- Author: Deanne Meyer
What a whirlwind of a week. Over two weekends while people were trying to get into the portal to get documents for search committees, prepare for the Peer Review Committee meeting this week or otherwise access information on the ANR website our IT team was burning the midnight oil. They spent much of the weekend and early part of the week switching out some of our antiquated servers and then trouble shooting since the old and new pieces weren't talking with one another. THANK YOU Sree Mada, Jaki Hsieh Wojan and their teams who figured it all out so we could access all we need! Rest assured when we're having a challenge getting to web pages this group is trying to make things better.
Last Tuesday was Ag Day at the Capitol. UC ANR was there with 4-H, Master Gardeners, the VINE and a great citrus/avocado setup. The rain was minimal during setup and then the heaven opened. It rained and it poured. Our assembly and senate members walked through the crowd and popped under the tent to get out of the elements. Anne Megaro did a great job greeting our elected officials. Strategic Communications were out in full force with Miguel Sanchez, Ethan Ireland and Ricardo Vela with cameras and Pam Kan-Rice doing interviews. Dora Garay was on social media with the quickest thumbs around. Mike Hse, Linda Forbes, Evette Kilmartin and Lara Schroder greeted visitors in the booth and shared oranges or mandarins (thank you Ashraf El Kereamy and Lindcove REC) or talked about avocados (thank you Darren Haver and South Coast REC). The 4-Hers were wonderful! They had goats and rabbits which were crowd pleasers and did many interviews and discussions with elected officials. The VINE robot drew crowds. Numerous others helped make the day fabulous. Thank you all for your incredible energy, excitement and commitment on a very rainy day!
Speaking of rain, the number of people and animals in CA displaced by our winter weather continues to climb. ANR Advisors and CES will be helping people as they work through options. Emergency preparedness for livestock and humans is a must this winter. The amount of standing water on fields is bound to impair crop harvests. Not to mention some late season cold temperatures this week. That old saying "when it rains it pours" is definitely true this year.
Last Wednesday we held Administrative Orientation in the Valley Rooms. What excitement to see so many new members of the ANR family. A big shout out to Human Resources and Program Support Unit for all their efforts to make the day enjoyable and memorable. Many tables were set up for people to meet and greet members working in different units. It was fun and informative! Speaking of new people, eight new Community Education Specialists started in February: Roxana Price, Riverside; Alfonso Mota, Central Sierra Nevada; Hannah Meyer, Nevada Placer; Kenia Estrada and Jo Reynolds, Sutter/Yuba; Elizabeth Reikowski, Statewide program operations; Mavrick Farnam, Modoc; and Reyna Yagi, Alameda County.
Here's hoping your week has sunshine!
- Author: Wendy Powers
Can you believe that the pool season is half over? The daily strawberry harvest is all but done in my yard, and even zucchini season seems to be winding down. The only thing not slowing down is COVID cases. I'm sure I am not alone when I say that I miss visiting our county and REC locations, field days, and events though it wasn't often that I could make such trips.
Work has not slowed at all. By not leaving town for vacation, I am optimistic I can avoid the accumulation of emails, messages, and meetings that would typically pile up while on vacation. This week I was supposed to be in Kansas City for meetings. The sessions will occur by Zoom, and the schedule condensed. Like many of you have experienced, the rest of the day has filled with other Zoom conversations. I turned in one of my homework tasks – an update on my slides for the Administrative Orientation in August. I started with an easy task rather than the most time-sensitive assignments. I am awaiting more motivation to tackle those. The opportunities keep flowing, and so, too, does the work that goes into exploring them! That's a good thing. We may have more success connecting with new partners now than we've had before, out of need, or for some other reason. I had an email from someone today about finalizing an agreement to fund a couple of Academic Coordinator positions. Honestly, I had feared the agreement would be put on hold, but it will move forward regardless of the COVID economy!
I was encouraged to see a call to action regarding our budget by our stakeholders and partners. Repeatedly over the last several months, I have thought about the challenges brought on as a result of not having the ANR budget treated as a campus budget. It had brought back memories of the same struggle in Michigan when the trustees handled Extension and the Agriculture Experiment Station (AES) budgets, each a line item in the state budget, different from the rest of the higher education budget. Given that faculty would have split appointments that crossed budgets, there was always a disconnect if the higher ed budget (both UM and MSU) received increases when Extension and AES did not. Eventually, there was an agreement to treat AES and Extension the same as the remainder of higher education. Hopefully, that same arrangement can be reached for UC ANR, again. I say 'again' because applying the 'UCSF Corridor Model' to ANR was intended to rectify the disconnect. We shall continue to push for the use of that model in FY20/21 and beyond.
Last week the Peer Review Committee met for a long day of conversations by Zoom. Despite the length, I found the meeting very useful. I did end up with homework, the likes of which I hope will make future advancement decisions more straightforward. I learned that there are 95 merit and promotion cases scheduled for 2021. Of course, some individuals may defer or depart. Acceleration cases will offset, or perhaps exceed, the number of deferrals or departures. Regardless, many academics will prepare portfolios this fall and into early winter, and many will review cases next spring. I might need to check the prescription on my glasses sometime after January.
- Author: Jodi Azulai
UC ANR Administrative Orientation for new employees May 23, 2018
ANR will hold another administrative orientation in the spring. The May 23, 2018, orientation is intended for new staff and academics. For more information, academics may contact Tina Jordan at tljordan@ucanr.edu and staff may contact Jodi Azulai at jlazulai@ucanr.edu.
Excel Tips Weekly
Tune in every Tuesday for Excel Tips Weekly. Learn Excel productivity boosting tricks, need-to-know functions, hidden features and advanced content like PivotTable use for analysis. Each lesson is self-contained and brief and certain to give you new insights.
Have a better work-life balance
A common career-related New Year's resolution is to have a better work-life balance. So many of us work so hard that it prevents us from doing what we'd like to do in our personal lives.
There are a few ways to address it. One is to say no more often – do fewer things, better. Another is to simply make an agreement with yourself, such as no more emailing after 6 p.m. or no more opening the work laptop on Saturdays. It can also come down to having better time-management skills.
Remember, time off isn't just important for your personal life – unplugging makes you more effective at your career, too.
Recommended Courses: Balancing Work and Life, Avoiding Burnout, Arianna Huffington's Thrive 02: Learning How to Unplug and Recharge, Learning to Say No
Be more productive
Being more productive means a lot of things to a lot of people. For a salesperson, it might mean closing more deals. For someone in manufacturing, it might mean finding ways to produce more, while using less energy. It can also mean having better time management skills and making the most of your eight hours each day.
One thing to remember – there are many tools out there that can make your life easier. And learning how to use the tools you already use each day – say, Excel – to their maximum ability can make you far more effective. Investing some time mastering these tools in the beginning of the year might pay huge dividends in the long run.
Recommended courses: Time Management Fundamentals, Excel Tips Weekly, Monday Productivity Pointers, Getting Things Done
When you “Zoom” in, are you seeing the tops of people's heads? Or just their shirt buttons? Perhaps you can hear meeting participants typing or blowing their noses. Maybe you can see a pile of unfolded laundry behind them. If you're ready to make a good impression AND help participate in successful Zoom sessions, you may want to read tips on the Zoom blog article: Video Conferencing Etiquette.
NEW ON UC LEARNING CENTER: UC Managing Implicit Bias Series
These courses can be completed individually, or together as a series to earn the UC Managing Implicit Bias Certificate. As a UC people manager, being aware of implicit bias and how it impacts the way we work and interact with others is especially important. It is recommended that you complete these courses as a complement to your People Management Series Certificate.
The series contains the following six self-paced, online interactive courses. Each course is 15 to 20 minutes in length and you may elect to complete individual courses, or the complete series. Those who complete all six courses will receive the UC Managing Implicit Bias Certificate and a new 2018 People Management Series and Certificate.
The courses are as follows:
- What is Implicit Bias?
- The Impact of Implicit Bias
- Managing the Influence of Implicit Bias: Awareness
- Common Forms of Bias
- Managing the Impact of Implicit Bias: Mindfulness and Conscious De-biasing
- Managing Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process
You can access the courses in the UC Learning Center. For more information, please see the UC People Management Series and Certificate.
UC ANR launches 'My UC Career' online career development tool
My UC Career is a new online, self-directed development portal available to all UC employees seeking to advance their career. Career development continues to be a focus area for our people and we are excited to provide a resource that supports employees in growing their UC career. A UC email address is all that's needed to register for an account.
The systemwide portal provides access to job openings at all UC locations via the Systemwide Job Board, as well as resources and tools to create and refine resumes, write cover letters, identify strengths, practice interviewing and find professional networking opportunities.
The portal consists of six easy-to-use modules:
- Begin Career Discovery: Use personal assessments to help identify values, personality, skills and talents.
- Job Search: Leveraging the existing Systemwide Job Board, in one search, view all UC opportunities by job type, location, or career level. Create multiple alerts for new postings that are most interesting
- Resume: Build a new resume or revise an existing resume using the step-by-step online resume workshop that uses answers to automatically build an accomplishment-based resume tailored to the identified career path. View resume building guides and resume samples by position or type.
- Tell Your Story: Create a pitch statement, cover letter, and references to tell what the employee has to offer and how they can help the organization succeed. Use the step-by-step online workshop to automatically build each document. View samples of each type of document.
- Network and Research: Optimize social media presence and use research tools to help leverage employee networks that uncover additional career opportunities.
- Pre- and Post-interview: Practice interview skills by recording video interviews using pre-recorded portal interviewers that ask the employee questions review interview type guides, create a post-interview thank you note, and review the offer negotiation guide and decision-making tools.
Other career development resources are available via the following websites:
Systemwide Integrated Talent Management - Professional Development
Lynda.com (anyone with a “ucanr.edu” email address may register through the ANR Portal.
Email Jodi Azulai at jlazulai@ucanr.edu with questions.
Administrative Orientation for new employees will be held Nov. 14, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the UC ANR building at 2801 Second Street in Davis. Register now at http://ucanr.edu/sites/orientations.
The orientation is for UC ANR employees – academics and staff – who have not participated in an administrative orientation in the past. Priority will be given to those hired by ANR within the past year.
Participants will have opportunities to:
- Learn about the ANR's vision and mission.
- Learn about ANR structure and individual programs and units.
- Interact with ANR leadership and directors.
- Meet and network with new colleagues from around the state.
- Get answers to burning questions about health benefits, AggieTravel and more.
The Administrative Orientation differs from the Programmatic Orientation, so academics should attend both orientations. The Programmatic Orientation is designed to help academics jump start their programs by focusing on program design and showcasing successful projects of other ANR academics. Although the Administrative Orientation introduces statewide programs, it focuses on administrative units and services and provides an overview of ANR structure, vision and mission.
Schedules and materials from past orientations can be viewed online at http://ucanr.edu/sites/orientations/Past_Orientations.
If you have questions or would like further information, feel free to email ANR Program Support or call (530) 750-1260.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Administrative Orientation for New Employees will be held Nov. 14, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the UC ANR Building at 2801 Second Street in Davis. Register now at http://ucanr.edu/sites/orientations.
Participants will have opportunities to:
- Learn about the ANR's Vision and Mission.
- Learn about ANR structure and individual programs and units.
- Interact with ANR leadership and directors.
- Meet and network with new colleagues from around the state.
- Get answers to burning questions about health benefits, AggieTravel and more.
Who Should Attend: UC ANR employees – academics and staff – who have not participated in an administrative orientation in the past. Priority will be given to those hired by ANR within the past year.
A note to academics: We've been asked how the Administrative Orientation differs from the Programmatic Orientation and should academics attend both orientations. The short answer is, Yes, it's beneficial to attend both sessions.
- The Programmatic Orientation is designed to help academics jump start their programs by focusing on program design and showcasing successful projects of other ANR academics.
- Although the Administrative Orientation introduces statewide programs, it focuses on administrative units and services and provides an overview of ANR structure, vision and mission.
Schedules and materials from past orientations can be viewed online at http://ucanr.edu/sites/orientations/Past_Orientations.
If you have questions or would like further information, feel free to email ANR Program Support or call (530) 750-1260.
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.