- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Macon named livestock and natural resources advisor
Macon, who operates a small-scale commercial sheep enterprise near Auburn, brings a combination of hands-on livestock production experience and applied scientific research and education/outreach experience.
Having been the herdsman at the UC Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center, and most recently serving as an associate specialist for rangeland science and management in the UC Davis Plant Sciences Department, Macon is a familiar face to many in ANR. He is currently collaborating on a variety of research efforts, including on-ranch impacts, management and planning horizons following California's historic drought. He has also led producer enrollment, data collection and grazing-water-nutrient management tracking for a statewide integrated research and extension project on irrigated pasture. He is also leading a long-term project that will quantify direct and indirect impacts from predators on rangeland livestock operations across northern California.
Macon has also worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the California Cattlemen's Association, and was the founding executive director of the California Rangeland Trust. He is currently the vice president of the California Wool Growers Association and is a past president of the California-Pacific Section of the Society for Range Management.
Macon earned a Master of Agriculture in integrated resource management from Colorado State University and a Bachelor of Science in agricultural and managerial economics from UC Davis.
“I have finally recognized that the parts of my earlier jobs that I most enjoyed involved the things I'll be doing on a daily basis as a farm advisor - teaching and doing research,” Macon wrote in his Foothill Agrarian blog. “Along with raising sheep, I feel as though I've finally figured out what I'm supposed to do in life!”
“I have enormous shoes to fill - Roger Ingram and Glenn Nader, who have proceeded me in these four counties, were incredibly productive and successful advisors.”
Macon will be based in the Auburn office and can be reached at (530) 889-7385 and dmacon@ucanr.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @flyingmulefarm and Instagram at @flyingmule.
Spinelli named vegetable and irrigation advisor
Before joining UCCE, Spinelli had worked as agricultural specialist for the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County since 2015. He performed irrigation system evaluations, implemented an irrigation water and soil moisture monitoring project, and provided recommendations for irrigation management and improvements in irrigation systems, assisting the strawberry, lettuce, apple, vegetable and blackberry industries.
From 2010 to 2015, Spinelli was a graduate student researcher in the Plant Sciences Department at UC Davis, where his research focused on water stress and water use at the leaf and canopy level in almond orchards in California.
Spinelli grew up on an olive and vegetable farm on the hills overlooking Florence, Italy. He left Italy in 2007 to work in Honduras on an irrigation development project providing technical assistance for smallholder corn and watermelon growers, and in London designing and installing landscape irrigation systems. He also lived in Lebanon, where he introduced integrated pest management in apple and olive production, rebuilt irrigation channels for tobacco and vegetable growers, implemented a queen bee breeding program and built sewage lines for the Wavel refugee camp. In addition to English, he speaks French, Italian and Arabic.
Spinelli earned a Ph.D. in horticulture and agronomy and a M.S. in international agricultural development from UC Davis and a M.S. in tropical agricultural development and a B.S. in agricultural sciences and technologies from the University of Florence, Italy.
Based in Modesto, he can be reached at (209) 525-6806, (530) 304-3738 (cell) and gspinelli@ucanr.edu.
Vela to lead News and Information Outreach in Spanish
Before joining UC, Vela was the news director and main anchor for KVER-TV Univision in Palm Springs. Vela launched his journalism career in the third grade by starting a school newspaper in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. He was the news correspondent for Univision News in Los Angeles bureau for over 10 years, then moved to San Diego where he was the news anchor/producer for the Univision affiliate for 14 years. In 2014, Vela moved to his hometown of El Paso, Texas, to be the news anchor/producer for KTDO-Telemundo 48.
In 1992, he won an Emmy for his story about a Latino family coping with their last days before dying of AIDS and preparing their children for their loss. In 2005, Vela received an Emmy for a news feature, “Los Trovadores del Siglo 21.”
In 2001, Hispanic Business Magazine named Vela one of the 100 most influential Hispanic journalists in the country for his journalistic vision to voice the needs of the Hispanic community in San Diego. He expanded his commitment to the community by writing a weekly column for the El Latino newspaper about issues pertinent to Hispanics in San Diego. In 2004, The San Diego Press Club honored his newspaper column and morning radio talk show, Voces de San Diego, which had been on the air only a few months, and he was named one of the 10 most influential Latinos in San Diego by Tijuana's Frontera newspaper.
On Feb. 28, 2006, the City of San Diego honored him with a proclamation of “Ricardo Vela Day” for his contributions to the Latino community through his radio show.
Vela earned a bachelor's degree in business administration at Instituto Tecnologico de Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and a bachelor's degree in mass communications/journalism at the University of Texas at El Paso. He also studied film and video at the Art institute in Chicago.
Vela is based at the Rubidoux Building in Riverside and can be reached at (951) 781-2151 and ricardo.vela@ucr.edu.
ANR women graduate from UC Women's Initiative Program
They were among a group of mid-career women, both staff and faculty, selected from all UC locations to participate in this special program created to improve the professional development and advancement of women at UC.
The four-session program was designed by the Systemwide Advisory Committee on the Status of Women and UC Systemwide Talent Management, and delivered by CORO, a nonprofit leadership development organization.
- Cultivate a vibrant, professional network of women that spans the UC system
- Give women access to top UC leaders—women and men—so they can interview and learn from them about their diverse leadership approaches and journeys
- Strengthen participants' skills and confidence through hands-on practice with a range of tools and skills in the areas of:
- Professional development and impact
Robin Sanchez - Strategic relationship building
- Developing and delivering a compelling narrative regarding one's professional accomplishments and vision
- Negotiating at work
- Peer coaching
The program is designed for mid-career women, both faculty and staff, who demonstrate the potential to advance their careers at UC. Last year, Katherine Webb-Martinez and Tunnyalee Martin participated in the training.
For more information about the program, visit the UC Women's Initiative website at http://ucop.edu/human-resources/womens-initiative.
Van Eenennaam tapped for national research strategy
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine sought nominations for scientific leaders across various disciplines to be part of an activity that will develop a compelling strategy for food and agricultural research for the next decade and beyond. Nominations were sought for transformational thinkers across the scientific enterprise (including but not exclusively limited to the agricultural sciences) to be considered for the study committee. These include individuals on the frontier of scientific disciplines that would be of value but are not traditionally associated with food and agriculture.
In addressing its statement of task, the study committee will offer a strategic and ambitious view of the opportunities for fundamental and applied interdisciplinary research that is both grounded by a deep scientific understanding of food and agricultural challenges and elevated by the breakthrough potential of insights and tools from newly converging disciplines in the food and agriculture setting.
Susan Wessler, the Neil A. and Rochelle A. Campbell Presidential Chair for Innovations in Science Education and distinguished professor of genetics at UC Riverside, is co-chair of the committee.
For more information about the study, visit http://nas-sites.org/dels/studies/agricultural-science-breakthroughs/who-we-are-agriculture-breakthroughs/committee.
The Office of the Vice President and Chief Information Officer invites comments on drafts of a presidential policy, Electronic Information Security (IS-3), and a corresponding glossary for all information security and information technology policies. The policy provides a security framework that protects UC's Institutional Information and IT Resources from accidental or intentional unauthorized access, loss or damage, while preserving UC's collaborative academic culture.
Electronic Information Security Policy
We recommend the following order of review:
1. Policy Abstract
2. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
3. Draft Glossary for Information Security and Information Technology policies (optional)
4. Draft Presidential policy on Electronic Information Security, IS-3
If you have any questions or wish to comment, please contact Robin Sanchez at rgsanchez@ucanr.edu no later than July 24, 2017.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
The University of California is proposing revisions to Staff Policy 3 – Types of Appointment, which applies to staff employees in the Professional & Support Staff and Managers & Senior Professionals personnel groups and to Senior Management Group members.
The policy has undergone full review and a systemwide workgroup with representatives from UC Davis, UC San Francisco, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and the Office of the President was formed to propose revisions to clarify the various types of appointments at the University. The proposed policy revisions will combine PPSM 3 with PPSM 24 (Per Diem Positions) and PPSM 61 (Release During the Probationary Period or from Limited Casual/Restricted, and Floater Positions) in order to have all relevant language in one policy.
The proposed policy is posted on UCnet: http://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/tools-and-services/administrators/policies/proposed/ppsm-3.html.
Employees covered by this policy who wish to provide comments on the proposed revisions may submit them to Robin Sanchez at rgsanchez@ucanr.edu by May 24, 2017.
- Author: Robin Sanchez
February is Privacy Awareness Month. I know what you are thinking: October was cybersecurity month, isn't Privacy Awareness Month the same thing?
Although cybersecurity and privacy overlap and are interconnected, privacy principles are somewhat different. In the simplest terms, cybersecurity is about protecting unauthorized access to electronically stored data. Privacy is also about protecting data, but it is mostly concerned about protecting information that identifies individuals. Privacy comprises the appropriate protection, use and dissemination of information about individuals.
The purpose of Privacy Awareness Month, therefore, is to take a moment to inventory the ways we willingly provide data about ourselves to others and the ways we manage information others provide to us.
As you probably know, social media and phone applications are key ways we share information about ourselves to others. Without reading, we gladly check the “Terms & Conditions” box so an algorithm can tell us which Game of Thrones character we are. We allow Pokémon to follow our every move so that we can catch enough Magikarp to evolve to a Gyarados. We even send our DNA to firms like 23andMe for testing and analysis to receive information on our ancestry or to know whether we carry genetic traits like cystic fibrosis or male pattern baldness. These applications give us something, but they collect quite a bit of information from us and use that information for various things.
For more information about what you are actually agreeing to check out the movie “Terms and Conditions May Apply” available on Netflix.
We trust random companies we know little about with our personal information, yet, when someone wants to mine data from medical files for studies, it is at that juncture that privacy becomes a concern for us.
What is the difference between 23andMe's genetic database and medical records' genetic database? They have the same information, right? The difference comes down to informed consent and the freedom to decide how our information is utilized.
At UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, we collect quite a bit of information about people. We require new employees to submit their Social Security number, their birth date, their family's information, their medical information and so on. The communities we serve provide personal information to us as well. Think about how well you protect and in what ways you use their information. For example, is your laptop's hard-drive encrypted to protect its contents if it is lost or stolen? Have you ever emailed a social security number through an unencrypted email system or fax system? Do you still keep sensitive personal information after its usefulness has passed? Do you delete, shred or redact private personal information about others?
University policy follows the law, and employees who are responsible for the maintenance of personal and confidential records must take precautions to assure we follow the proper administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect information containing personal or confidential information in our possession.
During Privacy Awareness Month, think about the personally identifiable information (PII) that you collect and for whose safekeeping you are responsible. ANR's current approach to the management of privacy and information security risk is decentralized and relies on individuals in various units throughout the division to ensure compliance with numerous UC policies, as well as state and federal regulations.
ANR is subject to an enormous number of privacy laws and privacy principles. Luckily, we have resources that can help you navigate the privacy and information landscape. For instance, we have a Privacy and Information Security Board , an ANR Privacy Statement and a Records Retention schedule.
In addition, to these resources, ANR has its own Privacy Official and Information Practices Coordinator. The Privacy Official is the administrative resource for implementing privacy best practices at ANR. The Information Practices Coordinator is the subject matter expert regarding the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of information about individuals.
For more information about privacy, cybersecurity and information practices, please visit the resources listed above or contact the individuals listed below:
Privacy and Information Practices Resources
Principal Analyst Robin Sanchez, J.D.
Phone: (530) 750-1235
Email: rgsanchez@ucanr.edu
Director Catherine Montano
Phone: (510) 987-0103
Email: catherine.montano@ucop.edu
Cybersecurity Resource
Tolgay Kizilelma, Ph.D.
Phone: (530) 750-1233
Email: tkizilelma@ucanr.edu
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
The University invites comments on Proposed Revised Presidential Policy Business and Finance Bulletin (BFB) – G-28, Travel Regulations.
Proposed revisions allow reimbursement, in limited circumstances, for travel (including childcare) expenses for spouses, domestic partners, dependent-care providers, and dependents of employees traveling on University business and candidates for employment at the University of California traveling to UC locations for recruitment purposes.
The proposal is located on the UCOP Academic Personnel and Programs website, “Policies under review,” under the “Systemwide Review” tab at http://ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/academic-personnel-policy/policies-under-review/index.html.
If you have any questions or if you wish to comment, please contact Robin Sanchez at rgsanchez@ucanr.edu no later than Feb. 13, 2016.
