- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Elizabeth Moon, director of Workplace Inclusion & Belonging, invites all UC ANR colleagues to participate in a postcard design contest and survey about diversity, equity and inclusion.
Are you able to visualize what inclusion, equity and belonging looks like at UC ANR?
Create a postcard depicting an image of inclusion, equity and belonging at UC ANR and submit it online at https://bit.ly/postcardcompetition2023 by May 8. The top six designs will receive a $50 Amazon gift card, their design featured on the new Diversity, Equity & Inclusion website and the published postcard.
In addition, please share your experiences and ideas in an anonymous survey about diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at ANR and ideas for possible ways to enhance our work in this area. Submit the survey by 11:59 p.m. on May 10 to be included in the random drawing for four $25 gift cards. To enter the gift card drawing, enter your email on the survey or email emoon@ucanr.edu privately with subject line “Completed Survey.”
Complete the DEI survey at http://bit.ly/DEISURVEY2023.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Do you want to have productive conversations about farming practices – sustainable, organic, conventional, regenerative, ecological – rather than arguing with people? Are you hungry for effective ways to convey the complexities of farming with people who have little experience with agriculture? Attend a workshop on July 18-19 in Pacific Grove to learn and practice using exciting new communication tools that can help you address the questions above and more.
This 1.5-day workshop is for agricultural professionals, farmers, communicators, advocates, and policymakers who regularly engage with the public on food and farm issues. It is part of a research and education grant funded by Western Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education.
Speakers will share practices grounded in social-science research (conducted by FrameWorks Institute and The Farming and Food Narrative Project) that explored the public's understanding of agriculture and effective ways to create understanding about unfamiliar farming topics.
You will be able to share your most pressing communication challenges, engage with communication strategies that ‘reframe' the conversation about good farming practices, and practice on your own materials. You will meet and connect with colleagues facing similar challenges and can choose to join a follow-up community of learning. The goal is that participants leave feeling confident to employ new communications tools in their work.
When: Tuesday, July 18, 1 p.m. – Wednesday, July 19, 4 p.m.
Where: Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove
Speakers:
- Jessica Moyer, FrameWorks Institute
- Michael Rozyne and Kelsey Gosch, Red Tomato
- Clare Sullivan, Oregon State University professor of crop and soil science
- Jim Farrar, UC Integrated Pest Management Program director
Registration costs $100 and includes one night's lodging and meals. Apply at https://forms.gle/JsJAXjrtZN27Hvyy5. Workshop space is limited so please apply by May 15.
For financial assistance, please contact kgosch@redtomato.org.
For more information about the agricultural communication workshop and the "Reframing in the West" project, see https://www.farmingandfoodnarrative.org/western-sare.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
David W. Cudney, UC Cooperative Extension specialist emeritus, passed away in Riverside on March 30. He was 82.
Cudney joined UCCE in 1964 as a farm advisor for Imperial County. In 1978, he became a UCCE weed science specialist for Southern California, based at UC Riverside. While working as a specialist, he earned his Ph.D. from UC Riverside in 1989.
In 1992, Cudney and six Extension specialist colleagues from all over the western United States, published Weeds of the West, a guide book to identifying weeds in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The 11th edition, containing more than 900 color photographs showing the early growth stages, mature plants and features for positive identification of each weed, was published in 2012.
“I met Dave as a grad student at UC Davis when I started my program working on a basic study of herbicide resistance,” said Jodie Holt, director of the UC Riverside Botanic Gardens and professor emerita. “Dave's the one who cajoled me into presenting a poster at a Weed Day and becoming active in the weed science community. Throughout my career he was a great mentor who kept me and my students connected to on-the-ground weed science.”
Holt also remembered Cudney's kindness as a friend.
“On a personal note, when our son was interested in flight simulation software, for his 14th birthday, Dave surprised him by taking us all on a flight and letting Doug fly the plane,” she said. “He was a wonderfully positive, kind and generous friend and colleague!”
Cudney is survived by his wife, Loretta Cudney, and his children Michael Cudney of Riverside; Jana Cudney of Ontario; and Lisa Zaldivar and her husband, Anthony Zaldivar, and their children Alyssa and Christopher, all of San Dimas and Anthony Zaldivar of Palm Desert; his sister, Rita Suminski and her husband, Russell Suminski of Minden, Nevada.
Read more about Cudney's life at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/riverside-ca/david-cudney-11228967.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
- Author: Mike Hsu
On National Pet Day, April 11, we paused (or PAWsed) to honor our furry friends.
Thanks to all of you who posted pet pics on the ANR Employees Group Facebook page or sent photos, we got to see some of the furry faces that inspire our UC ANR colleagues.
Someone has to work to put pet food on the table – and a woof, sorry!, roof over your heads – and it may as well be you. Those treats and toys don't buy themselves. Thanks for making the world a furrier and friendlier place.
For your a-mews-ment, we present the following:
- Author: Emily Delk, Director of Annual Giving
Join us for 24 hours of giving to raise funds for your project or program for the benefit of more Californians.
In its fifth year as UC ANR's proprietary online giving campaign, UC ANR Giving Day will run from noon to noon on May 18-19.
Some of the projects funded by recent giving day donations include demonstration gardens, outreach teaching supplies and youth scholarships.
Donors are invited to give to support the work of Cooperative Extension, research and extension centers and statewide programs based in counties throughout California. When you click “GIVE” on our website http://donate.ucanr.edu/givingday, fund choices appear in the drop-down menus. If you would like to add or change a gift fund at https://donate.ucanr.edu, please submit requests to gifts@ucanr.edu by May 1.
How to participate
- Register your participation and receive gift notifications: Register Here
- Get promotional resources from Campaign-In-A-Box Toolkit.
- Send your edits to gift funds to gifts@ucanr.edu by May 1.
- Join the training webinar: “UC ANR Giving Day: Creating Your Strategy For Success.”
Prize challenges
- Donor Challenge: $500 prize to the 10 funds that have the greatest number of unique donors for UC ANR Giving Day!
- Donation Challenge: $500 prize to the first 4 funds that secure an individual $500+ donation on UC ANR Giving Day!
- In-It-To-Win-It Challenge: $500 prize to the fund that raises the most on UC ANR Giving Day!
Only online gifts made between noon on May 18 and 11:59 a.m. on May 19 qualify toward prize challenge awards. Donations can be made at http://donate.ucanr.edu/givingday.
For more information, please contact Emily Delk, Director of Annual Giving & Donor Stewardship, at eddelk@ucanr.edu or (916) 564-4862.