Talking FACS
What is Talking FACS?
Topic: What is Talking FACS?
Host: Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension
Guest: Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support
0:00 Welcome to Talking FACS. What you need to know about family, food, finance and fitness. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension program. Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families and communities to improve quality of life.
0:20 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Hello and welcome to Talking FACS. We're excited today to launch our new podcast. This is Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family Consumer Sciences Extension. And today, I am joined by Mindy McCulley, our Extension Specialist for Instructional Design. Which really means that she helps us manage our marketing, media and all things associated with technology. Welcome Mindy.
0:44 Mindy McCulley: Hello. Happy to be here.
0:46 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So, Mindy, I am excited and I think you are excited too, for us to be launching our new podcast. So, let's start with the name, Talking FACS. What does FACS stand for?
0:59 Mindy McCulley: So, FACS stands for Family and Consumer Sciences. And, it's a great opportunity for us to share the things that we know about family and consumer science with everybody out there in the virtual world.
1:09 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right. So, as we think about family and consumer sciences extension, what all does that encompass?
1:15 Mindy McCulley: So, we have specialists that focus on areas such as family finances. We have nutrition and health. We have housing, energy and environment and–
1:25 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Nutrition and– really and truly, when I think about FCS Extension, and when I try to explain it to other individuals or people that are not familiar with FCS Extension, I often tell them that we provide life skills education.
1:40 Mindy McCulley: That's exactly right.
1:41 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: And that we really try and target our educational material to everyday consumers, everyday families. And that's one thing that I think is so neat about the podcast opportunity is because I have, especially with two young kiddos, all kinds of crazy questions that run through my head that sometimes I would just like to hear what other people have to say about them or think about them. And I really think that that's where our specialists can provide some insights to consumers and families.
2:10 Mindy McCulley: Exactly. And we do programming from birth to the grave. So, we have the opportunity to really touch every segment of a person's life through family and consumer sciences.
2:20 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right. So, let's talk a little bit about our topics that we hope to cover through the podcasts. So, we have done a little bit of information sourcing, information gathering to really, truly identify those topics that we think will most interest consumers. And so, what is it that we have coming up on our list?
2:38 Mindy McCulley: So, we have everything. We've talked about how to shop at the grocery store and how to save money when you're just basically doing your regular, daily grocery shopping. We're going to talk about athletic wear and how to choose the proper athletic wear for your situation, for what you're doing and for your budget as well.
We're going to talk about how to move out of your parent’s basement and do things that are appropriate for your financial stage and situation and your age and situation and that sort of thing. So, we've got lots of opportunities.
3:16 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right. One of my favorite topics that I know is coming up early in the podcast queue focuses on understanding the teenage brain.
3:25 Mindy McCulley: Oh yeah.
3:26 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: And having a teenager at home, that’s the one that I'm really looking forward to learning more about from our specialist.
So, let's talk a little bit about our specialist. So, we have a team of extension specialists that are available to us through Family Consumer Sciences Extension as well as a multitude of resources of individuals available to us just from the University of Kentucky in general. And then another aspect of the podcasts that I'm really excited about is our Nutrition Education Program is going to be offering a series called ‘Ask the Farmer’, which focuses on the nutrition education program calendar. Could you tell us a little bit more about that calendar and how that works?
4:10 Mindy McCulley: So, the calendar has, of course, each month has a different recipe that they focus on and the recipes look at different commodities that are available during that particular month. So, if we're talking about May, strawberries are something that would be available or asparagus. And so, they're going to have recipes that line up with the month and then they're going to talk to the farmer who is actually out there growing that commodity; whether it's a strawberries or asparagus or even later on in the summer, we'll be talking to people who are growing corn and cucumbers and zucchini.
4:44 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right.
4:45 Mindy McCulley: Because that's one of those things that's always out there.
4:46 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So, I really think that that will be a neat addition over the summer months as well. So, we hope that individuals choose to download the Talking FACS podcast and then also we really want folks to give us their feedback. So, please share with us topic ideas that you may have. You can always comment on our Facebook page which is–
5:11 Mindy McCulley: UKFCSExt.
5:13 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Excellent. And so, they can like us there, they can leave us a comment and that type of information I know that you monitor on a regular basis and will feed directly back to our specialist team and we can incorporate it into our feature podcast schedules.
5:28 Mindy McCulley: Yes. And the other exciting thing is that we do have 120 offices in every county in the state. And so, if people need more information about something that we talk about on the podcasts and they can always go back to the county office and get more information.
5:40 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right. And I think that that is a great point is that on all the topics that we share about, that we do have additional resources available through our local county extension offices. And one thing that I think is a true asset of our local extension offices is that they are able to bring that researched based information from the University of Kentucky to the people in their local communities.
Excellent. Well, thanks so much for joining me today, Mindy, and helping us promote the podcast and we look forward to getting it up and started and ready for listeners.
6:14 Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition, health, resource management, family development and civic engagement. If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea, leave a like and comment on Facebook at UKFCSEXT. Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu or contact your local extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences. We build strong families. It starts with us.