Composite Trip & Meetings Report
Regional NASULGC Meetings
February and March 2004

This is a composite report for the following meetings at which I was requested to make a presentation on EERE programs and priorities, EERE/NASULGC evolving partnership - the five projects, and the working partnerships with USDA and Title IX Section 9006 of the Farm Bill. (The Powerpoint presentations are in the Board of Directors file on the “P” drive.)

- The 1890 Land Grant University Association of Extension Administrators, Washington, DC – 2-4-04

• NASULGC - National Extension Administrator’s Conference, Phoenix, AZ. – 2-19-04
• The Northeast Association of Research Dean and Directors, Washington, DC. – 3-4-04
• Western Regional Association of Extension and Research Deans and Directors meeting, Las Vegas, NV. 3-24-04
• The 1890 Land Grant University Agricultural Research Directors, Atlanta, GA. 3-25-04
• The joint meeting of the North Central Association of Research Deans and Directors and the Southern Association of Research Deans and Directors, Orange Beach, AL 3-29-04

Why is it critical to EERE that I address these associations? Because:

• The Deans and Directors that make up the membership of these associations needed to hear directly from DOE/EERE not only about EERE and its programs and priorities but also about the value their Executive Director’s continued participation in the development of the EERE/NASULGC partnership.
• Seven of the ten Executive Directors assigned to work on the five EERE/NASULGC projects are employees of and report to the Deans and Directors of these various regional associations of the Land Grant community.
• At the spring meetings of these associations, the Deans and Directors of these associations assign the work load and approve the budgets for their Executive Director for next year.
• The staff support the seven regional association Executive Directors provide for the five EERE/NASULGC projects is critical for project success. (One of the main concerns my fellow Board members expressed during the review of the NASULGC proposal last January was that I, as an individual Board member, would not have the time to staff the five projects. My counter to this comment was that the regional Executive Directors would provide the staff support.)

Highlights from the meetings:

• Because of the presentation at these meetings, the EERE message was delivered to university administrators from 74 Land Grant Universities located in all 50 states and six U.S. territories.
• These administrators provide leadership for over 18,000 professionals with an estimated budget for these institutions of $7,237,993,000.
• Through the faculty at these institutions of higher learning, the potential student contacts are over 100,000 students.

Take home messages:

• The Deans and Directors expressed their appreciation to learn that the DOE has a vibrant and active energy efficiency and renewable energy program.
• The support for continue development of the EERE/NASULGC partnership was unanimous. In the past year the Deans and Directors charged their Executive Directors to develop new partnership models for Land Grant Universities to work with federal agencies in addition to the historical relationship with USDA. They are excited about the evolving new NASULGC/EERE model and perceive that this model could become the landmark model for future interactions not only with NASULGC and EERE but also with other federal agencies.
• Due to the developing relationship and evolving partnership model, there will be expectations that EERE will continue to have some kind of presence at annual NASULGC association meetings. This is an issue that perhaps we can discuss at one of our Board meetings.
• The Deans and Directors were not only supportive of the focus of each of the five projects but also they expressed strong encouragement to move as rapidly as possible to begin implementation
• The question of what’s next after this initial year of the development and formation of the five projects was asked. The answer I gave them was that we plans for 2005 and beyond will be developed but the form and content of these plans depend on the success of each of the five projects underway.
• There was appreciation and support expressed about what they perceive as an improved working relationship between DOE-EERE and USDA.
• There was interest expressed in learning more about the development and functions my position on the EERE Board of Directors and in general they were interested in learning more about the innovative and creative idea of a public sector Board of Directors.
• When possible it is very powerful to have the Regional office in attendance when meeting with universities in their region. For example, through contacts made with our Atlanta Regional Office and the Southern Region Extension Association, Jim Powell will be making a presentation at the Southern Extension Directors’ meeting on April 8th. The regional offices are necessary and could be powerful allies in our work with universities.
• In addition, the state energy offices could be powerful players in the EERE/university relationship. I have learned during these meetings that some of the Deans and Directors are quite familiar with their state energy office and some are not. In other words, the state energy office/university relationship is quite variable from state to state.
• On a side note - - - Stan Johnson, Tobin Harvey and I along with Team Members of Project #2 met with David Terry and Jeff Genzer of NASEO last week to begin the discussions and interactions necessary to make the university-state energy office connections.

Some highlights from the various meetings:

• The 1890’s Land Grant Universities
• George Cooper, Deputy Administrator of the Office of Science and Education Resources Development, and P.S. Benepal, Director Multicultural Alliances, both with USDA/CSREES serve as USDA’s liaison to this organization.
• USDA’s long standing historical relationship with the 1890s has resulted in USDA being the major federal agency through which these institutions work.
• In order to build some bridges with our (EERE) people who work with the HBCUs, Phil Ammirato and Turnetta Cook of EERE’s Office of Program Execution Support accompanied me when I spoke to the 1890s association in Atlanta. In addition, David Waldrop and from the Atlanta Regional Office participated in the meeting.
• Perhaps EERE should consider the idea of appointing an official representative to this association?
• The 1994 Land Grant Universities - connection with tribal colleges
• Wade Gordon, Director, Institute for Objective Human Understanding for the Tribal Colleges in the North Central region, located at Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College, Cloquet, MN, serves as the Tribal Colleges (1994 Land Grant Universities) liaison to the North Central Association (1862 Land Grant Universities).
• The 1994 Land Grant status for tribal colleges provided much needed funds. However, now the challenge is that not all tribal colleges have excelled at the same pace. Thus there is discussion on redistribution of funds.
• Wade indicated that the tribal colleges have a significant display in the new Native American Museum in DC and a portion of this display focuses on renewable energy.
• IPAs
• All the university administrators were supportive of developing an IPA program with EERE.
• Exploration of potential future exchange of professionals and developing arrangements for exchange of scientists is part of the processes being explored by the EERE/NASULGC Project #1 Team.
• The SunGrant Initiative
• University of Tennessee administrators, (Senator Frist) and South Dakota State University Administrators (Senator Daschle) spoke to me about the authorization of the SunGrant Initiative (Section 9011, Title IX of the Farm Bill). The authorization came about in the Ag appropriations bill (Omnibus Bill). These administrators were quick to point out that they are in search of new funding authority and do not plan to earmark existing budgets.
• Additionally, they made the point that the SunGrant Imitative was the result of request by their elected Congressional members to identify a program that they could support. To paraphrase Flip Wilson, “My senator made me do it”.
• SunGrant Initiative Planning money of about $500K is presently funded through CSREES/USDA
• I again explained that our biomass program has plans and roadmaps developed. John Ferrell and I have shared these with the SunGrant committee when it met here in DC last fall. I reiterated that we are not interested in any earmarks because they make it very difficult to achieve our objectives. They emphasized that they are aware of the EERE processes, supportive of the Roadmap and desire to work collaboratively with us.