Land-grant universities have concentrated traditionally on extension activities related primarily to agriculture and home economics. This tradition was established to meet the needs of an age in which communication was slow and in which the population served was largely rural. In the modern age, when global communication is nearly instantaneous and society is more urban and suburban, change in extension and outreach has been essential.
NCSU has taken significant steps toward meeting the needs of the state's and nation's changing population. Active and dynamic extension and outreach programs are now in place or developing in every college and school at NCSU. NCSU faculty and administrators are meeting the challenges of maintaining traditional strengths provided by programs such as the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service while providing leadership in the region and in the nation in newly emerging extension and outreach areas [4.3.1].
Extension and outreach programs will be the keepers of the vision for the preeminent land-grant universities of the twenty-first century. Extension and outreach programs are already transforming universities as more colleges and more faculty are becoming involved. Because the potential benefits to society from outreach and extension programs are as great or greater now than they ever have been, extension faculty are looking to administrators and faculty colleagues to be more proactive and to convey a greater sense of excitement concerning outreach and extension activities. The size, breadth, visibility, recognition, and longevity of outreach programs vary greatly among colleges, departments, and centers, as do the methods used for program planning and evaluation. Until recently there has been limited universitywide effort to coordinate programs, encourage interdisciplinary activities, develop a comprehensive planning and evaluation system, or collect uniform and systematic impact data, but steps are now underway to develop more systematic and inclusive program-planning processes at the University, college, and department levels. The newly formed Extension Operations Council, the Office for Research, Outreach, and Extension, and the redefined University Extension Committee are addressing these coordination issues. Successful implementation of the current plans to develop a comprehensive planning and evaluation system, and to collect uniform and systematic impact data, will allow NCSU to more clearly formulate clear and explicit goals for outreach programs and will allow the true significance and excellence of current outreach and extension programs to be recognized.
Recommendation 7.19: Each NCSU college and school should document cooperative and collaborative outreach and extension activities in its annual
report.
Recommendation 7.20: NCSU should develop mechanisms, in addition to annual reports, to inform faculty and the entire University community about the nature and importance of outreach and extension activities at NCSU.
One reason for the University's current efforts to centralize outreach efforts is that the growing complexity of societal issues requires interdisciplinary solutions. Encouragement is now being given to the development of teams of faculty from different colleges to address complex public issues. Examples include rural development, environmental protection, and manufacturing competitiveness. A key to the success of these and other multidisciplinary programs is the recognition of faculty participation in such programs.
Recommendation 7.21: NCSU should encourage and facilitate cooperation and collaboration among colleges, departments, and centers to facilitate the development and implementation of multidisciplinary outreach, extension, and research programs addressing issues of broad public
concern.
Recommendation 7.22: NCSU should appropriately recognize faculty efforts in multidisciplinary programs and activities in matters of faculty evaluation, promotion and tenure decisions, and other rewards.
One mechanism for increasing involvement in and awareness of outreach and extension activities at NCSU would be to encourage more faculty to participate in outreach and extension activities. Some faculty who are currently involved primarily in teaching and research make significant contributions to outreach and extension programs. Others may be willing to participate in outreach and extension programs and already have the expertise needed to do so. However, such new activities must usually be inserted into an already full schedule. Even those faculty who are eager and willing to become part of an outreach and extension program may not be aware of mechanisms that would permit such involvement officially. A program modeled after the existing faculty research and professional development grant program would help encourage faculty to become part of existing programs or to develop new efforts in outreach and extension.
Recommendation 7.23: NCSU should develop, fund, and implement an assistance and incentive program for faculty interested in getting more involved in outreach and extension programs.
Another change affecting outreach programs is the increasing reliance in some colleges on extension faculty to conduct applied research, as research faculty focus efforts on longer-term, more basic research. This has the potential of increasing the quality of outreach programs and of accelerating the rate of adoption of new knowledge. However, it reduces faculty time available to conduct traditional extension programs.
Traditionally, programs have been offered in four areas: agriculture and natural resources; community and rural development; home economics; and 4-H and youth. More recently, efforts have expanded to address issues of broad public concern. Examples of issue programs or initiatives include water quality, waste management, food safety, youth at risk, and sustainable agriculture. The initiatives are typically interdisciplinary, cutting across several program areas.
The Cooperative Extension Service is a pioneer in grassroots long-range planning. The organization's first long-range plan was launched in 1962, and the service is currently operating under its seventh multi-year plan, Visions for the Future. Visions for the Future was developed with the involvement of nearly 26,000 citizens involved in the Extension County Advisory Leadership System. These citizens, who represent all segments of society, worked with Cooperative Extension Service faculty to identify and prioritize county issues, and to determine how they should be addressed. The Cooperative Extension Service then synthesized the county priorities into a coordinated state plan.
For the most part, the goals of Visions for the Future will be implemented through meetings, workshops, tours, individual visits, work through the mass media, distribution of publications, computer software and video tapes, and teacher and volunteer training. The state plan includes six federal initiatives, four state initiatives, and twenty-three state core programs. The Cooperative Extension Service established interdisciplinary faculty task forces to develop, implement, and evaluate each of these programs according to quantifiable objectives. The service projects that the plan will lead to more productive and profitable agriculture, a protected and enhanced environment, stabler communities, more responsible youth, and strengthened families.
The following table shows the number of program contacts in 1990- 91:
Program White Black Other Total ------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ANR 572,387 (88.6%) 67,892 (10.5%) 5,951 (0.9%) 646,230 (100%) CRD 110,310 (78.6%) 27,348 (19.5%) 2,768 (1.9%) 140,426 (100%) HE 407,219 (77.6%) 112,970 (21.5%) 5,255 (1.7%) 525,444 (100%) 4-H 343,587 (74.1%) 112,523 (24.3%) 7,687 (1.6%) 463,797 (100%) Total 1,433,503 (80.7%) 320,733 (18.1%) 21,661 (1.2%) 1,775,897 (100%)
Program Female Male Total------- ------ ---- ----- ANR 184,618 (28.6%) 461,612 (71.4%) 646,230 (100%)
CRD 68,845 (49.0%) 71,581 (51.0%) 140,426 (100%)
HE 420,355 (80.0%) 105,089 (20.0%) 525,444 (100%)
4-H 263,564 (57.0%) 200,233 (43.0%) 463,797 (100%)
Total 937,382 (52.8%) 838,515 (47.2%) 1,775,897 (100%)
Program evaluation is conducted on several different levels [4.3.4]. Recording the numbers of people participating in programs, programs offered, and educational materials distributed is the simplest level of evaluation. Increasingly, however, attention is being given to measuring program impacts by changes in attitude, skills, and knowledge, and most important, by changes in behavior and dollars saved or earned through implementation of information provided in the Cooperative Extension Service programs. For example, program impacts for the most recent plan, Pathways to a New Century, include the following:
As a basis for program planning, the Industrial Extension Service uses input from specialized ad hoc industry groups, participant evaluation of programs, requests for assistance, regulatory developments, and staff expertise.
With the goal of improving North Carolina's industrial competitiveness, programs focus on moving industry from sequential product design and development to concurrent engineering, from functional departments to cellular manufacturing, from internal quality control to customer-driven total quality managementin essence, from traditional factories to technology-based world-class manufacturing. Specific programs, technical emphases, and delivery mechanisms include industrial liaison; manufacturing systems; the industrial-revitalization forum series; the quality-improvement program; metal working; plastics, electrical and computer engineering; furniture; construction; nuclear engineering; environmental programs; and energy.
Industrial extension services are delivered through a wide variety of workshops, seminars, video-based programs, one-on-one technical assistance, dissemination of publications, and the use of computer-assisted programming.
In addition to the activities of formal Industrial Extension Service programs, the engineering faculty take the initiative in exploring new ways of delivering extension services to the people of North Carolina. In 1991-92, 201 non-extension faculty participated in outreach activities, extension faculty received forty-two applied research and service contracts, and 108 senior design projects were conducted with sponsoring firms.
Based on client feedback, in 1992 Industrial Extension Service programs and services yielded $50 million in direct annual gain to industries, and $62 million of new capital investment. Participation in short courses and workshops totaled over 11,000, and over 900 individuals enrolled in video-based engineering education courses.
With emerging technologies and the restructuring of large segments of the textiles industry, new demands are being made on the technologist, scientist, and management. The College of Textiles can be of special service in showing the textiles industry how to develop manpower to meet its new needs. Textiles Extension has long offered seminar and short-course programs, but current trends in the industry indicate the need for a further expansion of graduate-level courses to be taught off campus in selected geographical areas.
In 1990-91 over 700 attendees participated in twenty-four short courses offered by Textiles Extension. Participants came from thirty-five states and eight foreign countries. In addition, Textiles Extension offered thirteen in-plant courses, implemented programs to help public secondary education, conducted applied research, and provided technical assistance to individual companies.
Program planning in Textiles Extension is conducted in a similar fashion to program planning in Industrial Extension. Input from industrial advisory boards and feedback from program participants are used together with faculty perspectives to develop program plans.
Administered by co-directors, Humanities Extension relies on the College of Humanities and Social Sciences' teaching and research faculty to develop programs and then present them statewide. Public participants typically work with a county extension liaison or a school supervisor to schedule free public workshops and seminars from a menu of educational offerings. In 1990-91, 380 citizens took part in ten of these late-afternoon or evening seminars. In addition, there were eleven teacher workshops in which 449 professionals earned certificate-renewal credit.
Humanities Extension also conducts summer institutes in this country and abroad. Summer writing camps for 4-H'ers and other middle school youth held at five sites reached 162 children in 1991. Through its public school Outreach Program, some forty professors were invited to over 100 campuses across the state that year. Outreach faculty taught more than 200 middle and high school classes with 7,000 students. About forty of these presentations were videotaped for later use in other classes.
Humanities Extension has also developed an original library of video and print curriculum materials sold at cost, which are in wide use in North Carolina public schools. A signal success has been the statewide adoption of Living in Europe and Eurasia, a sixth-grade social studies textbook complete with thirteen original videotapes, offered by Humanities Extension Publications in 1992. This new initiative will undergo intensive development within the existing program. A cooperative agreement between Humanities Extension and the NCSU Department of Communication now supports the production, worldwide, of additional original video complements to the texts projected for public school adoption. Selections of this videography are also featured in Humanities Extension's adult seminars, teacher workshops, and summer institutes.
A new menu of these offerings is now under way.
Office of Continuing Education and Professional Development: By providing noncredit short courses, institutes, and conferences, this office facilitates the University's efforts to meet its land-grant tradition of providing education to all the people [4.3.1]. Each year the division delivers more than 700 noncredit short courses and conferences, which are attended by approximately 22,000 participants.A somewhat unique expression of the University's outreach mission is its Lifelong Education student program, which is offered on campus under the coordination of the Office of Adult Credit Programs and Summer Sessions. Through this program, all of NCSU's colleges and schools and departments provide access to their faculties, classrooms, and laboratories to adult nondegree students in the Research Triangle area. Over 4,000 area adults enroll in regularly scheduled classes each semester. These enrollments take place in day or evening classes offered at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Thus, although NCSU does not administer an "evening college," it does offer a substantial "extended-day" program, with more than 400 classes being taught after hours each semester. All of these classes are part of the regular-term instruction of the University, under the complete control of the offering departments, and taught "in-load" by the regular faculty or fully credentialed adjunct faculty.Encore Center for Lifelong Enrichment: The Encore Center is a membership-supported, member-driven program of lifelong enrichment for adults over fifty years of age. A diversity of learning experiences are developed and delivered every semester. These include but are not limited to noncredit courses, colloquia, study trips, special events, and a fitness program.
Instructional Telecommunications: The primary activity of the Office of Instructional Telecommunications is to facilitate the delivery of NCSU coursework to interested off-campus individuals and groups by using voice, data, and video technologies. The most prominent programs in place to date are the Courses via Raleigh Cable and Courses via Videocassette television-based systems.
Jane S. McKimmon Center: The McKimmon Center's primary purpose is to provide space, facilities, and services for adult-education programs. The center contains 116,500 square feet of conference and office space, with sixteen conference rooms that can be divided into twenty-three rooms to accommodate small conferences as well as large national meetings. Well over 1 million individuals have continued their educations by attending programs offered at the McKimmon Center. Current usage exceeds 100,000 per year and is straining the facility.
Adult Credit Programs and Summer Sessions: Serving as the outreach component of Academic Affairs, this office recruits, registers, and advises adult nondegree students who enroll in day and evening courses on campus. The office also facilitates the University's offering of off-campus credit courses and programs and directs the University's summer sessions. The office, located in the McKimmon Conference Center, reports to the provost through the vice-chancellor for research, outreach, and extension.
Each year 2,500 to 3,000 registrations are recorded in academic-credit courses that are offered off campus. No courses are offered for academic credit off campus that have not been approved and reviewed to be taught on campus. No faculty may teach off campus who have not been approved and reviewed as they would be on campus. In addition, the UNC procedures require the president to review and evaluate all off-campus credit programs at the end of their fourth year before granting permission for them to continue.
NCSU takes a conservative approach to offering outreach activities that involve academic credit. For example, there are no separate admissions policies for individuals enrolling in degree-related extension instruction. All admissions policies and procedures are controlled by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, the Graduate School, or the College of Veterinary Medicine.
In general, NCSU's continuing-education courses follow a traditional format: a fall and spring semester of approximately fifteen weeks each, and two summer sessions of five weeks each. Occasionally a more concentrated format is employed as, for example, our Three-Week Institute for Adult Educators. In such cases, NCSU subscribes to the guidelines of the Council of Graduate Schools, which call for no less than one week of school for each semester hour of credit awarded.
In offering extension programs, NCSU is in full compliance with the University of North Carolina system's Policies and Procedures for Planning and Conducting Degree-Related Extension Instruction. Although the UNC procedures are annually updated to include all current SACS requirements, they pre-date the SACS criteria and are much more detailed in their proscriptions. Through these procedures, the University's Board of Governors is in direct oversight of continuing-education activities. Through its procedural mechanisms, the UNC General Administration approves the extent to which NCSU offers extension credit programs.
The responsibility for ensuring compliance with the UNC procedures and SACS requirements is given to the Office of Adult Credit Programs and Summer Sessions. The associate vice-chancellor for outreach, extension, and continuing studies is charged with assuring universitywide compliance with the Commission on Colleges' document C.E.U.: Guidelines and Criteria.
NCSU does not award portfolio-based credit for prior experiential learning. All faculty who teach extension courses for credit on or off campus are the University's regular faculty or visiting/adjunct faculty who have met all of the appropriate criteria to be appointed by the teaching departments. Faculty who teach in continuing education courses for credit thus are evaluated in the same manner as all other faculty at the University and are given the same consideration in matters of salary, promotion, professional security and other benefits as all other faculty at the University.
All on-campus credit courses and programs, including those attended by Lifelong Education students, are systematically evaluated by course and curriculum committees at the department, college and school, and university levels in addition to review by the Administrative Board of the Graduate School and the provost. The faculty teaching in these programs are evaluated each semester by the students in their classes and must also undergo the review process required for promotion and tenure decisions [4.3 inclusive].
The present policy of the state of North Carolina is that some funding is provided for basic, continuing administrative support of degree-related extension instruction, but the instructional costs themselves must be met from student fees. This policy severely limits the University in delivering off-campus credit courses to all the potential citizens of the state who could benefit from being enrolled in them. The policy is short-sighted at best and ultimately exclusionary since ability to pay becomes the primary criterion upon which a decision to offer a program is based.
NCSU's international connections are also enhanced by its study-abroad programs, international area study groups, and the NCSU Japan Center (see International Programs at NCSU in the self-study library).
In the School of Design, extension and public service are integral to virtually all faculty members' studio programs and individual activities. For example, students work with citizens in community-revitalization programs to develop plans to revitalize downtown areas.
The College of Forest Resources, in addition to being a part of the Cooperative Extension Service, conducts a variety of outreach programs including disseminating over 1,000 training and technology videos to the woodworking industry last year, and applying forestry-research results through industry-college cooperatives.
The College of Veterinary Medicine supports commodity groups, producers, and farmers through medicine-based consulting and clinical services. The teaching hospital provides services to a large number of animalsover 11,700 small animals and 1,275 large animals in 1991-92. The college also works with the Cooperative Extension Service to promote and deliver programs.
The primary outreach programs of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences are directed to North Carolina's public-school students and teachers. The Science House is a new PAMS program designed to improve the quality of science education.
Public-school students and teachers are also the target of the College of Education and Psychology's outreach programs. The College of Education and Psychology houses a multidisciplinary, campuswide Office of School Services, which has produced a directory of resources available to public schools. In addition, education extension programs serve precollege teachers and students from diverse populations across North Carolina. More than 500 teachers participate annually in professional development and leadership programs that support current educational reform efforts. More than 500 precollege students participate annually in special programs to diagnose and remediate their learning difficulties, encourage and support under-represented students in college preparatory courses in grades 6 through 12, and provide competitions and courses for gifted and talented students.
Research centers, institutes and laboratories that include outreach in their summary of activities are the Center for Aseptic Processing and Packaging Studies, Southeast Dairy Foods Research Center, Southeastern Plant Environmental Laboratories, Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education, Center for Engineering Applications of Radioisotopes, Center for Urban Affairs and Community Services, Furniture Manufacturing and Management Center, Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering Institute, Minerals Research Laboratory, Nuclear Reactor Program, Center for Transportation Engineering Studies, Industry Research Programs in Forestry, Hodges Wood Products Laboratory, Institute of Statistics, Non-wovens Cooperative Research Center, Center for Economic and Business Studies, UNC Sea Grant College Program, and the North Carolina Solar Center.
The largest of these programs is the Marine Advisory Service, a component of the UNC Sea Grant Program. Examples of the program's numerous interactions with the coastal public include the use of Sea Grant research to help a firm manufacture stainless steel connections for coastal construction, the first model water-use plan for the East Coast (developed for Carteret County), and new sand-filtration systems to expand the crab-shedding business.
Public service centers, institutes, and laboratories that offer extension services are the North Carolina Japan Center, Center for Urban Affairs and Community Services, and the International Trade Center.
The annual plan of each college or school is made up from individual reports of each of the college's or school's departments. Each departmental plan includes the mission of the department and delineates how the departmental mission coincides with the overall mission of the University [4.3.1]. In a Progress toward Goals section, the department reports on specific outreach, extension, and service activities relating to the goals listed in the department's last annual plan. Emphasis in evaluation is moving from measurement of inputs (meetings held, publications distributed, etc.) to measurement of outputs or program impacts (dollars saved, resources conserved, practices changed, knowledge gained). Progress in these efforts varies greatly from program to program.
On an individual basis, each faculty member submits an annual faculty activities report (this report has different forms and names in the various schools and colleges) that lists the faculty member's activities in outreach, extension, and service areas for the previous reporting year.
As discussed in the chapter on Institutional Effectiveness, NCSU has recently developed a plan for assessing extension and outreach programs.
Recommendation 7.24: NCSU should implement its universitywide planning and evaluation system for extension and outreach programs, and collect and disseminate uniform and systematic impact data for such programs.
Chapter 6 of the Faculty Handbook details both the faculty's rights and responsibilities with respect to academic freedom: "It is the policy of The University of North Carolina to support and encourage full freedom, within the law, of inquiry, discourse, teaching, research, and publication for all members of the academic staffs of the constituent institutions. Members of the faculty are expected to recognize that accuracy, forthrightness and dignity befit their association with The University and their position as men and women of learning. They should not represent themselves, without authorization, as spokesmen for The University of North Carolina or any of its constituent institutions."
This statement does not specifically exclude or include the areas of outreach, extension, and service. However, this section is an overall protective statement that would be interpreted as applying to those areas. In the self-study survey, 60 percent of faculty respondents agreed that NCSU offers protection for academic freedom in this activity. Of extension faculty, 88 percent agreed that they had adequate academic freedom.
Quality Standard: The institution must establish a clear policy concerning a faculty member's division of obligations between outreach and extension and public service activities and other academic activities. The institution must ensure that this policy is published in such documents as the faculty handbook and made known to all faculty members.
NCSU's commitment to outreach and extension is clear in its Mission Statement. The manner in which the division of duties between extension and outreach and other obligations is made known to each faculty member varies from college to college within the University. To establish the division of duties, many colleges record and publish percentages of expected effort for each faculty members in outreach and extension and other areas. Other colleges rely on individual communication between each faculty member and the department head. The Faculty Handbook (1987, p. 42) stipulates that each faculty member must have periodic performance evaluations in which the division of obligations is discussed.
In general, faculty are positive in their assessment of outreach and extension. In the self-study survey, 60 percent of faculty respondents agreed that faculty demonstrate high levels of competence in outreach and extension. In the extension survey, the proportion is 75 percent. Furthermore, 87 percent of the respondents to the extension survey agreed that, as a land-grant university, NCSU is unique because of "our mission to help the people of North Carolina solve problems." A negative finding is that 69 percent disagree with the statement that faculty are generally very interested in extension and outreach.
A majority of faculty in the self-study survey feel that they have sufficient time for outreach and extension, among those who have an opinion on this matter, although the proportion (62 percent) is somewhat less than the proportion who judge their time for research to be sufficient (65 percent). Viewed from the opposite perspective, 38 percent of the faculty who are engaged in extension and have an opinion feel that they do not have sufficient time for their work.
The Faculty Handbook stipulates that every faculty member should have a "periodic review" and that "all faculty members shall submit an annual activity report concerning their professional activities and achievements during the previous year." Each department meets this obligation by its own system of consideration. The annual activity report has many different forms; but each provides an appropriate area to report the extension, outreach, and service that the faculty member performed in the previous year. This allows each department to use the activity report during the performance review to determine that the goals and the effort percentage of extension, outreach, and service that the faculty member reports are within the guidelines and expectations of the department.
In the self-study survey, only half of those involved in extension felt that workload decisions give adequate credit for this activity, and even fewer42 percentfelt that the criteria for evaluating faculty performance in outreach and extension are clear. In response to similar items in the extension survey, 80 percent felt that faculty get conflicting messages about extension and outreach, and two thirds agreed that the disincentives for outreach and extension outweigh the incentives for doing such work. Three fourths felt that too little attention is given to helping faculty conduct effective programs.
As the following responses indicate, the two surveys present mixed assessments concerning other forms of recognition:
47 percent indicated that promotion and tenure policies and decisions adequately reward outreach and extension (self-study survey)34 percent indicated that promotion and tenure policies relative to outreach and extension are equitable and fair (outreach and extension survey)
60 percent indicated that excellence in outreach and extension is adequately recognized (self-study survey)
69 percent indicated that faculty in my department who are involved with outreach and extension have less opportunity for promotion, tenure, or raises (outreach and extension survey)
64 percent indicated that NCSU's environment supports outreach and extension (self-study survey)
56 percent indicated that NCSU's environment supports extension and outreach (outreach and extension survey).
These results indicate that most faculty in extension feel that excellent performance is likely to be recognized and that the University generally supports extension. A majority, however, feel that the extension efforts will not be given adequate weight in promotion and tenure decisions, that promotion and tenure policies are not fair in assessing outreach and extension, and that departmental colleagues who are engaged in these activities have fewer opportunities for rewards.
Recommendation 7.25: NCSU should evaluate the teaching, University service, outreach and extension, and research of its faculty equitably in an annual faculty evaluation that is conducted at all institutional levels (department, college or school, and university).
Appropriate consideration and recognition implies the implementation of some regular procedures. Each faculty member should meet with his or her department head annually to review level of effort to be committed to outreach and extension, research, teaching, and service for the coming year. Each department and college should have a clearly defined and quantifiable commitment to research, teaching, and outreach and extension. Each department and college should identify the percentage of faculty time committed to each function (outreach and extension, research, teaching, and service) in the annual college plan. Accomplishments associated with each specified activity (outreach and extension, research, teaching, service) should be listed on a standard, universitywide reporting form and should be evaluated equitably in an annual faculty evaluation that is conducted at all institutional levels (department, college or school, university).
In pursuit of improved evaluation of the outreach and extension activities of faculty, the University Extension Operations Council has developed a revision of the annual faculty reporting form and has recommended its adoption. On this form, outreach and extension are evaluated more comprehensively and more in terms of impact than heretofore.
Year EPA SPA Total*** Figures were provided by extension administration in each college or school------- ----- ----- ----- 1987-88 329.5 288.3 617.8
1988-89 335.9 285.9 631.8
1989-90 343.7 297.3 641.0
1990-91 338.6 286.1 624.7
1991-92 329.9 280.6 610.5
** Does not include Cooperative Extension county field faculty
It is also noteworthy that 84 percent of all outreach and extension publications were reported by the Cooperative Extension Service, located in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Forest Resources.
Extension Journal Popular Books and
Year publications pubications press book chapters Other** Total
---- ------------ ----------- ------- ------------- ----- -----
1987-88 201 62 163 6 98 530
1988-89 314 66 174 3 135 692
1989-90 303 88 178 11 150 730
1990-91 217 74 170 11 163 185
1991-92 275 86 182 16 185 744
* Figures were provided by extension administration in each college or school
** Category includes papers in proceedings, technical reports, manuals, exhibits,
etc.
Faculty in traditional extension areas are quite productive, and publications for new program areas and diverse customers continue to develop. This activity is expanding the spectrum of clients reached by the University's extension and outreach activities. As newer programs in outreach and extension provide greater numbers and diversity of publications, a more balanced offering between traditional and developing strengths in outreach and extension will be achieved. This balanced spectrum of publications is a key ingredient to NCSU's achieving preeminence in outreach and extension.
Recommendation 7.26: NCSU faculty should increase distribution of information from outreach and extension programs, especially from colleges and departments with newly developing programs.
Electronic communication of knowledge is becoming the norm instead of the exception. New and emerging technologies will revolutionize the way in which outreach and extension information is provided to an expanding base of clients. A new generation of consumers, business professionals, agriculturalists, and manufacturers who are computer literate and view computer-based communication of information as routine are approaching adulthood. Current professionals in business, education, and industry are also becoming computer literate and are eager to take advantage of the new informational services that are in place or will be in the near future. Computer-based communication and information storage and retrieval will become a dominant force as we approach the twenty-first century. To reach this expanding audience, it is critical that NCSU take advantage of the newer means of communication and information storage and retrieval that now exist and are becoming available.
Recommendation 7.27: NCSU should promote and support the increased use of newer means of communications (e.g., electronics, computers, satellites, and distance learning) as a means of distributing outreach and extension information.
Contributions
Year Federal State and grants Gifts Other Total
------- ------- ------- ------ ----- ------- -------
1987-88 $13.746 $30.661 $1.468 $.016 $23.841 $69.732
1988-89 $14.354 $32.828 $1.322 $.070 $25.275 $73.849
1989-90 $14.851 $35.374 $1.368 $.142 $26.594 $78.329
1990-91 $15.334 $34.473 $3.690 $.180 $28.001 $81.678
1991-92 $16.290 $33.148 $4.488 $.109 $28.892 $82.927
* Figures were provided by extension administration in each college or school
** Category includes foundations, sales, fees, and memberships
The sources of support for outreach and extension are largely internal. According to the self-study survey, only 13 percent of those involved in extension receive external funding for over 75 percent of their outreach and extension activities. On the other hand, three-quarters of the faculty secure external funding for as much as one quarter of their outreach and extension activities. According to the extension survey, only 29 percent of respondents have received any grants or contracts during the previous two years, although just over half (51 percent) have consulted for pay with outside groups or organizations during this period.
In order to improve outreach and extension, most faculty feel that a range of additional resources are somewhat to very important [4.3.2]. In the fall 1992 self-study survey of faculty involved in extension, respondents labeled the following scarcity of resources at NCSU as "important" or "somewhat important."
83 percent indicated the need for additional continuing support funds71 percent indicated the need for more competitive faculty salaries
56 percent indicated the need for additional outreach and extension space and facilities
51 percent indicated the need for greater access to outreach and extension equipment
45 percent indicated the need for additional faculty
43 percent indicated the need for additional graduate students.
Except that the position of the last two items is reversed, this is virtually the same priority ranking as found in research.
Most faculty are not dissatisfied with the facilities and support services in their own department for outreach and extension, although most feel that new faculty need seed money. Respondents to the self-study survey of extension faculty said that departmental resources were inadequate in the following categories:
26 percent said that facilities for outreach and extension were inadequate37 percent said that support services for outreach and extension was inadequate
61 percent said that seed money for new faculty for outreach and extension was inadequate.
Recommendation 7.28: NCSU should encourage faculty engaged in outreach and extension activities to seek additional funding from private and industry sources
aggressively.
Recommendation 7.29: NCSU should maintain information on funding opportunities for outreach and extension at a specified and accessible location within each college or school and should make such information available to faculty on an electronic network.
Year Indirect costs---- -------------- 1987-88 $23,053
1988-89 $10,096
1989-90 $48,008
1990-91 $109,172
1991-92 $31,561
University policy concerning distribution of indirect costs returned to the University was presented in the research section above.
North Carolina State University possesses excellent facilities and equipment to support its outreach and extension programs, but the quality of, and need for resources varies from college to college [4.3.2]. Funding for the development, management and maintenance of the resources is frequently the responsibility of the college or department. This presents serious problems during times of declining budgets.
Substantial funding is needed currently for satisfactory maintenance and operation of field facilities, to upgrade telecommunications, and to expand the McKimmon Center to meet present needs. Additional effort is also necessary to coordinate across colleges the development and use of state-of-the-art communication technologies.
To keep up with an increasing demand from the general University community and from the continuing education program, the McKimmon Center is currently seeking funds for expansion and modernization. Areas of greatest need are new classrooms and conference rooms, and educational and communication technologies that are in line with current technological developments.
Recommendation 7.30: NCSU should expand and renovate the classroom and conference facilities at the McKimmon Center, and should update its educational and communication technologies.
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has video production capability used by extension and teaching for instructional and administrative purposes. It also has satellite downlinks on campus, at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center at Fletcher, and at a small number of county extension offices.
The College of Engineering uses microwave, satellite (uplink and downlink), and videocassettes for distance learning, offering a Master of Engineering degree available only via telecommunications. The college is a member of the National Technological University and broadcasts graduate courses throughout North America via satellite.
The College of Forest Resources produces noncredit instructional videocassettes primarily for the wood-products industry. It is also evaluating the use of computer conferencing.
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences houses one of the University's first "video class system room" used primarily to produce credit courses for distribution via cable and videocassette. The College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences is developing a similar facility to develop both credit and noncredit programs.
The College of Textiles has the oldest and most comprehensive telecommunications program. The Textile Off- Campus Televised Education program (TOTE) offers a Master of Textiles degree and eight certificate programs via videocassette.
Other NCSU telecommunications activities include participation in public television, the local cable Education Channel, a statewide microwave system (CONCERT), and operation of a conventional television and video-production facility.
Another essential component of the University telecommunication system is the campus wiring infrastructure. A plan has been developed to install the University's standard wiring plan (voice, data, and video) in all buildings by 1997 and provide fiber-optic network access. Currently, twenty-four buildings (out of 126) have standard wiring and fifty have fiber-optic cable. In addition, telephone system upgrades are continuing: all rotary dial telephones have been replaced with touchtone service and the University is gradually moving toward a single-line-per-user system (see NCSU Instructional Telecommunications Status Report, December 1992, in self-study library).
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has ten field laboratories totaling almost 4,000 acres. Most of these are within easy reach of the campus. In addition, there are fifteen outlying research stations funded by either the North Carolina Department of Agriculture or North Carolina State University. Three of the outlying stations have conference facilities, allowing them to be used for a broad range of educational programs. The 4- H program within the Cooperative Extension Service also operates several camps in different parts of the state. These range from primitive camps to a fully equipped environmental education center. These camps are used primarily for youth education.
The College of Forest Resources controls six forests totaling almost 87,000 acres. These are located in North Carolina's piedmont and coastal regions. The forests are used for research, teaching, and outreach. Their ownership stability provides a unique opportunity for the long-term field work necessary in forestry. One of the forests includes a 20,000-square-foot permanent camp facility that is used for a ten-week summer program as well as for a variety of off-season conferences.
