- Author: Wendy Powers
The academic footprint numbers, ending June 30, 2019, are available. It's not good news, though it is not surprising either. Every June, we have a dip in numbers of academics because there is a financial benefit to retiring at the end of June. The benefit is related to receiving any base scale increase and that increase becoming part of one's pension calculation. I don't pretend to understand it fully. What I do understand is that for the past few years, we have regained the academic numbers shortly after July 1 as hiring has continued. This year, however, we have slowed hiring, so I suspect numbers will continue to dip a bit before we reverse course into an upswing. Fortunately, that upswing is near. We continue to fill positions from the 2016 position call. And, we anticipate the release of a few positions around the first of the calendar year. This should allow us to get ahead of June 2020's retirement dip. A few Academic Coordinator positions, vacated since June, are under recruitment, which should bring those numbers back up soon.
Recently I was asked why we automatically backfill staff positions but not academic positions. The answer isn't brief, but here it is. The approach to staffing for the two categories of jobs is fundamentally different. The CE Specialist and CE Advisor positions are filled through a consultative process with stakeholders ranging from clientele to partners to colleagues. Consideration of future programmatic needs drives the process. That look into the future is for several years because positions identified through this process come with a long-term commitment to the specialized program area (indefinite status). The result is a process that takes months to complete to secure the insights of the various groups consulted. The outcome is an opportunity to use collective wisdom to direct program priorities.
Other academic positions (i.e., academic coordinators, academic administrators) require approval to hire. These positions do not include eligibility for indefinite status and are often, but not always, soft-funded (grants, partners, non-permanent funds). It can take days, weeks, and occasionally months to receive approval to fill these positions. The consultative process is far more limited and includes the direct supervisor and perhaps a vice provost and/or associate vice president/vice president. Similarly, unit leaders for the business and support units also request to fill staff position vacancies. There is no automatic backfilling. Quite often, the position is within the unit's approved staffing plan that has undergone a rigorous review before approval by an associate vice president/president. These positions are not eligible for indefinite status, and the staffing plan can change from time to time, meaning that personnel needs change as well.
Perhaps refilling processes are not differentiated by academic or staff, but rather by eligibility for indefinite status. It's the indefinite appointment and commitment to the specialized program expertise that necessitates the extensive consultation.
- Author: Wendy Powers
I said ‘good-bye, for now' to the Great Australian Bight. It wasn't easy but it was time to get back to work. Travel turned out to be a bit hectic but everything worked out in the end. After all, if the worst thing that happened was that I had to stay a few more days, I certainly wasn't going to complain. One of the challenges was managing luggage; Qantas has different baggage rules with limits far less than that allowed by United Airlines. I found I had to juggle things around while still remaining under the weight limit that was less than what I had on the flight over. The result was moving items from one piece to another then weighing each piece (carry on and checked bags) to make sure I was under the total limit of 32 kg with no individual piece exceeding 23 kg. The process seemed more complicated than necessary and was further complicated by the fact that I wished to carry on my laptop and camera with extra lenses. Technology comes at a hefty weight.
The process of juggling buckets and keeping within a restricted limit that was far too low for what I wanted to accomplish served as a good step in bringing me back to reality (out of vacation mode). The process paralleled that of trying to maneuver UC ANR goals given budget realities. Faced with a flat budget that functions as a reduction because dollars don't cover the increased costs, does one devote the same level of funding to provide existing personnel with the resources for success (travel funds, discretionary funds, support staff) at the expense of increasing the number of programmatic positions (staff and academics) or vice versa?
I want both and I'm not giving up until we have both. Fortunately, and unlike the luggage situation, we can have both but it takes some work, some time, perhaps a leap of faith, and stepping outside the comfort zone. The fact that the Program Planning and Evaluation unit's academic footprint numbers show that we are holding ground in spite of last year's budget situation reflect that we can maintain support and numbers. Sometimes it feels like we are going backwards but then I realize that it was only a half-step backwards followed by a full step forward. The challenge is the time delay between steps.
We continue to hire new academics. Just yesterday Kamyar Aran started as an Assistant CE Specialty Crops Advisor with programmatic responsibilities in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. Please take the time to welcome Kamyar and position our newest colleague for success. We have a few other new CE Specialists and CE Advisors joining UC ANR this month. I will share their information when their start date occurs.
In the meantime, there's a flurry of activity and interest in building support for UC ANR's budget. From UC Regents requesting tours of county-based programming to elected officials seeking input about our programs to clientele groups holding events and asking ANR to showcase their contributions, Anne Megaro has a full plate as do many, many others who develop and deliver the programs across the state who will be involved with these meetings. It is very exciting to see this high level of interest. Now is when we really have a chance to tell people who we are and the value our programs deliver all across California, to every Californian.
The August Costco Connection ran a story this month about the 5 questions to which the answers form the pillars of a company's success. In the article, the author references Steven Covey's comment that companies need to “begin with the end in mind”. The author concluded that “you can't know what you want to be until and unless you have envisioned it.” The timing of the upcoming 5-location workshops couldn't be better. Envisioning the ‘end' is the focus and more specifically, discussing how to provide the evidence that we have contributed to the stated end goal. The idea of capturing condition change data can be daunting but the author of the Costco Connection story says the answer to the ‘how' step is to “have fun, be brutally honest, work hard at it every day and it will become as natural as the air you breathe.” I'm counting on that applying the principle to the ‘how to have it all' question as well.
- Author: Wendy Powers
The April 2019 academic footprint numbers are in. Now granted there were a number of colleagues who departed just this past week, but, overall, the numbers are promising. CE Specialist numbers are at the highest (n = 119) since I first started tracking the numbers. CE Advisor numbers are tied with a year ago (n = 173) and just 2 persons less than the October 2018 high of 175 CE Advisors. Academic Coordinator numbers are where they have been most of the quarters (n = 31) and Academic Administrators remain steady (n = 7). The non-CE ANR Academic numbers tend to be most variable but are higher than 2018 numbers.
Speaking of CE Specialists, please welcome Dr. Susana Matias Medrano. Today was Dr. Medrano's first day as Assistant CE Specialist in Obesity, in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology in the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley. And, adding to the CE Advisor numbers, Mohamed Nouri started today as Assistant CE Orchard Systems Advisor, based in Stockton with programmatic responsibilities in San Joaquin County.
It seems that it has been a while since I welcomed new academics to UC ANR through this blog. I believe the last time was at the very end of May. Perhaps I've missed a couple of new hires; I suspect we didn't hire any during June. Either way it is nice to see some new hires.
We have slowed the hiring over the last few months. While we are moving forward with a few of the 2018 position call process positions, we have not released a wave of positions to be filled over a 2-year period. The CE Specialist positions from the 2016 position call are now offered, accepted, or filled. A few CE Advisor positions from the 2016 position call remain under recruitment. In spite of the slowed hiring, the academic footprint numbers look really good. I'd have to guess that is in part due to taking a new approach to funding some positions. Imagine what they would look like if we didn't have two consecutive years of a flat budget!
Perhaps I need to add to my ‘to do' list a plan to determine how best to track program staff numbers. This group is so critical to delivering the mission, it is as important to build that footprint as it is the academic footprint. I will have to think about this a bit over the upcoming long weekend.
- Author: Wendy Powers
Please welcome Joy Hollingsworth to UC ANR. Joy starts today, April 1st, as CE Nutrient Management and Soil Quality Advisor, based in Fresno, with programmatic responsibilities in Fresno, Kings, Madera and Tulare Counties. Today marks the third consecutive Monday when a CE Advisor has begun their career with UC ANR!
The table below tells the story about our academic footprint over the last 18 months or so. We are down a bit in CE Advisor numbers compared to the end of October. The good news is that CE Specialist numbers are up and non-CE ANR academic numbers continue to increase. The most significant decline is in the number of AES researchers. Honestly, I can't account for the full reduction in CE Advisor numbers; I will need to look into this a bit. The date of data collection makes a difference in the numbers. It will be another quarter before we have updated data that reflect the three recent CE Advisor additions. I estimate that those data will appear in a June post, shortly before the traditional retirement date.
Headcounts |
Oct-17 |
Jan-18 |
Apr-18 |
Jul-18 |
Oct 18 |
Jan-19 |
CE Advisors |
169 |
170 |
173 |
169 |
175 |
171 |
Academic Administrators |
7 |
7 |
7 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
Academic Coordinators |
34 |
31 |
31 |
31 |
31 |
30 |
CE Specialists |
112 |
112 |
112 |
111 |
115 |
118 |
Non-CE ANR Academics (Researchers, Project Scientists, non-CE Specialists) |
8 |
6 |
6 |
9 |
11 |
13 |
AES |
579 |
576 |
577 |
568 |
565 |
560 |
Total CE (Advisors + AA + AC + Specialists) |
322 |
320 |
323 |
317 |
328 |
326 |
Total (AES + CE + Non-CE ANR Academics) |
909 |
902 |
906 |
894 |
904 |
899 |
What doesn't appear above are the numbers of Community Education Specialists across the state. These are some of our most important members of UC ANR and often those conducting some of the most visible programmings. A number of these individuals work in the EFNEP program, which happens to be celebrating its 50th anniversary. Meet EFNEP Youth Educator Adan Osoria of Alameda County to learn more about the program. The EFNEP team has been busy working with the News and Outreach in Spanish team to produce a series of videos. In the “Estamos Contigo – We Are With You” series, EFNEP educators share about the impact of their work on their communities as well as their personal lives. This series was produced in English and Spanish to show our communities that we are with them in their journey towards raising healthy families and living healthy lives. Be sure to take a look.
I'm in San Diego this week for the regional experiment station directors meeting, followed by the MultiState Research Committee meeting, and finally the regional extension directors meeting. In between, I will be reading some of my remaining 47 merit and promotion packages. It is Academic Coordinator week!
- Author: Wendy Powers
Welcome to Beatriz Nobua-Behrmann who starts this week as an Urban Forestry and Natural Resources Advisor, based at the South Coast REC, with programmatic responsibilities in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Last week, Ryan Tompkins started as the Forestry and Natural Resources Advisor, based in Quincy, with programmatic responsibilities in Plumas, Sierra and Lassen Counties. IT is great to see our forestry capacity building.
I looked at the academic footprint numbers this weekend. It's possible we are down in numbers, but before I share the graph, I want to confirm how counting occurs for some positions. I know we are all very interested in our numbers and growing that footprint; it came up as a question during the Town Hall last week. We have a few CE Advisor and 4 CE Specialist positions yet to fill from the 2016 position call process. Plus we will backfill a Table Grapes Advisor position, based out of Kern County, as a result of a partnership with the California Table Grapes Commission. We should be moving forward with other hirings soon, too.
Also over the weekend, I had dinner with friends. We had teff as part of the meal. Did you know that UC ANR researches teff? Both the Desert REC and the Blythe area have research underway. My friend was quite interested in the study for her work. I think there may be some opportunity to work together on things; we'll see. I was interested to learn that my friends knew about Elkus Ranch and that their kids had been in 4-H! While that may not be surprising to many, it caught me off guard because they live right in the Mission District of San Francisco.
Tomorrow I head to Salinas to meet with the California Leafy Greens Research Program committee. I've met with the group a few times; every 6 or 8 months. Tuesday a dozen of us are at the State Capitol meeting with assembly persons and state senators to talk about the work of UC ANR in their districts. Then Wednesday I am at UC Merced for a tour of the campus and discussions about our partnerships with the university. Although I am home every night this week, it is shaping up to be a bit of car time. Keeping up on emails may prove to be all I can manage. The remaining 51 dossiers will still be there next week.