I am out the door for a week of annual leave with my family. I am off to be a 4-H mom and volunteer. I will be in KC for the ECOP meetings on July 24-26 then return to the office. If you need assistance, please contact Sue. She will know how to locate me in case of emergency. Before I leave, I did want to update you on a few items. I have been polling you all and wanted to make sure you were aware of the results.

HES Displays
The overwhelming response was yes that you would like to have display materials for use in your regions. Julie Chatman has agreed to work on this with me. We will prepare 2 displays per region. I hope to have them complete by Fall. I will send PDF files prior to printing to seek your input.

Missouri State Fair
I hope to see some of you there. Extension and the College of HES will both be part of the Mizzou Central exhibit in the Ag Building. Come down and join us for a shift if you can. Please let me know when you are coming so I can stop by to chat.

2006 HES Faculty Update
The voting was very close (within 3 votes on 3 dates). We will be looking at either February or April. Those were the 2 most popular dates. Vicki Foley will work to set a firm date and share hotel information soon. Please hold February 7-9 and April 4-6.

Bankruptcy Education
Curator Wasinger has indicated to several individuals, including Chancellor Deaton and President Floyd, that he feels Extension should be leading the efforts statewide for financial education for those filing for personal bankruptcy. Curator Wasinger has contacted Rob Weagley to share his ideas and support. Rob and I have met several times and I want to thank he and Suzanne Zemelman for leading this effort. As many of you know they are working on a proposal at this time. I believe that this program will be an exciting effort. It will be a joint effort of the college, department and Extension. It is a true example of the land-grant mission and I am very supportive. Rob and I continue to dialogue about how we can make this a win-win program for all involved. Please be looking for updates.

Investor Education
Here is another exciting opportunity for our faculty. The Secretary of State's office has contacted Extension several times this spring to dialogue about how Extension could partner with the SOS to provide investor education. Again, Rob and I are working together to bring this to fruition. We will be meeting with the SOS staff on July 27 to discuss the specific details of what a partnership could entail. We will update you following the upcoming meeting.

Office for Financial Success
As some of you have been told, Mark Oleson will soon arrive on the MU campus to open the Office for Financial Success. This office has been a goal of the department of Personal Financial Planning and its faculty for some time. Dr. Oleson comes to MU from Iowa State University and brings with him a strong history of operating their counseling center. I think Dr. Oleson will be a welcome addition to our faculty. This appointment is a 1-year temporary hire. If the office is successful (and we know it will be) a national search for a permanent director will be conducted at this time next year.

As you may know, throughout the planning for the OFS, it has been a goal that both the residence faculty as well as the Extension faculty will have a role in this office. At this time, the role of each entity has not been fully refined. Currently, Dr. Oleson's position does not have any Extension funding. I do expect that Extension will play a strong role in the OFS but we will continue to dialogue about what is the best role that we can play.

Food Stamp Nutrition Education
The FY06 grant is off to the Missouri Food Stamp Office. There are a couple of changes that I want to share with you. I find these items very exciting. First, the University will be the only sub-contractor to the Food Stamp Office. Anyone wishing to provide FSNE will sub-contract with us. In the fall, if approved, we will be releasing 2 RFPs. The first will be to an entity to coordinate the Missouri Nutrition Network and develop a social marketing campaign. The second will be seed grants for local community coalitions to conduct nutrition and physical activity events/education in their local communities. As these RFPs are developed we will share those with you. I encourage you to share them with your local partner agencies. It is a great opportunity for them. Finally, this proposal was the largest in Missouri history. The total program costs exceed $13,8 million or will bring to the University over $6.9 million dollars.


In conclusion
I am sure I have forgotten other exciting news, there is so many things happening these days. I have to say that I find it rewarding and overwhelming all in the same breath. I will be away next week and will not be checking email. If you need me for an emergency, please contact Sue. I hope all of you are having a great summer. I continue to hear great news from the regions as well as here on campus. We continue to build great relationships with our state partners and we hope that this will lead to even greater funding levels. Keep me posted on your successes. I love to share these whenever possible.

Thanks, Jo.