The bees are buzzing!

Last week Program Council met to review programmatic budget requests. February was our warm-up when Jennifer Bunge of Resource Planning and Management (RPM) walked us through the budget request process.  Each of the statewide programs and institutes have funding that is allocated as permanent and other funding allocated as temporary. In some instances, the temporary has gone on for many years making it appear permanent. We went through each line of each budget and each organizational chart. Thank you to Jennifer and Han (RPM), each of the Program Council members and Katherine Webb-Martinez and Kit Alves for their phenomenal facilitation. A special shout out to Joni Rippee for her institutional and ability to provide important historic information.

Glenda, Erik Prose (Director of the California Institute for Water Resources) and I met with Magalí Muria-Tunon and Isidre Sala Queralt to discuss the UC Catalonia Memorandum of Understanding.  Glenda and Doug Parker had visited Catalonia previously after the MOU was signed. Since we are now in a new phase after COVID 19 it's an opportune time to more fully identify the activities that will occur between the two groups. Given our climates, drought, impacts of changing climate there is no time like the present to strengthen this working relationship.

A beautiful view east of Clear Lake on Hwy 20.

Following the UC Catalonia meeting I drove to Ukiah to work with John Bailey and Lenya Quinn-Davidson. The drive over 20 and around Clear Lake was fantastic. Hills were green and the lake was full!  A year or so ago as I drove around the lake nearly all boats were out of the water and docks seemed like they were in a different zip code since water levels were so incredibly low. What a difference a year makes!

With April 1 comes the official start of “retirement season”. Whereas Daniel Obrist has the excitement of hiring new academics, I get the pleasure of thanking others for their service and wishing them a happy next chapter in their lives. Although a letter of intent to retire is not necessary, it is appreciated so we may track position gaps. It's the UC Path documentation that every retiree needs to get straight!  Many in ANR have contributed for decades and likely will continue to contribute in one capacity or another.  Recently I signed a plan of work for a retired advisor who continues to work 25% time (near 50 years now). It's a testament to a passion for identifying driving questions, designing, and deploying research, summarizing information, and making change happen.

Everyone working on the All ANR conference is in high gear getting the last details in place. Thank you to all committee and subcommittee members, Kathy Eftekhari and Katherine Stein as well as Sherry Cooper and Program Support for all your efforts. A huge shout out for our phenomenal IT team who in between patches has been loading new equipment for us to use.

Speaking of IT, please have patience as they work through very complex and at times unpredictable issues with our website. Keep your eyes alert for ANR updates that provide additional information. There may be a few more bumps in the road. In the meantime, any new information on outages will be available on the ANR IT information zoom channel. 

Beehives in orchard. Picture from 2021.

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.

As you know, our current Associate Vice President Wendy Powers will be leaving UC ANR on August 12, 2022, and Vice Provost Mark Bell departed at the end of June. After careful consideration of multiple options, we have arrived at an interim leadership structure to preserve the integrity and effectiveness of all UC ANR programs, research and extension efforts while we recruit for a permanent Associate Vice President. Key changes are outlined below and are illustrated in the attached Interim Org Chart.

I am pleased to announce that Deanne Meyer has agreed to serve as Interim AVP while the search process is underway. Many of you have worked with Deanne over her many years at UC Davis; her academic and leadership experience as a CE Specialist and Sustainable Food Systems Strategic Initiative Leader will serve the organization well during this transition period. She understands the work and value of Cooperative Extension and will be a strong champion for all UC ANR programs, research, and outreach.

David Bunn will now focus entirely on County Cooperative Extension. He will also partner with Anne Megaro, UC ANR's Government and Community Relations Director, to assist county directors with local and state government relations. All County Directors will continue to report to David.

Darren Haver has agreed to take on a new 50% assignment as the statewide Associate Director of the RECs. He will also continue to serve as the South Coast REC Director. Darren has served as the Assistant Vice Provost for the REC System for the past few years; these same duties will be transferred into his new position in addition to championing the implementation of the REC Strategic Framework. All REC Directors will now report to Darren.   

With Mark's departure, we have temporarily divided his areas of responsibility across two separate individuals. Greg Ira has agreed to serve as the Statewide Programs and Institutes Lead. He will coordinate and convene the SWP/I leaders. SWP/I leaders will report directly to the Interim AVP. Jim Farrar has agreed to serve as the Strategic InitiativesLead. Jim will regularly convene the SI leaders and ensure that critical conversations and coordination across these groups continues to be strong.  

A permanent AVP will have the opportunity to consider programmatic leadership structure to best position UC ANR for future success. In the meantime, I hope that you will work with these interim leaders and support them in any way you can.

I will overview this new structure at the July 21^st Town Hall. If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, Wendy Powers, Tu Tran or Kathy Eftekhari.

Best Wishes, 
Glenda

Nutrition Policy Institute receives $2.4 million in 2022-23 California state budget to evaluate school meals for all.

Governor Newsom signed the first budget bill (SB 154) on June 27, and the second budget bill (AB 178) June 30. Together, these bills fund the core of the state budget. Provisions include: 

• 5% increase for UC ANR's budget (This allows UC ANR to adjust employee salaries effective July 1, 2022, as described in the May 20 UC ANR Update.) 
• $2.4 million in one-time funds for Nutrition Policy Institute to evaluate
•  “School Meals for All”
• $125 million in one-time funds for UC deferred maintenance, seismic mitigation and energy efficiency projects. 
• $185 million in one-time funds to support UC climate change research

“The state budget process is not finished and we expect several Budget Trailer Bills to be taken up in August after the Legislature returns from Summer Recess. Stay tuned!” said Anne Megaro, director of government relations.

See President Drake's comments about the state budget at https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-statement-2022-23-california-budget-0.