- Author: Deanne Meyer
June zoomed by in a whirlwind. We're all excited to welcome Brent Hales as AVP for Research and Extension. Brent hit the ground running on Monday. His schedule is filled with meeting direct reports, getting to know Academic Human Resources team members, and getting his emails to work. As many know, the key item is to have a functional email. Thanks to everyone who did the pre-arrival onboarding both his ANR and UCOP emails work! This is a BIG reminder to everyone who is onboarding employees to start the email acquisition process as soon as possible so people. A huge shout out to IT Kathy Eftekhari and IT for making this all happen! I'll work with Brent over the next two months as he settles in.
I'll do a combination of June summary and July adventures over the next few weeks.
June 29 was the magical day for Advisors Jim Downer, Cindy Fake, John Harper, Craig Kallsen, Rachael Long, Brian Marsh, Fe Moncloa, and Marisa Neelon. We congratulate them on Emeritus title, wish them well in retirement and look forward to seeing them working on their emeritus workplan beginning August 1 as they finish up projects. Combined these colleagues shared over 200 years of service. Simultaneously, Specialists Alan Mchughen (housed at UCR) and Specialists Loren Oki, Stephen Kaffka, Elizabeth Mitcham, and Dan Putnam (housed at UCD) retired with 143 years of combined service. Their impacts will be realized for decades to come! Meanwhile, July 3rd marked 50 years of service (fifty, it is not a typo) for David Zilberman, Professor, Robinson Chair and CE Specialist at UCB. Congratulations one and all on incredible accomplishments and milestones!
As our academics know, the merit and promotion season ended in June. There were 68 dossiers. A huge thank you to the members of the PRC, Ad Hoc committees, and Personnel Committee for their thoughtful analyses of each dossier. This remarkable group of academics makes the process run. Thank you, Steven Worker who worked with Vice Provost Obrist, in managing the process and to Michelle Leinfelder-Miles for her leadership with the Personnel Committee. We have a remarkable group of academics who dedicate time to make this happen. A special congratulations and thank you to Daniel Obrist who championed his first merit and promotion cycle and Vanya Woodward who gathered the many letters of evaluation from external evaluators. My takeaway from reading 68 dossiers: we have impactful work occurring statewide! It's impressive. A few suggestions to all academics: 1) take time to read the eBook long before you start assembling your dossier; 2) attend trainings regularly during your first 6 years as your responsibilities in the first three terms change; 3) prepare your dossier in advance to request input from peers and your CD; and 4) view dossier preparation to reflect on your work. Since academics are proud of their work it stands to reason time is invested to assemble a fabulous dossier to share.
- Author: Deanne Meyer
Happy Mother's Day to one and all! It was nice to have a day for family and friends after a very intense week.
For those with an eye on the mountains, the snow melt continues. Concerns remain in the Tulare Lake Basin area. Thank you to a colleague who sent the link to these aerial images. The area will be water for quite some time. Hopefully, great recharge will occur as well.
The week started with a 2-hr debrief from the Peer Review Committee and a robust discussion on 71 dossiers. It's incredible to see the depth and breadth of programming within ANR. There were colleagues up for indefinite status and others doing a five-year review. Most academics did a good job describing their work and the changes clientele make over time as well as the public value of their work. We'll work with the Academic Assembly Council Personnel Committee to identify modifications to the eBook before our next merit cycle begins.
Many County Directors (CD) participated in the CD meeting Tuesday through Thursday noonish. The time was filled with many presentations from the various units that support academics. Vice President Humiston opened the meeting with an update. One of her many points was that ANR academics should be the go-to science adviser in all communities. We truly aspire to hire great people who will make a huge difference in their local communities. The human relations presentation and engagement was compelling. Information from the BOC gave CDs a chance to get detailed and specific questions answered. Vice Provost Obrist talked about the merit and promotion process and the importance of complete letters of evaluation from supervisors. One of my topics related to geography. Advisors are hired in an area. The county partners expect contributions from the Advisor. The boundaries of work are defined by the geographic area. Talk with your CD BEFORE you consider working outside your defined area. In addition to simple questions of resource use, there is a protocol to follow for anyone who works outside their geographic area. Likewise, if you are a Specialist working in county (ies), there is a different protocol to follow to connect your work to the County's needs. Reaching out to others within ANR prior to entering their area for collaborative work is a professional courtesy and an expectation. If you do work out of area, the objective is to help build capacity within ANR in the area. Hence, the importance of reaching out to Advisors or CDs and including them in your activities.
Welcome new colleagues who started in March:Krystle Hickman,IPM; Elizabeth Moon, Workplace Inclusion and Belonging; KatherineBiardi and JohnKobular Jr., Staff Research Associates; Lucas Chang andKengVue, student assistance; Joseph Simpson, Applications Manager, andKiera Scott, Lab Assistant 2. Many different people and job titles makeANRimpactful. Thank you for all you do!
Giving Day is coming this week. Stay tuned to your emails so you're able to donate to your favorite ANR program May 18-May 19.