The UC ANR Staff Assembly Council has been busy pursuing various ways to provide resources that will benefit all ANR staff – including limited-term and county-paid staff. For those of you who may not know, ANR Staff Assembly Council is here to advocate staff views, interests and areas of concern to leadership as well as provide opportunities for professional development.
UC ANR Staff Assembly Council began by reaching out to all offices and RECs to obtain names of colleagues who would like to be a local Staff Assembly ambassador. These ambassadors will be your local contact in helping spread the word about and promote the work of Staff Assembly Council. To determine who your Staff Assembly ambassador is, please go to the Staff Assembly's website – http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu – and click on the Ambassadors tab. If you notice your office or site doesn't have a representative and you'd like to become the local ambassador, please let Staff Assembly Council know via the comments and questions link on the home page.
Additionally, within the next few weeks, all ANR staff will receive a free UC ANR Staff Assembly reusable bag. It's a way of welcoming you as members of ANR Staff Assembly. Please use it with pride because you are UC ANR Staff Assembly.
Accepting applications for 2016-17
The UC ANR Staff Assembly serves to promote staff interests. And when asked, staff said that career development is their Number One priority. So the Staff Assembly Council prioritized the staff career-development scholarship program for 2016-17.
The 2016-17 Scholarship Program applies to the 2016-17 fiscal year and applications will be accepted for almost any job-related training or conference that occurred between July 1, 2016, and April 30, 2017. The maximum award amount is $1,500, and applications should be submitted by March 30, 2017. Travel such as airfare, rental car, hotel or meals cannot be reimbursed.
This is a reimbursement program. Reimbursement will require an invoice or receipt showing payment for the course, and evidence of satisfactory course completion. You will be asked to upload electronic copies of these documents at the time of submission.
To apply for the scholarship, answer a 10-question survey at https://ucanr.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3DV1wulS6koXnz7.
If you have questions about the program, please ask your local Staff Assembly ambassador or post your question at http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu under the “Comments/Questions” tab.
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
CUCSA delegates – who represent all the UC campuses, UCOP and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – meet quarterly to work on special projects of interest and importance to UC staff across California, share local staff assembly best practices, and learn about advances being made by UC academics and high-level UC leadership.
UC ANR vice president Glenda Humiston was a guest at the September CUCSA meeting. She outlined the origins of the division, the activities of UC ANR specialists and advisors, and introduced future plans.
Humiston noted a difference between UC ANR's network of nine research and extension centers and the UC Natural Reserve System.
“In the Natural Reserve, scientists look, but don't touch,” Humiston said. “In UC ANR, we plow, we burn, and we plant on our research and extension centers.”
Humiston has a long-time commitment to the value of working landscapes in California. She chartered an action team on working landscapes for the California State Economic Summit.
“Working landscapes are responsible for 1.2 million jobs and $318 billion in direct sales and exports,” Humiston said. “We're a key part of California's economy.”
Under her leadership, ANR has become a part of the University Economic Development Association, which advances knowledge and practice in economic engagement by institutions of higher education.
“I believe it's all about partnerships and collaboration – synergy,” Humiston said.
The CUCSA representatives for UC ANR are senior delegate Lori Renstrom, office manager for UC Cooperative Extension in San Diego County, who will serve until June 2017; and junior delegate Jeannette Warnert, public information representative for UC ANR Strategic Communications, who will serve until June 2018. A new “junior delegate” will be elected by the UC ANR Staff Assembly in spring 2017.
Renstrom is part of the CUCSA workgroup “Mental Health, Stress and Work-Life Balance,” which will review the impacts of increasing student enrollment and ongoing change initiatives as well as the challenges caused by the economy, family demands and other personal factors on staff's mental well being, identify available resources and make recommendations to address staff needs. Warnert is part of the “UC Community Workgroup,” which will review staff diversity statistics across the UC system and obtain staff input about the diversity efforts at their locations. This information will help the workgroup identify best practices, challenges and recommendations for improvements.
All CUCSA workgroups complete a white paper which is presented to the UC Board of Regents at the end of the term.
If you're interested in learning more about ANR Staff Assembly, go to http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu/
- Author: Jeannette Warnert
“I'm especially pleased to be able to bring this announcement to you,” Humiston said. “Principles of Community and staff assembly are milestones in the history of the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.”
Late last year, Humiston appointed a committee to draft the Principles of Community and she appointed a committee to develop the process for forming the statewide ANR Staff Assembly.
“I want to offer my sincere thanks to the members of these committees for their commitment and their work,” Humiston said.
Both committees completed draft documents, which are now on the web for review and input. Staff Assembly bylaws are on the Staff Assembly website. The Principles of Community are on UC ANR's main website. Forms for submitting questions and comments are available for both documents.
Matt Baur, chair of the Staff Assembly committee and associate director of the Western Region IPM Center, introduced the new Staff Assembly framework at the town hall meeting. He said all staff in ANR are part of the Staff Assembly, including all appointment types and county employees.
“Everyone needs to participate in the assembly for it to function properly,” Baur said. “We want to offer opinions and recommendations to leadership on policies, processes and programs, and to channel information from leadership back to the staff. It's a two-way information flow.”
Part of the assembly's mission will be offering learning opportunities, career training and professional development to ANR staff to further career advancement. Humiston said the Staff Assembly joins Academic Assembly as equally important pieces of shared governance for UC ANR.
Two members of the Staff Assembly committee will represent ANR at the statewide meeting in June of the Council of UC Staff Assemblies. In the fall, winter and spring, ANR Staff Assembly plans to hold regional meetings around the state to engage staff in the organization.
The Principles of Community were outlined at the Town Hall by committee chair Terri White, executive assistant for Communication Services and Information Technology. She said the committee started its work with 31 pages of comments from the environmental assessment workshops. They looked for commonalities to identify workshop participants' suggestions for creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace.
“With our group, we determined that fairness, trust, respect, physical and emotional safety and security were important. That was what we felt our target was,” White said. “We vetted our early draft with 12 academics and staff and introduced it to leadership in March. Now we're looking to all of you for input.”
The principles outlined in the document are:
- Ensure open communication
- Work together to achieve common goals and mutual understandings
- Value the contribution and worth of all members
- Appreciate and celebrate differences and diversity
- Foster a sense of belonging and emotional safety
- Practice mutual respect
- Demonstrate ethics and integrity
- Invest in all members
- Recognize that all members are important
In closing the town hall session, Humiston noted that the larger vision of the Division is outlined in the Strategic Vision 2025 and that the existing Strategic Initiatives will continue for at least another five years.
“As we're working together, that's our vision of where we are and where we are going as we implement the Principals of Community and utilize the Staff Assembly to get us there,” Humiston said.
View the 27-minute video of the town hall below.
Plan to join the May 20 town hall to learn about the new Staff Assembly and Principles of Community! All ANR staff and academics are encouraged to participate.
1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Friday, May 20, 2016
VP Glenda Humiston will
- share her vision for Staff Assembly and take questions about the new organization. The Staff Assembly will give staff a collective voice to senior leadership, offer opinions and recommendations on policies, processes and programs, foster an understanding of ANR's mission and offer career training and professional development.
- discuss the new Principles of Community,which was also formed as a result of the Work Environmental Assessment to document the values that will create a more welcoming and inclusive work environment. The Principles of Community will be a tool for education and training.
As a follow up to the ANR Work Environment Assessment, VP Humiston formed a committee of ANR staff to draft the Principles of Community, structure and bylaws for the Staff Assembly. All of the UC campuses have a Staff Assembly, as does UCOP and Lawrence Livermore Labs. All ANR staff — no matter the appointment type, including county-paid staff — are part of the new Staff Assembly.
How you can participate:
If you will be at 2801 Second Street on May 20, please join the town hall in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley rooms.
If you plan to join the call remotely, we encourage you to gather with others to use one computer and/or speaker phone because the number of connections is limited.
- Adobe Connect: http://uc-d.adobeconnect.com/allanr
You should be able to hear and see the presentations. If you haven't used Adobe Connect before using the computer, you may want to log in ahead of time in case it requires you to download a plug-in. Access Adobe Connect through your ANR Portal (in the right column).
- ReadyTalk: If you do not have access to a computer with speakers or you just want to listen in, you can call in to ReadyTalk directly using a telephone:
Call-in: 866-740-1260
Access Code: 6063660
- Q&A: Questions will be handled by a moderator using an Adobe Connect chat window. We will not be able to take questions over the phone.
For technical help, contact:
Damon DiPietro, (530) 750-1228
David Hatter, (530) 750-1212
In September, ANR Vice President Glenda Humiston charged a committee of UC ANR staff who volunteered at the workshops to help design a process and structure of the UC ANR Staff Assembly. The committee includes Matt Baur, chair; Jeannette Warnert, scribe; and members Andrew Besson, Janelle Hansen, Tammy Majcherek, Lori Renstrom and Nikolai Schweitzer.
The committee met in September and is now developing the new Staff Assembly's mission statement and bylaws. In a few weeks, the drafts will be circulated among all staff at ANR so they can offer feedback.
In time, the Staff Assembly will hold regular elections to form a board to lead the UC ANR Staff Assembly. The Staff Assembly will also elect delegates to attend the annual meeting of the systemwide Council of UC Staff Assemblies so that the interests of UC ANR staff are represented.
