UC ANR's strategic planning team presented both the new 2020-2025 Strategic Plan and the 2020-2025 REC Strategic Framework to President Michael Drake on Feb. 2, 2021. His comments were generally very positive. A few minor edits were made to the UC ANR Plan following the meeting to further clarify the relationship between this “operational” plan and our systemwide public value statements and condition changes. The new plans will be posted to the UC ANR website later this month.

Thanks again to the ANR community for providing ideas to the ANR strategic plan during the four input sessions and via the survey. Notes on the ideas gathered will also be available on the web page where the final plans will be posted.

UC ANR is collaborating with UC Davis and others to create a new artificial intelligence institute for next-generation food systems. Ilias Tagkopoulos, right, professor in the UC Davis Department of Computer Science and Genome Center, is director of the new AI institute.

The ANR Strategic Plan accomplishments for Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 have been posted at https://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/2016-2020_Strategic_Plan/Strategic_Plan_Accomplishments.

The 2016 ANR Strategic Plan, which was refreshed in December 2020, focuses on four key areas: conducting relevant programming, employing top talent and supporting volunteers, increasing resources for programming, and enhancing research and extension facilities.

The plan is designed to position the UC ANR organization to achieve its vision of improving the lives of every Californian through our research and extension. Successes of strategic plan work are intended to support the research and extension efforts.

I'd like to thank those of you were able to join one or more of the four strategic plan input sessions to share your ideas on how to strengthen UC ANR.  We hosted four weekly sessions throughout the month of August, each covering a particular focus area. 

• Session #1 - Increasing Program Resources
• Session #2 - Strengthening Partnerships
• Session #3 - Fostering a Positive Work Environment
• Session #4 - Expanding Virtual Reach

With up to 200 participants at each session, we received many thoughtful comments.  Goal owners are reviewing all of the comments from these sessions and will use them to inform the UC ANR strategic plan goals for the next five years.  These goals operationalize organizational priorities for realizing and supporting our mission; they provide a roadmap for future focus and resource allocation.

If you were not able to attend these input sessions and are interested in hearing more about the challenges we face, our accomplishments to date, and the draft strategies for the future – the session recordings and slides are now posted on the UC ANR Strategic Plan web page.

After listening to the recordings, if you would like to provide input, there is still time. Links to surveys for each topical area are available on the web page listed above. The surveys will be closed at 5 p.m. on Sept. 9 to ensure that the goal owners will have time to review additional comments before completing their draft goal summaries.

We received positive feedback on the format of the input sessions, and so will definitely consider this approach again in the future.

Thank you again for your ongoing commitment to creating the best possible future for UC ANR.

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

Every Tuesday during the month of August, UC ANR leaders will be hosting two-hour online meetings to share their draft 5-year goals and get your input into the ANR Strategic Plan Refresh 2020-2025.

Teams of goal owners will review challenges we face, briefly share accomplishments to date, and present draft strategies for the future. They want to hear what you think may be missing and your ideas on how to shape the future of ANR. There will be breakout groups to provide the opportunity for you to talk with colleagues and submit your ideas to inform the final ANR strategic plan.

See the table below with specific dates for certain topics and draft goals – and sign up!

All UC ANR staff and academics – including campus-based AES faculty and CE specialists – are invited.

Register at http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=31683.

Sessions are limited to 1,000 people per the Zoom meeting license. If you have constraints joining by Zoom, please talk to your supervisor and strategize how the local office/REC can help accommodate you.