SU Ag Center distinctions

The United States Department of Agriculture/Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service (USDA/CSREES) established a new Partnership Awards Program as part of its 2007 Annual Day of Appreciation. The CSREES Partnership Awards recognized excellence in Mission Integration, Multi-state Efforts, Innovative Program Models, and Effective and Efficient Use of Resources.

Last year’s awardees included The Families First: Nutrition, Education, and Wellness System, a wellness education consortium of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Southern University, Langston University, and Prairie View A&M University, the winner in the Multi-state Efforts category for the successful multi-state programming in disseminating nutrition education to culturally diverse audiences.

Honored participants were Gina Eubanks, vice chancellor for extension, Irene K. Lee, Jacquelyn McCray, Carolyn Nobles, Linda Williams-Willis, and Dorothy Wilson. For more, visit CSREES at USDA.

Curtis Chisley, meat and product promotion specialist, in collaboration with Orlando Phelps and Larry McMurdie from USDA/AMS/MGCB developed a DVD on Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Pork Bellies.

The DVD was produced for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS)/ Meat Grading and Certification Branch (MGCB). The DVD will be used to train MGCB graders and supervisors nation-wide. Chisley was assisted by Albert Howard, Dexter Newman, and Lonnie Parker.

This is the third training software produced by the Southern University Ag Center on meat items for USDA. The first was a nation-wide Meat Identification CD for FFA training while the second was a DVD on lamb leg and shoulder requirements for MGCB and the lamb industry.

Zhu H. Ning, professor, urban forestry was an invited luncheon speaker at the Society of American Foresters 2007 National Convention general session entitled, “Luncheon with Leaders.” She addressed the conference attendees on “Strengthening Leadership Skills for the Challenges of a Changing World.”

The luncheon was designed to provide opportunities for the attendees to hear a diverse group of speakers on their experiences, leadership styles, and lessons learned. She organized a technical session, “Sustaining the Forests on a Global Scale,” at the convention. The session shared forestry related information from different countries and continents.

The aim of the session was to increase the understanding of, and international collaboration with forestry professionals in a highly globalized world. Ning also presented two papers at the conference, “Urban Forests in the Gulf Coast Region: Two Years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita” and “Utilizing Urban Wood Wastes as Organic Mulch in Urban Forestry.”

Keydron K. Guinn, sociologist at the Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives in St. Landry parish, commented on the issue of 'acting white' in the Opelousas Daily World.

“I felt compelled to speak on this subject,” Guinn said. “Not that this is anything new, but we are assigning attitudes, beliefs and values on the color of skin through this concept of 'acting white' or 'acting black.' This refers to a black person acting as a white person or a white person acting as a black person based on standards that have apparently been derived from thin air. Where does this come from?”

For more, visit the Daily World.