ANR Update

STAR Award nomination deadline extended to Friday, April 17

The deadline to nominate staff for a STAR Award has been extended to 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 17.  This is in response to requests from a number of managers and supervisors whose workload is impacted by the COVID-19 situation and other competing priorities. Please use this extra time to recognize and nominate staff who have achieved great things during the last year, including those who have stepped up during the current emergency. 

The program provides one-time $500 cash awards to eligible staff in recognition of outstanding achievement. Managers may nominate individuals and teams demonstrating exceptional performance, creativity, organizational abilities, work success and teamwork.  

Policy-covered ANR staff and members of the Clerical Unit (CX) are eligible to be nominated for STAR awards. Staff in other collective bargaining units, academics and members of the Senior Management Group are not eligible to receive STAR awards.

Nomination forms and program guidelines are available on the UC ANR Human Resources website. 

Send your nominations via e-mail to humanresources@ucanr.edu by Friday, April 17, 2020.

STAR Award winners will be celebrated during an ANR recognition event on June 18, 2020, even if it's a “virtual” Zoom event.

 

UC ANR COVID-19 Update: Revised date for operations status, cloth face coverings required, Town Hall April 16

Revised date for UC ANR telecommute and limited on-site operations status

Governor Newsom's statewide stay-at-home order remains in effect with no defined end date; however, many California counties have extended their stay-at-home orders through May 3, 2020. Accordingly, UCOP communicated late last week that they will remain on telecommute status with limited on-site operations through at least May 3.

After discussing the implications of this with the REC and County Directors last Friday, I am now asking that all UC ANR locations continue the telecommute and limited on-site operations protocols that are currently in place until further notice. However, for planning purposes, please assume that this will continue at least through May 3and may be extended again.

I am also asking that all meetings/events/gatherings statewide be cancelled, postponed or conducted online at least through this same date. I know that this is a difficult situation and I want to express our great appreciation for your continued patience, flexibility and ingenuity. We are deeply committed to getting you solid information and guidance as it becomes available.

Cloth face coverings required for all UC ANR on-site personnel

CDC, CDPH, and some county public health officials have recently issued new guidance regarding use of cloth face coverings by the general public and essential workers. CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures may be difficult to maintain, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

Based on this guidance, ANR employees who continue to come to the workplace or field work sites for essential activities (including approved research, extension, maintenance and construction work) must wear face coverings when they are working in situations where they may come in contact with other people. If you are close enough to see or hear other people (within about 20 feet) while you are away from home for work, you need to cover your nose and mouth. 

Face coverings are not a substitute for maintaining social distancing and frequent handwashing. The best community and individual defense against COVID-19 is to wash our hands frequently, avoid touching our eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands, avoid being around sick people, and maintaining physical distancing, especially by staying at home. However, covering your nose and mouth with a snug-fitting washable cloth can provide an additional measure of safety by forming a barrier and reinforcing physical distancing, as long as you maintain the use of other defense measures.

There are numerous do-it-yourself options for cloth face covering, including this Fact Sheet from CDC that describes three methods. Employees should be encouraged to bring their own face coverings to work and launder them at home as necessary. If supervisors need help with arranging for face coverings for their employees, please contact the ANR Environmental Health & Safety team via the Ask EH&S survey.

It is also important to note that the cloth face coverings recommended are not medical masks or N95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders.

April 16 Town Hall

Join UC ANR on Thursday, April 16, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. for a Town Hall meeting. I will share general updates and host a question/answer session. Vice Provost Mark Bell will discuss innovation in UC ANR in the midst of COVID-19. Three UC ANR colleagues will share their innovations for working through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Zoom information: https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/530365395

(669) 900-6833 or (646) 558-8656  

Webinar ID: 530 365 395

Celebration corner

A new webpage ucanr.edu/covid19communityresources provides links to relevant, credible, practical UC ANR information to help our communities weather the pandemic. Information categories include agriculture; food, water and nutrition; youth development; gardening; exploring your environment; and health and wellness. Send suggestions/links to Mark Bell.

Matteo Garbelotto, UCCE forest pathology specialist and adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley, redesigned the annual citizen science project to map sudden oak death disease in order to ensure the safety of participants. The first in a series of SOD blitzes of 2020 will be April 11 in Napa. More information is available on the Green Blog.

A searchable library of production-quality UC ANR images has been developed on WebDam. Instructions for accessing the library are in the Communications Toolkit. Send additional image suggestions to Evett Kilmartin.

Glenda Humiston 
Vice President

 

UC ANR COVID-19 Update: No COVID-19 layoffs through June 30, 2020

No COVID-19 related layoffs through June 30, 2020

As the impacts to our organization due to COVID-19 continue to be felt widely by all of UC ANR, our employees have been at the forefront of activities and planning systemwide to keep our people healthy and engaged in the workforce. I'm proud of the many new and innovative plans you all have created to keep our teams working. Our employees continue to carry out the UC ANR mission and it has been our goal from the beginning of this crisis to support them in return. 

Please read this important letter from President Napolitano distributed today to the UC community giving assurances that there will be no COVID-19 related layoffs for all career employees through the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2020.

There is also a Spanish version of the letter here.

Expanded wellness resources

Please be sure to view the expanded wellness resources athttp://safety.ucanr.edu/Programs/emergency/Current_Health_Alerts/Wellness_and_mental_health/ and take good care of yourselves. If you have ideas for additional resources, contact Jeannette Warnert.

Celebration corner

Dustin Blakey, County Director in Inyo and Mono counties, is using Facebook to engage with clients and answer questions, and he's using Constant Contact to deliver resources to a larger local audience based on FaceBook questions. Recent responses addressed canning dairy questions by sending USDA info on freezing meat and dairy. He also created a YouTube video on canning beans.

Gabe Youtsey is working on leveraging our CropMobster partnership to disseminate information related to weathering the pandemic to the agricultural community.

Glenda Humiston 
Vice President

UC ANR COVID-19 Update: Extension of remote and limited onsite operations status

Many of you have been asking for an update regarding our official telecommute and limited onsite operations timeframe. On March 19, I sent out a notice that all UC ANR locations and programs would move to telecommuting and limited on-site operations status (with the exception of designated essential on-site staff/academics) effective through close of business on April 7, 2020, with a caveat that the date may be extended. This date was set by UCOP.

On March 24, to make planning easier, I extended the directive for UC ANR personnel to cancel, postpone or conduct online all meetings/events/gatherings statewide through April 30, 2020.

We have not yet received formal communication from UCOP regarding extension of the telecommute and limited onsite operations date, but anticipate that we will hear something this week. In any case, I can say with certainty that UC ANR will not return to regular work status next week. Please continue the telecommute and limited onsite operations protocols that are currently in place until further notice. Once we receive updated information from UCOP, I will communicate a more definitive timeframe. I know that uncertainty makes things more difficult and I want to express our great appreciation for your patience and flexibility. Please stand by for more information very soon.  

New telecommuting resources

New resources have been added to the COVID-19 website to help us work in this telecommuting environment, including Tips for Good Webinars and Tips to avoid Zoom "Bombers". For more resources, visit http://safety.ucanr.edu/Programs/emergency/Current_Health_Alerts/Guidance_for_Telecommuters/.

Celebration corner

SAREP Deputy Director Gail Feenstra curated a collection of stories (see attached) about how small farm and food systems advisors are supporting their clientele and communities during the pandemic. Examples include providing food safety and sanitization resources; sharing resources to support food system workers, local farmers and vulnerable populations; and helping to protect farmers markets as essential businesses in their counties. Additionally, Agritourism Coordinator/Public Education Specialist Penny Leff is collecting resources to help consumers purchase directly from local farms and ranches at http://www.calagtour.org/Shelter-in-Place_Resources/.

Community Education Specialist Colleen Clemens is using Instagram to engage people in Master Food Preserver information. She shared safe ingredient substitutions in the wake of grocery shortages, published an "ask us anything" post to respond to the public's questions, provided information on expiration vs "best by" dates, promoted the Master Food Preserver email helpline and more.

The CalFresh Healthy Living, UC team in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties created a YouTube channel to provide nutrition, food safety and physical activity lessons for educators to share with students as part of their assigned schoolwork. Their Youth, Families & Communities Advisor, Katherine Soule, is also developing Zoom financial literacy lessons that educators will assign for home completion.  

Warm regards and many thanks for all that you do! 

Glenda Humiston 
Vice President

 

UC ANR COVID-19 Update: Catastrophic leave donations, frequency of ANR Updates

Catastrophic leave donations

UC ANR's Catastrophic Leave Donation program is expanding to support our people during the COVID-19 emergency. This program allows employees to donate accrued vacation to support colleagues who have exhausted their paid leave due to a catastrophic illness or injury of an employee or family member; the death of a family member; or, a catastrophic casualty loss suffered due to a terrorist attack, fire or natural disaster. 

Until now, UC ANR has administered this program by sending a call for donations to meet individual needs on a case-by-case basis. Now we are expanding the program to accept donations of accrued vacation leave into a central leave “bank” that can be used to support UC ANR academics and staff as needs arise. This will allow us to respond to increased demand if more UC ANR employees are unable to work for extended periods of time due to the COVID-19 emergency. A leave bank is also consistent with how other UC locations manage their Catastrophic Leave Donation programs.

Participation is entirely voluntary, and donations are anonymous. The minimum donation is eight hours. The maximum donation is 50% of the donor's vacation balance or 80 hours in a calendar year, whichever is less.

If you would like to donate some of your accrued vacation leave, please use the Donor Form and submit to humanresources@ucanr.edu. UC ANR's Catastrophic Leave Donation program is separate from programs administered by UCOP and the UC Davis campus. 

If you have questions, please visit the Catastrophic Leave Sharing Program page or contact humanresources@ucanr.edu. 

Frequency of ANR Updates

We anticipate a change in the frequency of ANR Updates concerning the pandemic now that the situation has stabilized to the extent that it can and our organization has transitioned to remote work status. We will send updates when there is critical information to share rather than issuing a daily update.

Celebration corner

Ken and Christina Hecht at the Nutrition Policy Institute and Anisha Patel (Stanford Univ.) investigated school district actions in California and nationally and produced a two-pager showing districts how school meal service can be continued over spring break. The flyer has been provided to the California Department of Education and will be disseminated through California channels. Amelie Hecht (Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Public Health), Ken, Christina and Anisha also drafted an Op-Ed on the issue for submission to The Washington Post.

Scott Parker, program coordinator for the UC Master Gardener Program of San Diego, and his local board created a PowerPoint video to update UC Master Gardener volunteers in lieu of a meeting. Along with other updates, the video applauded volunteers delivering Saint Patrick's Day-themed flower pots to staff at memory care facilities, and the program's quick transition to managing hotline inquiries remotely.

UC IPM advisor Chris Greer is working with agricultural commissioners in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties to develop online continuing education opportunities for Department of Pesticide Regulation credits for farmers, pest control advisers and licensed pesticide applicators. UC IPM has a number of online courses for continuing education available through the eXtension platform and linked on http://ipm.ucanr.edu/training, and they are working with Monique Rivera, UCCE specialist at UC Riverside, to transition a previously scheduled meeting to online continuing education.

Glenda Humiston 
Vice President

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