UC ANR has been using a web-based daily “clearance to work survey” to ensure that employees who are working onsite or engaged in in-person field work, research, or extension activities are free of COVID-19 symptoms. An offline or paper version of the survey is also available for volunteers or employees who cannot access the online survey. Symptom screening is a statewide recommendation for all employers and is required by UC guidance for campuses and ANR locations that have personnel working onsite. The UC Symptom Screening Task Force guidance also states that arrangements must be made to require the same or equivalent screening not only of students, academics, and staff but also guests, contractors, vendors, and members of the public who are permitted access to UC facilities.
To comply with this UC systemwide guidance and to increase the protection of our employees, beginning August 3, all visitors to UC ANR facilities must also complete a Visitor Clearance Survey prior to entry. Only visitors who receive a “Cleared to Enter” result will be allowed access. Visitors who are denied entry should be provided information about other ways to interact with UC ANR remotely, such as information available on websites, scheduling a phone consultation, video meetings, etc.
When visitors from a UC campus or vendors whose employer has a symptom screening process can demonstrate that they have already passed their institution's screening, those results will be acceptable to enter the UC ANR facility. Additionally, for UCCE offices, a County's symptom screening process will be acceptable to enter the UC ANR spaces.
To maintain privacy, UC ANR personnel will not record or retain the responses of any person's Visitor Clearance Work Survey, but will only keep a record of the final survey result, i.e.: “Cleared to Enter,” or “Stay Home,” using a daily visitor log or sign-in sheet to record survey clearance status.
The UC ANR Visitor Clearance Survey and additional instructions and details about the survey are posted on the UC ANR COVID-19 webpage: http://ucanr.edu/covid19 under “Standards for Resuming In-Person Activities.”
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
The Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety is seeking research and outreach proposals on a wide range of topics that address occupational health and safety in agriculture in Arizona, California, Hawaii and/or Nevada.
- Small Grant Program funding is for the 2020–2021 academic year. Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars may request up to $10,000. Faculty may request up to $30,000. Proposals are due on or before Aug. 21, 2020, 5 p.m. PT.
- Outreach and Education funding is open to faculty, Ph.D. students or postdoctoral scholars, Cooperative Extension specialists and farm advisors and non-profit organizations. Funding requests may be submitted for up to $10,000; most awards will be $5,000 to $7,500. Proposals are due on or before Sept. 25, 2020, 5 p.m. PT.
Please share with interested parties and email aghealth@ucdavis.edu with any questions.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Outstanding work recognized with Distinguished Service Awards
Sponsored by UC ANR and Academic Assembly Council, the Distinguished Service Awards (DSA) recognize service and academic excellence in UC Cooperative Extension over a significant period of time. Awards highlight the use of innovative methods and the integration of research, extension and leadership by UC ANR academics. Award categories include outstanding research, outstanding extension, outstanding new academic, outstanding team, and outstanding leader.
Congratulations to the 2020 DSA recipients!
Outstanding Research – Carlos Crisosto
Carlos Crisosto, UC Cooperative Extension postharvest physiology specialist, has demonstrated an exceptional research program with impacts on both the California food industry and consumers through his work on postharvest handling of tree fruits and nuts. His work has had a significant impact – reducing food loss, improving fruit quality and safety, and expanding markets for California agriculture. Highlights of Crisosto's work include his incorporation of consumer perceptions into the measurement of fruit quality, collaborative development and implementation of protocols for fruit ripening, transportation and retail handling, and research into consumer perceptions of different cultivars. His outstanding research has been coupled with an outreach and education program that included extension through site visits, in person workshops, short courses, manuals, popular articles, websites and collaboration. In addition to his academic successes, Crisosto was awarded the Industry Distinguished Service & Achievement Award by the California fig industry in recognition of supporting cultivar development and improving marketing and utilization of dried and fresh figs over his career. The success of Crisosto's program is a testament to the outstanding work in applied research that can be accomplished through UC ANR.
Outstanding Extension – Andrew Sutherland
Andrew Sutherland has shaped his pest management program based on his clientele needs since the beginning of his career at UC ANR in 2012 and has had great success implementing pest management programs in urban areas. He has done an extensive amount of work on bed bug, termite and cockroach control. He has worked with several agencies including structural pest control businesses, public health nurses, multi-family housing managers and UC Master Gardeners to deliver practical information on pest management. One ongoing project that has both a public health and an environmental impact in California is bait station systems for control of subterranean termites. The project is evaluating efficacy and costs associated with bait systems and looking into alternatives to liquid termicides, which have been identified as serious environmental contaminants in CA's surface water systems. His work has benefited urban populations in general, but has also reached under-served communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sutherland has made a major effort to reach out to Hispanic audiences, producing materials in Spanish and hosting public presentations and outreach events in low-income areas of his territory. He has worked with industry leaders collaborating on applied research projects considering economic challenges when designing programs that would be beneficial and relevant to his clientele.
Outstanding New Academic – Mae Culumber
Mae Culumber has been the CE nut crops advisor in Fresno County since June 2016. She has developed an outstanding applied research program in only 4 years, which addresses clientele needs and is in alignment with the ANR Strategic Vision. Her work provides innovative solutions to identify orchard management practices that maximize the efficient use of water and nutrient resources, and promote biochemical and physical soil characteristics that will lead to improvements in soil health and enhanced vigor and productivity of nut crops. Culumber's work primarily focused on innovative efforts that improved food system productivity. She established successful collaborations with advisors and specialists from UC Cooperative Extension, faculty from UC Davis Plant Sciences, and scientists from USDA-ARS Davis and Parlier to examine greenhouse gas emissions, and soil biochemical carbon and nitrogen dynamics in newly established orchards after whole orchard recycling. Her leadership of this basic and applied research team is exceptional for a newer advisor in the Assistant rank. Culumber recognizes and invests in developing useful information, strategies and trainings to impact and improve clientele practices, that also have statewide public value by protecting California's natural resources.
Outstanding Team – AB 589 Water Measurement Training Team
This team of CE specialists and advisors rapidly developed and coordinated a training program that met the needs of UC ANR's farming and ranching clientele, in a cost-effective and timely manner. California Senate Bill 88 requires all water right holders who have previously diverted or intend to divert more than 10 ac-ft per year to measure and report the water they divert to the State. For most ranchers and diverters impacted by SB 88, complying with the reporting requirements is expensive and burdensome. The cost and availability of professionals to design, install and calibrate diversion measurement systems resulted in a grass roots effort by California Cattlemen's Association and California Farm Bureau to seek an educational alternative for surface water diverters. With support from the University of California, Assembly Bill 589 (AB 589) was introduced and carried. It passed through the Assembly and the Senate with no opposition and was signed by Governor Brown. The bill allows diverters that complete the UC course to install and maintain measurement devices to comply with SB 88, saving them time and money. Working with industry (California Cattlemen's Association) and regulators (State Water Resources Control Board), the UC team provided a huge service to farming and ranching clientele, and the state. This is a true testament to UC ANR's ability to work with groups of differing interests in order to reach a common goal. The UC team has conducted 20 workshops since the bill was passed and certified over 1,200 diverters. One letter of reference indicated a cost savings of more than $4,000 on his ranch alone.
The AB 589 Water Measurement Training Team includes:
- Larry Forero, UCCE director and livestock and natural resources advisor, Shasta County
- Khaled Bali, UCCE irrigation water management specialist, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center
- Allan Fulton, UCCE irrigation and water resources advisor, Tehama County
- Daniele Zaccaria, UCCE associate Cooperative Extension specialist, UC Davis
- Theresa Becchetti, UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor, Stanislaus County
- Josh Davy, UCCE director and livestock and natural resources advisor, Tehama County
- Morgan Doran, UCCE director and livestock and natural resources advisor, UC Cooperative Extension Capitol Corridor
- Julie Finzel, UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor, Kern County
- Cari Koopmann Rivers, former UCCE director, Siskiyou County
- Glenn McGourty, UCCE director and farm advisor, Mendocino County
- Rebecca Ozeran, UCCE livestock advisor, Fresno County
- Devii Rao, UCCE director and livestock and natural resources advisor, San Benito County
- Tracy Schohr, UCCE livestock and natural resource advisor, Plumas-Sierra and Butte counties
- Scott Stoddard, UCCE director and farm advisor, Merced County
- Matthew Shapero, UCCE livestock & natural resource advisor, Ventura & Santa Barbara counties
- Rhonda Smith, UCCE viticulture advisor, Sonoma County
- Laura Snell, UCCE director, Modoc County
- Jeff Stackhouse, UCCE livestock & natural resource advisor, Humboldt & Del Norte counties
- Julé Rizzardo, assistant deputy director, Division of Water Rights, State Water Resources Control Board-Sacramento
- Kyle Ochenduszko, deputy public works director, City of Benicia
- Brian Coats, senior water resource control engineer, SWRCB-Sacramento
- Jeff Yeazell, water resource control engineer, SWRCB-Sacramento
- Chuck Arnold, water resource control engineer, SWRCB-Sacramento
Outstanding Leader – Katherine Soule
Katherine Soule holds a number formal leadership roles in ANR including leading several statewide programs locally, serving as director of UCCE in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and as Academic Assembly Council president. Soule holds informal leadership roles as a mentor and colleague. Outside of ANR, she leads a national working group, is a local non-profit board member, and leads research and development for a professional organization.When Soule became county director (July 2017), she began strategic planning focused on building relationships with key stakeholders (administrative, clientele, academics, and community partners) and addressing the needs, opportunities, and challenges UCCE faces in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Her efforts focused on improving fiscal management, increasing understanding of UCCE, and eliminating program inefficiencies.
Soule uses strengths-based leadership and her leadership position to support and communicate the goals of academics' programs and their successes, while ensuring the fiscal resources needed to carry out their visions. She recognizes the strengths and expertise of those she leads and provides others with meaningful opportunities to develop shared visions and long-term objectives. She has supported the development and advancement of several team members, who have completed advanced degrees while working for UCCE, taken higher-level positions, and increased their professional contributions to their respective fields. She is sought throughout the ANR system to provide guidance and support for academics, statewide leaders and other personnel.
- Author: Henry Vaux, Jr., professor emeritus and AVP emeritus
Lowell N. Lewis, UC ANR associate vice president emeritus and professor emeritus at UC Riverside, passed away on July 17, 2020. He recently celebrated his 89th birthday, but had been in declining health for some months.
Lewis received his education at Pennsylvania State University and Michigan State University prior to joining the faculty in the Department of Horticultural Science at UC Riverside in 1960. His academic fields were biochemistry and horticulture and his research during the 1960s and beyond focused on the role of gibberellins in promoting citrus color. He also worked extensively on determination of the roles of plant hormones and cellulase in abcission. In 1971, he was named research dean in the College of Agricultural and Biological Sciences, a precursor of the current College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. In 1981, he was appointed director of the California Agricultural Experiment Station and assistant vice president in the UC Office of the President. In 1986, he was advanced to associate vice president. He formally retired from the university in 1991.
Following retirement, he served as a research consultant to the Agricultural Minister of Egypt and in 1994 began an extended period of additional service to UC, functioning as the University's liaison with the Catalonian (Spain) Institute of Agricultural Research and Technology. He was instrumental in establishing a technology transfer agreement with the Catalonian Institute and also a program of student and faculty exchange in honor of Gaspar de Portola, California's first governor who was born and raised in Catalonia. He also served on the Advisory Board of the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy and as a special advisor to the Chair of the Forum. During this period, he took up residence in Barcelona, Spain, where he remained until two years ago.
During his career, Lowell Lewis received many honors and awards. Among them were membership in the California Academy of Science, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. He was also nominated to participate in the Senior Executive Program at the Harvard Institute for Educational Management.
At the time of his death, Lewis resided in Irvine, Calif. He his survived by his three children Beth Marsh, Brad Lewis, Nancy Hermansen and several grandchildren.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
George Goodall, emeritus UCCE farm advisor and county director, passed away June 22, 2020, at age 98.
A fourth-generation Southern Californian, Goodall grew up on a diversified farm in Canoga Park. After serving four years in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, he earned a degree in subtropical horticulture from UCLA in 1947. Goodall was hired the same year as a UCCE subtropical fruit farm advisor for Ventura County, then in 1951 moved to serve Santa Barbara County as a farm advisor specializing in avocados, citrus, walnuts and wine grapes. He later earned a master's degree in agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1974, he became director of UCCE in Santa Barbara County until he retired in 1987.
“George was instrumental in the creation of the Williamson Act and in establishing the avocado industry amongst a lot of other things,” said Ben Faber, UCCE subtropical crops advisor for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
“As important as his knowledge and experience, it was his manner, attitude, personality, sense of humor, etc. that made him an ideal Extension agent,” Faber said. “He was equally comfortable in the world of academia as he was in the real world of farming and people. And he loved good food, a good bottle of wine and good company. I'll never forget his laugh and his stories. He and John Evans and Bud Lee were like the three musketeer county directors who were all excellent extension administrators and at the same time outstanding farm advisors.”
In 1972, Goodall received the Award of Honor of the California Avocado Society. Among other industry honors, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the California Chapter of the Soil Conservation Society of America, the Commendation Award from the Soil Conservation Society of America, and a gold watch from Calavo Growers of California.
During his career, he authored nearly 30 papers on avocado production and many more papers on subtropical fruits.
He was a member of the American Society for Horticulture Science, the American Agricultural Economics Association, the Soil Conservation Society of America, and was a past president of the California Chapter of the Soil Conservation Society of America. A member of the California Avocado Society since 1949, he also belonged to the Lemon Men's Club, The California Citrus Nurserymen's Society, and the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau.
According to his family, Goodall once bestowed a Medal of Honor to former Governor Ronald Reagan for soil conservation.
After retiring from UC, Goodall did agricultural consulting in the Mediterranean, Latin America and Africa. He also became active in the Santa Barbara Rotary Club and his local genealogical society, tracing his ancestry to the origins of man and giving presentations on genealogy.
Goodall is survived by his wife Jeanne, son Stephen (Jane), grandchildren Emily (Cheyne) and Jason and great grandchildren Lyndee and Jaxton O'Gorman.
