Announcements

In memoriam: Vonny Barlow

Vonny Barlow, former UC Cooperative Extension entomology and crop production advisor in Riverside County, passed away unexpectedly on Dec. 9 from a massive heart attack after being transported to a Palm Springs hospital. He was 55.

Barlow, a native of Mountain View, joined UC ANR in 2009 as an entomology and crop production advisor. He worked mostly in alfalfa, cotton, melons, lettuce and broccoli. For many years, he served as an affiliate integrated pest management advisor, the Entomology Workgroup co-chair and as an entomology project leader for 4-H in Riverside County.

Barlow volunteered with Winrock International, a non-profit organization that administers the Asia Farmer-to-Farmer Program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Under this program, he conducted training on ‘Improved Knowledge in Safe and Judicious Use and Handling of Pesticides' for agro-input retailers, input company and association representatives, and USAID-funded Agro-Inputs Project staff in five different locations, namely Barisal, Faridpur, Khulna, Dhaka and Jessore in Bangladesh,” said Sonia Rios, UCCE subtropical horticulture advisor for Riverside and San Diego counties.

In 2016, Barlow left UCCE Riverside County to conduct research with UCCE specialist Larry Godfrey, under whom he had studied as a UC Davis graduate student. He then started his own consulting business in Blythe.

“He was known well by growers for his expertise and friendliness," Rios said.

Prior to UC ANR, Barlow was a post-doctorate researcher at North Carolina State University evaluating the “whole-farm” approach to mating disruption used in apple orchards to manage codling moth and oriental fruit moth.

He earned a B.S. in biological sciences with special emphasis in entomology from California State University, San Jose, an M.S. in plant protection and pest management from UC Davis, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. 

Barlow is survived by his mother Janice Barlow of San Jose and brother Cary Barlow, also of San Jose.

Funeral services will be held Dec. 28 in Palm Springs and are limited to five people due to public health orders for coronavirus reduction. If you would like to send condolences to Barlow's family, contact Rios at sirios@ucanr.edu.

Read more about Barlow's career at https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=44483.

Jan. 15 last day to update tax information

UCPath begins processing W-2s in late January. To ensure the information on your W-2 is complete, accurate and reaches you, please take the following steps by Jan. 15, 2021. 

• Verify your personal email and home address in UCPath online. Even if you opt for a digital W-2, it's important that UC can reach you.
• Verify your dependents. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires UC to make reasonable efforts to obtain Social Security numbers for employees, their spouses/domestic partners and dependents. To review or update your information, log in to UCPath online, then select Employee Actions > Health and Welfare > Dependent Coverage.
• Opt-in to an electronic W-2. Online W-2s are easy, secure and oh-so-convenient! To sign up, log in to UCPath online, then select Employee Actions > Income and Taxes > Enroll to Receive Online W-2.
• International workers: Verify your GLACIER account information. International employees may receive a W-2 or 1042-S (Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding). To ensure your tax information is sent correctly, verify that your personal email and home addresses match exactly in UCPath online and the GLACIER tax database. You may also opt to have an electronic 1042-S through GLACIER. Learn more about Form 1042-S.

Important security reminder
UC does not send W-2 statements by email or text. If you receive an email or text with a link or an attachment for viewing a W-2, it is a phishing scam designed to gain your private information. Do not open attachments or click email links that claim to provide access to your W-2. To access your electronic W-2, always go to UCPath online using a safe/known link. 

For information on the Federal and State Earned Income Tax Credit and claiming exemption from withholding, visit the UCPath website.

Photos documenting farmworkers in the 1960s archived by UC Merced

In 1959, Ernest Lowe joined the staff of Pacifica radio station KPFA and almost immediately began documenting the lives of migrant farmworkers. Last year, UC Merced hosted an exhibition of some of those photographs, and now has acquired the complete collection - which the university has made available for free to the public online at https://calisphere.org/collections/27647. Nearly 3,000 photos are in the collection.

Mario Sifuentez, director of the UC Merced's Center for the Humanities and associate professor of history, as well as Emily Lin, head of digital curation and scholarship, were interviewed by KVPR about the photographs. Listen at https://www.kvpr.org/post/uc-merced-acquires-photo-collection-documenting-farmworkers-1960s#stream/0

Academic professional society meeting travel fund requests due Jan. 11

The Academic Assembly Council (AAC) travel fund supports professional societies that are recognized organizations holding regularly scheduled meetings primarily for the reporting and exchange of knowledge among members. The societies publish peer-refereed journals and/or edited proceedings of meetings to promote professional growth.

UC Cooperative Extension advisors, academic coordinators and specialists are eligible for one meeting approval per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). AAC Program Committee approval is only for expense reimbursement from the Professional Society Meeting Fund. Leave with pay to attend the meeting must be approved by your immediate supervisor.

If you do not use the funds and do not notify Michelle Hammer Coffer (mahammer@ucanr.edu), you will be ineligible for funds for two years.

For guidelines for travel reimbursement, see https://ucanr.edu/sites/UCAAC/files/340495.pdf.  

Requests are due Monday, Jan. 11 at 5 p.m.

Retiring within 5 years? Take a UC retirement workshop to prepare

Transitioning to Retirement workshops are offered by UC Davis for employees considering retirement within 5 years.

The life changes that accompany retirement can be unexpectedly challenging and these virtual, Zoom workshops will help employees prepare.

Topics & dates

• Staff sessions: 9 a.m. – noon 
• Faculty/physician/academic sessions: 1 – 4 p.m.

1. Introduction and UC Retirement Plan — Friday, Jan. 15
2. Retiree health benefits and human resources considerations — Friday, Jan. 22
3. Financial planning in retirement and Social Security — Friday, Jan. 29
4. Work and lifestyle transitions — Friday, Feb. 5

Early registration is advised

When you register, please double check to ensure you are signing up for the appropriate session.

• Register for Transitioning to Retirement for Staff
• Register for Transitioning to Retirement for Academics/Faculty

More information and FAQs

• Supervisors will not be automatically notified when an employee registers for these workshops.
• It is recommended that participants register for the entire four-week series, however each session is available for individual registration.
• For those who cannot attend the workshops, or for those who are more than five years from retirement, online presentations and other resources are available on the Center's retirement planning webpage at https://retireecenter.ucdavis.edu/planning.

Questions

• Contact the Retiree Center at retireecenter@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-5182.

 

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