- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
- Author: Rosalie Z. Fanshel
While tasting avocados and blackberries at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, undergraduate students from historically Black colleges and universities got a taste of California agriculture. Participants in the HBCU-Berkeley Environmental Scholars for Change program took a field trip to the San Joaquin Valley on June 13–14. This is the second year that the program has visited the valley.
Six Spelman College and Tuskegee University students and five Berkeley graduate students, postdocs and research staff visited three locations: Scott Family Farms in Fresno, KARE and Allensworth State Historic Park/Allensworth Progressive Association.
Georgia-based Spelman students Sophia Davis, Jada Joshua, Zahriah Sellers and Eslen Trumble and Alabama-based Tuskegee students Emmanuel Fakunle and Evan Fewell are visiting California this summer to participate in the HBCU-Berkeley Environmental Scholars for Change Program.
“As a social science major, it was really fascinating to get a look at the research process of the people working in the applied natural sciences,” Davis said. “For example, I enjoyed learning about pests on farms, the different environmental challenges farmers deal with, and how people working within Cooperative Extension are devoting time to improve lives and labor of Central Valley farmers."
At Scott Family Farms, Will Scott, legendary elder farmer and president of the African American Farmers of California, taught the visitors how to stake tomato plants to support easy harvest.
“I really enjoyed my time at Kearney Ag Center and the experience of trying new fruits and learning about bug trapping and its importance to farmers,” said Sellers. “My experience there emphasized the importance of farmers' rights and their critical work reinforced the need to highlight and validate their efforts.”
At KARE, staff research associate Ryan Puckett led a tour of the facilities and introduced students to UC Cooperative Extension. Nathalie Baena-Bejarano and Reva Scheibner of the Houston Wilson Lab explained their research on tree nut pests, and had the students dissect navel orangeworm moths, or NOW.
“For our NOW dissections, we had the students looking for internal dye in the moths,” Scheibner said. “We rear some NOW on a red diet as a mark-recapture technique. So, we had the students dissect Moth A non-internal dyed and Moth B internally dyed and compare the two. The students were really into it and even asking for more moths to dissect and compare; it was very inspiring to see their excitement.”
UC Cooperative Extension specialist Mary Lu Arpaia described avocado breeding and sensory evaluation in Kearney's postharvest facility.
“It was inspiring to see so many scientists all working on agriculture, but doing unique and very interdisciplinary projects,” said Fakunle.
On the second day of the tour, the group visited Allensworth, a town founded by Black people in 1908. Allensworth was envisioned as the “Tuskegee of the West” to support Black agricultural and economic sovereignty. Members of the Allensworth Progressive Association introduced the town's long history of resilience in the face of ongoing racism by state policymakers and neighboring white farmers. The visitors toured the historic park and APA's demonstration regenerative agriculture community garden, and over lunch learned about the APA's many food, water and economic justice projects.
Rosalie Z. Fanshel and Benji Reade Malagueño, program staff and Ph.D. candidates in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley, hosted the tour. Kristin Dobbin, assistant professor of Cooperative Extension and close collaborator with the APA, joined the group for the second day.
Since 2021, the HBCU-Berkeley Environmental Scholars for Change Program has brought students together with UC Berkeley faculty and their lab members who do research in a wide range of intersecting environmental fields, such as agri-food systems, biodiversity, climate and water, all with a throughline of justice. Spelman and Tuskegee faculty work with applicants and the Berkeley program co-directors, ESPM associate professor Tim Bowles and Fanshel, to match student interests with faculty research projects at Berkeley.
Over the two-month program, visiting scholars conduct research in one or more of these areas with ESPM graduate students, postdocs and research staff. For students interested in pursuing graduate studies, it also introduces them to the UC Berkeley community.
In addition to the research experience, the program develops a community of belonging through mentorship activities that foster relationships with Black faculty, staff and graduate students at Berkeley and connects participants with vibrant Black environmental and cultural spaces in the Bay Area and beyond.
The scholars also partake in interdisciplinary environmental science skill-building and graduate school preparedness workshops, and field trips, such as the recent one to the Central Valley, to garner exposure to a range of postgraduate environmental science career tracks in academia and community organizations.
These are the 2024 projects:
- Davis is working on drinking water access and environmental justice with Dobbin
- Fakunle is working on animal behavior ecology and diversity with Damian Elias, ESPM professor
- Fewell is working on grassland soil ecology and climate change with Laureano Gherardi, ESPM assistant professor
- Joshua is working on environmental impacts of farm-to-school programs with Bowles
- Sellers is working on water access and climate change with Meg Mills-Novoa, assistant professor in ESPM and the Energy & Resources Group and director of the Climate Futures Lab
- Trumble is working on dryland forest co-stewardship and adaptive management with Miranda Redmond, ESPM assistant professor
The first three years of the program were funded by Berkeley Food Institute, UC Berkeley Office of Graduate Diversity and Spelman College, supplemented by the UC Berkeley Lewis & Kala Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund (initiated by UC ANR's very own Vernard Lewis), the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, crowdfunding, individual faculty labs, the UC Berkeley BigC fund, and other small entities. Bowles and Fanshel recently received a $414,210 UC-HBCU Initiative grant to fund the next three years of the program.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Sokolow joined the UC Davis Department of Political Science as an assistant professor in 1965 after receiving his bachelor's degree in journalism and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois.
Sokolow served as a faculty member at UC Davis for 39 years, teaching, conducting research, and engaging in outreach work in the areas of American state and local government and politics until his retirement in 2004.
He specialized in the politics and governance of small communities. In the last dozen years of his UC Davis service, Sokolow focused on farmland protection policy in California's Central Valley and elsewhere, after transitioning to a UC Cooperative Extension specialist position in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.
He served as an associate editor for California Agriculture, UC ANR's peer-reviewed journal. He credited his training and experience in newspaper work, including as the editor-in-chief at the Daily Illini college newspaper in 1955-56, for the interviewing and writing skills he employed as a researcher.
On Facebook, a few of Sokolow's former colleagues expressed their condolences.
“Al brought an interesting social economic perspective to issues affecting rural California. He will be sorely missed,” wrote Dan Dooley, former UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources.
Cattle rancher Karen Sweet said she had benefited from Sokolow's work on conservation easements.
Claudia Bagley Reid, who worked in UC ANR government relations, wrote, “He was one of my favorite (and most informative) mentors when I worked at UC ANR.”
Janet Byron, former managing editor of California Agriculture, wrote, “He was a wonderful man and a great associate editor.”
Sokolow is survived by his wife of 68 years, Sandra; children Michael, David, Daniel (Lupita Ochoa) and Deborah (Scott Speh); grandchildren Irene Sokolow-Ochoa and Edward Sokolow-Ochoa; sister Shirley Segal; sister-in-law June Shifrin; and cousin Audrey Bashkin.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a charity of the donor's choice in memory of Alvin D. Sokolow.
Read more at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/sacbee/name/alvin-sokolow-obituary?id=55254126.
Vice President Glenda Humiston announced on May 24 the approval of new University of California Cooperative Extension Advisor and Specialist positions for recruitment in 2024-25. The list includes 29 UC Cooperative Extension advisor positions and 20 UCCE specialist positions.
The new positions are listed below.
UCCE Advisors:
Discipline/Specialty |
Counties Served |
Office Location |
4-H Youth Development: College and Career Readiness |
Lake and Mendocino |
TBD |
4-H Youth Development: College and Career Readiness |
Alameda and Contra Costa |
Alameda
|
4-H Youth Development: College and Career Readiness |
San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura |
TBD |
4-H Youth Development: Leadership and Civic Engagement |
Modoc, Lassen, Plumas, and Sierra |
Lassen |
Agricultural Workforce Development |
San Joaquin Valley |
TBD |
Agronomy |
Sacramento, Solano, and Yolo |
Yolo |
Avocado, Citrus, and Subtropical Fruits |
Riverside and San Diego |
San Diego |
Citrus and Pistachio |
Kern, Kings, and Tulare |
Tulare |
Commensal Rodents & Urban Wildlife Integrated Pest Management |
Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Santa Clara |
Santa Clara |
Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Resiliency |
Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz |
TBD |
Environmental Horticulture |
Riverside and San Bernardino |
TBD |
Environmental Horticulture & Controlled Environment Agriculture |
Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz |
TBD |
Field and Vegetable Crops Integrated Pest Management |
Fresno, Kings, Madera, and Tulare |
West Side REC |
Food Systems |
Los Angeles and Ventura |
Ventura |
Fruit Postharvest Handling |
Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, and Tulare |
Lindcove REC |
Horticulture and Small Farms |
Nevada and Placer |
Placer |
Livestock and Natural Resources |
Lake and Mendocino |
Mendocino |
Livestock and Natural Resources |
Marin and Sonoma |
Sonoma |
Livestock and Natural Resources |
Shasta and Trinity |
Shasta |
Low Desert Weed Management |
Imperial and Riverside |
Imperial |
Nutrient Management & Forage Systems |
Merced, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus |
Stanislaus |
One Health Integrated Produce Safety |
Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz |
TBD |
Orchard Systems: Almond, Apricots, Peaches, and Pistachio |
San Joaquin and Stanislaus |
Stanislaus |
Orchard Systems: Apples, Cherries, Olives, and Walnuts |
San Joaquin and Stanislaus |
San Joaquin |
Outdoor Recreation/Connected Communities |
Lassen, Plumas, and Sierra |
Plumas |
Vegetable Crops |
Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Sutter, and Yuba |
Colusa |
Vegetable Crop and Weed Science |
Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz |
Monterey |
Viticulture and Tree Fruit |
Sacramento, Solano, and Yolo |
Sacramento |
Weed Science |
Marin, Napa, and Sonoma |
Sonoma |
Specialists:
Discipline/Specialty |
Host / Location |
Agricultural Acarologist |
UC Riverside Dept. of Entomology / Kearney REC |
Agricultural Economics: Small Farms and Rural Economic Development |
UC Santa Cruz Department of Economics; Center for Agroecology |
Agricultural, Food and Natural Resources Computational Data Science |
UC San Diego Supercomputer Center |
Agricultural Waste Management and Bioenergy Production |
UC Merced Dept. of Mechanical Engineering |
Agricultural Policy |
UC ANR / California Dept. of Food and Agriculture |
Agricultural Technology Workforce Development |
UC ANR / TBD |
Beef Cattle Production Systems |
UC Davis Dept. of Animal Science |
Climate Resilient Orchard Systems |
UC Davis Dept. of Plant Sciences |
Climate Resilient Rural Community Development |
UC Berkeley ESPM |
Coastal Hydrology Agriculture and Water Resilience |
UC Santa Cruz Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences; Center for Agroecology |
Coastal Produce Safety Systems |
UC ANR / USDA ARS Salinas |
Field Trials and Testbeds Design and Operation |
UC ANR VINE / Kearney and Westside RECs |
Food Safety/Drones/Remote Sensing |
UC Santa Cruz / Monterey Bay Education, Science and Technology Center (MBEST) |
Groundwater Quantity and Quality |
UC Merced Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering / West Side REC |
Mental and Emotional Health in Youth Families and Communities |
UC Davis Dept. of Human Ecology |
Oak Woodland Management and Conservation |
UC ANR / Hopland REC |
Organic Production: ANR OAI Academic Director |
UC Merced Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences |
Outdoor Recreation |
UC ANR / CA Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development |
Recycled Water Reuse and Brackish Water Desalination |
UC Davis Dept. of Land, Air and Water Resources; Biological and Agricultural Engineering |
Sustainable Dairy Cattle Nutrition |
UC Davis Dept. of Animal Science |
TheUCCEAdvisor positions will be released for recruitment in small batches over the next several months to facilitate engagement of various selection committees. TheUCCE Specialist positions will be released to campuses for recruitment upon completion of the Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs) currently being renewed between UC ANR and the campuses and host sites.
"We wish to thank the UC ANR program teams, county and REC directors, leadership from the UC campuses, the Program Council, and all of our collaborative partners who assisted with this position call, submissions and reviews," Humiston said. "We truly could not be successful without your engagement and expertise."
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Philip Waisen, UC Cooperative Extension vegetable crops advisor for Riverside and Imperial counties, presented a webinar about his homeland, Papua New Guinea, on May 31.
He shared some of the rich history, culture, language, food and agriculture of the country that encompasses the eastern half of New Guinea.
The South Pacific island has a population of 10 million people, including about 1,000 tribes that carry on their traditions, he said. Of the 800-plus languages spoken in Papua New Guinea, Waisen speaks three, including Tok Pisin, the main language.
He opened with the Kamano Kafe greeting “kehuo” to say “hello” to one person, “kehi'o” for two people and “kehiho” for three or more people.
A recording of the webinar is at https://youtu.be/0hH9qDU_kOU.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Takele honored for DEI achievements
The Agricultural & Applied Economics Association's Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics recognized Etaferahu Takele, UCCE area agricultural economics and farm management advisor in Southern California, for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion as a researcher, mentor and leader.
“Throughout Ms. Takele's life, before affirmative action, diversity, equity and inclusion were something to advocate for, she modeled and advocated for the underrepresented people in her community, at the university, within the county government and in her professional associations,” wrote a nominator.
From 2007 to 2020, Takele was director for UCCE in Riverside County, where she revived the 4-H Youth Development Program, expanded the Master Gardener Program and doubled the reach of the Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) to underrepresented clientele in Riverside County.
In partnership with California State University San Bernardino, she received a $500,000 USDA grant for the Inland Empire Small Farm Initiative to provide risk management education to Hispanic minority growers and farm laborers with little or no experience with running their own farms in the United States. Takele worked with farmers to develop budgets and determine risks associated with production of various crops. To ensure the program was inclusive, it was delivered in Spanish. She provided minority farmers with regular financial counseling and helped them develop cost-benefit models of investing in minor crops.
Her work with small-scale and minority growers influenced the introduction and expansion of new specialty crops such as blueberries and cherimoya in the coastal and the desert regions of Southern California.
Read more about Takele's achievements at https://www.aaea.org/membership/sections/cwae/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-award/etaferahu-eta-takele.
AEOE honors Nelson with Lifetime Achievement Award
The Association for Environmental & Outdoor Education has recognized Sarah-Mae Nelson's career contributions to advancing environmental education with its Lifetime Achievement Award. The UC Climate Stewards Initiative academic coordinator for UC Environmental Stewards has over 28 years of experience as an educator, interpreter and climate communicator.
"Since the launching of the Climate Stewards program in 2020, Sarah-Mae's leadership has been instrumental in its remarkable growth and success,” wrote Nelson's nominator. “Under her guidance, 27 community-based organizations have conducted 80 courses, certifying nearly 1,000 Climate Stewards.
“In every endeavor she undertakes, Sarah-Mae approaches challenges with unparalleled determination and meticulousness. Her resilience in the face of adversity serves as an inspiration to all who have the privilege of working alongside her."
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to those who have made a significant impact in environmental and outdoor education over the course of their career, both within their organization(s) and the field at large, and who demonstrate a strong commitment to equity and inclusion.
Nelson's contributions were celebrated on May 4 at AEOE's Annual Statewide Conference in Orange.
Rethwisch elected Sigma Xi member
Michael Rethwisch, UCCE field crops advisor for Riverside County, has been elected a full member into Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society.
He joins top scholars in the society such as Albert Einstein, Gerty Cori, Linus Pauling, Julian Lewis, Rita Levi Montalcini and Sally Ride.
Rethwisch was nominated by Jamie Vernon, Sigma Xi executive director and CEO and publisher of American Scientist magazine, and Allen Thomas, Donald E. Fox Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Two of the journal articles that qualified Rethwisch for Sigma Xi membership are SY Wolf Winter Wheat Responses to RyzUp SmartGrass Application at Third Leaf Stage in East Central Nebraska and First Report of Western Trochanter Mealybug, Pseudococcus dysmicus (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), in Nebraska and Observations from Soybean.
Vela named ACE Rising Star, five other communicators win awards
Six communicators won major awards from the international Association for Communication Excellence (ACE), a professional organization that supports and showcases science communication in agriculture, natural resources, and life and human sciences.
Ricardo Vela, manager of UC ANR News and Information Outreach in Spanish (NOS), won the ACE 2024 Rising Star Award, an annual award that "honors communicators, instructors and researchers who demonstrate exceptional leadership and technical skills in their communication field, to their institution and service to ACE."
Vela is a 35-year, two-time Emmy-winning broadcast journalism professional. As program manager of NOS, he supervises a Spanish-language expert team that disseminates news and research about agriculture, nutrition and natural resources to Spanish-speaking communities across California. Vela is an advocate for Latino and other ethnic groups, promoting their contributions to society and creating for the first time events for the UC ANR community to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Cesar Chavez Day.
Before joining UC ANR in 2017, Vela worked as a national news correspondent for Univision and CNN in Texas and Los Angeles. He started his journalism career at the Chicago Tribune and Univision in Chicago. While in Chicago, he collaborated with several Latino community organizations, always promoting equity and inclusion. He served as Univision's main news anchor in San Diego for 17 years and hosted a morning talk radio show, “Voces Hispanas,” for 10 years. He has served as news director and anchor at Entravisión (a Univisión affiliate) in Palm Springs and as a news anchor at Telemundo in El Paso, Texas. In 2006, Hispanic Magazine listed him as among the 100 most influential Latinos in the country.
Vice President Glenda Humiston appointed Vela as a founding member of the UC Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
Five other UC ANR communicators won gold (first place), silver (second place), or a bronze (third place) award.
- Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist for the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and author of the Bug Squad blog, won a gold award for “best feature photo." Her image of a honey bee buzzing over a zinnia earned an award in the feature photo category, for "one image that effectively tells a story."
- Michael Hsu, senior public information representative; Ethan Ireland, senior videographer; and Evett Kilmartin, photographer, won a silver award for their “Farm-to-Corrections Project" video about a Nutrition Policy Institute partnership with Impact Justice, ChangeLab Solutions, Spork and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
- Social media strategist Doralicia Garay won a bronze award for the social media campaign “Improving Lives in California,” designed to showcase UC ANR research and those who deliver it.
The awards will be presented at the annual ACE conference, June 23-25, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Read more about the awards in Bug Squad at https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=59843.
ANR thanks Larson for 41 years of service
Stephanie Larson, UCCE director and livestock range management advisor for Sonoma County, was honored for her 41 years of service at the county directors meeting on May 23. Vice President Glenda Humiston and Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty, director of county Cooperative Extension, thanked Larson for her four decades of service.