CAES Intranet for Faculty & Staff

Highlights:

• Information from Dean Angle
  *Updated 02/03/12*
• Information from Extension Administration
  *Updated 01/17/12*
• Information from Research Administration
• Publications Update
*Updated 02/08/12*
• Upcoming Events
• Send Your Comments

Information from Dean Angle

The Budget – The budget has not been kind to the college over the past three years. With a 25 percent budget cut and little opportunity of benefiting from tuition increases, we have had to make very hard choices. The good news seems to be that the bleeding has stopped and we are making very modest progress in the right direction. The B budget reduction was small – less than for the A budget. Further, there are serious discussions going on related to the restoration of items to our budget. It is too early to know what these might be but we expect these will be modest regardless of the outcome. Next year will hopefully be the year when robust restoration of funds begins. Having said that, I have been told many times even by our best supporters, that no program in state government should be expected to return to the days of peak funding. The public clearly wants smaller government. So, while we can expect our outlook to improve, we are going to be different from where we were just four years ago.

Upgrading Positions – We are now going into four years with no salary increases, some unit leaders are looking for ways to improve staff salaries. Just about everyone is doing more as our employee base has declined. I am receiving numerous requests for reclassification to a higher level (and with higher pay). Although I have approved a few requests where the increase responsibilities are no longer consistent with the current classification, I am turning most down where new responsibilities do not rise to the level for a reclassification. So, please use this process very carefully and where only a significant, quantifiable and sustained increase in responsibility is clear.

Strategic Plan – Strategic planning continues and I am pleased that everywhere a meeting has been held, it has been well attended and more importantly, attendees have come motivated with good ideas in hand. This is turning out to be a very powerful process. We said from the outset that we are doing this only because we are committed to a plan that will be used as a guiding document, where appropriate, until 2020. As I have spent the last few days in Atlanta talking with legislators about the future of the college, it has become clear that our infrastructure is a major concern. But legislators have also made it clear that any request needs to be tied to a vision for what the college will look like in the future and what we will be doing. The strategic plan, when ready, will be used to help us plan our infrastructure request to the legislature. I am already seeing ways in which it will have a tangible benefit to CAES.

Land Changes – Ultimately as part of our land and building infrastructure, we will assess all college land and determine our "right size." But for now, two important activities are underway. The sale of the Plant Sciences Farm is moving forward. We do not have final approval but I anticipate that permission for the sale will be on the April Board of Regents meeting agenda. I will be meeting with interested faculty as soon as I know that the sale request has been submitted to the BOR. The second change is the closing of the USDA ARS Campbell Farm in Watkinsville. Staff and scientists there have been given new assignments. We have requested that the farm be transferred to the University of Georgia. The USDA has not approved the transfer yet, but I am optimistic that final approval will made within the next few months. 

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Information from Extension Administration

January 17, 2012 — The January issue of the Extension E-Newsletter has been released.

• Beverly Sparks shares with you the highest priority goals of your Extension administrative team for 2012;
• Tony Tyson explains our current situation with retire/rehires in county agent positions;
• Arch Smith announces opportunities for 4-H in 2012 and leadership counselors for the upcoming camping season;
• Laurie Cantrell writes about New Year's Resolutions and how to stay on track in keeping those resolutions;
• Steve Brown provides information on the new 2010 Farm Gate Value Report; and
• Laura Perry Johnson provides an update on the strategic planning process.

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Information from Research Administration

Find information for all research faculty, graduate students and staff at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences on the CAES Research Intranet. You can access information about funding, policies, and current projects.

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Publications Update

February 8, 2012 — Visits to the CAES Numbered Publications website increased by 51% from December 2011 to January 2012, with 26% of the traffic coming from returning visitors. Visitors using mobile devices continues to rise, with an increase of 73% over the previous month. Top publications continued to center around home gardening and landscaping topics. One of the new publications from December, Native Plants for Georgia Part III: Wildflowers, made the Top 10 list during its first month in circulation with 745 visits. New to the Top 10 list for January was a publication about building and maintaining hobby greenhouses.

CAES faculty wrote or revised 10 publications in January. You can find their titles and links below, along with a list of Publications website highlights.

Overview

Visits: 46,121 (Up from 30,497 in December 2011)
Unique visitors: 37,167
New Visitors = 73.56%; Returning Visitors = 26.44%
Page views: 90,854 (Up from 56,391 in December 2011)
Average time on site: 2:05
Traffic from Top 5 Mobile Devices = 4,133 visits (Up from 2,384 in December 2011)

Top Publications

Including Average Time on Page

1. B 987 - Native Plants for Georgia Part I: Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines by Gary Wade, et al.
   4,103 visits — Average time on page: 5:27
2. B 1348 - Pecan Trees for the Home or Backyard Orchard by Lenny Wells, Will Hudson, Jason Brock
   1,289 visits — Average time on page: 5:28
3. C 946 - Home Garden Blueberries by Gerard Krewer, D. NeSmith
   1,011 visits — Average time on page: 5:48
4. B 910 - Hobby Greenhouses by John Worley
   1,001 visits — Average time on page: 1:13
5. C 943 - Vegetable Garden Calendar by Wayne McLaurin, Darbie Granberry, Willie Chance
   878 visits — Average time on page: 2:57
6. C 898 - Pecan Varieties for Georgia Orchards by Lenny Wells, Patrick Conner
   757 visits — Average time on page: 6:02
7. B 1314 - Establishing a Pecan Orchard by Lenny Wells
   755 visits — Average time on page: 6:22
8. B 987-3 - Native Plants for Georgia Part III: Wildflowers by Gary Wade, et al.
   745 visits — Average time on page: 3:10
9. B 625 - Landscape Plants for Georgia - Revised by Matthew Chappell
   728 visits — Average time on page: 5:08
10. C 963 - Vegetable Gardening in Georgia by Bob Westerfield, David Linvill
    726 visits — Average time on page: 2:39

New Publications

1. AP 103-3 - 2011 Soybean, Sorghum Grain and Silage, and Summer Annual Forages Performance Tests by Don Day, Anton Coy, John Gassett
2. B 1397 - Virginia Buttonweed Identification and Control in Turfgrass by Patrick McCullough, Jialin Yu
3. AP 104-3 - 2011 Peanut, Cotton and Tobacco Performance Tests by Don Day, et al.

Major Revisions

1. C 1013 – Shade Trees for Georgia (Major Revision of L 350 – Fast Growing Shade Trees) Revised by Matthew Chappell, Kim Coder, Gary Peiffer

Minor Revisions

1. C 882 – Hophornbeam Copperleaf Identification and Control in Peanut
2. B 954 – Flowering Annuals for Georgia Gardens
3. C 576 – Dahlias
4. B 1242-2 – Water Quality Series: Total Maximum Daily Loads in Georgia
5. C 923 – UGA Herbicide Programs for Tropical Spiderwort (Benghal Dayflower) Control in 2012 Cotton
6. C 952 – UGA Programs for Controlling Palmer Amaranth in 2012 Cotton

Many thanks to our faculty for continuing to produce and update our college's publications, which provide a tremendous resource for the public. As always, please don't hesitate to contact Amanda Swennes in the Office of Communications and Technology Services with your questions, concerns or suggestions regarding the CAES Numbered Publications website.

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Upcoming Events — 2012

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Send Your Comments