe.
[00:14:03.440]What do they need?
[00:14:04.820]Do they need anything?
[00:14:05.980]How can we help them use response notes?
[00:14:09.340]So this is available online,
[00:14:10.940]which of course,
[00:14:11.640]if you have a power outage,
[00:14:12.840]I'm not going to be asking you to get online and using your battery packs to
[00:14:17.700]use response notes at that time.
[00:14:19.940]But during this past year and already this year,
[00:14:24.460]I have had more extension colleagues using response notes and anybody can use
[00:14:30.800]this quick capture for anybody at any time to share the concerns,
[00:14:36.220]report what's happened and what actions extension has taken to respond to the
[00:14:41.200]needs in their communities.
[00:14:42.360]Okay.
[00:14:43.620]Continue to coordinate with your partners and offer those timely resources
[00:14:48.460]that extension is known to do following a disaster event.
[00:14:54.440]Okay.
[00:14:55.200]Next.
[00:14:55.940]Okay.
[00:14:58.340]One thing I do want to share is this video.
[00:15:01.300]Following the hurricanes in Tennessee and North Carolina,
[00:15:07.020]our cooperative extension colleagues in those States had quite the
[00:15:13.120]experience.
[00:15:13.700]I know Dr.
[00:15:14.500]Charlie and Dave,
[00:15:15.980]we had some visits with some of those folks that were going through those
[00:15:20.600]challenges there.
[00:15:21.340]But this video is a follow-up that showed,
[00:15:24.420]what they experienced and the lessons learned following a disaster.
[00:15:28.440]So, you know,
[00:15:30.000]an important thing to remember is we are not first responders.
[00:15:32.800]We have first responders who are our extension colleagues who may work with
[00:15:36.700]a volunteer fire department or who may be EMTs, but as a,
[00:15:41.760]as an organization in our extension roles, we are not first responders.
[00:15:45.800]Emergency managers aren't first responders. We're primarily operational,
[00:15:49.420]but there are things that you can do to be part of the
[00:15:54.400]initial response. And many of you have done this.
[00:15:57.480]So it might be assisting at a donation center or volunteer reception center.
[00:16:02.220]You may be asked by your emergency manager to take calls at the emergency
[00:16:07.720]operations center or staff those phones in your offices.
[00:16:11.680]Your office could be used for meeting spaces as the community responds to a
[00:16:17.120]disaster.
[00:16:17.640]And as always we can share those PSAs or information about where people can get
[00:16:22.820]resources they need.
[00:16:24.380]Again going back to that Fremont area the long power outage those folks had
[00:16:28.500]they were sharing where people could shower where they could get warming
[00:16:33.940]stations where they could charge their phones.
[00:16:36.140]I would certainly you know the what happened in North Carolina and Tennessee
[00:16:42.240]that was kind of that was an extreme event and listening to the stories of
[00:16:47.600]what our extension folks went through there.
[00:16:49.560]But I know many of you also have taken time during your lunch hour to make
[00:16:54.360]sandwiches for first responders first responders that are responding to a fire.
[00:16:58.940]You know we can all find a way to step in and it kind of goes back to that every
[00:17:04.000]person every interaction matters and thinking about the community and your
[00:17:07.980]pro at your community and your colleagues when they're going through a stressful
[00:17:12.040]situation many times following one of these emergency and disaster events.
[00:17:17.720]Okay next one of the things I do want to mention is the Nebraska Eden
[00:17:24.340]team. So we focus on operations and team members serve as
[00:17:29.520]communications conduit for our extension colleagues our administration
[00:17:34.680]and our partners like Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.
[00:17:38.860]So we also focus on statewide situational awareness and we can connect
[00:17:44.460]you with resources. So one of the things that I would like you to do
[00:17:49.540]is to reach out to the Nebraska Eden team member
[00:17:54.320]that is in your engagement zone in your program area team and
[00:17:59.380]introduce yourself to them if you don't already know who they are. These folks
[00:18:04.620]are great folks. They have already gone above and beyond by taking additional training
[00:18:09.440]on what the incident command system is on NIMS which is the national
[00:18:14.300]emergency response system
[00:18:19.080]and then going above and learning more about emergency and disaster
[00:18:24.300]response. Okay, next.
[00:18:28.120]So I want to take a moment to thank all of you because what you do matters
[00:18:36.040]and this work isn't easy because a lot of times where these disaster
[00:18:41.480]events are happening is where we go to school, where we work, where
[00:18:46.480]we raise our families. So many of us when there's a disaster event where we work
[00:18:51.360]it also impacts us personally.
[00:18:54.280]This work is rewarding and you can certainly
[00:18:58.820]reach out any time to see what else you can do to be engaged
[00:19:03.800]in emergency preparedness and the work we do in all phases of
[00:19:08.800]disaster events. And we need to keep planning for those what if moments
[00:19:13.200]because you matter. You are that local person that is in that community
[00:19:18.500]and we can find those resources to support you during those really difficult times.
[00:19:24.260]And I also want to share that we want to make sure that you take care of you.
[00:19:27.720]You take care of your office, you take care of yourself, and you take care of your families
[00:19:33.000]as we think about what everybody had gone through this last year, years prior to that,
[00:19:38.600]and who knows what it will bring this year. But the more we're prepared,
[00:19:45.100]the more likely we're going to be more resilient and help our communities recover quickly.
[00:19:54.240]Great overview of what's happening and what our roles and responsibilities are in this space. So
[00:20:00.540]this isn't something that everyone has put in your plan of work for 2025, but if it happens,
[00:20:06.260]we expect you to respond and be a part of this local solution. So think about how you can prepare,
[00:20:11.560]practice, and then model exactly what Sonny has been sharing. So thanks, Sonny. There's some
[00:20:16.380]questions and comments in the chat box. Take a look at those, and I think you can probably add
[00:20:21.040]and respond to those as well. You know, and,
[00:20:24.220]Dave, too, and thinking about our planning is that I am pretty sure every one of our colleagues
[00:20:30.280]does do work in the Nebraska Eden plan. So anything you are doing, whether it's tornado drills,
[00:20:36.960]and I encourage you to keep doing this drills and practicing and sharing those,
[00:20:41.000]you know, add this to your plan. Get credit for the work that you are doing in this space,
[00:20:46.160]and we are all doing it. Exactly. And just a reminder,
[00:20:50.860]Debra, go ahead and put your questions in the chat box rather than raising hands,
[00:20:54.280]because we'll be really paying attention to that chat box. All right, we're going to switch
[00:20:58.820]gears here. We're going to go over to professional development, onboarding, how we support our own
[00:21:04.420]statewide, and Lisa Kaslan is with us to talk about a new initiative. Lisa. Good morning,
[00:21:10.620]everyone. I will try and move quickly here because we have lots of things on the agenda.
[00:21:16.460]So we've been listening, we've been watching and observing currently what our faculty and staff,
[00:21:24.180]right, be needing in our current environment. We're aware budgets, federal, state, county,
[00:21:29.100]leadership changes, all the things going on, have many of you stressed, worried, and always
[00:21:35.900]thinking about what's next. And Charlie's been really clear, be visible and do your jobs well.
[00:21:41.860]And I think that's, while that is the message, I've been thinking about what do you need to help
[00:21:47.960]you do that better? How do we ease the stress of the tension that is around us every day, just in
[00:21:54.160]the environment we're in right now? And so as I started thinking about what do you need for
[00:21:58.880]professional development right now, it struck me that we actually asked the right questions at our
[00:22:04.800]fall conference road shows. And Dave, you can go to the next slide because it highlights the three
[00:22:09.840]things that we talked about if you were with us last fall in November. We talked about overcoming
[00:22:15.040]stressors and challenges. We focused there and asked you to stay focused on what truly matters in
[00:22:24.140]the community. We talked about what does it mean to be thriving as an extension professional. And
[00:22:27.360]as I spent some time thinking about that, I thought those are still what we're talking about
[00:22:32.040]right now. Those are still important to where we're at and what we need to be thinking about
[00:22:37.060]to help us continue to move forward. And so I've been working on an initiative to help us focus on
[00:22:43.360]these things. And if you'll go to the next slide, what's going to start here very quickly, probably
[00:22:49.400]as early as next week, is that we're going to go down the road. That's what we're calling it.
[00:22:54.120]And we're going to lead up to our next set of road shows this fall by thinking about this.
[00:23:00.060]Because my question to you is, how many of you are working on the actions that you chose to focus on
[00:23:05.860]after the road shows to continue to thrive and to continue to overcome challenges? And I'm guessing
[00:23:12.360]that many of you may have even forgotten what you committed to. So we're going to kind of help you
[00:23:17.320]remember and try to help you get through these tenuous times with a few things. I want to make
[00:23:24.100]them quick, easy, and actionable. I don't want to take up all your time, but what you'll see is a
[00:23:29.500]series of things happening. On Mondays, you will get what we're calling a mile marker Monday, which
[00:23:34.920]will be an email that has some quick insights and some quick action steps for you to consider as it
[00:23:40.700]relates to those three topics. Throughout the month, probably regularly, there will be some
[00:23:46.220]short video tips to help you think about overcoming challenges and progressing in your work. And then
[00:23:54.080]a couple times a month, we're going to do some rest stops, and we're going to have some quick
[00:23:57.960]30-minute drop-in discussions that allow you to interact with your peers and others to kind of
[00:24:03.200]problem solve, talk about where you're at and what you need, all focused on topics that are
[00:24:08.220]relevant to helping us continue to move through this time, continue to thrive in our roles,
[00:24:13.720]continue to keep Extension strong, and lead us up to the roadshows. So the only other thing that
[00:24:19.660]I'm working on yet to get in place is some type of tracking.
[00:24:24.420]Because we would like you to be involved, now is the time to continue to think about how you
[00:24:30.040]can help yourself move through all of this. So I'm working on potentially some digital badging
[00:24:35.640]or some type of passport tracking that will help you track your attendance and involvement in
[00:24:42.040]these. A couple of these you can do on your own time that will lead us to the roadshows for
[00:24:48.380]potentially some awards recognition, prizes. I've got lots of ideas.
[00:24:54.040]I've got lots of ideas of how we recognize you for your participation in these.
[00:24:58.440]We want them to be helpful. I care about what you need right now. If you have ideas, let me know.
[00:25:05.440]You can watch for an email to kick this off. We will be starting soon with some things to help
[00:25:12.240]you move on down the road. Thanks for the time, Dave. I love this. I love the passport idea too,
[00:25:18.020]Lisa. I think that fits right in. I love the connection between last year's roadshows and the
[00:25:24.020]upcoming roadshows. So this is a journey for all of us, right? Regardless of where you are in your
[00:25:29.180]career or what your role is. So please engage in these opportunities. All right, now we're
[00:25:37.820]going to switch over to PEARS. So as you know, we've been on the PEARS journey as well for the
[00:25:43.060]last couple years. And we have some exciting news today. So we've been talking about the
[00:25:48.800]event module, the event section, where you can actually have your learners register
[00:25:54.000]right on PEARS. And then the piece that's opening up now also very soon will be the
[00:26:00.300]payment option on PEARS as well. So for some of you, this will replace the Cvent option
[00:26:05.840]that you've been using for some time. And we're fortunate to have Derek Baines with
[00:26:09.360]us today. Derek is with Canopy, the parent company for the PEARS platform. And Derek's
[00:26:16.180]going to, I think, going to take us through a little quick demonstration of exactly what
[00:26:20.920]this looks like. And just know that the way this works is you're going to have to
[00:26:23.980]connect this up with your programs, your planned programs in PEARS, right? So it's a seamless,
[00:26:30.800]another advantage and reason to really embrace PEARS and use it fully in your programming
[00:26:38.380]efforts. So Derek, I think I gave you permission to go ahead and take the screen. So I'm going
[00:26:44.360]to stop sharing and turn it over to you. Wonderful. Hey, everybody. It's good to see
[00:26:49.500]you all. Let me go ahead and see if I can set up my share.
[00:26:53.960]There we go. Make sure I'm sharing the right screen, though.
[00:27:08.300]Okay. Sorry about that. Wait there. It took me a minute because I was -- anyways. It's
[00:27:23.940]okay. All right. So good to see you all. I'm Derek from the PEARS support. I've been asked
[00:27:29.220]to give a big picture overview of the PEARS events system. This is going to be -- or rather,
[00:27:34.180]there will be trainings down the road that will go into the details of like where to
[00:27:38.640]put what and so forth. But for now, the goal is just that you'll have seen the events system
[00:27:43.140]and maybe get a little bit excited about how this could possibly simplify your workflow.
[00:27:48.660]So if you do have questions, though, I'll try my best to respond to them in the chat
[00:27:52.700]after my presentation.
[00:27:54.460]Many of you by now are already pretty familiar with program activities.
[00:27:58.080]The PEARS community event system will not replace program activities, but instead, it
[00:28:02.920]will add, it'll be an addition that will integrate with program activities for you and the community
[00:28:08.600]relationship manager.
[00:28:09.640]So if you have a program activity that you would like people to have to register for
[00:28:14.940]in advance, we can handle that.
[00:28:17.040]And if it's an event where people need to pay a registration fee, we can help facilitate
[00:28:22.640]that.
[00:28:23.900]When you want to process maybe credit card transactions during the registration process
[00:28:28.260]by integrating with a partner like Stripe or Transact, we can even handle that for you
[00:28:32.240]too.
[00:28:32.440]So what you see in front of us right now is the Nebraska Extension events system.
[00:28:40.580]Now, this is a public-facing website, and it will update automatically once events have
[00:28:46.160]been published.
[00:28:46.680]So don't worry, though.
[00:28:48.260]We have built-in permissions that control who is or not allowed to make or publish
[00:28:53.880]events, but I did want to go ahead and show a couple of events that you guys have already
[00:29:03.340]actually entered, and I hope that's all right.
[00:29:07.140]So, yeah, many of you already have been piloting the events system, and we've gotten a lot
[00:29:13.920]of good feedback during these last few months, so thank you for helping make our events system
[00:29:17.920]awesome, and we're continuing to develop new features to help integrate some of that feedback,
[00:29:22.960]so keep that feedback.
[00:29:23.860]I hope nobody minds me showing off these real events, but yeah, I just wanted to give you
[00:29:30.240]an idea of what some of these could look like in your real context.
[00:29:34.440]You'll notice that a lot of these events are already closed for registration, as they've
[00:29:38.240]already occurred earlier in the year, but you do have control of when those registration
[00:29:42.280]cutoffs occur.
[00:29:43.320]This is what your events page could look like once you have had several events created
[00:29:53.840]and published.
[00:29:54.540]This is a filterable list for potential participants that allows them to filter by their county
[00:30:02.580]or zip code if it has a fee or not, if it's free, and it just gives you an idea of how
[00:30:11.000]you can look through a whole bunch of events within PEARS and what's available.
[00:30:14.240]To view additional event details for this event, you can click onto the card for more
[00:30:19.860]details, and I'll go ahead and click into this one here.
[00:30:22.140]This is a route.
[00:30:23.820]Routes to results, gardening basics for beginners event that we've put together.
[00:30:27.480]This is a demo event, not a real event.
[00:30:30.460]And when participants find an event that they want to sign up for, they can click on the
[00:30:38.620]register now button down here.
[00:30:40.640]If they're a brand new participant, PEARS will ask them for some details like their
[00:30:44.900]name, their email address, what kind of registration it is.
[00:30:47.720]Let me go ahead and put in.
[00:30:53.800]UNL demo here, and this is not our real website, by the way, this is our demo website.
[00:30:58.880]So I'll just put in some dummy data.
[00:31:03.560]So I'm going to go ahead and tell it that I am attending as an attendee, but we do
[00:31:08.100]also have options for volunteer registrations or sponsor registrations, all of which you
[00:31:15.060]have control over the forms that are displayed.
[00:31:17.080]So this is one of those fields or forms that you would have control over.
[00:31:20.080]So you have complete control.
[00:31:23.480]You can.
[00:31:23.780]Collect demographics information from them.
[00:31:25.440]If you'd like, you can collect an, an email address, but I've gone ahead and marked all
[00:31:30.220]of these as optional fields for the time being.
[00:31:32.240]So I'll go ahead and click on next.
[00:31:33.740]And I can also register additional people.
[00:31:37.500]And this is where that custom form really shines.
[00:31:39.980]Cause if you wanted to also collect an email address for like other participants by default
[00:31:45.920]pairs only requires one email address to, to start registering just so we can send
[00:31:50.600]confirmation emails and such, but after that you can.
[00:31:53.760]Collect additional information from other participants who might not have things like
[00:31:57.780]email addresses, such as infants and such.
[00:32:00.640]So I'm going to go ahead and say though that no, I'm not going to register any other users.
[00:32:05.760]And if your event requires payment then you can go ahead and specify how much that costs
[00:32:13.040]to attend during the creation process.
[00:32:15.640]You can specify if they can pay with cash card or a check or, or whatever.
[00:32:21.300]So far, this is a cash only event.
[00:32:23.380]They only have the option to select cash, but here you could also provide additional
[00:32:27.280]details like bring exact change only, for instance, to help kind of streamline that
[00:32:33.300]checkout process.
[00:32:34.360]And here you can also kind of see you can apply a promo.
[00:32:37.820]We also have options for like applying early bird discounts and such, but I'll go ahead
[00:32:42.300]and click on complete the registration.
[00:32:43.960]And that's going to kick off an email to the participant, letting them know that they have
[00:32:50.840]signed up for the event and that they'll have additional details there that they can click
[00:32:56.900]on to come back to this page to, you know, verify when it occurs.
[00:33:00.980]We also have a spot here where you can save that event to your calendar.
[00:33:04.880]And we have support for Apple calendar, Google calendar, Outlook calendar.
[00:33:08.800]So they can set up reminders themselves to, you know, just kind of be able to not miss
[00:33:15.320]out on the event that they signed up for.
[00:33:16.820]And down below, we also have an option here where they could enter a password.
[00:33:20.540]In order to save their details for later, if they want to, you know, speed up or streamline
[00:33:26.740]the process of future registrations for, you know, frequent flyers.
[00:33:30.300]So I'll go ahead and now change gears a little bit to show, let's see, what the community
[00:33:42.100]event itself looks like here in PEARS.
[00:33:45.460]The setup creation and management process uses the same intuitive interface and step
[00:33:50.260]by step processes that you're already familiar with.
[00:33:52.720]So I'll just click into the event that I had created in advance here.
[00:33:56.520]And here you can view all the details for your event just to verify things.
[00:34:01.140]But up at the top, we also have a spot to manage registrations.
[00:34:05.760]So here is a great place to help indicate if users attended your event or if they've
[00:34:12.540]paid or not, if they paid in person and managing who has attended or has not attended can play a
[00:34:19.980]role down the line when we potentially integrate some demographics into your program activities.
[00:34:26.780]That is an option that we do support if you collect them.
[00:34:29.280]But I'll go ahead and just come through here and indicate that maybe these three individuals
[00:34:36.760]have paid or maybe that they have attended.
[00:34:39.480]And then those changes can be saved and reviewed.
[00:34:49.700]But if you also want to get like maybe an email list of your attendees who have registered
[00:34:56.000]and would like to send out an email reminder, we have those same familiar like export options
[00:35:01.560]available to get that Excel file that'll have those details for you.
[00:35:05.100]We also have the option to import or move these attendees who've registered into the
[00:35:11.620]CRM to help track future interactions.
[00:35:13.760]Now, at this point, you might be wondering, do I have to make a change?
[00:35:19.420]Do I have to make an event first or do I need to make a program activity first?
[00:35:22.060]But the answer is either.
[00:35:23.680]Once both the event and program activity have been created, you can click on the
[00:35:27.260]link event button down here from the details of your program activity.
[00:35:31.660]And from here, you can select the activity that you've already created.
[00:35:37.200]So I could do that, or I could link it to a brand new event by specifying a name.
[00:35:44.620]And that'll take me on through the creation process of entering my event details.
[00:35:49.140]But all of that will be covered kind of more in depth in the actual trainings.
[00:35:53.740]But I just want to give you, you know, a thousand foot view of what this system can be and how
[00:35:59.800]it might help streamline your process.
[00:36:02.060]So that's all I've got prepared for now.
[00:36:04.860]Thank you for having me, everybody.
[00:36:06.000]And I'll keep an eye on the chat.
[00:36:07.080]That was great.
[00:36:08.200]So just a few questions here to jump in on.
[00:36:10.460]So would a customer or learner or someone who's registered receive an update if an event
[00:36:16.020]changed, a date changed, it was canceled?
[00:36:18.860]Would they receive an update on that or not?
[00:36:20.940]I do believe that we, you know, I'm going to need to verify that.
[00:36:25.080]I think that we have some automated email processes for things like this.
[00:36:28.900]I assume, I shouldn't assume though, but I think that it's, I think that it does exist,
[00:36:35.240]but I'll verify.
[00:36:36.200]And we can check up on a lot of these.
[00:36:37.980]There's also a question about whether we can bill except cost objects.
[00:36:41.540]That's actually an internal payment system.
[00:36:43.400]So I'm not sure if that would be a possibility or not, or if we'll just ask our folks to
[00:36:48.580]purchasing cards to register as internal audiences.
[00:36:51.120]That's something I think we need to discuss to see if that can be an option or not.
[00:36:55.980]There's also a question about connecting to the UNL calendar.
[00:37:01.360]Yeah, I'm not sure if we have the integration between the UNL events calendar and the pair
[00:37:09.540]system in this version.
[00:37:11.160]Are you aware of that, Derek?
[00:37:14.220]It's still a pretty new system.
[00:37:16.340]So we are constantly building in new features.
[00:37:18.300]If you have like a shared calendar that you'd like to have this integrate with, we can probably
[00:37:23.680]figure out a way to make that work.
[00:37:25.260]But as of right now, the only calendar integration is on the registrant participation form where
[00:37:31.700]they're registering to manually add it in.
[00:37:34.080]So we don't really automate any integrations.
[00:37:36.400]It's just a button that pops up an option to add it to whatever calendar they are using.
[00:37:42.680]Okay.
[00:37:43.560]All right.
[00:37:44.360]Thank you.
[00:37:44.760]Hey, this has been awesome.
[00:37:45.980]So this is a first look, everyone.
[00:37:48.020]As Derek said, we've been working very closely with Canopy.
[00:37:50.700]They've just been great.
[00:37:51.660]We're asking a lot of questions about what we need, what they can offer, and they're building a lot of this out for us right now.
[00:37:58.460]And so the payment option is the big change, right?
[00:38:01.020]So to make this seamless and as simple as possible, and it will, even better news, as it looks today,
[00:38:09.320]it'll be the percentage per registration charged will be less than what it was with Cvent as well.
[00:38:17.980]So thanks, Derek, for being here today.
[00:38:20.640]And if you want to check the chat box and if there are any questions you feel like you can respond to,
[00:38:25.900]please go ahead and do so.
[00:38:27.860]Will do. Thank you.
[00:38:29.640]You bet.
[00:38:30.020]So just an update.
[00:38:34.680]So Cvent, which has been a registration process we've used for years, will remain in place.
[00:38:39.760]In fact, there is kind of a sliding, diminishing contract with Cvent that goes through 25 and I believe into 2026.
[00:38:46.840]So if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.
[00:38:47.940]If you have events in Cvent, if you've liked Cvent, you've been using it, you can continue to use that.
[00:38:53.460]In fact, for some of your events, which are maybe a little more complicated in the way you register and have various tracks and such for the conferences, that may be your preferred way to go.
[00:39:04.140]One of the things I did not put on the slide, but that we are not interested in accommodating through the Extension Dean's Office is any international registrations with either PEARS or Cvent.
[00:39:17.900]If you do that through Cvent, you're on your own and that's not something we'll pursue, just because there are a lot of details and struggles in doing so.
[00:39:26.520]The PEARS launch, the official launch for the payment system and this events management system will be coming here in the near future. We're going to keep you updated as to when it's officially available and open for business.
[00:39:39.800]I anticipate that'll be probably within the next month or two. In the meantime, we're also working on some training. We'll be doing training for our own
[00:39:47.860]business center folks. We'll be handling the backside of the transaction processing. We'll do training for our extension leadership team. And then we'll have, you know, probably at least a couple public trainings for anyone to participate in. And we'll record at least one of those. So you'll have a chance to see that. And then there's really a good link. And Derek, maybe you can put this in the chat box that supports the event management system through Canopy. So if you want to sneak peek and start thinking about how you can use this.
[00:40:17.820]in your most valuable programming efforts, you can do so that way. All right, we're gonna move on to our next topic. And that is with Sarah and Jordan. So this is something you receive a reminder of annually in most cases, and that's your conflict of interest, your conflict of commitment, annual form. And, you know, previously, this really applied, especially if you were in a
[00:40:47.780]working on grants. But now this process has been expanded to include, for example, everyone who has a purchasing card is required to do that, which would include county employees, right? So if you're a county support staff member, and you have a purchasing card, this would apply to you now as well. And so Sarah and Jordan are going to take you through a quick look at what some changes are, maybe why we did it, just really, what's the true intent, bottom line intent of this entire process. And again, they've, they've briefed Extension Administration and all
[00:41:17.740]of the other departments, and they've been working with the National INR Administration. We've been adopting this in phases across the university platform, and they've just done a wonderful job of planning that and helping us do this in a really efficient manner. So Sarah, I'll turn it over to you and Jordan.
[00:41:31.660]Thanks, Dave. I appreciate it. And thank you all for your time and attention today. I'm Sarah Quinn. I'm the Director of Research Compliance, Integrity, and Security, and I have our institutional official here, Dr. Jordan Soliz. And again,
[00:41:47.700]we're just appreciative of the time. The reminders, hopefully everyone or most of you have received reminders of the importance of the need for annual conflict of interest, conflict of commitment, disclosure completion. That is done in the new ramp system. We have a number of resources that we have developed, and Dave lists that website there at the bottom of the slide, but Jordan has also dropped that link into
[00:42:17.660]the chat for your reference as well.
[00:42:21.200]And really, so why is conflict of interest, conflict of commitment important?
[00:42:27.720]Why is it a thing?
[00:42:29.100]So we certainly have Board of Regents longstanding policies and expectations that, just like
[00:42:36.820]Dave said, we have folks with purchasing signature authority, we have folks that are involved
[00:42:42.160]in research, all sorts of other employees, managerial professional.
[00:42:47.620]That are required and expected to complete disclosure annually.
[00:42:51.720]That's whether you have something to disclose or not.
[00:42:55.240]But that's not necessarily the entire focus of what Jordan and I are really trying to
[00:43:01.580]communicate to the campus and to employees.
[00:43:05.740]This is really a good thing.
[00:43:07.580]This is a positive thing.
[00:43:09.040]The need for transparency.
[00:43:10.960]We are all stewards of public funds, whether we're talking about federal, state, university,
[00:43:17.580]sources, and we need to be good partners in disclosing things that could maybe overlap
[00:43:23.100]or have the potential to bias decision-making in some way, shape, or form.
[00:43:29.180]And so all of the things that we do, starting with the disclosure, starting with the review
[00:43:36.540]that my office completes, and also supervisors, administrative reviewers, are really geared
[00:43:42.860]towards helping people make sure that they're meeting these requirements and we're being
[00:43:47.540]those good stewards of our resources.
[00:43:50.660]And we're keeping the public trust that is so important to all of us as a university.
[00:43:56.660]So again, I would just direct folks to look at the wealth of resources that we have on
[00:44:03.980]our website.
[00:44:04.960]It goes through the steps of who is required to disclose and why, similar to what I just
[00:44:12.300]explained, the Board of Regents policies, executive memorandum.
[00:44:17.500]It gives links to New Ramp.
[00:44:21.960]We also about a year ago convened an advisory committee that has been meeting regularly
[00:44:28.020]to think through this rollout for the different areas on campus.
[00:44:33.260]One of those, as Dave mentioned, was a focus on extension and understanding the unique
[00:44:39.680]area that all of you are operating in.
[00:44:42.560]We also have FAQs that we have specifically developed that we'll hopefully share with
[00:44:47.460]you as you're navigating disclosure.
[00:44:51.360]So as you're thinking about making sure that you're completing your disclosure at this
[00:44:56.560]time and also annually, please be utilizing those references.
[00:45:01.600]We have video resources as well, as we understand.
[00:45:05.460]Not everyone is an everyday user of NewRAMP, so we have lots of video resources just trying
[00:45:13.140]to help people navigate how to complete the disclosure.
[00:45:17.420]Get it submitted, get it completed, again, the FAQs, and then many of the things that
[00:45:25.260]I've just kind of highlighted and talked about.
[00:45:28.080]But I'll turn it over to Jordan if he has any additional comments.
[00:45:33.640]Yeah, thank you.
[00:45:36.420]I would just like to just make two brief comments, mostly for a lot of you that this will be
[00:45:41.760]the first time doing this.
[00:45:44.160]In addition to my administrative role, I'm also...
[00:45:47.380]I'm also a faculty member, so when we rolled this out in our unit, there are quite a few
[00:45:52.360]people there, graduate students, staff, other roles, it was the first time they had done
[00:45:56.840]this.
[00:45:58.180]And like many of you may be thinking, what does this entail?
[00:46:01.520]I haven't done NewRAMP a lot, is this another to-do list?
[00:46:03.940]I will say that it's been extremely smooth in our department.
[00:46:09.560]It's been extremely smooth across the university.
[00:46:12.380]As we've rolled this out, a lot of this has to do with the training that Sarah just...
[00:46:17.340]mentioned.
[00:46:18.340]And so before, if there's any panic or stress about this, once I think you get into it,
[00:46:24.020]you will realize that the training's there, it's pretty seamless in how you do this.
[00:46:28.760]And then with all the resources there, it's relatively easy for this type of process.
[00:46:34.800]So hopefully that alleviate any stressors there.
[00:46:38.960]The second point I just want to make is for people who haven't done this, or even those
[00:46:42.840]that have done this annually, sometimes the question is, "Okay, what if there's a
[00:46:47.140]conflict?
[00:46:48.140]What if there's a conflict of interest or commitment?"
[00:46:50.960]The reason the chancellor asked Sarah's team in research compliance, integrity and
[00:46:54.840]security to do all of this and take on this endeavor is because Sarah, the COI, COC committee,
[00:47:03.660]the other people that are in that office, their goal is not to just find conflicts and
[00:47:09.320]say it's a problem.
[00:47:10.320]It's to, if they're identifying the conflicts, how can we manage it?
[00:47:13.960]How can you address this so everyone can keep doing what they're doing?
[00:47:16.940]In a way that meets all the regulatory criteria and then also as Sarah mentioned, being good
[00:47:24.980]stewards.
[00:47:25.980]So everyone is here to work with you on this and if there are conflicts that emerge, again,
[00:47:33.460]work with you to manage those so you can continue doing all the important stuff you're doing.
[00:47:37.060]And then just from an institutional perspective, to the supervisors, to everyone completing
[00:47:41.580]this, thank you because as you do this, it makes our job much easier.
[00:47:46.740]Jordan and Sarah, could you give just a couple examples?
[00:47:50.380]I think when I've talked to people in my professional development role about having them fill this
[00:47:54.440]out, there's just uncertainty of what this even really means or what I'm supposed to
[00:47:58.860]put down.
[00:47:59.860]And I know your site probably helps with that, but do you want to give example, a few examples
[00:48:03.980]to help people understand what they might put in the document?
[00:48:06.700]Sure.
[00:48:07.700]Yeah.
[00:48:08.700]And I see there's a question about extension employees that work on their family farm or
[00:48:13.100]ranch.
[00:48:14.100]So if there's potential or actual overlap.
[00:48:16.540]With that LLC, that family farmer ranch, yes, that absolutely should be disclosed.
[00:48:24.000]So again, like there could be purchasing or signature authority things that we want to
[00:48:28.080]work with them on to make sure that there is appropriate decision making.
[00:48:34.380]That's kind of typically what we're seeing in terms of this area, as far as like some
[00:48:40.940]type of outside activity that could overlap or
[00:48:46.340]could again bias decision making in some way, shape or form for their institutional responsibilities.
[00:48:53.280]As you go through, though, I'll direct you back again to the resources and the training
[00:48:57.620]and the disclosure.
[00:48:58.620]It gives direct examples throughout the disclosure and in the training.
[00:49:04.400]Disclose these things, don't disclose these things, right?
[00:49:07.340]Like we don't want grants that are going through the institution being disclosed.
[00:49:12.720]We want the outside activities and then if there's like remuneration,
[00:49:16.140]or ownership that's part of that, we need to make sure that we understand that.
[00:49:21.200]Hopefully that answers your question.
[00:49:25.420]I'm also always happy to chat further.
[00:49:28.080]We have a general inbox, unlcoi@unl.edu that my staff and I are happy to help with additional
[00:49:35.860]questions if you feel like the resources just aren't answering your question.
[00:49:41.200]And then I did see a question in the chat, yes, the new RAMP system, once someone has
[00:49:45.940]completed one disclosure, the system then a year from that point in time will send notices
[00:49:53.940]automatically to tell that person to resubmit their annual disclosure.
[00:50:00.320]There is also training information that's geared towards supervisors, and we also provide
[00:50:05.560]a checklist to supervisors about what should you be doing when you're reviewing your employee's
[00:50:11.820]particular disclosure that's being submitted to you first for review.
[00:50:15.740]And then there's also an automated process.
[00:50:19.860]So for folks that log into the system and they answer no, essentially, to the overview
[00:50:24.480]questions, that will go through an automated approval process.
[00:50:29.200]There's no one else that needs to look at that information, and that person will get
[00:50:32.700]an automated approval right away from the system.
[00:50:36.060]What it then does is once a month, it will kind of collect those for a particular supervisor,
[00:50:42.160]and it will email them and let them know, "Hey, Sarah Quinn.
[00:50:45.540]Sarah Quinn said no to their disclosure this, you know, this month.
[00:50:49.880]They didn't have anything to disclose.
[00:50:52.220]If that looks correct, that's great.
[00:50:53.980]You don't need to do anything.
[00:50:55.440]However, if maybe something has been missed, please reach out to them and have them update
[00:50:59.540]the disclosure."
[00:51:01.120]So that's just trying to kind of reduce the amount of people that are needing to really
[00:51:07.740]look at the disclosures that are being submitted.
[00:51:10.920]Hey, Sarah, on that note, could you just briefly share?
[00:51:15.340]What should the routing look like for any individual?
[00:51:18.480]Does it go through a direct supervisor or who does it go through typically?
[00:51:22.380]Yes.
[00:51:23.620]So typically, once the employee submits, it gets routed to their direct supervisor.
[00:51:30.400]That does change slightly, though.
[00:51:32.420]We've worked with Dr. Rich Bischoff on all of the routes in particular, what we're talking
[00:51:37.980]about for extension, but in general, it does go to a direct supervisor for initial review.
[00:51:45.140]That direct supervisor really is in the best position to be able to say this information
[00:51:50.980]is accurate or not.
[00:51:53.120]You can request revisions, you can approve it, or you can also ask additional questions
[00:51:58.920]about what is being disclosed before it continues on its path and it'll eventually reach my
[00:52:04.700]office along with other administrative reviewers like Dr. Bischoff.
[00:52:09.600]All right.
[00:52:11.400]Thank you very much.
[00:52:12.400]Well, I just want to emphasize that this is not a
[00:52:14.940]gotcha system.
[00:52:16.720]This is a system just to help you navigate any potential external conflicts that you
[00:52:20.940]might have with your role at the University of Nebraska.
[00:52:23.860]So Jordan and Sarah, can I ask you just to take a look at the chat box and just respond
[00:52:27.740]to any additional questions that might be there?
[00:52:30.120]I really appreciate having you on today and for all the work you've done to coordinate
[00:52:33.660]that throughout the entire system.
[00:52:35.820]Thank you.
[00:52:36.820]Yeah.
[00:52:37.820]Thank you so much for the time.
[00:52:38.820]Thank you very much.
[00:52:39.820]Appreciate it.
[00:52:40.820]All right.
[00:52:41.820]We have three more items on the agenda, folks, so stick with us.
[00:52:44.740]The first one is relative to Executive Memorandum 43, and it's calling this, "What Should I
[00:52:51.020]Do?"
[00:52:52.020]And so this is in respect to law enforcement who may show up at a particular event or at
[00:53:00.040]your office building, et cetera.
[00:53:02.540]This is a document that was sent out to county offices this morning, and I think it was redistributed
[00:53:06.640]to departments, academic departments as well, so this is a document that will help you understand,
[00:53:14.540]as an employee of the University of Nebraska or Extension in general, how do you react
[00:53:21.020]if law enforcement were to appear in your doorstep.
[00:53:25.020]So this is particularly in regards to ICE, and let me just give you a quick overview.
[00:53:31.940]So for number one, law enforcement needs a warrant to enter private spaces, and we talked
[00:53:36.060]about what private spaces actually are, and then we go into the fact of when they have
[00:53:44.340]a warrant, if they have a subpoena, who you should contact.
[00:53:49.180]We actually have the direct number and cell number of NU legal counsel on here.
[00:53:54.680]So ask in your office.
[00:53:56.500]This was sent out to lead educators and to department heads.
[00:54:00.540]They can distribute this to you, but this is for you and in your respective roles, right?
[00:54:05.280]So here's just a couple more things that are on this handout.
[00:54:10.340]Again, this is just so that you're aware of what your rights are.
[00:54:14.140]If ICE or law enforcement would show up at a program or at your office, right?
[00:54:21.800]So this applies to you.
[00:54:23.420]The other question then, of course, is, so what does that mean to the people who are
[00:54:27.260]in the room, right?
[00:54:28.700]And so obviously they have the same rights, but this is another resource I'd encourage
[00:54:32.180]you to look at.
[00:54:33.180]And this is really good.
[00:54:34.300]This was produced by our own College of Law, and they have a website that you'll see the
[00:54:39.840]address on the screen, the Immigration Clinic website.
[00:54:43.940]It's both in English and Spanish, so you can learn about your rights in what they call
[00:54:49.660]your Know Your Rights presentation.
[00:54:51.660]So it's extremely well done.
[00:54:53.940]I encourage you, if you're an extension professional and you're working with learners who you expect
[00:54:59.500]might be at risk of being in this situation, I especially encourage you to take a look
[00:55:04.440]at this site.
[00:55:06.120]This is the video.
[00:55:07.120]It's about a 15-minute video.
[00:55:08.700]These are the folks with the law college who developed it.
[00:55:12.120]It's called Know Your Rights.
[00:55:13.740]Be well worth your time to just freshen up, remind yourself of how this works.
[00:55:19.800]Again, this document is for you, and this one will be for our learners.
[00:55:28.640]Take a look at those, please.
[00:55:31.260]We're ready for anything that might occur during extension programming in particular.
[00:55:36.960]I also want to mention the extension fleet vehicles.
[00:55:42.260]You might remember.
[00:55:43.540]In 2017, when mileage rates dropped at the University of Nebraska, we were fortunate
[00:55:47.180]to acquire about 34 federal vehicles that we distributed across the state to help lessen
[00:55:52.720]the mileage impact, rate impact.
[00:55:55.960]We're down to half of those vehicles now because of just retiring out because they're mileage-ing
[00:56:00.180]out because of safety issues, and so we've asked all the counties where those are located
[00:56:04.320]to let us know by May 30th if they want to continue to retain those cars.
[00:56:09.720]Any counties that want to retain those vehicles will become responsible for
[00:56:13.340]repairs, maintenance, safety inspections, insurance, all those type of things, and so
[00:56:19.140]it's up to the individual counties to decide if they want to retain them or not.
[00:56:22.940]If they don't, they can turn them back into extension administration, and then we will
[00:56:28.020]redistribute those to other counties or our EEC centers if there's interest in having
[00:56:34.600]those vehicles on site as long as you are agreeable to assuming all of the expenses
[00:56:38.920]associated with them.
[00:56:39.960]The official transition date for all of this will be
[00:56:43.140]July 1.
[00:56:44.260]And so if you have any questions on that, this just impacts a few counties across the
[00:56:50.500]state.
[00:56:50.720]Please let me know if you're interested in retiring your vehicle or turning it in.
[00:56:54.800]And if you do not have one of these vehicles and you're interested in acquiring one, also
[00:56:58.900]contact me.
[00:56:59.500]Let me know and I'll put you on a waiting list in case there are some that become available.
[00:57:03.960]All right.
[00:57:07.120]Let's see here.
[00:57:08.600]Charlie, I think we're to your segment.
[00:57:12.940]What's happening in the legislature and on campus and with budget and other things that
[00:57:18.160]folks will be interested in.
[00:57:19.200]Thanks, Dave.
[00:57:20.580]We'll try and make this quick.
[00:57:21.980]So we're in the unicameral system.
[00:57:24.540]There are some deadlines coming up.
[00:57:27.080]One of them, I think, is April 29th.
[00:57:29.740]That's like day 70.
[00:57:30.860]The appropriations bill has to hit the floor.
[00:57:35.080]And then I think the unicameral itself has until day 80 to vote on appropriations.
[00:57:42.740]And for the university.
[00:57:45.120]And so you can go to the next slide there, David.
[00:57:48.600]So phase one on the budget.
[00:57:52.600]And this is pretty much just a reminder of things that Vice Chancellor Boehm has shared.
[00:57:58.420]In phase one, UNL itself had a $5 million budget deficit or a structural deficit, they called it.
[00:58:06.860]And so IANR's share was $1.19 million.
[00:58:12.540]So a number of things, we made it for extension.
[00:58:15.500]We were attributed or we needed to come up with $633,000 of cuts retroactive back to July 1st because of some really great management decisions and also our people extending their accountability regions.
[00:58:35.500]We were able to delay filling positions and we made our commitment.
[00:58:42.340]I just want to share with you that originally it was supposed to they wanted to take $750,000 from extension.
[00:58:48.220]We were able to work that down.
[00:58:50.200]The other part of this, though, is we have the MVP program and the MVP has been doing very well.
[00:58:57.320]But you think about the MVP program, those dollars that you raise go right back into supporting operations and initiatives for extension.
[00:59:08.040]And so that relates to we're looking at almost two.
[00:59:12.140]FTE is for like an educator or one specialist type position.
[00:59:16.720]And so your efforts are appreciated and it's helping us as an organization make it.
[00:59:23.260]Phase two, this is where UNL has a $20 million structural deficit that they have to have a plan in place by July 1st, ready to be enacted in the next fiscal year.
[00:59:35.400]I have no more details than that, how it's going to come down.
[00:59:41.940]There are a lot of meetings, they're looking at metrics.
[00:59:44.720]Again, I know that Tiffany Heng-Moss, our incoming vice chancellor, is working diligently on this with the executive vice chancellor, Mark Buttons, on city campus.
[00:59:58.860]They're having a number of conversations.
[01:00:01.420]I can tell you, I am fully confident that Tiffany is representing all of our interests, including Extension, to the
[01:00:11.740]best of our abilities, and so I'm very pleased about that.
[01:00:15.900]Pauses.
[01:00:16.720]I am aware of three grants, specifically to Extension, that have been paused already.
[01:00:23.960]One was $200K, one was like $1.9 million, and another one was $1.2 million.
[01:00:29.740]These certainly are going to affect us.
[01:00:32.340]No, we're not on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and those types of things, but thinking about the granting system
[01:00:41.540]out there, we're certainly being affected.
[01:00:43.780]And so we're looking at how do we manage these.
[01:00:48.760]Hopefully, they were paused.
[01:00:50.560]And so hopefully, under review, they say, okay, and they'll be released and we can continue on.
[01:00:55.620]So this is a day-by-day activity for us, and so we're going to keep on that.
[01:01:01.580]David, I think we'll pass the Q&A.
[01:01:03.740]We're pretty much out of time.
[01:01:05.740]I do want to review or refresh.
[01:01:09.440]We had put out extension.
[01:01:11.340]Talking points, and these came out to you in written fashion.
[01:01:15.380]I did these on thoughts by Dr.
[01:01:18.760]Charlie.
[01:01:19.140]Just present gold has been very clear that all options are on the table.
[01:01:23.520]Uncertainty exists at every little county, state, federal grant funding.
[01:01:29.480]But as we said way back in November extension, our game plan is to play
[01:01:35.720]offense, and we're going to keep moving forward, and we're going to take
[01:01:39.420]advantage of everything we can.
[01:01:41.140]And to make good decisions and strategic decisions.
[01:01:45.900]So next slide.
[01:01:46.800]The current budget reductions are being addressed.
[01:01:51.420]Again, as I said, we paused some positions.
[01:01:54.720]We're strategically evaluating where our priority positions are.
[01:01:59.260]But I have to come back to our work remains the same.
[01:02:02.720]We must continue to offer impactful programming and cultivate intentional
[01:02:07.940]relationships with Nebraskans.
[01:02:10.940]The central question is, how are we creating value in the lives of our
[01:02:15.280]learners?
[01:02:15.500]We're doing a great job.
[01:02:16.780]We have a great reputation within the unicameral.
[01:02:19.380]My encouragement is keep it up.
[01:02:22.540]Keep it up because this game isn't over.
[01:02:25.880]As President Gold has said about this process, currently we're at 1.25%,
[01:02:30.540]but he says we're only in about the sixth inning.
[01:02:33.560]It's still top of the inning, and we're not to the bottom of the ninth yet.
[01:02:38.080]And so he's optimistic, and some of the things I'm
[01:02:40.740]hearing is that our Unicameral is softening on its position towards the funding for UNL.
[01:02:47.900]So we just need to keep doing a great job.
[01:02:50.660]If we have clients that are worried about funding,
[01:02:53.720]they should communicate their concerns to the local, state, and federal decision makers.
[01:02:58.380]Anecdotally, I heard one of our Unicameral senators said to one of their friends,
[01:03:04.640]please stop having them call me.
[01:03:07.460]Send me an email.
[01:03:08.560]They're hearing us.
[01:03:10.540]They're hearing from our stakeholders, and our stakeholders have their attention.
[01:03:16.020]Next slide, if we have one.
[01:03:19.020]Oh, thank you all.
[01:03:20.880]I just want to come back to thank you all for the great work you're doing.
[01:03:24.180]You are representing Extension extremely well.
[01:03:28.260]We've got to keep up the full court pressure.
[01:03:30.440]Thank you for your efforts.
[01:03:32.080]Communicate with your stakeholders locally.
[01:03:34.700]Be an advocate with them.
[01:03:36.900]Help them to understand where we are and what we're doing.
[01:03:39.500]All right,
[01:03:40.340]Dave,
[01:03:40.540]back to you.
[01:03:41.100]Thanks,
[01:03:42.380]Charlie.
[01:03:42.760]Just know that NASA will continue to be in touch with your extension board
[01:03:46.140]members probably as early as early next week,
[01:03:48.520]because they're asking extension board members to continue to connect with
[01:03:52.400]state senators and the governor's office on behalf of extension and the
[01:03:56.340]university of Nebraska.
[01:03:57.220]So encourage your extension board members to,
[01:03:59.380]to be a part of that,
[01:04:00.760]that great Mesa effort.
[01:04:02.020]All right.
[01:04:04.380]Just to remind you,
[01:04:05.000]these are the roadshows Lisa mentioned earlier.
[01:04:06.720]We've talked about this at last huddle.
[01:04:08.440]So these are the dates,
[01:04:10.140]make sure you reserve at least one of these dates.
[01:04:12.640]These will all be the same,
[01:04:13.800]just different locations this fall.
[01:04:15.720]A few more dates just to be aware of the legislative session does continue
[01:04:20.400]quite a while with the long,
[01:04:22.880]the long session.
[01:04:23.940]Next huddle will be on June 12th.
[01:04:26.880]It's a big thank you to Nebraska extension.
[01:04:30.180]It's turbulent times and we're still shining.
[01:04:32.840]So that's,
[01:04:33.660]what's really important.
[01:04:34.380]So wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
[01:04:37.640]As Sonny,
[01:04:39.980]said earlier,
[01:04:40.460]wishing you all blue skies as we move forward.
[01:04:42.320]Thanks everyone.
[01:04:43.560]- Bye bye.
[01:04:44.400]Thank you.

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Extension Huddle - April 17, 2025

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