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iiECEIVED JUL 2 1 .-55
June 2005Vol. 16, No.6
International
UF/IFAS International Programs Office of the Vice President for Agriculture & Natural Resources Gainesville, Florida 32611
Distance education team visits Africa
to explore design of pilot courses
A rUF/IFAS team is collabo-
rating with international 7
partners to link current UF distance education degree programs in agricultural and environmental science to the needs of students, institutes and communities in Kenya and Uganda.
The program Strengthening Agricultural and Environmental Capacity Through Distance Education is more than a distance education program. It is a link between UF/IFAS, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the University of Nairobi and Makerere University in which Lisette Staal, left, Sabine Grunwald, and each institution contributes to im- Edith Hesse meet with Stephen Lwasa, proving the educational capacity agricultural economist, Makerere Univerof the others by contributing to the sity, Uganda.
design of courses, research programs, and institutional enhancements matched to the needs and capabilities of local universities.
UF/IFAS International Programs Assistant Director Lisette Staal and soil and water science assistant professor and Distance Education Coordinator Sabine Grunwald joined Edith Hesse, head of CIAT'S Information and Capacity Strengthening Unit, in meetings with representatives of the universities in Kenya and Uganda in June to assess the needs and information technology capabilities of the universities involved in a pilot project.
Then the pilot project team engaged in three-day planning workshop at Makerere University on the development of the project.
"This is a unique approach in
which we are using distance learning for teaching in a way that ensures local relevancy," Staal said.
The pilot program will provide
master's degree training for four stuSee Distance Education, p. 2
SUN|VF-RS1TY OF
FLORIDA
IFAS
Telephone: 352 392-1965 FAX: 352 392-7127 Website: http://international.ifas.ufl.edu
June 2005
Vol. 16, No. 6
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Agreement with Italian university focuses on plant diseases
E xchanging students and establish- Their collaboration started with in- nean region. NFREC Quincy research*ng a plant diagnostic network in terest in tomato spotted wilt virus. A ers Steve Olson and Jim Marois also the Mediterranean are among the plans doctoral student from Basilicata Uni- are planning to participate to the stufor a new cooperative agreement with versity is working with Momol at the dent exchange program with the Unithe University of Basilicata, Italy. North Florida Research and Educa- versity of Basilicata.
The focal point of the cooperative tion Center in Quincy. In addition, The University of Basilicata is a reagreement is the study of plant diseas- Crescenzi and Momol are conducting search-oriented university in Potenza, es. Tim Momol, a UF/IFAS plant pa- research in southern Italy on manage- in the panoramic mountains of the thologist, is program manager. His ment of tomato spotted wilt. southern Italy near Naples and Bari.
counterpart and collaborator at the They are planning to strengthen re- Its Website is http://www.unibas.it. University of Basilicata is Aniello search ties by exchanging additional Contact
Crescenzi, a virologist working mostly students and by developing a plant Tim Momol, tmomol@ifas.ufLedu with vegetable viruses, diagnostic network in the Mediterra- f J
Distance education, from p. 1
dents, two from Uganda and two from Kenya, who could start as early as January 2006. The students will take all courses at their home universities and are not required to visit the University of Florida campus. Learning materials will be transmitted via the Internet and study will take place under the supervision of faculty at the home institutions and at CIAT and UF/IFAS.
Grunwald, whose course on GIS is part of the program, said the experience of adapting courses for the African universities could lead to a greater presence for UF/IFAS worldwide.
The project is supported by a USAID grant to CIAT. UF/IFAS and the
Egypt, from p. 1
weeks as they worked on their courses to insure that students are better prepared for the job market. Faculty from agricultural education reviewed teaching techniques, and faculty from horticulture and animal science served as mentors. Early this fall, we will host 15 additional Egyptian faculty for training. In addition to the on-campus training, several of our faculty and our new dean, Dr. Kirby Barrick, provided workshops for faculty in Egypt. Participation in these efforts is an excellent way for faculty to gain international experience and to develop linkages for long-term cooperation.
USAID held a stakeholders meeting
African universities are subcontractors.
UF/IFAS is taking a lead internationally in distance education by offering master's degrees in several fields that students abroad can take without visiting UF. This pilot project has an additional focus of collaboratively developing materials closely linked to the specific needs of the two African nations. In developing the program, UF/IFAS is assisting in the development of capabilities of the African universities while its faculty gain experience in developing distance education courses.
During the workshops, academic leaders from Uganda and Kenya em-
on Setting Agricultural and Natural Resources Management Research Priorities. There was strong support for continuing and possibly strengthening the CRSP initiative.
We are happy that Dr.Yoana Newman, our Spanish teacher, has obtained a faculty position but unfortunately that means that she is leaving us at the end of this summer. We have suspended teaching Spanish this fall as we await a committee report.
Roger Natzke is senior associate dean and director of International Programs
Contact
Roer Natzke,
phasized that there is a gap between educational programs and specific needs of the communities served by the two universities. Graduates lack experience to provide the best service for clientele in their communities.
Through this and subsequent exchanges, UF/IFAS plans to present practical and relevant information in a program designed with the students' needs in mind. Grunwald said students likely will need courses in natural resource sciences, social sciences, adaptive management and problem solving as they prepare to meet the needs of their communities.
One challenge is to match the educational materials to the electronic capabilities of the African universities.
While both universities have computers, distance learning and Internet access, the high demand for computers and the limited Internet bandwidth and transfer rate at the African universities need to be factored into the course development.
The bandwidth limitation means UF/IFAS faculty, in some cases, will need to modify the electronic format of their courses to ensure that the information downloads in a reasonable amount of time for students, Staal said.
Contact
( Lisette Staal, Ims@ifas.ufl.edu
Focus
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Sea Grant agent visits Indonesia for coastal conference
B revard Sea Grant agent Chris
Combs attended a conference in Indonesia in May, where several South East Asian coastal nations shared information with one another and with members of the U.S. National Sea Grant team on coastal issues and disaster response.
In representing Sea Grant as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association at the Sea Partnership Program Conference and Workshop in Jakarta, Combs and other team members met with marine scientists eager to learn about implementation of coastal hurricane-protection programs in Florida in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami that killed nearly 300,000 people in Indonesia.
The nation is developing the South East Asian Sea Partnership Program and is seeking input from Sea Grant in the implementation of the program.
NOAA International Programs
asked Florida Sea Grant to send a field
agent representative to the conference to discuss how marine extension programs in Florida and elsewhere in the United States address coastal hazards such as hurricanes. About 150 South East Asian representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand joined with the team of seven U.S. Sea Grant Extension educators to discuss how extension, education, communication,
and coastal law are applied through Sea Grant to address coastal and marine resource issues, and to illustrate the value of extension programming at the local level.
In his presentation, Combs discussed the role of a local Sea Grant extension agent in the national picture of the Sea Grant model.
In the exchange of information,
Combs noted that issues such as mangrove restoration, coral reef protection, ecotourism, and marine conser-
This muscle farm in Jakarta Bay was among the visits at a coastal conference.
vation areas relevant to Florida are also important worldwide.
In Indonesia, a parallel Sea Grant extension program called Sea Partners is just getting off the ground. Combs would like to see more cooperation between Florida Sea Grant and Sea Partners once the program develops.
Contact
Chris Combs, seacombs@ufl.edu)
Plant virus researchers share information at UF/IFAS conference
N a conference hosted by UF/ IFAS, members of the International Vegetable and Legume Virus Working Groups discussed issues regarding plant viruses from as near as Florida and as far away as Mars.
Group members shared information on viruses ranging from basic and molecular, to epidemiological and ecological, to reports of new and emerging viral diseases.
Among the speakers were UF/IFAS plant pathologist Andy Schuerger, whose affiliation with NASA has prompted research into viruses in space. Schuerger discussed microbes and their potential survival on Mars. UF/IFAS plant pathologist Ernest Hiebert presented the history of potyvirus research at the University of June 2005
Florida. Plant pathology Chair Gail Wisler is outgoing secretary of the group.
Forty-five people attended, representing 15 countries. The conference featured 27 talks and 17 posters over two days.
The conference was held in April in Fort Lauderdale. It was followed by a field trip hosted by Randy Ploetz and Mike Davis at the Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, with professor Ken Pernezny, Everglades Research and Education Center, as tour guide. Guests observed the tropical flora and fauna, the Everglades environment and a variety of exotic palms at TREC. They sampled transgenic papaya from a virus-resistant papaya program conducted by TREC
professor Mike Davis. Mary Lamberts and Teresa Olczyk, two county faculty from the Miami-Dade office, summarized their variety trials for whitefly-transmitted viruses of bean. The afternoon was spent touring Fairchild's Botanical Gardens in Miami.
The conference marked the first meeting of the newly merged vegetable and legume working groups. These merged groups meet once every three years. The next meeting is in Slovenia in 2008. A new goal of the working group is to recruit new members and students from the virology community worldwide.
Contact
@Gail Wisler, gcwisler@ifas.ufl.edu
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Office of International Programs University of Florida Office of the Vice President for Agriculture
and Natural Resources P.O. Box 110282 Gainesville, FL 32611-0282
MS DALE B CANELAS UNI LIBRA & DIR DIR-LIBRARIES PO BOX 117001 GAINESVILLE FL 32611-7001
Chinese officials observe sustainable agriculture on UF/IFAS tour
O fficials from the People's
Republic of China learned about sustainable agriculture in Sarasota and Manatee counties and the role of extension in Florida agriculture during a tour in April hosted by the Sarasota County Extension office.
The 12-person delegation from the city of Zun Yi in the Guizhou province of China was headed by Liu Ming, mayor of Zun Yi, and included officials from agricultural ministries.
The study tour was sponsored by the city of Sarasota and the Economic Development Council of Sarasota County
as part of an exchange program between the two cities. The farm tour was organized by Carolyn Gregov, Sarasota County Extension director.
The first day of the tour began at the Mote Aquaculture Park in Sarasota County, a model of sustainable aquaculture development. The tour included stops at hatcheries, growout tanks and processing facilities of the production and research programs. The tour included state-ofthe-art technology in the fish breeding, water re-circulation and filtration, and computer control systems.
The second stop was at the HydroTaste farm in Manatee County, where owner Chester Bullock provided a guided tour on the hydroponics operation. Here the delegation learned about the patented system using modular vertical units and drip irrigation that promotes natural resource conservation. The delegates observed strawberries, cabbages, cucumbers, corn, peppers, herbs, and ornamentals.
Contact
Carolyn Gregov,
cgregov@scgov.net
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