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
The Environmental Horticulture Program Team will meet April 18-19 and the Pest Management Program Team will meet June 13-15.
Anyone (including ANR and non-ANR personnel) who wishes to participate is welcome to attend the program team meetings. Travel funds are available for ANR personnel.
From noon on April 18 to 3 p.m. on April 19, the Environmental Horticulture Program Team and the
Landscape and Urban Horticulture Work Group and the Floriculture and Nursery Work Group will meet at the UCCE Ventura County office at 669 County Square Dr., Suite 100, in Ventura.
Register for the Environmental Horticulture Program Team meeting and see the draft agenda at http://bit.ly/1X4WtfV. For information about logistics, contact Program Support Unit or Saundra Wais at (530) 750-1260. For questions about the program, contact Janet Hartin at (951) 313-2023.
From June 13 to 15, the Pest Management Program Team will meet at the
ANR Building at 2801 Second St. in Davis.
Objectives for this Pest Management Program Team meeting are to
- Provide opportunities for work groups to meet. Work groups may want to discuss academic position proposals submitted before May 2 and how to organize stakeholders around proposals to demonstrate need and support for positions. Other priorities may be work group specific.
- Provide meaningful and timely professional development opportunities for program team members.
- Provide opportunities to identify new collaborations and to continue ongoing partnerships in collaborative research and outreach activities associated with pest management in ANR.
- Discuss, within a formal and facilitated environment, timely and/or controversial programmatic, organizational or disciplinary topics. Topics to be determined.
- Learn about recent and ongoing programmatic successes in collaborative research and extension activities from our members.
- Prepare for ANR's future (What dreams may come?) as a cohesive and united group.
Register for the Pest Management Program Team meeting and see the draft agenda at http://bit.ly/1qn8cf9. For information about logistics, contact Program Support Unit, Alex Zabelin at (530) 750-1259, or Sherry Cooper at (530) 750-1256. For questions about the program, contact Andrew Sutherland at (510) 670-5624.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Car Mun Kok joined UC Cooperative Extension on Jan. 11 as an area 4-H Youth Development advisor in Mendocino and Lake counties. Her research focuses on the influence of family on children and youths' development of healthy dietary behaviors. For her dissertation, she explored the role of parental socialization during family mealtimes on youths' attitudes and behaviors regarding food and eating.
Prior to joining UCCE, Kok had been a graduate research and teaching assistant since 2009 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she worked on various research projects with faculty. These included programs for children and youth in Nebraska in various fields of STEM, healthy living, and positive youth development. Her work included the ‘Eat 4-Health' Healthy Living Workshop, the ‘Grow a Beautiful Space' 4-H Youth Development Program, the ‘Seeing i2i' cultural competence curriculum, and the Big Classroom Day at the Nebraska State Fair. Kok, who is fluent in Malay and Cantonese, also studied nutrition education in childcare settings. With other Cooperative Extension professionals, she developed, implemented and evaluated nutrition education programs for children and developed evidence-based resources for childcare providers.
She earned her B.A. in psychology, M.S. in child, youth, and family studies, and Ph.D. in human sciences from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Kok is based in Lakeport and can be reached at (707) 263-6838 and cmkok@ucanr.edu.
Steven Worker, the California 4-H Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) coordinator, will become the UCCE area 4-H advisor in Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties on May 2.
Since 2009, Worker has coordinated statewide professional development, program planning, evaluation, and curriculum development efforts to increase the science, engineering, and technology literacy of California's youth. His work has focused on strengthening 4-H STEM programs using inquiry-based, experiential education in the context of positive youth development.
Worker joined ANR in 2001 as a state 4-H program representative coordinating adolescent leadership, recognition and technology programs. In 2006, he was honored with an Achievement in Service Award from the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents. He has co-authored 4-H curricula, including Junk Drawer Robotics, There's No New Water! and iThrive 3: Leadership, Science and Me!
Worker is a Ph.D. candidate at the UC Davis School of Education, studying youth learning in design-based projects in informal and out-of-school environments. He earned his M.S. in community development from UC Davis, a B.S. in computer science from California Polytechnic State University, and an A.A. in liberal arts from Allan Hancock College.
He can currently be reached in Davis at (530) 750-1341 and smworker@ucanr.edu. After May 2, Worker will be based in Novato and reachable at the same email address.
NIFA recognizes UC EFNEP
UC ANR's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program was recognized with a Certificate of Appreciation from USDA NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy for being one of two land grant universities out of 76 that submitted the EFNEP five-year plan (July 2015), EFNEP Budget (Nov 2015) and Annual WebNEERs Data (Nov 2015) on time and all three documents accepted without needing revision. The certificate was presented on March 16 at the EFNEP National Conference in Washington, D.C.
“This is a huge accomplishment for our Statewide EFNEP program, EFNEP State Office staff and especially for our UCCE county advisors and staff who helped make it possible by getting the information that we needed to us in time,” said Katie Panarella, associate director of Nutrition, Family and Consumer Sciences Program & Policy.
To show how work at every level ensures the continued success of the EFNEP program, Nutrition, Family and Consumer Science advisors and supervisors who oversee EFNEP were acknowledged on March 30 at UC ANR's EFNEP advisors and supervisors meeting in Davis.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Read story at http://universityofcalifornia.edu/news/hub-food-and-agriculture-talk
April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, prompting campaigns on higher education campuses across the nation.
“While UC ANR is not a campus with students, we are part of the UC family and want to support our campus students and colleagues,” said John Sims, ANR's Affirmative Action compliance officer. “I encourage everyone to participate in this campaign by viewing the 52-second video ‘Prevention is Possible' and linked materials.”
ANR's Affirmative Action Office has brought together the following resources for academic and staff employees to join the Sexual Assault Awareness Month campaign:
- “Prevention is Possible” video
- President Obama's Proclamation of National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month 2016
- National Sexual Violence Resource Center's Overview of campus sex violence prevention
- Action steps for faculty and staff
What is sexual assault?
Sexual assault is a term that is used to encompass the multitude of ways in which a person can be violated in a sexual nature against her or his will. Sexual assault is defined as any sexual act directed against another person that is forcible and/or against that person's will; or, where that person is incapable of giving consent. Sexual assault is a crime in all U.S. states and territories.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month Campaign
Did you know that Sexual Assault Awareness Campaigns began in the early 1970s and the 2016 Campaign is part of the world SAAM history? The National Sexual Violence Resource Center offers a summary of this history that adds broader meaning to the campaign. (Click the small bubbles to scroll through milestones).
In April of 2001, the U.S. began to observe the month of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Teal ribbons are worn to raise awareness in support of the cause.
Other Sexual Assault Awareness Month resources can be found at
If you have questions, please contact John I. Sims at jsims@ucanr.edu or David White at dewhite@ucanr.edu.