- Author: Deanne Meyer
If you're a fan of Groundhog Day, you know that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow (Feb 2) and we've got six more weeks of winter. Whether you believe this tale or not, we're definitely in winter. Thank you everyone who shared pictures from throughout California over the last few days. It's been incredible to see SNOW from Arcata (sea level) to Vacaville hills (900') and elsewhere. Frankly, the photos on the evening news are awesome. The days ahead will identify how severe crop damage is and the final impact on our great agricultural bounty. The sky in Yolo County had its share of helicopters out on Saturday.
The week started off with Programmatic Orientation. Thank you Vice Provost Daniel Obrist and Greg Ira, Lead for State Wide Programs and Institutes who working along with Katherine Webb-Martinez (Program Planning and Evaluation) and Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty (Director of County Directors) to share great information to our new academics. Darren Haver shared about opportunities at our RECs for research. Although I was unable to stay for the entire orientation, I hear presentations were superb: Fadzayi Mashiri (conducting informal needs assessment), Yana Valachovic (strategies for community engagement), Margaret Lloyd (working with diverse, multilingual audiences), JoLynn Miller (increasing reach with social media) and Aparna Gazula (measuring outcomes and communicating impact). Katherine Webb-Martinez and Vikram Koundinya (Evaluation Specialist, UCD) finished off the morning with measuring outcomes and communicating impact.
It was exciting to see the information in employee news from the staff assembly. Beginning March 1, 2023, the UC ANR Wellness Reimbursement Program will begin accepting applications for reimbursements of personal wellness expenses up to $75. Thank you everyone involved in making this happen. Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity! If you read the staff assembly e-news you know UC ANR Staff Assembly Ambassadors are committed to making a positive difference for our staff experience and work environment across our community, helping to make UC ANR the best to work, live and learn within the UC system. Thank you, Staff Assembly colleagues who put in time to make this program work!
There's exciting news in the ANR building. Drilling, hammering, and anything else needed is occurring to refresh all our meeting rooms. The new system will enhance our meeting rooms and the ability to zoom people into hybrid meetings. This is fantastic. Recently I used the Coast Room for a hybrid meeting (back in January during floods in Monterey) where we needed to zoom folks in. We had multiple technology failures before Sherry Cooper was able to get the temperamental system to function. Thank you to Sree Mada, David Hatter, Heather Moore, and everyone else involved in making this transition happen. Also, a quiet shout out to everyone who endured noise while working through these fabulous upgrades!
Welcome to Elizabeth Ramierz, Fresno/Madera MCP, a new Blank Assistant 2. We're excited to have new Community Education Specialists as well: Heidi Holmquist, San Diego; Brittany Gore, Los Angeles; Nancy Chang, Santa Clara; Heather Montgomery, Sutter/Yuba; Vianca Nunez, Riverside; and Kelsey Dugan, San Luis Obispo. We're fortunate to have some familiar faces in new roles as well: Lani Landayan, Immediate Office of the Controller; Bridgette Alvarez, Program Support; Jason Dillon, Resource Planning and Management; Nancy Lu, Statewide Programs and REC ops; Jessica Falor-Ward, Development Office; and Violeta Kavocevic, Facilities, Planning and Management.
- Author: Deanne Meyer
This last week started with us waking up to learn of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria. Drone footage, satellite imagery, news reports all show the devastation. The World Health Organization estimates some 23 million people impacted by this natural disaster and the news outlets indicate more than 33,000 people dead. That doesn't count all the people who know those impacted. Our thoughts are with first responders, those in need of healing and those traumatized by the temblor. Many groups and organizations are on the ground to help including Californians. Californians know how long recovery can take and how lives change in an instant. Many in my family see earthquake disasters and are grateful to first responders from throughout the world. My great grandmother was married in 1903 and moved out of her family's home to live with her in-laws. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake (magnitude 7.9 estimate) and fire destroyed building, property and people. Because Grammy lived with her in-laws she survived and a few years later my grandmother and her sisters were born; decades later my mother, her brother and her three first cousins; my generation has 6 and the next generation has 4. I for one understand the value and importance of first responders and international help that came to San Francisco's aid in 1906 and I'm grateful to be able to help now.
How's our footprint doing? January was a busy month for hiring. Academics included: Eric Porse, Director California Institute Water Resources; Advisors [Ellie Andrews, Sonoma; Natalia Ott, Tehama; Justin Tanner, San Joaquin; Eddie Tanner, Humboldt; Tobias Oker, Kern; Haris Gilani, Riverside, and Ahmed Kayad, Intermountain REC. and Flavie Audoin, Central Sierra MCP]. It's exciting to have new Advisors from one end of California to the other! Two Project Scientists joined: Francisco Benitez, Berkeley Food Institute housed at Kearney and Alexis Zaragoza working with Vice President Humiston. There are also two new Staff Research Associates: Cristal Hernandez (Kern) and Nicole Dutch in Plumas/Sierra. Tim Nguyen joined the statewide IPM program as an applications programmer.
Great progress is being made toward the California Conservation Planning Partnership (C2P2) technical assistance agreementrollout meeting at the end of the month. You may remember previous discussions on this collaboration between ANR,CARCD (California Association of Conservation District), CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture), NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) and Resource Conservation Districts. We provide service to the same people and this agreement helps all staff align with the responsibilities of their organization.
What else is happening within ANR? The biweekly meetings with the Vice Chancellors for Research continue with discussions to incorporate the UC data policy into local policy. Specifically, we need to ensure data are protected when academics transfer, leave or retire. As a reminder, all data associated with research projects are the property of the Regents of the University of California. Also happening at this time of year is our Directors of State wide Programs and Institutes are working on the budget call for 2023/2024. These are due later in February and go to Program Council for discussion in April.
Winter rains may or may not be done. Yet, we're at that time of year when millions of workers invade California: bees! Often, almost every healthy beehive in the country is in California as we prepare for a big bloom. I remember reading there's a new technology that made the top 10 at the World Ag Expo related to hive management. Maybe I'll get a chance to see it in the week ahead. May the weather be warm enough for the bees to be buzzing around and doing their job as buds bloom. Bees teach us that the mighty are mighty because of what they do and not because of their size.
