The Oct. 5-7, 2015, Joint Strategic Initiative conference had great participation, with 353 people attending. During the January Strategic Initiative (SI) leaders meeting with Bill Frost, we carefully reviewed the conference feedback. The conference evaluation survey had a good response rate (23%). A summary of responses to the closed-ended questions is at http://ucanr.edu/sites/2015jointsiconference. Below are some highlighted themes from the open-ended questions, and how we are planning to address them:
- 75 percent of respondents liked the Joint SI Conference format compared to having individual SI conferences.
- In response to this preference, as well as to better facilitate synergies with Workgroups and Program Teams, we plan to have SI-hosted conferences in 2016-17. Multiple SIs will co-sponsor, and the conferences will be co-planned with relevant Program Teams or Workgroup leaders.
- When asked “What did you learn during the conference that you may use in your work?,” the respondents' most common themes were 1) in-service trainings, 2) networking and 3) better understanding of ANR.
- These aspects will continue to be emphasized in the future SI co-hosted conferences.
- When asked “What is working well?” withtheSIs, the themes explain thattheSIs provide value for outward messaging, as well as focus, direction and coordinated effort.
- To build on existing strengths, we will develop a more formal external communications strategy for the SIs, to include producing an impact piece to illustrate the value of the SIs to ANR, UC and California. In addition, we will be working with ANR's Communication Services and Information Technology to improve the SI webpages and social media presence, and to develop regular communications tools.
- When asked “What could make the SIs better?,” the themes found that some people are still unclear about SIs, including overall function, respective priorities, cross-disciplinary efforts and impact.
- To help clarify the role and scope of the SIs, we plan to take a more active role in orienting new academics to the SIs. We are considering participation in the new academic program orientation, county director meetings and program team meetings, and to initiate meetings with small groups of new advisors and specialists.
- To facilitate improved understanding of the SI priorities, we will encourage all advisors and specialists to apply for the ANR Competitive Grants Program at least once, and provide Letter of Intent writing training. This will help ensure that academics are familiar with the SI strategic plans and priorities, given these are the focus of the Request for Proposals (RFP).
- To better capture and communicate SI impact, we discussed creating a project recognition program, and will work to develop a coordinated evaluation plan. We will meet with county directors, department chairs and campus-based specialists to share information on SIs and hear about successful ANR network collaborations.
We thank all those who provided this valuable feedback about the 2015 conference. We will continue to seek input as we develop and implement strategies to coordinate ANR's considerable infrastructure and talent, focusing on the most critical issues, seeking new resources and new ways of partnering within and outside UC, and communicating our collective impact finding science-based solutions for California.
Sincerely,
ANR's Strategic Initiatives Leaders
David Doll, Sustainable Food Systems
John Harper, Sustainable Natural Ecosystems
Keith Nathaniel, Healthy Families and Communities
Doug Parker, Water Quality, Quantity, and Security
Cheryl Wilen, Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases
More than 350 people participated, with the greatest number attending the lunch conversation with President Janet Napolitano and VP Glenda Humiston. Among the topics Napolitano and Humiston discussed was ANR's role in the President's Initiatives, including Global Food, UC-Mexico and Carbon Neutrality.
If you attended the conference and haven't already evaluated the conference, send your comments by completing an anonymous survey. Your input is instrumental in understanding what was done well and what can be improved.
Videos of trainings, PowerPoint presentations and posters have been linked to the conference website:
- Some of the in-service trainings were recorded. To listen to the speakers deliver their presentations and view their PowerPoints, visit the In-service Trainings website and click on “Video” under each presentation. Not all of the trainings were recorded.
- PDF files of Tuesday's highlighted presentations PowerPoints have been added online. Click the titles in the online conference agenda (not the PDF) to view the description for each presentation and to open the PDFs.
- PDFs of posters displayed at both of the receptions are posted. Poster presenters, if you do not see your file, please send it to ANR Program Support so it can be added.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Registration is now open for the 2015 UC ANR Joint Strategic Initiative Conference, which will be held Oct. 5-7 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel, 1230 J Street, in Sacramento.
UC Cooperative Extension advisors, UC Cooperative Extension specialists, Agricultural Extension Station faculty, program directors, academic coordinators and programmatic staff are encouraged to attend.
At the conference, you'll have the opportunity to
- Meet Vice President Glenda Humiston at the Monday evening reception.
- Participate in a discussion with UC President Janet Napolitano and Vice President Humiston at Tuesday's luncheon.
- Learn about ANR competitive grant-funded research projects.
- Engage in planning for the Strategic Initiatives.
- Attend program team and workgroup meetings.
- Take advantage of free training sessions.
- Network at the stakeholders' reception on Tuesday evening.
The conference is being coordinated through the five UC ANR Strategic Initiatives:
- Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases
- Healthy Families and Communities
- Sustainable Food Systems
- Sustainable Natural Ecosystems
- Water Quality, Quantity and Security
There's still time to submit a poster abstract for a poster session, the deadline for submit poster abstracts is Sept 9. Posters will be displayed on Monday and Tuesday nights. For details, see http://ucanr.edu/sites/2015jointsiconference/Call_for_Posters.
For the conference rate at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel, reserve lodging by Sept. 11 by calling (800) 325-3535 or booking online at https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/ucanr2015. UC ANR will provide travel funding for participants who are affiliated with ANR.
For more information, contact UC ANR Program Support Unit, Sherry Cooper, (530) 750-1256, or Saundra Wais, (530) 750-1260 or anrprogramsupport@ucanr.edu.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Send comments via e-mail directly to James Bartolome.
A draft of the Sustainable Natural Ecosystems plan, which will guide efforts in this area for the next five years, is available at http://ucanr.org/sites/NRCC_2010/Sustainable_Natural_Ecosystems_Draft_Plan/
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Nearly 80 ANR members gathered in Sacramento on June 28-30 to review and make recommendations for the focus and direction of the Sustainable Natural Ecosystems strategic initiative. At the end of the SNE conference, all of the initiative leaders presented information regarding the status of their initiative plans – Sustainable Natural Ecosystems (SNE), Healthy Family and Communities (HFC), Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) and Endemic and Invasive Plants and Diseases (EIPD).
The areas of inquiry under consideration for the Sustainable Natural Ecosystems initiative are land use, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity, water supply, energy, climate change, and ecosystem services. Based on feedback from the conference, the SNE advisory panel will revise the plan and make it available on the Web from July 25 to Aug. 15 for final review and input. The initial draft plan is posted at http://ucanr.org/sites/NRCC_2010/files/14722.pdf.
The Healthy Families and Communities Strategic Initiative Conference will be held Aug. 24 – 26 at UC Davis. Participants will discuss childhood obesity, youth science literacy, and thriving and contributing youth to identify potential areas of inquiry.
“The primary focus of the conference will be to dialog, discuss, review and further define the priority areas of inquiry identified by the panel for the HFC Strategic Initiative,” said Sharon Junge, HFC initiative leader. “It will also include the beginning development of the strategic plan for accomplishing the work over the next five years.”
Look for more details on the potential areas of inquiry for the HFC Strategic Initiative and the Initiative Conference at http://ucanr.org/sites/PSU.
The Sustainable Food Systems initiative panel is discussing areas of inquiry dealing with water issues including water supply and delivery systems, availability, reliability, price and ways to improve water use efficiency, quality and conservation. Other areas under discussion are food safety from both microbial and chemical contamination, tools to improve the relative competitiveness and productivity of California agriculture today and with projected climate changes, maintaining local and regionally based food systems, and viability of small and mid-sized farming or ranching operations. Similar to the other panels, the SFS panel is developing a draft strategic plan incorporating these areas. The draft will be circulated for review before October.
The Endemic and Invasive Pest and Diseases initiative panel is discussing potential topics including insect vectors and pathogens; surveillance tools and methodology; climate change impact on pests, weeds and the environment; and control and management of aquatic pests. They, too, will have a draft circulated for review before October.
The next steps are for the Strategic Initiative Leaders to present draft plans to Program Council in October for review and comment. These plans will be finalized based upon the comments received. Program Council will evaluate the potential areas of inquiry and make recommendations as to what kind of resources should be allocated over the next five years in ensure that UC ANR work will result in significant and demonstrated policy-relevant impacts.