Mentally, I am exhausted. The week started with a couple of excellent meetings on the Berkeley campus. Then came a full day at the UC ANR Governing Council where we had a lively and productive conversation about UC ANR's public value statements, our partnerships, and our statewide programs. I was pleased with the level of interest in our work by those members of the Council who perhaps don't know us as well as our traditional campus partners. I found the suggestions and insights very helpful. I believe there is much potential to build solid partnerships with new campus partners while strengthening existing partnerships such that everyone feels a win. Things won't happen overnight, but the conversation has to start somewhere. I believe that conversation is off to a good start.

I'm hearing good things about the outcome of Giving Tuesday! I know final numbers are not tallied but I understand we exceeded an aggressive goal of $125,000 by over $5,000 and increased our number of donors! How exciting! The outcome is particularly strong considering we had added a second day of giving back in June. There's so much good work going on in UC ANR, it makes sense that people want to give! Congratulations to everyone who had any role in Giving Tuesday – from IT who made the Donate buttons happen, to everyone who sent encouraging emails, to every donor. We couldn't have done it without you!

Today the Program Council met and reviewed the CE Specialist and CE Advisor needs. There were moments during the meeting where I thought we couldn't possibly finish on time, but we did. While the thinking that had to go on was grueling, we were all fueled by the anticipation of building our colleague numbers. I don't envy the decisions the Vice President has to make; there were no unnecessary positions in the bunch. However, I am elated that there are positions to be announced in the very near future.

Mental exhaustion aside, the week has been uplifting and filled with motivation to do more. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

The week has flown by. The fall is flying by. It's all good but hard to keep up. Others have made the same comment. I hope this isn't a sign of age.

Monday turned out to be one meeting after the next, but all good meetings. During the CE Specialist meeting at Davis, we had a chance to meet a few of the newest CE Specialists and say hello to others. That meeting always seems too short. My last meeting on Monday consisted of a Zoom call with, among a number of others, Shannon Horillo. It was nice to see her!

The Program Council schedule was full. We had a presentation from the chair of the SAREP program review committee, planning the process to review CE Advisor and CE Specialist needs at our next meeting, a more generic conversation about academic planning, and an update from Academic HR regarding emeritus status. I'm not sure how Katherine and Jennifer keep up with the conversation, but I'm counting on them to remind me what ‘to-dos' I left with from the meeting.

Oddly, today was a light day, as is tomorrow. I must be missing something. Likely it is a reflection of the fact that I haven't been out to visit any county offices or RECs lately. I am not short on things to edit or prepare so no doubt the day will pass quickly. Who knows, I may catch up on things before heading to a meeting that runs Saturday – Tuesday.

Congratulations to Jairo, Gilberto and the DREC crew! They survived an AAALAC review with apparently no actionable items. The final report isn't in yet, but things look promising. My lab in Michigan underwent an AAALAC inspection twice while I was there. Fortunately, I had an outstanding manager who kept the lab inspection-ready at all times.

Be sure to thank all of the veterans for their service that continues to keep us safe.

A couple of weeks back, I had a chance to see the Hispanic Heritage Month video that featured DREC director, Jairo Diaz. I meant to find other videos, but I lost track of the thought. Today I had a chance to see those videos featuring Fe Moncloa, Maria de la Fuente, and Aileen Carrasco –Trujillo. They were as inspiring as any TED talk I have heard lately. I highly recommend you take the 12 minutes to review the four videos. Each of the featured ANR team members talks about their values and what brought them to UC ANR. Immediately I thought how fun it would be for people throughout UC ANR to have a similar video on their ANR portal page. Then I remembered that JoLynn Miller is working on something just like this for the County UCCE page (and that I owe her something). Perhaps this is a new trend.

Equally inspiring was a conversation I had with Devii Rao and Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty today. Devii is working on a vision for UCCE in San Benito County, to share with key County administration and perhaps a couple of Supervisors later this month. She has some great ideas, building off what peers have shared and her knowledge of what County needs and priorities are. I like the phased approach she is building and the connection to partners. I know Devii is putting much effort into this; hopefully, the prospects energize Devii.

Program Council produced some homework. For some reason I can't quite define, this month's meeting left me a bit tired. We spent a fair bit of time talking about needs across UC ANR (people, support) and how to prioritize and meet those needs. Lorna Krkich spoke to us about the nuts and bolts of working with the Development Services team (how, who's responsible for what, what are their goals, etc.). Jim Downing and Linda Forbes met with Program Council to talk about their strategic plan development for both the Publications unit and the Strategic Communications Unit. Jon Wilson joined them to talk about the vision for a much-needed overhaul of the web presence (Integrated Web Project). The Council welcomed the presentations as nice breaks from other topics.

Not unlike most weeks, it has been a 'learning week.' I am looking forward to the rest of the week.

I appreciated the extra day this weekend to catch up on all sorts of things. Labor Day weekend is always bittersweet though because it means the end of summer – that 'slower' time of year. I won't miss the triple-digit temperatures, but I will miss the pool season. This year, it was troubling to learn about the tragedies in the chartered boat off the coast of Ventura County and the devastation caused by hurricane Dorian.

Sasha makes the most of the end of summer

Last week training sessions were held to prepare academics for the 2020 merit and promotion process. It seems hard to believe it is time to think about it already. Committees (Peer Review Committee and the Academic Assembly Council Personnel Committee) are finalizing recommended changes to the e-book. I know the Personnel Committee meets next week; perhaps the PRC meets sometime next week as well. The goal is to clarify expectations and provide suggestions that result in a less time-consuming process. There won't be a complete overhaul of the e-book, as expectations haven't changed, but anything that helps make assembling the packages easier is worth an effort.

The Vice President's Council and the Deans Council met last week as well. While it wasn't long ago, I'm already struggling to remember what the primary topics of discussion were. The Deans Council focused on preparations for next week's Governing Council meeting. The Governing Council meeting will focus on providing the Council with a detailed understanding of UC ANR's budget, including the use of AES funds (state and federal) by the three AES campuses.

Program Council meets in Riverside this week. The agenda includes time to celebrate Georgios Vidalakis' naming as the Citrus Endowed Researcher and a tour of the Citrus Clonal Protection facility. Also, we will visit the News and Outreach in Spanish team. On Thursday, a few of us will meet with the CE Specialists at UC Riverside before heading back north. During Program Council, we'll discuss what to do about the 2020 Position Call Process and brainstorm ideas to find new revenue streams. Strategic Initiative Leaders will talk strategize ways to improve how we get information distributed throughout the Division in timely and accurate methods.

I had a chance to visit with the UCCE San Diego office last week. We met for about an hour and a half and just talked. Ideally, I would be able to do this regularly with all offices. The challenge, of course, is in finding the time to make the trip. The fall travel season seems to start next weekend. However, I'm open to an invitation from any county office interested in looking at options. Often, the round-the-table discussion is most useful for communication.