- Author: Wendy Powers
Have you raised your hand? National 4-H Council has launched the “Raise Your Hand” campaign and will give cash prizes of $20K, $10K and $5K to the top three states with the most hands raised! Show your support of California 4-H by helping us get as many votes or “hands raised” for California as possible. Simply visit 4-H.org/raiseyourhand by May 15th, and join the California 4-H Alumni & Friends network by providing your email address. That's it! So go ahead and raise your hand!
Tomorrow is the IPM retreat, held on the Davis campus. Mark Bell and I will be providing an update to the group on what's new in ANR. Before heading over to campus, Mark and I will welcome a group of relatively new County Directors to the first County Director Institute (a.k.a. CD boot camp). Our topic there is what it means to be part of ANR leadership and the connection between county-based UCCE and statewide programs and strategic initiatives.
It is a busy week for many. And while I might think it's hectic, I have it easy compared to Rachel Palmer and the PSU team who are supporting all of the events. When the CD Institute ends, the R&E Council meets on Wednesday evening, followed by a County Director/REC Director meeting on Thursday. The REC business officers and the REC superintendents are meeting on Thursday as well. The week ends with the entire REC group meeting on Friday.
Two of our new colleagues are heading west this week to join in on the fun. Mark Lagrimini is packed and moving with plans to arrive by Wednesday evening. Annemiek Schilder will be in town as well. She won't begin as the new CD in Ventura County and REC director at the Hansen REC until August 1, but we are fortunate to steal her away from her current position for the week to join us in these meetings.
I honestly can't say enough about the thoughtfulness and selflessness. Just one recent example our recent Distinguished Service Awardee, Cheryl Wilen donated the monetary portion of her award to ANR for use in programming. That's just like Cheryl to be thinking of others!
Have you visited NIFA's data gateway yet? Take a look. It's a follow up to one of Dr. Wotecki's commitment to big data.
I have made virtually no progress on reviewing merit and promotion packages. No point in crying over that; after all, it's within my control to manage my time and get those done. In fact, none of the above are things to shed a tear over, yet my allergies have my eyes running constantly these days. So in addition to raising my hand in support of 4-H, I'm raising it to volunteer as a test subject for any new, revolutionary antihistamines out there.
- Author: Wendy Powers
It's finally Thursday! All week I've been off on my days, for some reason thinking it was Thursday each day. I chalk it up to trying out more powerful allergy meds. I don't think there's anything particularly special about today that had me longing to get to it, but who knows, I might be surprised by the end of day. It promises to be an interesting day – CDs and REC Directors need to narrow the list of Advisor positions down to 20 (from 27).
I was able to attend portions of the CD Institute meeting this week. The group of participants worked really well together. Hopefully the group rely on each other as time goes on; there's much to be learned from peers, particularly when the group, while all relatively new in the CD role, are at varying stage of career. David Lewis did a great job facilitating the portions I attended, including some conversations about working with different personality types and conflict resolution using case studies. A refresher in these areas could prove useful in navigating the Thursday conversations. It was nice to find a few minutes to chat with the CDs and even those ‘CDs in waiting' that attended. Kudos to Wei-ting Chen and the program planning team; nicely done!
In between, Tu and I finished reviewing the FY18-19 budget requests in preparation for our meeting with Glenda at the end of the month. The ECOP Budget and Legislative committee had their quarterly call; one of the key topics again this month was the status of SNAP-Ed and EFNEP. Still no final decision who will administer which program(s). Like many other things, the conversation is bogged down in debate over organization to the point where you wonder if the mission and commitment to the goals of the programs are lost in the discussion. I just want to raise my hand and say “Can we make certain we don't lose sight of what's really important!”
I was also in discussion with some folks from NIFA who pointed out that the current they hope to see Extension driving the submissions to the current AFRI RFAs (Education and Workforce, Foundational (note that deadlines have passed; new RFA not posted yet) and Sustainable Agricultural Systems). That's nice to hear though I will reserve my enthusiasm until the review panels are seated. I would hope that Extension is prominent in submissions to the InFEWs program as well. I'm anxious to see the Foundational RFA to see how it incorporates Extension. Regardless of that one reads, the other three are tightly aligned with Extension and applied research so I hope UC and UC ANR are able to capitalize on the opportunities out there. I have to admit, the idea of getting in on the granting game again is more appealing than some of the other items on my ‘to-do' list.
A few dates to keep in mind as we rush to the weekend:
Tuesday is your last day to Raise Your Hand in support of California 4-H. Let's not let those Midwestern states get ahead of us. Pass the link on to your friends and family.
Wednesday, May 16, is UC ANR Walks for Wellness day! While finalizing plans with your team, ask them to raise their hands by May 15.
Next Thursday is the first third Thursday WebANR Café. Perhaps I had my weeks confused and that's why I was so anxious to get to Thursday this week.
- Author: Wendy Powers
After a quarterly meeting with the goal owners of the strategic plan, I headed to Ukiah this afternoon. It was definitely the driest I have seen Hopland, making it a beautiful drive up 101. No wonder the coastal area is home to some of California's happiest cows. I passed San Quentin on the drive. I haven't spent much time wondering where San Quentin actually was so I was surprised to come across it; still so much to see in the state. While I didn't stop in there, I will be stopping in at the Hopland REC tomorrow for the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting.
At the goal owners meeting we focused on how to share the accomplishments of the strategic plan and how those accomplishments position ANR and all of the people in ANR for success. Accomplishments such as:
- A 12% increase in Contracts and Grants for the first 2 quarters of 2017-18, compared to the previous year. This means more resources to conduct programming.
- Development of new partnerships that translates into 3 Advisor/Specialist position FTE becoming 6 full-time positions, thereby making headway towards increasing the academic footprint.
These are just a couple of examples; more to be shared in future posts. Please share your thoughts on other methods for sharing the news as we move through the strategic plan timeline.
The group also spent time talking about the goal of ensuring that ANR is a happy place to be. While we need to be realistic and acknowledge that we are all working and ANR isn't intended to be Disneyworld, many are focused on making the work experience more rewarding and enjoyable. Development of a survey to establish a baseline and identify areas for improvement is on the ‘to-do' list.
It is clearly graduation season. A number of the County and REC Directors shared last week that they have graduates this year. Among those with college graduate: Roger Duncan, Jairo Diaz, Deb Driskill and Mark Bell. I think Mark won the contest for graduation destinations; he was in Honolulu last week to attend his daughter's graduation from nursing school. Take a look at his happy place. I had enough trouble showing up for class in Ithaca; I can't imagine ever making it to class if I was near the ocean.
Tomorrow night I head to Fresno. On Wednesday I am meeting with the UCCE group. We start our day with a UC Walks trip through the Garden of the Sun followed by some program visits and conversation. While I've been to that office before, this will be my first visit to meet the team in their happy place.
Come the end of the week, I am off to one of my favorite places. Hint: it involves water – 21% of the world's fresh water supply.
- Author: Wendy Powers
During my trip to Fresno on Wednesday I was reminded once again how much of a difference we can make when we work together. The day was incredibly motivating while at the same time humbling. It started with the UC Walks – I hadn't expected such a large turnout! But when you have the chance to walk around the Garden of the Sun in Fresno, who wouldn't take time to come out and walk. The UC Master Gardeners have done some fantastic work on the grounds; the gardens were just beautiful. Austin did a great job photographing the group.
Following our official walk, Ruth, Michael and Jacob took us to meet a local farmer who has over 50 different crops on his farm. There was quite a bit of taste-testing! The strawberries were super sweet and the lemon grass smelled heavenly. I don't envy the farmer in trying to keep the rotation straight, let alone making the trip weekly to a Bay area farmer's market.
Later we visited Rescue the Children, an 18-month program for women and children designed to enhance skills including that of healthy eating and nutrition. Karina (UC CalFresh program manager) and Sylkie (Master Gardener volunteer) showed us the gardens that the women are maintaining and expanding. Priscilla (center director) spoke about the importance of the partnership with UC ANR in changing the lives of these women. I thought for sure that would be the most moving portion of the day. Not the case.
We wrapped up the morning with a visit to a local vineyard where Nick (vineyard manager at The Wine Group) reinforced to us how much the company depends on people like George for brainstorming ideas and learning about the newest research findings. Hopefully Nick recognizes how important to UC ANR it is to have willing cooperators like him! He and George are thinking forward to what the industry needs are as far as the vineyard of the future – low labor, water-wise, high value farming. This was a great stop to wrap up a fast-paced morning.
The afternoon included what may have been my most moving visit yet. Alena and Tracy introduced us to Brian from Street Saints, a homegrown organization determined to keep the local youth out of reach of gangs. Their story was what we are all about. What's more is that they believe that the 4-H curriculum is what they need to really achieve their goals and give the kids tools for success. This is a group with whom we must partner. How can we not help when we consider what they are doing? I had a chance to briefly visit with 2 high schoolers who had participated in a 6-week summer course last year. They were so articulate, focused and committed to the 4-H program. What an honor to have a connection to this program and the products of it! I know we have a number of famous 4-H alum. These two youth were stars in my book.
A phenomenal day ended with a visit to a U.S. Forest Service research site where we are partnering with the NEON project and CSU Fresno to study ecological changes. Rebecca has a great resource in her backyard and strong partners. I love gadgets and instrumentation – as soon as the NEON project has electricity they will no doubt have some great toys.
Everywhere you look UCCE Fresno is making a difference. Thanks to everyone for a great visit!
- Author: Wendy Powers
This week I am up on the 46th parallel. It seems much further from Sacramento (38° N) than the coordinates suggest. The snow is gone as is the lake ice. Some damage that resulted from a hard winter has been left behind. While I'm sure the soaring eagles, lake loons and daffodils just coming into bloom are a welcome sight for many, we've lost the ice caves and the Northern Lights for at least a few months. You can't have everything – at least not all at once.
Technically, I'm on vacation. But with only 17 merit and promotion packages completed and 75 to go, making a dent on the 63 packages I downloaded before I left seems like an obvious thing to do when phone and WiFi signals are weak and my other options include power washing, painting, yard work or other repairs during an unseasonably warm week (up to 75° F).
As I read through the dossiers I continue to learn more about the work of UC ANR. While I previously wondered if we should be doing more to address the aging population (eating to live), I read about the inspiring work that at least one of our academics is doing to address the needs of this group. In a different dossier I learned more about the work of an academic whose efforts address, almost exclusively, the needs of underserved audiences.
Most, if not all, of the work we do is important. Having sufficient capacity to have a meaningful impact as opposed to being spread too thin is the challenge. With so many needs and opportunities in front of us, how do we decide what to do and what to not do? We can't do everything with finite resources, and do it all well. So as I read through dossiers, I can see how decisions have been made to shift and, often times, focus efforts towards the greatest need or the opportunity or the greatest impact. After all, the goal isn't to have individuals contribute to as many condition changes as possible, but to have individuals focus their efforts such that their work contributes to meaningful change in conditions. In order to direct sufficient effort towards a targeted change, one has to pass up other opportunities so as to avoid becoming stretched too thin.
Though I really need this vacation, if only to have time to read the bulk of the dossiers, I am missing, for perhaps only the first or second time, a MultiState Research Committee meeting that I have attended since 1997. Another example, that you can't do everything. Hopefully the group is having a productive meeting. Given all the new, young talent within the committee, I have no doubt they are planning great things. Perhaps I can catch up next year.