Pesticide Regulatory Education Program August 16-18

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Dear PREP Community:

We invite you to participate in the 2011 Pesticide Regulatory Education Program: Senior Executive Program Management Course to be held Tuesday-Thursday, August 16-18, 2011 on the UC Davis campus in Davis, California. This three-day course is offered by UC Davis Extension and funded by a grant provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The goal of this course is to provide mid- to upper-level pesticide program managers with an opportunity to strengthen the quality of their leadership skills and a forum to engage in high level discussions in areas that would most benefit the states, tribes and territories in moving their respective pesticide programs forward.

Topics for this three-day course may include:
Discussions under the umbrella of “change management” concerning your mission, your resources (succession planning, other personnel matters), and your capacity
innovative program and enforcement approaches
how pesticide program managers/senior executives interact with elected officials
cross-jurisdictional authorities (including more than pesticides) and
leadership skills

The target audience for this course is mid- to upper-level pesticide program managers. New and alumni participants are encouraged to apply. The course schedule includes lectures and group discussions. The planning group will review all nominations for selection and participants will receive a formal acceptance letter.

In consideration of the environment and as a cost savings measure, we are piloting a paperless PREP course! We will not provide a course notebook as with previous courses. Instead we will provide you with a flash drive containing all of the course presentations. We invite you to bring your own laptop if you elect to follow the slides through any given session. The room will have ample power ports for your use. Once the course is over we welcome your feedback on this innovation and how to best serve the needs of attendees.

To ensure your agency's attendance, please nominate one individual who meets our target audience criteria by Tuesday, May 31, 2011. We will be accepting 26 people from states/tribes/territories into this course, in addition to as many interested U.S. EPA participants as space permits. All travel costs, accommodations, expenses and training materials for the program will be provided to all state/tribal/territory participants (excluding EPA participants.) We require a commitment from all participants for the entire three-day session, which includes a graduation dinner held on the last evening of class.

For the past few years several of the PREP classes were oversubscribed resulting in a number of unsuccessful nominations. To better clarify the process for selecting attendees the PREP Steering Committee has approved a written process. Please refer to the attached Selection Process document.

After referring to the attached Selection Process document, please complete the attached nomination form along with a description of the nominee’s current job responsibilities. Also indicate how the nominee meets the target audience and why training is essential to their position. Please note that planning groups consider responses in all three of these areas when making attendee selection. Return nomination materials in their entirety and in Word format by Tuesday, May 31, 2011 via e-mail to Jennifer Caulfield at jcaulfield@ucde.ucdavis.edu. Please do not mail and do not submit hand-written nomination forms as PDF files. (If you do not have email capabilities at your agency, then call Jennifer at (530) 757-8630 to make other submittal arrangements.) After you email your nomination form, Jennifer will provide an email receipt of your submission within 5 days. We will update the web site every few days with a list of nominations received. It does not indicate acceptance into the course, only that we have your submission. If you do not see your nomination listed on the web or have not received from us a message that we have it, then we do not have your materials! In this case please call Jennifer Caulfield at (530) 757-8630. We will notify participants of their placement in the course along with travel and logistical information by late June. If your agency requires a very lengthy and onerous travel authorization process then we urge you to request approval right away in the event you are accepted into the course. If you are selected to attend and cannot obtain travel approval and meet the ticketing deadline of July 1st then you may be placed on the waiting list to allow other participants to attend. If you need more information on the nomination process, call Suzanne Forsyth at (530) 757-8603 or visit the PREP website at http://www.prep-gov.net.

Pending your acceptance into the course you will receive a travel voucher with full instructions. Please ensure your nomination form indicates the address where you would like your reimbursement mailed (if it is different than your work address.) If you do not provide an alternate (e.g., home) address, then your check will be mailed to your attention at the agency address provided on your nomination form. As such, please make sure to fully indicate in your agency address any pertinent mailstops or other delivery information that will expedite the delivery of your payment.

We look forward to continuing our work in presenting this worthwhile program and appreciate your assistance in selecting appropriate individuals.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Forsyth
PREP Program Manager
Engineering Unit
UC Davis Extension
1333 Research Park Drive
Davis, CA 95618
(530) 757-8603
sforsyth@ucde.ucdavis.eduDea Zimmerman
PREP Coordinator
U.S. EPA
Office of Pesticide Programs
77 West Jackson Blvd., Mail Code: LC-8J
Chicago, IL 60604-3507(312) 353-6344
zimmerman.dea@epa.gov