Announcements

Working from home gives us furry officemates

As we shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us find ourselves sharing workspace with our pets. Some ANR colleagues have posted photos of their four-legged coworkers on social media. We could all use some softer news with images of cute animals.

If you would like to share a photo of your pet, please email it to pam.kanrice@ucanr.edu along with your pet's name and temporary job title. Pets need not be furry, we welcome diversity.

Here are some pics of ANR's work-from-home support staff:

Speaker Rendon gets update on UCCE in his district

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon met with UCCE Los Angeles director Keith Nathaniel and communicator Dohee Kim on March 13. Rendon represents the 63rd Assembly District in Southern California, which includes nine cities southeast of Los Angeles.

Armed with UC Cooperative Extension's annual report for Los Angeles County as well as spreadsheet data, maps and photos depicting program activities in his district, Nathaniel and Kim described the different kinds of programs that are available to Rendon's constituents, providing concrete examples.

They also talked about UC ANR's presence in the state of California. This information allowed Speaker Rendon to consider possible collaborations with UC Cooperative Extension to better serve and represent his communities.

“It was a wonderful and productive meeting at his district office in Lakewood,” Kim said. “We are pleased to report that Speaker Rendon was familiar with UC ANR and UC Cooperative Extension before the meeting.” 

 

PSU can help with setting up and managing Zoom workshops

Are you planning on hosting a Zoom workshop? ANR's Program Support Unit (PSU) staff are ready to help you with registration, management, recording and posting of your online events. Email your event details to anrprogramsupport@ucanr.edu or contact Sherry Cooper at (530) 750-1256. 

UC ANR Zoom https://ucanr.edu/zoom - This website to contains instructions on getting started with Zoom, including hardware you may need.

Zoom training resources -  Zoom's support center offers live training webinars as well as video tutorials.

More tips on how to host an effective virtual workshop or meeting via Zoom are currently being developed and will be posted soon.

 

Employee comments invited for protection of human subjects in research

The University of California invites comments on proposed revisions to Presidential Policy on Protection of Human Subjects in Research. 

This policy describes the responsibilities of the university, its campuses and researchers in protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects who participate in research at UC.

The policy includes the following key revisions:

• An explanation of the ethical principles that the university follows for human subjects research.
• A statement that the university's commitment to human subjects applies to all human subjects research in which the University is engaged, regardless of funding source or the institution that provided the IRB (Institutional Review Board) review.
• An explanation that campuses may replace specific Common Rule requirements with commensurate protections for human subjects when the university is engaged in research that is not subject to the Common Rule (e.g., research that is not federally funded or otherwise subject to federal oversight).
• A description of the responsibilities of the campuses, IRBs, other oversight offices and committees, and researchers for compliance with this policy.

The proposed policy is posted at https://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/Administration/Business_Operations/Controller/Administrative_Policies_-_Business_Contracts/Policy_and_administrative_handbooks/ANR_Administrative_Handbook/Recent_Updates/

If you have any questions or if you wish to comment, please contact Robin Sanchez at rgsanchez@ucanr.edu no later than June 3, 2020. Please indicate “Protection of Human Subjects in Research” in the subject line.

 

‘Paid Leave (COVID19)’ added to TRS dropdown menu

UC ANR has added a new Time Reporting System (TRS) dropdown menu item, “Paid Leave (COVID19)”, to report paid administrative leave in order to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please only use this dropdown only for the following reasons, all of which relate to COVID-19:

1. When the employee is unable to work because the employee or a family member has a COVID-19-related illness.
2. When an employee is unable to work because the employee has been directed not to come to work for COVID-19 related reasons (including shelter in place orders) and it is not operationally feasible for the employee to work remotely.

o   UC ANR highly encourages finding creative ways to allow employees to work remotely wherever possible.

o   When an employee is unable to work from home due to operational feasibility, the supervisor/director must notify HR. Please email both Jodi Rosenbaum (jrosenbaum@ucanr.edu) and Bethanie Brown (brbbrown@ucanr.edu) with the employee's name, your location and a general statement about the operational needs prior to placing the employee on leave.

3. When an employee is unable to work because of a COVID-19-related school or daycare closure that requires the employee to be at home with a child or dependent.

• Bi-weekly employees may report this leave usage to the nearest quarter hour.
• Monthly employees should report this leave usage in 8-hour increments.

If you have any questions or need any additional assistance, please contact Anne Marie Scott, payroll manager, UC ANR Payroll/Business Operations Center, at anrpayroll@ucanr.edu.

 

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