- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
The Informatics and GIS (IGIS) Statewide Program has announced their fall 2022 workshop schedule.
All workshops will be on Zoom and are free for the UC ANR community.
Workshops include
- Introduction to ArcGIS Online – Fri 9/30 1-4 p.m.
- Intro to R 3-part series – Part 1 Tues 10/11, 3:30-5 p.m.; Part 2 Wed 10/12, 3:30-5 p.m.; Part 3 Fri 10/14, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
- Introduction to ArcGIS Pro – Fri 10/21, 1-4 p.m.
- Introduction to ArcGIS Field Maps – Fri 11/18, 1-4 p.m.
- Computing Agroclimate Metrics in R – Fri 12/2, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
- Introduction to ArcGIS Story Maps – Fri 12/9, 1-4 p.m.
For details about these workshops, see the IGIS website.
For more information about all the IGIS workshops, visit https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=55209.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Hispanic Heritage Month began on Sept. 15 and continues through Oct. 15.
October Hispanic Heritage Month events will be in Spanish and will take place via Facebook Live. Follow UC ANR en Español on Facebook.
Wednesday, Oct. 5, 1 – 2 p.m.:
Susana L. Matias Medrano: Healthy living
Susana L. Matias Medrano, Ph.D., UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Nutritional Sciences & Toxicology at Berkeley, will lead a discussion of healthy living, including considerations around obesity and breastfeeding. Susana's research interests include maternal and child nutrition, immigrant health, food security, obesity and diabetes prevention, nutritional and behavioral interventions, and evaluation research.
Wednesday, Oct. 12, 1 – 2 p.m.:
UC ANR Global Food Initiative Fellow and UC Riverside doctoral candidate Magda Argueta will discuss her research around ancient Mayan pollinating practices with stingless bees.
Thursday, Oct. 13, 1 – 2 p.m.:
Samuel Sandoval Solis: Climate change effects
For more Spanish-language Hispanic Heritage Month content, including a special Latino playlist, Latino movie recommendations and museum exhibits, visit ANR's Hispanic Heritage Month webpage. If you have questions, contact Ricardo Vela at rvela@ucanr.edu.
The purpose of the celebration is to recognize the contributions and vital presence of Hispanics and Latin Americans in the United States.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
McCorkle, who was born in Gilroy, is known for guiding the rapid expansion of both UC Davis and the University of California system in the 1950s through the 1970s with UC President Charles Hitch and UC Davis Chancellors Emil Mrak and James Meyer.
McCorkle returned from service in the Marines during World War II to complete his bachelor's and master's degrees at UC Berkeley in agricultural economics. His first job out of college was in the crop and livestock loan department at Bank of America, which allowed him to work while earning his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.
After serving a year in the Marines during the Korean War, McCorkle began his UC career in 1952 as an assistant professor in the new agricultural economics department at the University Farm, which would become UC Davis in 1959. He became vice chancellor as the campus began to grow.
“Those were exciting times to be on this campus,” McCorkle said in a 1998 interview. “We were at about 2,500 or 3,000 students I guess when I came in, and in a very short time we were at 12,500.”
In 1969, he was appointed UC Davis dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. In 1970, McCorkle was appointed senior vice president of the University of California system, second only to the UC president, overseeing the university statewide.
While McCorkle was the dean at UC Davis, “He was instrumental in getting UC involved in the California Agricultural Leadership Program,” said Alex McCalla, UC Davis professor emeritus.
After McCorkle left UC Davis to join UC Office of the President, McCalla succeeded McCorkle as UC Davis dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and followed up on the California Agricultural Leadership Program by joining the Deans Council with his counterparts at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly Pomona and Fresno State to determine which topics would be taught by each campus for the prestigious program, which recently announced its 52nd class.
McCorkle returned to teaching at UC Davis in 1978. He decided his graduate students, many who didn't grow up on farms, needed exposure to California agriculture.
“Chet was instrumental in securing the Liquid Sugars endowment, which funds field study trips for graduate students in agricultural and resource economics to learn more about California agriculture,” said Rachael Goodhue, UC Davis chair and professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, who now oversees the activities.
“Chet was very well connected with the ag industry; he was not interested in publishing erudite articles in academic journals,” said McCalla, who was also McCorkle's neighbor for eight years.
McCorkle took early retirement from UC in 1991, then was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to a commission to review the former Soviet Union's food sector to guide modernization of the new Russian Republic's agricultural economy.
Over his career, he authored three books and more than 100 scientific and technical articles.
In 2008, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis honored him with an Award of Distinction for helping “generations of Californians stay on top of business trends and maintain a competitive edge in the global marketplace.”
In 2019, he authored his final case study for the California Agribusiness Executive Seminar, a short course for agriculture leaders, which he co-founded in 1989 with Bill Henderson of Wells Fargo Bank and directed for 30 years.
Among other accomplishments, McCorkle played the trumpet, keyboard and vibes and led a jazz ensemble in Davis. He performed at Bohemian Grove well into his 90s.
McCorkle is survived by his wife, Sandy, of St. Helena; daughter Sandy of San Jose; sons Ken (Connie) of Aiken, South Carolina, and Tim (Sally) of Franklin, Tennessee; five grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; a stepdaughter and stepson, according to the Davis Enterprise.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
In July 2020, the State Department implemented a policy update that requires Chinese diplomats and government officials temporarily visiting the U.S. to provide advance notification to the Department's Office of Foreign Missions when visiting U.S. universities or research institutions.
The State Department would like UC's assistance in communicating the existence of this policy to relevant university offices and stakeholders to raise awareness.
“The requirement is the visitor's, not ours, to register with the State Department, but it is important that we are aware of this policy,” said Kathy Nolan, director of Contracts and Grants and export control officer.
See the State Department's documents “Visits by Chinese Government Officials to State and Local Governments in the United States,” “Visits by Chinese Government Officials to Research Facilities in the United States,” “Visits by Chinese Government Officials to Educational Institutions in the United States,” and “Designation and Determination Pursuant to the Foreign Missions Act” in the Federal Register.
If you have questions, please contact Nolan at knolan@ucanr.edu or (530) 447-0801 Ext. 1402.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
For UC employees applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, under updated PSLF rules, you can meet the Oct. 31, 2022, waiver deadline even if your request for employment verification has not been completed by that date.
To qualify under the waiver you should generate a PSLF employment verification form using the PSLF Help Tool before 11:59 p.m. EST on October 31, 2022.
If you need to consolidate your loans, the Department of Education has clarified that consolidation requests need to be submitted online through StudentAid.gov by the Oct. 31 deadline in order to count under the waiver. After taking these steps, you must still print, sign, have your employer(s) sign, and submit the PSLF form to MOHELA, the PSLF servicer as soon as possible.
To obtain the required employer information and signatures, Y\you must generate your PSLF application and employer verification form through the online PSLF tool for submission to UCPath before Oct. 31, 2022 (Application forms completed on paper or outside of the PSLF tool still must have employment certification and be submitted to the Department of Education by the Oct. 31 deadline).
More information about PSLF is at https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/working-at-uc/public-service-loan-forgiveness.html.