Several ANR staff members have been recognized for outstanding service with 2014-15  ANR Staff Appreciation and Recognition (STAR) program awards, which were announced on June 5 at a staff meeting in Davis.

“This is ANR's third year in implementing the STAR Award Program, and I was very pleased with the number of outstanding nominations submitted,” said VP Barbara Allen-Diaz, as she announced the recipients. “As vice president for ANR, it was an honor to read about so many dedicated ANR staff employees who have given so much of themselves to support ANR programs and research. Congratulations to all the 2014-15 STAR Awardees.”

Two teams and 20 individuals were honored. Listed below are the recipients' names and the outstanding service for which they are being recognized.

2014-15 STAR Team Awards:

Elkus Ranch Team Educators, UCCE San Mateo/San Francisco: Kathi Baxter, Leslie Jensen, Denise Kelly, Beth Loof, Julie Mathiasen, Teri Pacheco, Nancy Poss and Robin Tierney.

The team's work and dedication to the Elkus Ranch Environmental Education Center provides outstanding educational and learning opportunities for more than 9,000 children each year.

2015 National Extension and Research Administrative Officers' Conference Planning Committee: Jennifer Bunge, Ben Chin, Sherry Cooper, Deb Driskill, Brian Oatman, Joni Rippee and Teresa Soito.

This cross-cutting planning team worked tirelessly throughout the year to plan and coordinate every detail of a very successful National Conference, again bringing national attention to UC ANR. 

2014-15 STAR Individual Awards:

Janice Alexander, UCCE Marin County: exemplary performance and leadership as the outreach and education coordinator of the California Oak Mortality Task Force and California Firewood Task Force.

Karen Werner Bryce, UCCE Santa Clara: development of a plan to restructure the organizational infrastructure of the UCCE Santa Clara County 4-H Youth Development Program. 

Whitney Bell, Youth Families and Communities:  management of two complex 4-H Online systems, especially her management of the 4-H Financial Systems for reporting to UCOP how approximately $8 million is used. 

Melanie Caruso, Program Planning and Evaluation: leadership in successfully taking on the ANR Competitive Grants Program and assisting other Office of Program Planning Evaluation team members in learning the grants program processes. 

Jennifer Crouch, Human Resources – Staff Personnel Unit: dedication as a Human Resource team member in modeling positive and sustainable organization and leadership skills. 

Debra Driskill, Desert REC and REC System: leadership in revamping the ANR Research and Extension Centers Rate and Recharge process, the development of REC-specific forms, and documentation and development of the training videos and other reference materials for the REC directors to develop their REC rates.  

Wendy Ernst, Contracts and Grants: development of a series of references and resources files of useful materials on policy and procedures, as well as useful tools for the UC ANR Contracts and Grants team to use.

Kim Ingram, Academic Personnel Unit: streamlining and creating a focused advertising list based on programmatic disciplines for our ANR academic recruitments and targeting specific universities for our ANR academic positions.

Zoya Khalaf-Kirkman, UCCE Alameda County: management of all the UCCE Alameda County program budgets and accounts to ensure compliance with funders' guidelines and University requirements as well as her assistance with proposal development and support of filing grant applications. 

David Krause, CSIT: leadership of ANR's Web team during a prolonged and challenging time of multiple levels of leadership at ANR and the development of a sustainable funding and staffing model that will allow the ANR's Web team to continue building program-critical technology in support of ANR's mission. 

Nora Lopez, UCCE Fresno County: Nora's planning skills and knowledge of nutrition education programming greatly reduced food waste and duplication of purchases, reducing the overall expenses for food demonstrations educational programs for the UCCE Fresno County CalFRESH Program. 

Catherine Montano, Administrative Policies and Business Contracts: Catherine's comprehensive work in structuring and drafting a series of MOUs, which are a form of business contract between ANR and campuses, that exhibited a high degree of understanding, insight and foresight of the needs and requirements of all parties. 

Scott Parker, UCCE San Diego: management and success of the UCCE San Diego County Healthy Garden Program on training members of the community to reduce pesticide use and water runoff. This program has had a tremendous impact, with the County of San Diego awarding the program $40,000 annually to support the community workshops and other outreach programs. 

Cheryl Reynolds, UC IPM: maintaining an IPM database of close to 100,000 photos and coordination of UC IPM's blog communication, which has greatly increased IPM's social media presence. 

Lori Renstrom, UCCE San Diego: many hours of work in successfully assuming the managerial responsibility of the 4-H Youth Development program for UCCE San Diego County while continuing to serve as the unit's Administrative Officer. 

Joni Rippee, Program Planning and Evaluation: leadership on the UCPath Steering Committee, ANR Efficiency Review Working Group and as chair of the ANR Financial Workgroup.  She has brought a tremendous amount of ANR knowledge and expertise to these groups in assisting them to meet their goals and objectives.                                 

Nath Say, UCCE Fresno County: planning and organizing of highly visible interactive plays and events for thousands of children and adults who participate in the UCCE Fresno County CalFRESH program. 

Melissa Tamargo, Youth Families and Communities:  development of an effective process to provide county EFNEP programs with pre-made teacher kits and the creation of teacher incentive kits.  This approach has positively impacted EFNEP county educator productivity. 

Patrick West, Kearney REC: participation in major projects beyond his normal scope of work at the Kearney REC by assisting the Westside REC with renovation of their laboratory and resolving their longstanding HVAC problems. 

Shannah Whithaus, UC IPM: revision of The Safe and Effective Use of Pesticides and work in ensuring that the UC Pesticide Application Compendium supports the learning objectives of the reader.