- Author: Diana Cervantes
En el vibrante mundo de la comunicación agrícola, surge una figura destacada: Linda Forbes. Como directora de comunicación de la División de Agricultura y Recursos Naturales de la Universidad de California (UC ANR), su labor es transmitir el impacto y el valor de la investigación en todo el estado.
Inspirada por sus hermanas, Forbes ha dejado una huella notable en un ámbito tradicionalmente dominado por hombres. Cada una de sus hermanas ha influido en ella de manera única: Leslie le enseñó profesionalismo, Lorna le transmitió su tenacidad y amor por la naturaleza, y Fiona le mostró la importancia de la sociabilidad y la resiliencia frente a la adversidad.
En su carrera, Forbes ha sido afortunada de contar con mentoras solidarias que la han guiado y alentado a crecer. Incluso desde su primer trabajo como recepcionista, fue respaldada por una jefa que reconoció y valoró sus habilidades bilingües.
A pesar de su pasión por la enseñanza, Forbes tuvo que dejar la docencia debido a limitaciones salariales. Esta decisión la llevó a explorar nuevas oportunidades en comunicación, siendo contratada como redactora de contenido para sitios web, donde tuvo que aprender rápidamente sobre el negocio y mejorar sus habilidades comunicativas.
A lo largo de su trayectoria profesional, Forbes ha enfrentado retos con supervisores desafiantes, pero su determinación y aprendizajes previos le han permitido superar obstáculos y crecer en su campo.
Hoy en día, Forbes enfrenta nuevos retos, incluida la burocracia y otros factores que a veces obstaculizan el alcance de la comunicación. Reconoce la persistencia de la misoginia en el mundo laboral, pero se muestra optimista sobre el progreso hacia una mayor representación y equidad para las mujeres.
Para atraer a más mujeres al campo de la ciencia agrícola, Forbes aboga por destacar los logros de las mujeres dentro de UC ANR y por fomentar un ambiente inclusivo y colaborativo.
Finalmente, Forbes invita a todas las mujeres a establecer y expresar límites claros como parte esencial del autocuidado y el empoderamiento personal. Su historia nos recuerda la importancia de enfrentar los desafíos con valentía y determinación, y de aprovechar el apoyo de mentoras y colegas solidarios en nuestro camino hacia el éxito.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Hicks named executive assistant to Bunn
Savannah Hicks has been promoted to the role of executive assistant, supporting Vice Provost David Bunn and UC ANR Second Street Building Operations.
As executive assistant, Hicks will be assisting with calendaring, meeting and events management and purchasing, as well as many other essential duties in support of the research and extension centers, county offices and statewide programs and institute leaders.
She will also be supporting the Second Street Space and Operations Committee and helping to coordinate projects and meetings, including monthly networking events and current space moves.
Hicks, who earned a bachelor's degree in communications at CSU Sacramento, joined UC ANR's Statewide Program and Research Operations Unit a few months ago and was selected to fill this new role following an open search.
Before joining ANR, she was an office manager at Evolve BioSystems, a startup that specializes in a probiotic for babies to help them get the benefits of mother's breast milk.
Hicks is based at the UC ANR Second Street Building and can be reached at (530) 285-3249 and slhicks@ucanr.edu.
Shellabarger, Zabronsky join water institute
Rachel Shellabarger and Hope Zabronsky have joined the California Institute for Water Resources, both as academic coordinator II.
Shellabarger will be responsible for coordinating CIWR's work with the National Institutes for Water Resources, as well as work on a new nitrogen and irrigation management program. She comes to us from UC Santa Cruz, where her recent Ph.D. research sought to better understand how California dairy producers engage with environmental initiatives.
An environmental scientist who grew up farming, Shellabarger is drawn to interdisciplinary work that crosses traditional boundaries. She previously researched conflict among conservation and human rights groups on the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as wetland mitigation efforts in Midwest agricultural landscapes. She also taught undergraduate Natural Sciences coursework for six years and worked with refugee resettlement agencies.
She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Wartburg College, a master's degree in natural resources from North Carolina State University, and a Ph.D. in environmental studies from UC Santa Cruz.
Hope Zabronsky will be responsible for coordinating CIWR's Climate-Smart Agriculture Program and working with the team of technical assistance providers.
Zabronsky comes to UC ANR from Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center in San Diego, where she directed the center's educational and research programs focused on sustainable agriculture, environmental stewardship, community-based leadership, and career-technical education.
Previously, she managed statewide climate resilience projects at Strategic Energy Innovations, supported agricultural and climate adaptation research in Southern Africa at the International Food Policy Research Institute, and studied climate-smart agriculture practices in California and Malawi as part of the Research Group on Agricultural Equity and Inclusion at UC Davis.
She earned her bachelor's degree in environmental studies, sustainability and political science from the University of Vermont and master of science in international agricultural development from UC Davis.
Zabronsky can be reached at hzabronsky@ucanr.edu.
Holtz documentary wins Golden ARC Award
Brent Holtz, director and pomology farm advisor for San Joaquin County, and members of the Almond Board of California won the Golden Agricultural Relations Council Award for Digital & Social Media: Video for "RESILIENCE: The Whole Orchard Recycling Origin Story."
The six-minute documentary produced by the Almond Board of California features the inspiring story of Holtz's journey to help his family, his industry and his community by finding an alternative to burning trees removed from orchards.
The documentary was produced by the Almond Board's Jenny Nicolau, Daren Williams, Ross Thomas and David Gomar.
The Golden ARC Awards honor the stellar work created by professionals in the agricultural industry. They are judged by members of the Public Relations Society of America and are heavily weighted on measurable results achieved against the objectives.
Read more about the documentary project at https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=51471&.
UC ANR communicators win ACE awards
UC ANR communicators received recognition from their peers in the Association for Communication Excellence, or ACE, international awards program.
Doralicia Garay won a Bronze Award for her wildfire preparedness social media campaign in the “organic” (unpaid) social media campaign category. During summer 2021, she created the Wildfire Preparedness social media campaign amid the active wildfire season in California. The campaign focused on delivering content that directed UC ANR's online audience on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to essential information on preparing homes and business structures for wildfire, also known as structure hardening. Given the high fire activity at the time, she also incorporated the Fire Locator map tool as a resource for wildfire evacuations. The campaign culminated with a Facebook Live session featuring UCCE forestry advisors Susie Kocher and Yana Valachovic and emeritus UCCE advisor Steve Quarles.
Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won two awards. She earned a Gold Award in the “writing for newspapers” category, for a feature story on Rebecca Jean “RJ” Millena, published in March 2021, a few months before Millena graduated with a bachelor's degree in entomology. “An Amazing Doctoral Opportunity Few Receive” centered on Millena's four-year, full-ride doctoral fellowship from the American Museum of Natural History.
Garvey earned a Silver Award for her photo story titled “The Flight of the Bumble Bee,” posted June 14, 2021, on her daily (Monday-Friday) Bug Squad blog on the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources website.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Linda Forbes has been appointed interim director of Publishing, assuming many of the responsibilities held by Jim Downing, who left for a new job in Oakland. These duties are in addition to Forbes's role as Strategic Communications director.
Until a new director of publishing is hired, below are people who may be contacted for publishing needs:
- California Agriculture journal: Debbie Thompson dthompson@ucanr.edu
- UC ANR Publications submissions and peer-review process: Debbie Thompson and Masie Comtois mvcomtois@ucanr.edu
- UC ANR Publications production status: Debbie Thompson
- Graphic design requests: Sandi Osterman sjosterman@ucanr.edu
- Photography requests and image libraries: Evett Kilmartin emkilmartin@ucanr.edu
- Communication Advisory Board: Linda Forbes lforbes@ucanr.edu, Dustin Blakey dwblakey@ucanr.edu
- California Agricultural Resources Archive: Linda Forbes
- Video editing support: Linda Forbes
- Author: Linda Forbes
A new communications toolkit is available to support you in communicating the value of UC ANR and promoting your work. Topics addressed by the toolkit will be continually refined and updated (It's a work in progress).
The branding section offers an overview of brand basics for UC ANR, information and resources for branded photography and videography, and writing and visual style guides. The visual style guide will be fully refreshed by the end of January; please contact Strategic Communications with visual style questions in the meantime.
The public relations section contains a media training request form, templates for writing press releases, and best-practice information for media and government relations. There is also a page on crisis communications.
The social media section covers policy and guidelines, resources, a list of ANR platforms to follow and sample posts.
The web communications section offers information and resources for effective web design, accessibility and search engine optimization as well as links to SiteBuilder training resources.
The Spanish resources page is your guide for working with the News and Information Outreach in Spanish (NOS) team to communicate with the Spanish-speaking community as well as underserved populations.
The section on working with Strategic Communications explains “who to contact for what” and offers content development and promotion tools as well as information on partnering with us to tell your story.
The toolkit contains multiple links to the Learning and Development site, a go-to resource for many of these topics, with the goal of making it easy to find what you're looking for.
Strategic Communications will continue to add resources (especially training resources, policy updates and visual style guidance) to the toolkit over time. We welcome your suggestions and questions.
Thank you to the 384 people who participated in the internal communications survey that closed Friday. Congratulations to Sara van Tol for winning the Starbucks gift card drawing. We'll send the gift card to Sara right away.
What happens next?
We will tally the data and review it with UC ANR leadership in order to help inform internal communications strategy. We've already tallied the overall satisfaction level with internal communications (see below) and noticed some useful suggestions in the comments.
Very Dissatisfied |
8 |
2.08% |
Dissatisfied |
34 |
8.85% |
Neutral |
119 |
30.99% |
Satisfied |
193 |
50.26% |
Very Satisfied |
30 |
7.81% |
Thanks again for your input!
Best,
Linda
Linda Forbes
Director of Strategic Communications
View or leave comments for ANR Leadership at http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRUpdate/Comments.
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
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