VIMS Listening Session Feb. 5

Virginia Sea Grant will be holding a listening session at VIMS to get feedback for the strategic planning process:

Thursday, February 5, 2009
2:00–4:00 p.m.
Watermen’s Classroom A/B

Plaease join us!

Download this flyer to post or send to colleagues and friends.

VASG’s strengths

As additional background information for your workgroup deliberations, here is a summary of how Virginia Sea Grant (VASG) has historically spent its research and program development (PD) funds. This provides one indicator of research strengths and capacities, and can lead to discussions of gaps that need filling, emerging opportunities and challenges for research.

Funding. The pie chart below shows the expenditures of VASG’s research funds in the current year’s budget by focus area. It reflects dollar values and not number of individual projects.

Projects. Below is a list of 32 research projects and 32 research-oriented program development projects, by focus area, funded since 2000. Many projects overlap focus areas and we’ve listed them in all relevant focus areas to show the breadth of VASG research (so individual projects may be listed more than once). National Strategic Initiative grants (NSIs) won by VA principal investigators are listed separately.

Sample strategic plans from other states

Check out these strategic plans from other state Sea Grant programs. Some (like Texas and Louisiana) are new plans done since the national plan was updated, while others are a bit older but offer good examples of how to set goals and objectives and how to organize a plan. I particularly like the way the Illinois-Indiana and Massachusetts (WHOI) plans are set up. Browse around and hopefully you will find some inspiration for your workgroup. If you do, post a comment to let everyone else know which plan you think is a good example and why.

Planning update from VASG director Troy Hartley

Hi Everyone,

VASG will be picking up steam on strategic planning over the next six months with workgroups examining five specific focus areas. But the process was initiated in the spring of 2008, before I started as Director. It continued in the fall, after I came on board, with over twenty informational meetings and discussions across the state.

I held meetings with all of VASG’s partner institutions, as well as stakeholder groups throughout the Commonwealth. A list of meetings appears in the full version of this entry. Many themes – both focus areas for our work and tactical approaches to address coastal and marine issues – emerged from those meetings

Calendar of stakeholder meetings posted

Attention workgroup chairs and co-chairs!

A draft calendar of opportunities to meet with and engage stakeholders in the planning process is now available. You can add items directly to the wordpress version of the calendar using an authorized wordpress account (instructions to come via email). If you prefer, you can simply email Margaret P. with items to add to the calendar, or post items them in a comment right here.

Give us some feedback!

We’d like to get your thoughts on the most pressing coastal and marine issues in Virginia. What are they and how can Virginia Sea Grant can address them?

Please read about the issues we have identified in our strategic planning handout, and then use this brief survey to give us your thoughts . . .

Or just enter your thoughts as a comment to this post.

Thanks!

Guidelines for workgroups

Guidelines have been drafted for the strategic planning workgroups. There will be five workgroups:

• Safe and Sustainable Seafood 1: Fisheries and Aquaculture
• Safe and Sustainable Seafood 2: Seafood Safety, Processing, and Health
• Sustainable Coastal Development and Hazard Resilience in Coastal Communities
• Healthy Coastal Ecosystems
• Coastal and Ocean Literacy

Welcome to the strategic planning process

We’ve established this blog to keep all participants and stakeholders up-to-date on the planning process. Listening sessions are continuing to gather your feedback. Check here frequently for more opportunities to contribute.