- Author: Deanne Meyer
Congratulations to Placer/Nevada Master Gardeners who rocked the house on giving day! This awesome group of volunteers certainly cultivated donors well to be responsible for many donations. You set an example for others to reach. Well done!
Last week was filled with evaluations, analyses and planning to move construction projects forward on three of our Research and Extension Centers (REC). On Monday,Darren Haver, Annemiek Schilder, Adam Novicki and I spent hours working through important conversations about the move from Falkner Farms to the new location. There is much planning to do and great opportunities for our future. Although every move has its disruptions, I can't wait to see the exciting new projects that will happen to address ANR program areas in Ventura County. Tuesday, at South Coast REC Darren and I worked with Chris Martinez (Center Superintendent), Adolfo Limon, Brian Krall, Brian Oatman, Jennifer Bunge, and Maru Fernandez with the ICAMP project lists (integrated capital asset management program). Items on the list are assets whose previous condition assessment fared poorly; repairs needed or falling apart. It's important to physically take the list to the locations and go through them line by line. We do not want to invest in a project that was either already completed or no longer existed. Then we braved traffic and headed southeast to Desert REC. Wednesday started early in an attempt and avoid the heat of the day. Jairo Diaz (Director) and Gilberto Magallon (Center Superintendent) hosted us as we looked at irrigation pumps/reservoirs, buildings, the feed mill, metabolism room and numerous other buildings.
Elizabeth Moon, Director of Workplace Inclusion and Belonging joined us on our journey. She was able to meet with County and ANR members at both locations and gain an appreciation for the depth and breadth of work we do. It's one thing to look at our websites. It's very different when you walk around and see, touch, smell, feel the work we do. Master Food Preservers were working on a project at SCREC. Turns out there wasn't enough liquid in what they were making so the recipe needed a modification. Everyone huddled around to figure it out. We didn't stay long enough to see their final products. I'm sure it was successful!
Academics know this is the time of year when the peer review process winds down. A HUGE SHOUT OUT of gratitude to colleagues who put in countless hours on the Peer Review Committee. The comments I've seen thus far are thorough, thoughtful, and professional. A big THANK YOU to Stephen Worker, Daniel Obrist and Anna Lee who worked made the process go as smoothly as possible. Since it's not quite done yet, there is more heavy lifting with final decision letters, updating UC Path and providing results to all applicants. I remain busy re-reading dossiers and all supporting letters while writing and refining final letters. My recommendation to all-- READ and FOLLOW the eBook guidelines. Although it may be easier for the academic to include all kinds of information in tables and lists that is outside of the review period, it leaves a poor impression on the individual reading the materials.
- Author: Wendy Powers
This is a bit of a sad time of year, when I learn of all the pending departures due to retirement. Don't get me wrong, I fully recognize the excitement associated with retirement. Bill, Lorna, and others keep me well aware of the advantages. I can't help but feel a bit sad about the exodus of talent and the possibility of not interacting with those who are moving on. Fortunately, we have this ‘recall' mechanism to prevent many from really ever getting too far away.
I heard from one of our emeriti, Rose, today. She alerted us that Mike Hsu and Pam Kan-Rice offered a webinar today for Extension Foundation about using Twitter and social media for media relations. Rose said it was “absolutely wonderful and nearly two dozen Extension professionals from around the nation participated. The UCANR team is so skilled at social media use, and really models positive things for other Extension organizations.” Thanks Pam and Mike for providing that training!
This is also the time of year when I am deep into reading merit and promotion packages. I have 8 remaining to read for my first review! Following, I start going through the supervisor comments, evaluator letters, ad hoc committee reviews, and Peer Review Committee recommendations. This first read through is my favorite part – hearing about the wonderful accomplishments, the aspirations, and the impact of those who have worked so hard to make a difference. Every year, I believe I share with you how nice it would be to share the narrative highlights with you. At least our Federal partners have the opportunity when they receive our annual impact highlights that is compiled by the Program Planning and Evaluation Team.
In other good news, the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) announced the recipients of the 2021 New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award, an award granted to early career scientists supporting research in one of FFAR's Challenge Areas. Congratulations to Ellen Bruno, one of the recipients: Meeting future food needs requires effectively managing scarce groundwater. California is addressing this problem through the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which ensures better groundwater use and management. Bruno's research is using the act as a case study to identify policies that enhance water sustainability and minimize regulation costs. No doubt important impacts will result!
Congratulations to Linda Forbes and team! They just received word that the team won three Association for Communication Excellence awards:
- Bronze award in organic social media campaign (CA wildfire campaign)
- Gold award in electronic media and audio for targeted audiences (vaccine campaign to Latino and indigenous communities)
- Outstanding Professional Skill award in electronic media and audio for targeted audiences (vaccine campaign to Latino and indigenous communities)
Next week I spend a couple of days at South Coast REC and at Desert REC. It truly is wonderful to get out of the garage.
- Author: Wendy Powers
Fortunately, those of us in the northern part of the state have seen rain recently, quieting concerns about wildfires in our areas. However, if you have tuned into the national news lately, you've heard about the concern over fire and climate change impacting the future of California's redwoods, some of the world's oldest living things. This concern isn't new to many of us. Hopefully, awareness has been raised for many, many more, thanks to people like Lenya. Lenya was recently quoted in the New York Times. It is always great to see UC ANR names in prominent publications!
This is a crazy week – the storm before the calm, I hope. Everyone is rushing to get things done before a 10- to 14-day break. Yesterday I spent half the day working with a small team to develop a strategic directions document and annual work plan for the Western Extension directors. There is more work to do next week to complete that effort. The REC directors spent today working on development of strategies to achieve the goals for the REC system. It was a good meeting with lively discussion and solid plans outlined. At the same time, it made for a bit of an exhausting day. It doesn't help that Wednesdays begin at 7 AM each week for me and that 7 AM meeting always has a full agenda for the 6 of us that meet.
Friday holds an interesting mix of meetings, some of which may translate into new exciting opportunities. I will be sure to share more as things develop. I look forward to the virtual winter celebration tomorrow. It will be different from ‘normal' years with a benefit that we can celebrate with people both near and far. The planning committee came up with clever ideas for breakout activities. I hope to see many of you there!
- Author: Wendy Powers
This has been a relatively slow week for me. However, Thursday and Friday are packed with meetings so I suspect the week as a whole will end up ‘about average'. Last week featured discussions about the ANR strategic plan and the REC strategic framework with partners. The plan and framework were the focus of discussions at the ANR Governing Council meeting on Thursday and ranged from how we build relationships with new AES faculty to how we get to know more about shared interests on our non-AES campuses, and vice versa. I left with clear ideas about a process to engage the non-AES campuses in research, less clear on a path for extension and outreach collaboration. I am confident that collective insights will get us there and am grateful that many across UC ANR continue to pursue prospects. I know Frank and Keith are looking at opportunities in their counties and one of the Governing Council members reached out to brainstorm ideas about ANR working more closely with CITRIS in the telehealth space. Such efforts might couple nicely with CDC priorities and partnerships.
The partnering conversations continue this week as we begin to take on the work of the REC strategic framework, including planning for upcoming meetings with REC directors. In addition, I had an interesting and promising conversation today with what I hope is a new partner in supporting an academic position and that could readily expand into broader partnering across the UC system.
I get excited about partnering. Not only is it the foundation of Cooperative Extension, I see it as a way for an individual to do less, with more. At first, it might sound like I have that backwards, but I assure you, I don't. The benefit of a good partnership, in my opinion, is that I don't have to carry the entire workload (do less), yet, collectively, our pooled resources and assets offer all partners more with which to work, resulting in greater impact.
Friday is the first virtual tour of UC ANR for legislators and their staff. Anne and Kathy have worked tirelessly to pull the tour together. Based on the dry run last week the numerous hosts for tour stops have worked hard as well. It will be nice to share the self-guided tour with everyone. There is so much to talk about when it comes to the great work going on all across UC ANR. While the virtual tour is just a taste of that work, the self-guided tour can be expanded to tell more of the story, expanding on the breadth of partnerships we have.
I hope everyone is enjoying some rain (or snow)!
- Author: Wendy Powers
Weeds must love heat because they are constantly ahead of me in our garden beds. This made for a gardening weekend. And it looks like our last Japanese maple bush is not going to be around next year. A couple of hydrangeas are failing as well. The sago palms and blue agave are thriving. Perhaps they are in the weed family.
I made good progress on my project this weekend despite the garden time, pool time, and homework I needed to complete. As much as I complain about homework, I found myself adding 21 days of it to my calendar last week. During the Vice Chancellors for Research (VCR) meeting last week, the VCR from San Diego shared the 21-day Anti-Racism Challenge that UCSD is completing. The group of VCRs were quite interested in this activity and making a commitment to the challenge. The result is a well-spent hour or more each weekday, beginning last Friday, through September 4. The challenge will wind down right around the same time that pool season winds down. I know others in UC ANR are undertaking a similar challenge. There are several challenges available. Take a look by conducting a web search. The activities are informative on many levels. Some are TED talks, and I am a big fan of TED talks.
Many meetings again this week, of a varied sort. Tomorrow is a UC ANR strategic plan webinar focused on development of partnerships as a key strategy to address resource constraints. Partnerships are the foundation of Cooperative Extension and all aspects of UC ANR work. While continuing that tradition, the plan will emphasize development of novel partnerships so that we accomplish more without doing more or identify new resources that allow us to do more with more. One comment that we hear often is that people don't see themselves in the plan. I interpret that to mean that they either don't see how they can contribute to the success of the plan, or that they don't see their specific work (i.e. program area) called out as part of the plan. Real success of the plan has everyone contributing in some way and everyone contributes differently. The plan doesn't address what we do, from the standpoint of programmatic areas, but what we will do in order to continue or expand the programmatic work. If the comment means something other than my interpretation, I need more information to fully understand. Perhaps the meeting this week will shed some light for me.
On Friday, the team working on a strategic framework for the RECs will meet for several hours. In between now and Friday is Administrative Orientation, an ECOP meeting for the executive committee, a meeting with a portion of the Peer Review Committee, and various meetings with different units. My COVID workspace reached 93 degrees on Friday before the day ended. Perhaps this week will cool down some. If not, I will be ready for this weekend's gardening activities.