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Announcements
L&D - Computing agroclimate in R, elevate impact of outreach, disability awareness
ANR LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Landing page| Webinar Recordings| Learning Resources
Do you have a webinar to present in any of these four learning strategies? Let us know by filling out this interest form!
Extension Methods & Delivery
Building Support
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Office, Team, and Personal Management
Computing Agroclimate Metrics in R workshop (Virtual - IGIS)
Dec. 2, 2022
11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Click here to read more.Click here to register.
This workshop will demonstrate how to compute common agroclimate metrics in R. We will also learn how to import into R weather data for past, present, and future modeled weather data using R packages like caladaptR and cimir., and compute metrics using tidyverse methods and specialized packages like degday. Presented by Andy Lyons.
This workshop will be recorded and may be repeated in the spring. If you have a particular metric you would like to see demonstrated, please mention it on the registration form.
Dec. 8, 2022
12 - 1 p.m. Pacific time
Click here to register.
Expect to gain an overview of outputs and outcomes and how to differentiate between the two, as well as an understanding of the private and public value of Extension initiatives. You will also learn best practices for developing strong impact statements and peer examples of great impact stories. Presenters, Katherine Webb-Martinez, Vikram Koudinya, LaJoy R. Spears, Alda Norris.
Image by Megan Rexazin from Pixabay
Implementing the Health Framework Lightning Session (Virtual - Extension Foundation)
Dec. 15, 2022
10 - 11 a.m. Pacific time
Click here to register.
Join us to learn how some land grant universities are implementing Extension's framework for health. We will be featuring 12 LGUs that are demonstrating success in health-related work particularly around capacity building for framework implementation.
So you'd like to work with a specialist? Tips and tricks for successful collaboration with campus colleagues (Virtual - WebANR)
Feb. 16, 2023
Noon-12:30 p.m.
UC ANR colleagues benefit from working across the network, but how do you start a collaboration with campus-based professionals? Van Butsic, UC Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Berkeley, will share tips and tricks on successful collaboration between campus and county-based academics. In this session, Van will share his perspective on how to find the right specialists to work with, how to make sure collaborations benefit all parties, and how to grow collaborations over time.
Zoom Meeting: https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/5307501239?pwd=WDI3U2g5cXRvWUhVUlY3MitJWkVVUT09 | Meeting ID: 530 750 1239 Phone +1 669 900 6833 US | Password: 4Collab
Impact Collaborative Summit (Virtual – Extension Foundation)
Jan. 17-19, 2023
9 a.m.- 2 p.m. Pacific time
Click here to read more and register. Registration deadline is Dec. 19, 2022.
The Impact Collaborative Summit helps increase Cooperative Extension's organizational readiness and capacity for innovation and change by connecting teams with skills, tools, resources and partners that can expand and deepen their impact. Participating teams will receive one-on-one support from coaches to help identify gaps in their project and program planning, and have access to our network of expert key informants to help fill those gaps.
Jan. 19, 2023
Noon – 12:30 p.m.
Join Saoimanu Sope and Ethan Ireland of UC ANR Strategic Communications. Attendees can expect to learn to how improve the production quality of videos they produce using basic photographic composition and lighting principles. Other topics will be covered briefly, including methods for recording clean audio and basic editing theory.
Zoom Webinar https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/751701428?pwd=Q1ZrbUtoQVJwMXJVRkQydUlwNytJQT09 Password: 4Learning | +1 669 900 6833 | Webinar ID:751-701-428
Image by Maicon Fonseca Zanco from Pixabay
Top of page.
Updated UC Davis Library Services (video)
with Ruth Gufstason and Erik FausakExtension Foundation
AnLab UC Davis Services for ANR Advisors (video)
with Rani Youngman, Newsletter Nov. 2022 (PDF)
with Kathy Nolan, Kim Lamar, Cameron Barreto, Kendra Rose, Heidi Von Geldern, Suzanne Burton, Andrea Davis, Slide deck (PDF)
Extension Foundation
The Extension Foundation was formed in 2006 by Extension Directors and Administrators. Today, the Foundation partners with Cooperative Extension through liaison roles and a formal plan of work with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) to increase system capacity while providing programmatic services, and helping Extension programs scale and investigate new methods and models for implementing programs.
The foundation provides professional development to Cooperative Extension professionals and offers exclusive services to its members. In 2020 and 2021, the Extension Foundation awarded 85% of its direct funding back to the Cooperative Extension System, 100% of funds are used to support Cooperative Extension initiatives. Video resources library, Event calendar
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Dec. 14, 2022
8:30 a.m.– 12 p.m.
Click here to read more and register.
This course will increase your awareness of the lives and experiences of people with disabilities. We will also focus on developing skills to create a workplace environment that is respectful and inclusive of persons with disabilities.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Diversity Awareness for New Supervisors and Leads
Dec. 8, 2022
8:30 a.m.-Noon
Click here to read more and register.
This course covers the skills necessary for working and leading in a multicultural community and explores ways to create a respectful and inclusive work environment. Supervisors and leads at UC Davis [and UC ANR] contribute to a campus [location] culture that values diversity. Course discussions will focus on ways to integrate the UC Davis Principles of Community [and UC ANR Principles of Community] into your workplace. This session includes an exploration of how the pandemic has impacted this area of DEI.
Understanding Generational Differences (Virtual Instructor Led– UC Davis)
Dec. 15, 2022
8:30 AM- Noon
Click here to read more and register.
This course will explore some of the generational differences and provide useful approaches to creating a work environment that is productive and compatible for everyone. There is a growing awareness of the "generational diversity" that exists in the workplace. Older, middle-aged and younger staff members may share common work tasks, but their values, approaches to work, communication styles and perceptions of each other may differ greatly.
Click here to access audio course.
Want to deliver a pitch or presentation that grabs your audience and makes an impression? You can do it. But you have to plan it out if you want to reach an audience with a short attention span. That's where the 3-minute rule comes in. It reminds you that less is always more. You can let go of the colorful slides now, and the catchy language, too. All you have to do is convey exactly what needs to be said, in three minutes or less, nothing more. To request your LinkedIn Learning account, request one from ANR IT @ help@ucanr.edu.
How to Make Strategic Thinking a Habit (LinkedIn Learning video course)
Click here to access video course.
Working hard is important — but what's really critical is making sure you're working on the right things. That's what strategic thinking enables you to do. In this course, Dorie Clark shares frameworks and strategies to help you make strategic thinking a daily habit, so that you can make the best use of your time, energy, and effort at work. To request your LinkedIn Learning account, request one from ANR IT @ help@ucanr.edu.
Everyone can learn something new.
Learning & Development
NIOSH renews funding for Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety
For more than three decades, the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety at UC Davis has been dedicated to the understanding and prevention of illness and injury in western agriculture.
WCAHS is pleased to announce the center has received funding from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for the next five years. The center is one of 12 agricultural health and safety centers in the United States to receive funding this year. It was also one of the first two centers established by NIOSH in 1991.
Agriculture continues to pose hazardous risks to farmworkers in the U.S. based on occupational fatality rates. In the U.S., roughly 11% of agricultural fatalities and 42.6% of injuries occur in the western region (Arizona, California, Hawai'i and Nevada). Western agriculture is one of the nation's most intensive and productive and employs up to 1 million farmworkers.
Agriculture in California is characterized by labor-intensive specialty crops (e.g., berries, table grapes, melons), which require pruning, weeding, harvesting and packaging by hand rather than with machines. In addition to repetitive stress and musculoskeletal injuries, and machinery-related accidents and falls, workers may experience exposure to hazards such as heat, wildfire smoke, pesticides and zoonotic pathogens.
“Western agriculture feeds the nation by producing more than 400 commodities with one-third of all U.S. vegetables and two-thirds of U.S. fruits and nuts,” said Kent Pinkerton, director of WCAHS and professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine. “The unique nature of diverse specialty crops requires greater human labor, which leads to an increased risk in farm-related injuries, along with the growing mechanization of farming practices, especially in California.”
WCAHS is part of the Institute of the Environment, one of the Organized Research Units within the Office of Research.
Research projects in the new funding cycle
A portion of the NIOSH grant will fund research projects over the five-year cycle with the aim of finding practical solutions to lower health and safety risks. Kent Pinkerton will continue to study the impacts of agricultural and wildfire emissions on California farmworker health. Director of Outreach Christopher Simmons, a professor and the chair in the Department of Food Science and Technology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will continue his research on biosolarization as an alternative to soil fumigation.
Farzaneh Khorsandi, an assistant professor of Cooperative Extension in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering joins the center both as a principal investigator and the project lead for the agricultural all-terrain vehicle (ATV) safety research project. She will also lead the pilot/feasibility program, which provides seed funding and mentorship for early-stage investigators on safety and health issues in western agriculture.
Timothy Beatty, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will join the center as a principal investigator studying surveillance of occupational health and injuries in the western region to develop novel machine learning approaches to categorize injury data by cropping system and work.
Fadi Fathallah, a professor and department chair in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, will continue in his role as associate director of WCAHS and as a project investigator on Beatty and Khorsandi's projects.
Upcoming outreach and training projects
The grant renewal will also enable WCAHS to expand outreach activities into Arizona, Hawai'i and Nevada as well as to further develop safety guides for Southeast Asian farmers and tailored print and video resources in English, Spanish, Hmong, Punjabi and Indigenous languages (including Mixteco, Zaptoteco and Triqui). In-person and remote trainings on numerous topics, including heat illness prevention, injury and illness prevention and wildfire smoke exposure will also continue to be offered by the center.
UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz named Agricultural Experiment Station campuses
UC President Michael Drake announced during the UC Regents meeting Nov. 16 that UC will designate UC Santa Cruz and UC Merced as Agricultural Experiment Station campuses.
The Agricultural Experiment Station is a network of campus-based scientists whose mission is to develop knowledge and technologies to address agricultural, natural resources and health issues. UC's AES faculty members conduct land-grant mission research and UC Cooperative Extension puts that knowledge in the hands of people who can apply it to improve their lives and businesses. The Hatch Act of 1887 established Agricultural Experiment Stations at land grant colleges in each state.
The AES, which is a component of UC ANR, currently includes the three agriculture and natural resources colleges at UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC Riverside, and the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis.
“Both UC Santa Cruz and UC Merced have long conducted research on agricultural issues, so it is appropriate that these campuses also receive this designation and have their work recognized as contributing to the overall UC agricultural research portfolio,” Drake told the regents. “With the AES designation, Santa Cruz and Merced have the potential to receive additional funding from the University's budget for this research, and they will be able to make a stronger case for competitive grants in the larger agricultural research area.”
Vice President Glenda Humiston, who also serves as director of AES in California, congratulated our colleagues at UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz for joining the Agricultural Experiment Station and welcomed their collaboration.
“The San Joaquin and Salinas valleys are critical agricultural regions in California so UC ANR already has UC Cooperative Extension specialists at both UC Santa Cruz and UC Merced conducting research on agriculture and food-related issues,” Humiston said. “Having these two campuses receive this AES designation expands UC's agricultural research portfolio, which will help us develop the solutions needed for the many challenges Californians face.”
UC Cooperative Extension specialists Tapan Pathak, Karina Diaz Rios, Safeeq Khan and Jackie Atim are based at UC Merced and UC Cooperative Extension specialist Joji Muramoto is based at UC Santa Cruz.
“Our campus has been working toward this designation for some time and I'm so pleased that the hard work of our faculty and staff has paid off,” said UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive.
Josh Viers, UC Merced professor of watershed science and associate dean for research, wrote on LinkedIn: “Not only does the official Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) designation for UCM and UCSC provide legitimacy among our peers nationwide, but importantly it recognizes our recent efforts to tackle the most difficult challenges we face to feed a planet under a rapidly changing climate. This designation makes us eligible for new opportunities and in so doing make further investments into our research infrastructure including our Experimental Smart Farm.”
Apply for professional society meeting travel funds by Dec. 8
Academic Assembly Council's call for Professional Society Meeting Travel Funds requests closes Dec. 8, 2022.
These funds support travel to meetings with professional societies which are recognized organizations that hold regularly scheduled meetings primarily for the reporting and exchange of knowledge among members. They publish peer-referred journals and/or edit proceedings of meetings to promote professional growth.
Who can apply?
Cooperative Extension Advisors, Academic Coordinators and Specialists are eligible for one meeting approval per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30).
How does the program work?
The AAC Program Committee approves up to $650 for travel expenses related to the event(s) on awarded applications. Within 30 days of completing your trip you must complete the Travel Reimbursement Form and submit your receipts in AggieExpense.
To apply, complete the Professional Society Meeting Travel Application at https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=39355.
Calls for applications open twice a year and cover a six-month travel period.
For more information, contact Committee Chair Susie Kocher, UCCE Central Sierra forestry/natural resources advisor, at sdkocher@ucanr.edu or (530) 542-2571, or Leslie Lipman, Statewide Programs and RECs, at lalipman@ucanr.edu or (530) 750-1254.
Winter curtailment dates set for 2022
Similar to previous years, UC ANR units – including research and extension centers, UCCE county offices, the Second Street Building in Davis and Franklin Building in Oakland – will be closed from Dec. 23, 2022, through Jan. 2, 2023, except for essential services. UC ANR offices will reopen on Jan. 3, 2023.
Winter closure schedule:
Dec. 23, 2022 – Holiday
Dec. 26, 2022 – Holiday
Dec. 27, 2022 – Curtailment (closure)
Dec. 28, 2022 – Curtailment (closure)
Dec. 29, 2022 – Curtailment (closure)
Dec. 30, 2022 – Holiday
Jan. 2, 2023 – Holiday
Employees have the option of using accrued vacation, compensatory time off (CTO) or leave without pay for the curtailment days. In the event an employee has not accumulated a sufficient amount of vacation time before December to cover the three days, arrangements can be made with direct supervisors to allow those individuals to borrow against future vacation time.
Some UCCE county offices and research and extension centers may need to adjust the closure schedule to accommodate local needs; this is at the discretion of the director and approval by UC ANR leadership. If you have a question about your local office schedule, please contact your unit director.
Additional Information:
- Time reporting – TRS has shaded the curtailment dates in yellow for reference only. ANR employees are still able to enter leave or time worked per day as appropriate based on local need. Additionally, if borrowing against future vacation, usage should be entered on the timesheet as it will allow the balance to go into the negative and will be caught up with future accruals. Feel free to contact ANRPayroll@ucanr.edu for more details.
- Systems access – Some systems access may be impacted during the curtailment dates. If you are approved to work, please contact UCANRIT@ucanr.edu to confirm you'll be able to access UC ANR systems during the closure.
Please contact humanresources@ucanr.edu for additional information or clarification.
