- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
The university opened its first Cooperative Extension office in Eureka in 1913, but April 27 marked the first official visit to Humboldt County by a UC president.
“I hope to show the president how local residents benefit from UC Cooperative Extension and to give President Napolitano and Vice President Humiston ideas on how the university may get more involved in solving local challenges,” said Yana Valachovic, UC Cooperative Extension director and forest advisor for Humboldt and Del Norte counties, as the tour she organized got underway.
Valachovic introduced Napolitano and Humiston to community members at Potawot Health Village, where they learned about UC's nutrition education projects. Next, they boarded a boat with a shellfish producer and members of California Sea Grant, who briefed them on climate change research in Humboldt Bay.
At City of Arcata Community Forest, where UC has been conducting forest research since the 1920s, the City of Arcata environmental services director discussed how the city works with UC to manage its 2,300 acres of redwoods for timber, wildlife, water quality and to sequester carbon while providing recreational areas for city residents.
The president and Humiston ended the tour by reciting the 4-H pledge and listening to 4-H members and volunteers describe their projects.
To read more about the tour, visit http://ucanr.edu/?blogpost=21065&blogasset=52096.
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
Since I joined UC ANR last summer, I have come to recognize the valuable role played by the Division's staff employees. We rely on academics to lead our research and extension programs and administrators to set the course and manage our efforts, but accomplishing our goals would be impossible without the many capacities offered by a dedicated staff.
Our Academic Assembly goes back years, and all UC campuses plus the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Office of the President have staff assemblies. However, ANR lacked an organization dedicated to promoting the welfare of staff.
Last spring, the division's Work Environment Assessment workshop participants discussed the staff assembly concept and sought volunteers to help design a process and structure for establishing the UC ANR Staff Assembly. As the impressive number of volunteers illustrated, there was a palpable enthusiasm and clear willingness to engage. There were actually many more volunteers than we could accommodate on the committee, a nice “problem” to have.
In February, representatives of the new staff assembly committee presented the mission statement and bylaws they drafted for the new organization to me and other members of the UC ANR leadership team. The committee envisioned a UC ANR Staff Assembly that cultivates satisfied, dedicated and professional staff to work with the Division's leadership, academics and other members of the ANR community.
All ANR staff employees will be members of the ANR Staff Assembly, including county-paid, part-time and limited-appointment staff. The elected leaders of the group will seek input from ANR staff on policies, processes and programs and serve in an advisory capacity to ANR leadership, giving staff a collective voice on issues of concern. The assembly also will provide support for career training and professional development to staff to aid career advancement.
The ANR Staff Assembly will become a member of the Council of UC Staff Assemblies (CUCSA) and send representatives to CUCSA's quarterly meetings. CUCSA presents staff perspectives and recommendations on management initiatives to the University of California's decision makers and has weighed in on important Regents' decisions, such as budget issues and domestic partner benefits.
I would like to thank the Work Environment Assessment workshop participants and the committee of ANR volunteers who met over the last six months to develop the structure of our new UC ANR Staff Assembly. I encourage supervisors, managers, directors and administrators in ANR to provide support for ANR staff who are interested in being involved in the UC ANR Staff Assembly. You'll hear more about our Staff Assembly in the coming weeks and months, as I know the team hopes to establish a website, town hall meetings, and other venues for engagement.
Please be open, on a case-by-case basis, to allow release time for staff to participate in UC ANR Staff Assembly activities and to run for elected positions on the assembly's executive committee or as CUCSA representatives. And I would especially encourage our staff to become engaged with the UC ANR Staff Assembly as we work together to support healthy food systems, environments, people and communities in California.
Sincerely,
Glenda
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Read story at http://universityofcalifornia.edu/news/hub-food-and-agriculture-talk
Dear Colleagues,
As most of you know, Bill Frost, our associate vice president (AVP), intends to retire in June. In light of his impending departure from ANR, we are looking at augmenting the leadership structure to provide better support for ANR's extensive programs and initiatives. Currently we have challenges in balancing program delivery and administration with the need to expand our efforts in strategic initiatives, partnerships, funds development and raising the profile of ANR. To better provide for those needs, we're moving forward with a few modest but important modifications. The changes are in no way set in stone — we're going to evaluate things over the next several months and will make adjustments as needed. Those changes will be:
- The new AVP, which is under recruitment, will have several current responsibilities removed and be based at UC Office of the President in Oakland (UCOP). This will allow the new AVP and the AVP for Business Operation to work closely as a team on day-to-day operations, and to coordinate regularly with counterparts at UCOP. The new AVP will be more focused on ANR's engagement with the entire UC system, policy issues and partnerships that will benefit ANR. One aim of this change is to augment the Vice President's ability to engage more on funds development, strategic opportunities, policy development, expanding collaborations and raising ANR's profile.
- We will create a new position, Vice Provost Strategic Initiatives & Statewide Programs. The leaders of the strategic initiatives, Nutrition Policy Institute, California Institute for Water Resources and statewide programs will all report to the Vice Provost Strategic Initiatives & Statewide Programs. The position, which will be based in Davis, will coordinate ANR's engagement in the UC President's initiatives, provide leadership for ANR's Strategic Initiatives and enhance synergies between initiatives and our various programs. Like the Vice Provost for Cooperative Extension, this new position will report to the AVP.
- Management of the REC System will be removed from the AVP and the current associate director position will be elevated to director. Lisa Fischer will be appointed interim REC System director for two years, followed by an open recruitment for the director position.
Going forward, the Senior Leadership Team, along with 21 program and unit directors, will serve as my VP Council. We will meet quarterly to strategize on how best to engage with initiatives, new partners and opportunities as they arise. The VP Council will also serve as a sounding board on policy and program issues as well as help design action plans to best serve ANR goals. Shortly after these changes are implemented, we will also seek to empower both the Academic Assembly and the new Staff Assembly to serve as strong voices in the shared governance of ANR.
It is my hope that these changes will enhance our efforts to rebuild the ANR and Cooperative Extension footprint around the state. These modifications should allow me to do what I see as the core part of my job: finding new sources of funding, building new partnerships, enhancing key collaborations, and positioning ANR as the premiere source of science and solutions for the challenges facing agriculture, natural resources and the health of our communities. I also believe that improving the ability of all the voices in the ANR system to be heard will greatly improve how we advance that science and develop those solutions. We will all be able to achieve far more as a well-functioning team with access to the knowledge, information and skills of every member.
Thank you for being part of the ANR team. I look forward to working with you as we implement these changes!
Glenda
Glenda Humiston
Vice President
