State Coordinator Appointed to the OCVN Program

Sep. 30, 2013
The OCVN Program is pleased to WELCOME Anne Baird, who officially started as the part-time State Coordinator for the OCVN Program in August 2013.

Anne shares some of her ideas and goals for the OCVN Program below.

September 30, 2013

Hello OCVN's,

My name is Anne Baird.  I work for The Ohio State University in the School of Environment and Natural Resources.  I have worked for OSU Extension since 1996 primarily developing and implementing Extension programs related to the environment mostly in the areas of streams and watersheds  and more recently climate change.  I helped early on with OCVN curriculum development and I’m very glad to have the chance to be involved again.  In August of 2013 I officially started as a part-time state coordinator for the OCVN program.  There are six goals I will be working on:

  1. *Goal 1: Improve understanding of the impact the OCVN program and identify improvements needed to expand the program.  
  2. Goal 2: Promote increased awareness, understanding, and engagement among Extension professionals.
  3. *Goal 3: Promote long term sustainability of the OCVN program throughout the state.
  4. Goal 4: Create updated resources for the OCVN program. 
  5. *Goal 5: Increase participation in the program.
  6. Goals 6: Explore opportunities for youth involvement.

The ones that are starred * will be my focus for Year 1.  Of course there are many good ways to reach these goals and sometime opportunities come up quickly so don’t hesitate to call or email me. As a first step toward goals 1 and 3, my plan is to contact chapter coordinator(s) and some volunteers to discuss these goals and to better understand the current program.     We have a few objectives identified already including coordinating a business plan, developing some key promotional materials, and  starting up a Central Ohio chapter.  Luckily there has been a lot of interest in the Central Ohio Chapter so we held our first meeting at the Deer Haven Preserve Lodge in Delaware County on Sept. 26, 2013.  I’m looking forward to talking with and  meeting many of the OCVN group over the coming months. 

The Ohio State University
Anne Baird, Ph.D.
Program Director
OSU Extension School of Environment and Natural Resources
210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1085
614-292-8603 Office / 614-296-3605 Mobile / 614-292-7432 Fax
baird.41@osu.edu http://senr.osu.edu