Because of the state's acknowledgement that growing the UC ANR academic footprint is of great benefit to the state, recruitment of UCCE Advisor and UCCE Specialist positions will resume. Earlier this year, the Program Council recommended release of 20 positions (15 UCCE Advisor plus 5 UCCE Specialist positions). Ten of these positions have been released for recruitment; the remaining positions will be released soon. Program Council will review other currently identified needs in September and advance additional recommendations to Vice President Humiston. Up to 75 additional UCCE Advisor and 18 additional UCCE Specialist positions are expected to be released in the next 12 months.
The currently identified needs reflect a position call process conducted in 2018, plus vacancies since that time. With new support from the state, we must carefully examine our needs for the future. To this end, UC ANR will be conducting a position call for UCCE Advisor and UCCE Specialist position proposals. This process will be expedited as follows, with a goal to identify priority positions early next year. A timeline, below, is followed by greater detail of the process.
Please note that the processes and timelines below are for UCCE Specialist and UCCE Advisor positions. Identification of all other positions – academic and staff – to be filled as a result of new state funding will use different processes.
|
UCCE Specialist positions |
Campuses* |
Directors* |
Program Teams* |
Program Council |
Vice President |
|
5 positions |
Identified 2018 -2021 |
|
Prioritized spring 2021 |
Recommended May 2021 |
Released July through fall 2021 |
|
12 to 20 additional positions |
Proposals developed, due Dec 10, 2021 |
|
Prioritize proposals Dec 17 – Feb 15 2022 |
Recommend March 2022 |
Select and release beginning spring 2022 |
|
UCCE Advisor positions |
Campuses* |
Directors* |
Program Teams* |
Program Council |
Vice President |
|
15 positions |
|
Identified since 2018; prioritized spring 2021 |
Identified since 2018; prioritized spring 2021 |
Recommended May 2021 |
Released July through fall 2021 |
|
15 to 25 additional positions |
|
Identified since 2018; prioritized spring 2021 |
Identified since 2018; prioritized spring 2021 |
Recommend September 2021 |
To be released winter 2021/2022 |
|
Up to 50 additional positions |
|
Proposals developed, Aug 23 – Dec 10 2021 |
Proposals developed, Aug 23 – Dec 10 202 |
Recommend January 2022 |
Select and release beginning February 2022 |
*Stakeholder input considered in process of position identification. Campus members are part of Program Teams.
**Directors include county, REC, statewide program and institute directors.
2021 Call for CE Positions Process
Please see the 2021 position call webpage for more information including important documents. This is where submitted proposals will be available for review.
UCCE Advisor positions
County Directors, REC Directors, Statewide Program/Institute Directors, and Program Teams can submit a limited number of UCCE Advisor positions until December 10, 2021. Position number limitations are as follows for individuals or teams: County Director (1) for every county they direct, but positions do not need to be headquartered in the CD's counties), REC Director (1) per REC Director, but positions need not be headquartered at the REC), Statewide Program/Institute Director (1), Program Team (1).
Individuals, teams and units are expected to seek stakeholder input and work collaboratively across ANR units to make the best use of submission restrictions. Units are also encouraged to review thematic cluster areas for hires. UC ANR thematic cluster areas include Fire Advisor Network; Food System Resilience Network; Health Resilience Network; and Urban Community Development Network. Building capacity in each thematic cluster area is of high priority to UC ANR.
UCCE Specialist positions
Working closely with Program Teams, campuses are invited to propose UCCE Specialist positions, paying particular attention to thematic cluster areas. The UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC Riverside campus submissions are restricted and must be submitted by a single Dean or Provost on behalf of the campus; 4 proposals each from UCR and UCB, plus 6 proposals from UCD. All other campuses are restricted to no more than 2 submissions per campus, to be submitted by the Provost or Chancellor. More information regarding how appointments will be handled between UC ANR and UC campuses other than UCB, UCD, and UCR is available on the 2021 position call webpage.
Stakeholder input
Units are expected to seek stakeholder input and work collaboratively to make the best use of submission restrictions. Program Teams, Directors and Work Groups are encouraged to work with campus units to co-develop specialist positions, particularly around cluster hire opportunities. Following campus submissions, due December 10, 2021, each Program Teams is invited to review UCCE Specialist proposals and identify their top two priorities, no later than February 15, 2022. Program Teams may propose amendments to proposals and are encouraged to solicit consent from campus leadership, in particular, the Executive Associate Deans who are members of Program Council.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
After three years of limited hiring due to budget constraints, Vice President Glenda Humiston announced the release of 10 UC Cooperative Extension positions for recruitment.
The new UC Cooperative Extension positions include:
- #11 Plant Pathology Area Advisor, Santa Cruz County
- #13 Soils and Irrigation Advisor, Kern County
- #15 Urban Agriculture/Small Farms Area Advisor, San Bernardino County
- #27 Community Nutrition & Innovative Technologies Specialist, UC Davis
- #31 Forest and Fuels Management Specialist, UC Berkeley
- #37 Subtropical Crops Pathology Specialist, UC Riverside
- #45 Diversified Agricultural Systems Area Advisor, Lake County
- #55 Forestry and Natural Resources Area Advisor, Sutter-Yuba counties
- #59 4-H Youth Development Advisor, San Mateo-San Francisco counties
- #63 Integrated Vineyard Systems Area Advisor, at Hopland Research and Extension Center
The county listed beside the advisor title is where the office for the employee will be located. All of the UC Cooperative Extension Advisor positions will serve multiple counties.
A full description of each position is available at the corresponding position number at the bottom of https://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/Divisionwide_Planning/2018_Call_for_Positions, with some modifications.
On July 12, the state restored UC ANR's budget to pre-COVID levels of FY 2019-20 and provided a 5% increase plus an additional $32 million in ongoing funding, bringing total state support to $107.9 million for the division.
“This budget increase is transformational,” Humiston said, “It will allow us to rebuild UC Cooperative Extension's boots-on-the-ground to help Californians cope with wildfire, drought, climate adaptation and economic development among other issues.”
Over the past 20 years, UC ANR had seen its budget decrease by almost 50% when adjusted for inflation. As a result, UC ANR was forced to reduce Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists – from 427 positions in 2001 down to only 269 in 2021 – creating vacancies in many critical positions.
Twenty UC Cooperative Extension positions have been designated as critically urgent to fill. To avoid overwhelming UC ANR's Human Resources staff, the other 10 positions of the 20 will be released in late September as they ramp up hiring for future recruitment. Seven to 10 positions will be released each of the next four months, with more positions to be released in 2022.
“We look forward to releasing additional positions for recruitment – both academic and program support members – throughout the next several months,” said Humiston.
“We are extremely grateful to Governor Newsom, the Legislature and especially Senator John Laird, who championed the budget increase, and look forward to working with our community partners to leverage these resources.”
Visit UC ANR Jobs to see the current positions open for recruitment.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
- #12 Production Horticulture Advisor, San Diego County
- #42 Agronomy Area Advisor, Merced County
- #54 Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor, Siskiyou County
- #58 Nutrition, Family, and Consumer Sciences Area Advisor, San Mateo-San Francisco Counties
- #62 Vegetable Crops and Small Farms Advisor, Riverside County
- #66 Pomology and Water/Soils Area Advisor, Kings County
The Academic HR unit will begin to work on recruitment plans for the above CE Advisor positions immediately following the winter break.
In addition, I commit to refill the position “#49 Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor, Glenn County” at such time that a gap occurs.
These were difficult decisions to make because while we need the above positions, there are many more needs for both CE Specialist and CE Advisor positions that continue to wait for additional funding. Additionally, while we have grown the CE Specialist numbers over the last several years, the number of CE Advisors in the field has steadily declined. For this reason, we are not releasing additional CE Specialist positions at this time. I remain deeply committed to the 4-H Youth Development Program and support the current conversations underway about investments in expanding non-academic support to improve program delivery to our local communities.
I hope to release 5 to 6 more positions in the spring/summer. This is possible, in part, due to the advanced notice provided by individuals planning to retire June 2020. In addition, we will complete recruitment of other academic positions currently advertised, including those that are funded through partnerships. See Status of Recruitments and Hires for a list of positions under recruitment now. That list does not reflect a few recent CE Advisor and CE Specialist hires who have not yet started.
I wish to thank the Program Council for their work providing recommendations to me. Likewise, I thank the County Directors, Program Team Leaders, Statewide Program/Institute Directors, REC Directors and Associate Deans for their efforts to identify priority needs.
I look forward to sending more of these notices soon!
Glenda Humiston
Vice President
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
On Aug. 1, phase 2 of the Cooperative Extension Positions Call process ended and phase 3 began. During phase 2, the Program Teams reviewed the 40 phase 1 proposals and submitted six additional proposals. All submitted proposals are posted on the 2018 Call for Position web page: http://ucanr.edu/2018callforpositions.
Phase 3:
- The statewide programs and institutes are now reviewing all 46 proposed positions to determine if there are any positions they feel are of higher priority.
- If so, they can propose up to two additional CE advisor positions and two additional CE specialist positions by Sept. 15 – keeping in mind that the more proposals there are at the end, the lower the probability of being approved for recruitment.
- The proposals that did not make the phase 1 final 40 can be picked up during these subsequent phases. They can be found on the proposal ideas web page. New proposals are not limited to these ideas.
After Sept. 15, Program Council will review all the feedback and make recommendations to the vice president.
“We thank the ANR network for actively engaging in this participatory process to strengthen and rebuild CE positions statewide,” said Wendy Powers, associate vice president.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
The 2018 UC Cooperative Extension call for positions process has entered phase 2. The UCCE county directors and REC directors have submitted 20 CE advisor position proposals and the executive associate deans, working with campus departments, have submitted 20 CE specialist position proposals. Both groups engaged program teams, statewide programs/institutes, and external stakeholders in the development of these proposals. All 40 phase 1 proposals are posted on the 2018 Call for Position web page: http://ucanr.edu/2018callforpositions.
Phase 2 is underway:
- Program teams are reviewing the 40 phase 1 proposals to determine if there are any positions they feel are of higher priority.
- If so, each program team can propose one additional CE advisor position and one additional CE specialist position by August 1-- remembering that the more proposals there are at the end, the lower the probability of being approved for recruitment.
- The proposals that didn't make the phase 1 final 40 can be picked up by Program Teams. Proposed positions available for pick up can be found on the proposal ideas web page.
“We thank the ANR network for actively engaging in this participatory process to strengthen and rebuild CE positions statewide,” said Wendy Powers, associate vice president.
