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A quick scan of these pages shows the word “promotion” has been used nearly four dozen times over the past year. Given that the blog is all about promotion in Extension and professional growth, this makes sense. Of course, we talk about the larger context from time to time, but if you have subscribed, I am hoping it's because you have an interest in working with others to help them grow or grow yourself professionally. If you have a colleague you know has not subscribed, please encourage them to do so by going here: https://extension.osu.edu/blog
Today we celebrate professional growth recognized in the form of A&P educator promotion in rank. I am happy to report that 38 Extension Educators were recently recognized for their accomplishments in Extension teaching, creative work, and service. Colleagues promoted in the 2021 class include:
A&P Educator I to II (5)
- Alisha Barton, Aubry Fowler, Kenzie Johnston, Catelyn Turner, and Courtney Woefl
A&P Educator II to III (13)
- Brooke Beam, Lesley Cooksey, Allison Cooper, Trevor Corboy, Christine Gelley, Whitney Gherman, Janessa Hill, Erika Lyon, Clifton Martin, Jamie McConnell, Ashlee Meardith, Amanda Raines, and Jacci Smith
A&P Educator III to IV (20)
- Mark Badertscher, Tom deHaas, Audrey Dimmerling, Amanda Douridas, Lorrissa Dunfee, Ken Ford, Candace Heer, Jacqueline Kowalski, Ashley Kulhanek, Emily Marrison, Gigi Neal, Sarah Noggle, Patrice Powers-Barker, Andrea Rees, Melissa Rupp, Beth Smith, Gwynn Stewart, Rebecca Supinger, Kathy Tutt, and Kate Wells
The process of applying for promotion is like applying for a new job. You document your qualifications, skills, experience and meaningful accomplishments. You also describe what you have achieved in ways that enable others to reasonably assume you can succeed in the role for which you are applying. Why do we do this? You want to continue to be challenged and grow as a professional. Your employer wants to ensure you can be successful when tasked with higher level responsibilities. We all want to get better.
To celebrate our recently promoted educators, discuss next steps, and address questions, 90-minute Zoom workshops have been scheduled for each program area (schedule below). All are welcome. Please feel free to direct any questions you have to your AD or me.
- June 23, Wednesday, 9:00 am FCS
- June 25, Friday, 1:00 pm CD
- June 29, Tuesday, 9:00 am ANR
- July 1, Thursday, 1:30 pm 4-H
Our goal is to help each other continue the upward trajectory. Who have you helped today?
I can’t begin to count the number of conversations I have had over the past months about what we do (or did, or should do…) about work and life. As mentioned in the previous post, we have talked about so many things with regards to life/work balance, returning to offices, how we work, roles and responsibilities, etc, especially as we near what is beginning to feel like the end of this pandemic.
For many Department of Extension colleagues, we mark the beginning of another chapter in this story as transitioning to a face-to-face work environment via Extension county offices begins today. Whether you were part of a county office that had already initiated some sort of a transition or not, there is no question that re-opening will require a little bit of extra attention.
Changing our routines can be fun and exciting (think of a two-week vacation). It can also be stressful (who wants to re-live March 2020?). What some of our county-based colleagues are dealing with today is akin to family reunion. How awkward are those as you try to make your way around to get re-acquainted with everyone as people arrive? And who among us hasn’t wondered at some point “how soon can I leave?” : )
I would prefer to think of today as the first day on the job. For some of our pandemic-era new hires, it may be just that (and for those I say thank you for hanging in there). While we are like family and this may feel like a family reunion of sorts, I would encourage you to also think about our return to ‘normal’ as a reset.
We have been blessed with so much opportunity to learn so much about ourselves, our work, about what is important. If you are a county educator, what aspects of your work are most suitable and appropriate for the county office setting? What aspects are better suited done or require you to be elsewhere? How can you improve or strengthen relationships with your office colleagues, each of them serving in a variety of critical roles? How can they better support you? How you can you better support them? It is a perfect time to ‘reset’ how you approach your work.
Every one of us plays a critical role in carrying out our mission. We have the potential to exponentially increase our abilities if we use our county office spaces as places for cultivating highly productive and collegial relationships with colleagues, stakeholders and clientele.
Welcome to your first day…how will you invest yourself?