In between finishing up the merit and promotion packages, I did some gardening this weekend. My favorite plant on the property was in bloom. Unfortunately, it's not one of the plants that needs thinning and clearly doesn't spread like so many others we have (trumpet vines, calla lilies, cannas, among others) and I have no idea what it is. So consider this a trivia question and let me know if you recognize this plant.

Plant trivia - try to name this plant

Some think gardening is relaxing. I seem to approach it more as a full contact sport. I guess it's a matter of perspective. For example, I'm challenged to find the benefits to dividing California into 3 states but, clearly others find this a good idea. Who knows, I may be enlightened over the next few months. Right now, I struggle to see what such a change would mean to the University of California system. That could definitely make deciding between the Blue, the Gold, or a modified state for UC ANR appear a much simpler task.

Before the end of the week I need to put together a presentation about ‘what UC ANR program delivery looks like' to share with the ANR Advisory Committee early next week. I haven't decided yet what that presentation looks like. In the meantime, we have our annual meeting with President Napolitano on Thursday afternoon. We'll focus on progress made on our strategic plan goals. If you haven't visited the strategic plan website lately, take a look at the document now posted that provides updates on recent accomplishments. This will be updated 3 to 4 times per year so stop back in a few months to review the updated version.

One of the accomplishments outlined is the development of shared positions through new partnerships. As a result of a new financial partnership with NRCS, Anthony Fulford has joined UC ANR! Anthony started today as a CE Advisor, Nutrient Management and Soil Quality, based in Modesto, CA, with programmatic responsibilities in Stanislaus, Merced and San Joaquin Counties. Please take a minute to welcome Anthony.

Thursday is also the second WebANR where Nancy Franz will be joining us to talk about how the Public Value Statements are a strategy to help focus one's efforts, among other purposes. Like last month's webinar, it will be recorded in case you are unable to join the conversation live.

With Thursday promising to be a busy day, I'll be sure to give you an update on anything exciting that may happen. In the meantime, I'm staying out of the garden.

Make good use of the longest day of 2018!

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.

Mark's happy place (Honolulu, Hawaii)

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.

My civic duty is over. Now it's time to really focus on reviewing merit and promotion documents. With less than 50 days left between now and when I need to have them completed, I have 92 left to review. The math is simple enough so it is just a matter of actually reading 1 to 2 per night followed by reviewing all of the other feedback provided from supervisors, peers/colleagues, and the peer review committee, then writing up my own evaluation document. So far I have 0 complete. On the upside, only 92 more to go.

I have no idea where time is going. I actually started to write this blog on Monday and now it's Thursday. I still have 92 dossiers to review. But in between we've had:

• Program Council which was just a quick call on Tuesday afternoon to more or less check in with few meaty agenda items,
• A really productive meeting with the SI Leaders that covered topics ranging from strategies to increase the number of UC Delivers submissions,
• A call on Monday afternoon with the Task Force on Agriculture and Natural Resources ( a committee of the Academic Senate) where the focus of the conversation was the committee's interest in ANR making itself better known and accessible to all 10 campuses,
• Some administrative things, including the staff evaluation process in both Davis and Oakland (2 different systems so that makes it interesting and a bit of a challenge to keep straight),
• Personnel-related topics that could be any number of things,
• A continuing discussion with CDFA about a potential partnering opportunity that is making headway,
• A couple of meetings and work related to quantifying and conveying progress in our strategic plan, which is relevant to our upcoming annual review meeting with President Napolitano,
• A meeting to talk about the Public Value Statements and next steps,
• And an extended meeting of the executive leadership group to think strategically, which ended up being as much about fires as it did long-term positioning (a reflection of everyone having piles of work in front of us, making it hard to see over the pile)

And now it's Thursday with a whole day of opportunity ahead of me. Mark B., Mark L. and I have a call scheduled mid-morning to talk about the Vice Provost – Academic Personnel and Development position. While I don't have the committee report yet, I want to get their thoughts about the candidate, the position and how it fits into other internal and external factors, including budget and the President's pending decisions about reorganizing UCOP. Regardless of the outcome, the commitment to outstanding personnel development and service remains. Similarly, regardless of the reorganization outcome, the commitment to the mission and the amazing work of ANR remains. There is great comfort in knowing that we will continue to improve the lives of Californians and challenge ourselves to achieve stronger outcomes with greater impact.

Mark L. is packing up in Nebraska today and heading west on Monday. He doesn't start until June 1 but he's already got a number of things on his calendar (meetings, field days) for May. I don't envy him these next couple of weeks. The movers were in Michigan late May 2017 but it seems like that was forever ago and I'm glad to have only a distant memory of the hassle. So glad to be ‘settled' and a part of ANR. Soon, even jury duty will be a distant memory.

There were all kinds of good news this weekend. To start off, the strategic plan annual meeting ended on time and with a sense that it was time well spent. Katherine Webb-Martinez and Jan Corlett did a tremendous job keeping us on task and on time, not to mention their ability to follow and record conversations! I left with a sense that many of the participants had next steps in mind how they were going to share the discussions and plans with their units. Unfortunately, a few of the attendees that aren't part of the regular leadership discussions had to miss the event due to the flu. Hopefully we can catch them up and get their good ideas following a speedy recovery for them.

In other good news, Georgios Vadalakis shared the student feedback from the survey course he ran this fall, PLPA240 Field Plant Pathology. Students toured farms from Riverside and north as far as Fresno (if I recall correctly) prior to the start of the semester. Then all of that information and experience was applied throughout the semester with continued ‘real life' discussions at field stations in the Riverside area. The student comments were all positive, strongly positive, with many stating that it was the best course they've had. Congratulations to Georgios and the team that contributed to such a great student experience. This gave students an opportunity to see Extension in action. Perhaps this is an approach to recruiting the next generation of Extension professionals. In speaking with Georgios before the course launched I know he felt it was a powerful course in his learning and a strong influence in setting his career path. Something to think about….

Equally exciting, was to learn that Rose Hayden-Smith will be honored as the BRAVO 2018 Education Advocate by the National Association of Women Business Owners, Ventura County Chapter. This is quite an honor and recognizes Rose's expertise, dedication, and achievements. Congratulations Rose! During my layover at O'Hare, I learned that Pramad Pandey and California Safe Soil (CSS) won the California Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA)! Congratulations to Pramad and team for not only the award but also the nice write-up about it!

It was great to see snow out the windows of my house this weekend! The air was clear and there was actually snow to see. Somehow the sight has a calming effect on me – not quite as nice as the ocean, but better than neither ocean nor snow-covered mountains. It sounds like I won't see too much snow in Michigan despite what is considered a ‘rough winter'. So far my flights to Michigan are on time. That's good news because I wouldn't want to miss my student's defense and it's such a quick trip (out on Sunday, returning Monday) that it will already be a bit tiring without having to modify travel plans. I anticipate a strong defense despite the challenges of long distance mentoring.

Keep the good news coming!