- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
The annual performance evaluation is an opportunity for staff and supervisors to recognize accomplishments, identify opportunities to build skills, and align individual efforts to high-level unit and division goals. The evaluation review period runs from April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024.
Come learn the ins and outs of the process and the ePerformance system. Supervisors need only attend Webinar #2.
The webinars will be recorded and available on the HR website for those unable to attend in person.
Here are the day/times and links for the webinars:
Employee Role
When: 1 to 2 p.m. on March 6
Topic: ePerformance Session - Employee Role
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/98020169735
Supervisor Role
When: 1 to 2 p.m. on March 20
Topic: ePerformance Session - Supervisor Role
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/97725905465
Ian J. Smith
Employee and Labor Relations Manager
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
The Office of Pesticide Information and Coordination has opened online registration for its annual UC ANR Pesticide Policy Update Trainings. This training is intended for campus, research and extension center, and county-based UC ANR personnel who apply experimental pesticides either on UC property or on cooperators' land.
It is important for all personnel handling pesticides in research and demonstration settings to attend this training.
All scheduled UC ANR Pesticide Policy Update Trainings will be conducted via Zoom webinar. A registration link for each webinar can be found below:
- Monday, April 8, 1-4 p.m. Register for this webinar
- Tuesday, May 7, 9 a.m.-noon Register for this webinar
- Monday, June 3, 1-4 p.m. Register for this webinar
There are no fees for these sessions. Three (3) hours of Laws and Regulations Continuing Education units will be offered for the UC ANR Pesticide Policy Training. If you have questions, please email OPIC at OPIC@ucanr.edu.
- Author: Yana Valachovic
With tremendous sadness, we mark the passing and remember the impact of our friend, colleague and mentor, Dorina Espinoza, who passed away Oct. 10 after a brief illness.
One of her University of California colleagues, Irene Padasas, said it best, “I am grateful for the opportunity to have experienced Dorina's radiating humility and kindness, but most of all, I am thankful for her patience and mentorship that changed me forever.”
In 2012, Espinoza joined the University of California Cooperative Extension in Humboldt and Del Norte counties to develop a novel position under the title of youth, families and communities advisor. This position sought to integrate and blend programming in community health and education. In this role, she supported three critical programs: 4-H Youth Development, Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, and UC Master Food Preservers. These roles naturally suited her and her love of youth education, community health and community empowerment.
In 2020, when COVID-19 disrupted 4-H activities, Anne Iaccopucci, California 4-H Healthy Living coordinator; and Marcel Horowitz, UCCE healthy youth, families and communities advisor in Yolo County; and Espinoza adapted the CDC/4-H Junior Disease Detective: Operation Outbreak project for remote instruction.
In one of her autobiographical sketches, Espinoza stated, “I am continually learning from my community members and I am passionate about working with communities to make healthy changes that improve lives, create equitable and just communities that support and value difference, and help decision-makers support practices and policies that ensure healthy communities for all to thrive.”
She earned her master's degree and Ph.D. from Michigan State University in kinesiology and exercise science. She served the North Coast for over two decades, working for Humboldt County's Health and Human Services Department as a health education specialist for 5 years, lecturing at Humboldt State University in Kinesiology for 6 years, and working for UC Cooperative Extension for 11 years.
Espinoza was a bright light and a vibrant voice in Humboldt and Del Norte counties and through her work in California. Professionally, she was not only a joy to work with, but she inspired us all.
Espinoza built meaningful and successful partnerships with community-based organizations and tribes. She inspired us with her practice of deep cultural humility and respectful solidarity with the communities that she served and by the way she exemplified equity-driven and inclusive approaches in her work and valuing the lived experiences of individuals. She was gifted with the ability to find the best in everyone.
Espinoza was passionate about addressing food insecurity, supporting emergency preparedness, strengthening local agriculture and regional food systems, and engaging with community volunteers. With both 4-H and the Master Food Preserver programs, she found the balance between sharing science-based information with others and respecting their own wealth of knowledge and experience. She understood the importance of power lying within people in their communities and gently encouraged both staff and volunteers to develop more skills to understand bias and equity.
She set an important example for others on how to undertake research, extension activities, and community projects with an inspirational vision that will long outlive her individual impact. She was also a leader in helping Cooperative Extension colleagues and the 4-H program in intercultural development and diversity, equity and inclusion training. Espinoza and her 4-H colleagues received the National Extension Diversity Award in 2016.
Espinoza described herself as a “woman, a woman of color, a woman of color occupying a position within California government, I am both one in solidarity and one in oppression with tribal communities. I strive on a daily basis to maintain humility, curiosity, respect, excitement and so much more while I work and live on these lands of the North Coast. I strive to understand issues relevant to my community, provide learning opportunities as well as leadership and extension skills so community members may shine with or without me, and share what I learn… to engage for deeper understanding.”
She had a joyous heart, an infectious smile and a deep compassion for everyone.
Espinoza is survived by sons Nicolas White, 26, and Anthony White, 24, and sisters Denise Ziskin and Diana Sacramento.
In Espinoza's memory, 4-H colleagues are dedicating a bike rack at the ANR building in Davis. JoLynn Miller explained the significance, saying, “The story is that in meetings, there's always an easel with a ‘parking lot' to put ideas that need to be discussed later. Dorina always would suggest we start using the word ‘Bike Rack' because it's modeling healthy behavior. So, we're dedicating a bike rack in her honor.”
Davis artist Wes Horn will create a mosaic plaque composed of clay tiles made by Espinoza's family and friends. He anticipates installing the plaque in April.
Read more about Espinoza at https://www.vcstar.com/obituaries/pyrk0672218.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Helen Cope Underhill, former UC Cooperative Extension home advisor, passed away Jan. 2, 2024, at age 99.
After attending Cooperative Extension home demonstration club meetings with her mother when she was a young girl in Alabama, Underhill decided she wanted to become a home demonstration agent.
At UCLA, Underhill earned a bachelor's degree in home economics, then returned to Alabama to teach WWII veterans in high school continuation classes while waiting for an opening in the University of California Agricultural Extension Service.
In 1946, she accepted a UCCE home advisor position, supervising the 4-H program in San Joaquin County. There she met John P. ‘Jack' Underhill, a young UCCE farm advisor, who was working in the same office. Two years later they married. Due to UC policy at the time that didn't allow married couples to work in the same office, Helen Cope Underhill was released from her job after their wedding. She remained an active supporter of UCCE in San Joaquin County as a 4-H leader and volunteer.
Mick Canevari, UCCE farm advisor emeritus and former UCCE director in San Joaquin County, was hired in 1971 as a field and lab assistant in San Joaquin County before becoming the 4-H advisor in 1973.
“When Jack hired me, Helen had long been retired, but I do remember when I accepted the 4-H position, Helen wrote a note of encouragement offering to help with the home economics part of the county fair,” Canevari said. “She had a passion for extension and was a strong proponent of our mission. She was a special lady to all of us. I can best describe her as the first lady of San Joaquin County Extension when Jack was county director.”
Helen Underhill is survived by her children Julie Elam (Jon), Ken Underhill, Liz Underhill Jue (Jack); grandchildren Rob (Megan Ponder) and Kristin Elam, Jace Underhill Proctor (Laura MacArthur), Robert (Kelly) and Leah and Jordan Jue; and five great grandchildren. Jack Underhill passed away in 2009.
Read more about Helen Cope Underhill at https://www.recordnet.com/obituaries/pyrk0702415.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Jeane Greenawalt Johnson, former 4-H home advisor in Ventura County, died Feb. 2 in Los Gatos. She was 97.
Johnson graduated from Kansas State University with a bachelor's degree in home economics in 1947 and later a bachelor's degree in education from San Jose State University. She worked for two years as a home demonstration agent in western Kansas before accepting a similar position in 1949 in Ventura County as UC Cooperative Extension 4-H home advisor, providing advice on making clothing, home furnishing, home management and food and nutrition.
In 1951, she married Louis Bruce Johnson, who died in 2019.
“My sister was born in 1954, by which time I'm sure my mother quit working,” wrote Johnson's daughter Deanna Foster.
Johnson remained a 4-H supporter, becoming a 4-H leader, a judge at county and state fairs, and a leader trainer.
“Her career with the California Extension Service was short, but it had a profound influence on the direction of her later career,” Foster said. “She co-founded the Association of Image Consultants and was active in Home Economists in Business.”
Johnson's work in personal color, fashion and wardrobe planning led to her teaching seminars at community colleges before starting her own business as an image consultant. A leader in her field, Johnson co-founded the Association of Image Consultants in the Bay Area, which later became an international organization.
Johnson is survived by daughters Wendy and Deanna (husband Tom Godsoe), grandson Michael Foster and sister Martha Miller.
Read more about Johnson's life at https://obituaries.paloaltoonline.com/obituaries/memorials/jeane-greenawalt-johnson?o=8442.