In July 2014, UC President Janet Napolitano launched the UC Global Food Initiative (GFI) and ANR continues to play a major role in the GFI. Two new examples are a special issue of California Agriculture that is in the planning stages and a food-research video competition for UC students that the Nutrition Policy Institute is co-sponsoring. A call has gone out UC systemwide to participate in these projects.
Special issue of California Agriculture
ANR's peer-reviewed research journal California Agriculture is planning a special Global Food Initiative issue for summer 2017. Developed in partnership with GFI leaders at ANR, UCOP, the 10 UC campuses and the UC-affiliated national laboratories, the issue will mark the third anniversary of the initiative's launch.
The issue will feature a collection of original research papers in the GFI subject areas: nutrition, food security, food sourcing, food equity, food literacy, food recovery, food waste, local food systems, sustainable agricultural production, sustainable fishery practices, sustainable urban agriculture and climate smart agriculture. A call for papers is going out to researchers throughout the UC System.
ANR researchers working in these areas are encouraged to submit papers. Please see the call for manuscripts for full details. Abstracts are due for initial review by Oct. 1, 2016, with complete manuscripts to be submitted by Nov. 18.
If you have questions, contact Jim Downing, executive editor, at jdowning@ucanr.edu and (530) 750-1352.
Food research video contest
The World Food Day Video Challenge, co-sponsored by UCANR's Nutrition Policy Institute, the UC Davis World Food Center and the GFI, is open to UC students. Students from all the UC campuses are invited to submit videos up to three minutes long that feature UC research. It could be about their own research or your research.
The winning team will receive $1,000 and an opportunity for team members (up to 3) to attend the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium in October.
One objective of the contest is to raise awareness of the depth and breadth of food-related research and outreach being performed across the UC system.
Please encourage GFI fellows and UC students at your locations to participate by submitting a video by Sept. 7, 2016.
Details about the challenge are at foodvideos.ucdavis.edu. If you have questions, read the FAQs or contact WFC's Amy Beaudrealt at abeaudreault@ucdavis.edu or NPI's Ron Strochlic at rstrochlic@ucanr.edu.
This year, proposals are requested in the junior investigator category only.
Funded projects will begin March 1, 2017. Please note that the funding period may fluctuate and is based on budget appropriations.
The deadline for submitting proposals is Oct. 21, 2016.
To download the full RFP including budget templates, visit the CIWR website http://ciwr.ucanr.edu/Request_for_Proposals.
The University of Minnesota Extension and the National Urban Extension Leaders have announced a call for proposals for the National Urban Extension Conference on “Engaging in Collective Purpose,” which will be held in Bloomington, Minn., May 7-11, 2017.
Proposals may include, but are not limited to, examples and impacts based on how extension operates in city or regional centers, city neighborhoods through shared partnered offices or through traditional county operations.
The full call for proposals is at https://sites.google.com/a/umn.edu/urbanextensionconference2017/call-for-proposals.
The deadline for submissions is Sept. 30, 2016.
For more information about the National Urban Extension Conference, visit the conference website.
UC Personnel Policies for Staff Members (PPSM) revisions were recently approved and signed by President Napolitano.
The revised policies include following:
- PPSM-1 General Provisions
- PPSM-2 Definition of Terms
- PPSM-64 Termination and Job Abandonment
- PPSM-70 Complaint Resolution
- PPSM-82 Conflict of Interest
In general, the policies were revised to
- Consolidate the three termination policies into one policy document
- Consolidate the two complaint resolution policies into one policy document
- Add a job abandonment provision to the termination policy
- Align language in the termination and complaint resolution policies with the Career Tracks classification structure
You can view these and other recently revised polices at http://policy.ucop.edu/advanced-search.php?action=welcome&op=browse&recent=1.
A couple of months ago, the Principles of Community Committee unveiled a draft of the Principles of Community document at the May 20 town hall meeting.
The committee thought that a survey would be helpful in soliciting your feedback so that we may capture your thoughts, comments and suggestions into the final version.
Please read the draft document at http://ucanr.edu/About_ANR/Principles_of_Community.
We'll give you a few weeks to share your thoughts then the POC Committee will compile your comments and suggestions before we reconvene to revise our document.
Please submit your ideas through the ANR portal at http://ucanr.edu/About_ANR/Principles_of_Community/Comments_and_questions_are_welcome_648/ by Aug. 31, 2016. We welcome all your comments and suggestions.
Thank you in advance,
The UC ANR Principles of Community Committee
Mary Blackburn
Emily LaRue
Chris Martinez
Laura Snell
Katherine Soule
Erin Thompson
Jeff Tibayan
Terri White