GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS

Acronyms:

Like any other large organization, Cooperative Extension has developed its share of acronyms and uses terminology specific to its organization or to that of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences or the University of Arizona. Those commonly used in and around Cooperative Extension and the University of Arizona are:

• AAP - Affirmative Action Program
• ABOR - Arizona Board of Regents
• AEAA - Arizona Extension Agriculture Association
• AEAFCS - Arizona Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
• ANR - Agricultural and Natural Resources (program area)
• ANREP - Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals
• APLU - Association of Public and Land-grant Universities [formerly NASULGC]
• APROL - Annual Performance Reports On-Line
• AzAE4-HA - Arizona Association of Extension 4-H Agents
• BIA - Bureau of Indian Affairs (Department of Interior)
• CE - Cooperative Extension (state partner)
• CED - County Extension Director
• CENTRL - Center for Rural Leadership (Project CENTRL)
• CES - Cooperative Extension System
• CEU - Continuing Education Units
• CALS - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (University)
• EEO - Equal Employment Opportunity
• EEOC - Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• EFNEP - Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program
• EIRP - Extension Indian Reservation Program
• ESP - Epsilon Sigma Phi (National Extension Fraternity)
• FCHS - Family, Consumer & Health Sciences  (program area)
• FSNEP - Food Stamp and Nutrition Education Program
• FTE - Full Time Equivalent
• ICOP - International Committee on Organization and Policy
• IPM - Integrated Pest Management
• JLBC - Joint Legislative Budget Committee (state)
• MOA - Memorandum of Agreement
• MOU - Memorandum of Understanding
• NACAA - National Association of County Agricultural Agents
• NAE4-HA - National Association of Extension 4-H Agents
• NASULGC - National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
• NIFA - National Institute of Food and Agriculture [formerly CSREES]
• OIE - Office of Institutional Equity
• USDA - United States Department of Agriculture
• 1862s - Land grant institutions established by the passage of the first Morrill Act of 1862
• 1890s - Land-grant colleges and universities and Tuskegee University established by the second Morrill Act of 1890 primarily in the south to serve African-Americans
• 1994s - Native American Institutions receiving land-grant status in 1994 as a provision in the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act

Terms:

Agent: Agents conduct non-formal educational programs and applied research. They are responsible administratively to the County Extension Director in the county or counties to which they are assigned and to the Cooperative Extension director for statewide outreach in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Annual Performance Evaluation: The University requires annual performance evaluations based on criteria developed by the department and incorporates peer comment. The purposes for these evaluations are several and may include data for merit salary increases and identification of professional development options as well as feedback on general performance; other purposes are identified in UHAP 3.10.01, #2, 4.08.01.02. The College requires an Annual Performance Report as supporting data for the evaluation. This report is done on line and is called APROL.

APLU (Association of Public and Land-grant Universities): A higher education association whose membership comprises 149 major U.S. public research universities, including all U.S. land grant institutions.The APLU Board on Agriculture had its origin in 1887 with the establishment of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. In 1919, when that Association became the Association of Land Grant Colleges, a Section of Agriculture was established along with Sub-Sections for Experiment Stations, Agricultural Extension and Agricultural Instruction. This terminology for Agriculture remained through the Association's name change in 1926 to the Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities. The term Division of Agriculture came into use in 1946 and remained until 1992. In 1963 the Association changed its name once more to the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. In 1992, the Division of Agriculture became the Board on Agriculture.  Also, in the 1992 organizational structure, the Board on Agriculture became one of five boards comprising the APLU Commission on Food, Environment and Renewable Resources (CFERR). The other four boards of CFERR are Home Economics, Natural Resources, Oceans and Atmosphere, and Veterinary Medicine.

Area Agent: An agent assigned to more than one county.

Clock Date: Defines the reference official time point for all major reviews of personnel and the granting of tenure/continuing status. It is defined as July 1 for the calendar year of hire. For example, a hire date of November 1989 has a clock date of July 1, 1989; a hire date of January 1989 also has a clock date of July 1, 1989. There are special circumstances where the clock date can be extended (e.g., childbearing leave). These requests should be made through the Head/Director/CED to the Dean, and must be approved by the Provost. Clock dates may reflect prior service, with up to two years of prior service automatically awarded for tenure-eligible faculty (UHAP 3.06); there is no prior service option for continuing appointments. This prior service can be waived but must be negotiated and documented at the time of hire. A FULL year leave of absence without pay will change the clock date, but a semester's leave does not.

Continuing-Eligible Appointment: These appointments apply to academic professionals (UHAP Chapter 4) and follow similar reviews and obligations as the tenure-eligible appointment. Primarily these appointments relate to Cooperative Extension specialists and agents and research scientists.

Customer-Clients/Clientele: Those whom Extension serves through education including adult learners, 4-H and other youth, youth and adult volunteers and all those who plan and participate in Extension's educational programs.

Dossier: The compiled information provided in formal promotion and tenure or continuing reviews; the contents are carefully specified and special care should be taken to follow the stated formats.

Educational Effort: Part of an Extension program, planned and conducted to meet stated objectives; a non-formal (non-credit) event such as a meeting, field day, workshop, consultation, media program, presentation, discussion, and so on; also may be applied to other program delivery methods, such as newsletters and correspondence courses.

Extension Indian Reservation Program (EIRP): A NIFA-USDA funded, state land-grant and tribal partnership Extension program for Native Americans residing on reservations.

Extension Education Program, or (simply) program: A non-formal educational effort guided by specific program objectives and desired outcomes. The program may include teaching activities and events that are planned, conducted, and evaluated for their impact on participants' learning, skills, and behavior over time. The Extension Education Program may include applied research and should demonstrate scholarship.

Extension Mail Standards: The federally-funded Extension mail budget provides each state a yearly allocation to cover regular mailing costs. It is not designed to cover grant-funded projects which should incorporate into their grant proposal funds to cover all postage and mailing costs. Formerly called "Penalty Mail," this budget was made a part of the annual Smith-Lever allocation as of October 1, 2003.

Extension Partnership: The unique tripartite organizational structure of the Cooperative Extension System, including the federal partner (ES-USDA), state partners (Cooperative Extension, units of land-grant colleges and universities), and local county-based partners.

Faculty: There are several definitions of faculty. Those of primary concern to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are general faculty and Faculty. General faculty includes anyone that is considered appointed personnel (e.g., not classified staff); examples are tenure, continuing, year to year, adjunct, or non-tenure eligible). Faculty (without modifier) generally means teaching faculty (tenure track).

Federal Base Funds: A critical element of the state/federal partnership, these funds are matched by state funds to maintain a strong, responsive infrastructure at the state level for research, extension and teaching.

The Joint Council on Food and Agricultural Sciences: It was established by Congress in 1977 to encourage and coordinate research, extension, and higher educational activities in the food and agricultural sciences throughout the United States. Its members, who are from both the public sectors, represent producers, industry, and state and federal agencies and institutions. The Council's role is to plan and coordinate research, extension, and higher education within both the public and private sectors and relate the federal budgeting process to the overall functioning of the system. All major units of the APLU Division of Agriculture are represented through voting membership on the Council; home economics, forestry, and veterinary medicine are represented as well. The Council is co-chaired by a representative of the land-grant system and the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Science and Education.

Land Grant College/University: An institution of higher education sustained and supported by the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890, and expanded by the Hatch Act of 1887, the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994, and subsequent legislation.

Land Grant System: A term used to describe a set of U.S. state and territorial institutions of higher learning that receive federal support for integrated programs of agriculture and home economics teaching, research and extension. Four important Acts of Congress support this national system and the resultant state/federal partnership for conducting these activities.

Market Salary Increases: These increases are based on evaluations from data external to the University of Arizona. They compare salary of specific disciplines, rather than individual performance within the University of Arizona.

Merit Salary Increases: These are increases in salary based on individual performance and subject to availability of funding for that purpose. There must be written criteria developed with faculty involvement at the unit level for awarding merit and these can be part of the annual evaluation process (UHAP 3.10.01-.02, 4.08.01-.02).

Nonformal Education: Off-campus, non-credit education formats; the essential form of Extension education.

Paraprofessional: Paid educational and organizational aides who work on specific assignments and are supervised by Extension agents.

Peer Reviews: This term is used in various ways. It is used to evaluate faculty as well as scholarly works. Peers do not have to be in the unit, but they should be in a related discipline. For example, a committee could include the whole administrative unit for purposes of commenting on a person's annual performance. There are no exclusionary requirements for membership (UHAP 3.10.01 and 4.08.01).

Six-Year Review: The 6-year review is the final review, and must result either in awarding of tenure or continuing appointment or awarding of a terminal year contract. (UHAP 3.12.04, 4.10.03).

Specialist: Specialists conduct applied research and non-formal educational programs in their area of expertise in partnership with agents, to statewide clientele. Subject matter specialists are administered by the appropriate department head/school director in cooperation with the Cooperative Extension associate director. The subject matter specialist's responsibility to Cooperative Extension is in direct proportion to the budgeted financial contribution of Cooperative Extension to that specialist's position.

State/Federal Partnership: A term referring to the close collaboration of the land-grant system with relevant units supported by federal funds at land-grant institutions.

Tenure-Eligible Appointment: This term shall mean those members of the faculty who hold full-time as yet untenured appointments as professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and instructors and whose title does not include such designations as "visiting," "adjunct," "research" or "clinical." However, instructors who are candidates for degrees will be appointed as nontenure-eligible instructors. The ranks of assistant professor and instructor are not tenurable ranks. Persons whose initial appointments are as lecturers are not eligible for tenure as lecturers. All tenure-eligible faculty members shall have the words "tenure-eligible" on their Notice of Appointment.

Three-Year Review: The 3-year review is the midpoint review and becomes, in effect, a dress rehearsal for the sixth year review. It is the only probationary review opportunity to terminate a candidate prior to the sixth year review (although a person could be terminated at any time for cause).

Volunteers: Unpaid lay and professional persons who offer their services in support of the Cooperative Extension organization and its educational programs, often taking on the role of educator under the supervision of Extension agents.

Year-to-Year Appointments: Appointed personnel who do not have continuing eligible or tenure eligible appointments serve as year to year (UHAP 4.12). There is no limit to the number of annual renewals, which do not require special review. However, if during the annual evaluation process it is determined that non-renewal is appropriate (or for any other reason), no justification is required for non-renewal.