- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
UC President Michael V. Drake held a systemwide UC Town Hall on Feb. 24.
In conversation with Priya Lakireddy, staff advisor, and Jo Mackness, staff advisor-designate to the UC Regents, Drake opened with his journey from UC student to UC San Francisco professor, to vice president for health affairs for the UC system to UC Irvine chancellor and finally, president of the UC system.
Drake discussed the values that guide him – respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation and fun. “That's respect for yourself and respect for others,” he said, “intellectual curiosity, the interest in learning and teaching and discovering; integrity, making sure that you mean what you say and you say what you mean. I think that's really important to be committed, that's an important value to me, that your sleeves are rolled and you're leaning into the things that you're doing.”
As a physician, he said, “Empathy has always been an extraordinarily important value to me, to make sure to see it from the other person's point of view.”
For the university, appreciation for different life circumstances and points of view is important, he said.
He also encouraged fun. “The idea of the values is to do all of them at the same time,” Drake said. “To be all those things all the time, and to make sure you're having fun as you're doing it.”
Drake answered questions submitted by UC staff on budget, compensation equity, COVID-19, diversity, accountability, community safety, climate crisis, tuition and affirmative action.
On the pandemic, he noted with pride that UC employees have fewer hospitalizations, ICU admissions and fatalities due to COVID-19 than the average U.S. community.
In response to a question about remote work, he noted policies are designed to be flexible and supportive of colleagues. “There are differences in the way this is applied given the different circumstances that people live and work in across our system, and that's true and appropriate. We have agricultural and natural resources where you could be working on a farm, you could be working in a lab.”
A recording of the town hall is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/live/YJjawZG36YY?feature=share.
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
UC President Michael V. Drake will hold a systemwide UC Town Hall on Feb. 24, from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (PT).
President Drake will share opening remarks, then engage in conversation with Priya Lakireddy and Jo Mackness, staff advisor and staff advisor-designate to the UC Regents. Priya and Jo will share questions pre-submitted by UC staff.
The event will be livestreamed at https://link.ucop.edu/event/president-drake-town-hall/ and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJjawZG36YY. No registration is needed to participate in this event.
- Author: Mike Hsu
During a meeting of the President's Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources on June 23, UC President Michael Drake joined the virtual gathering to offer an update on the ongoing response to COVID-19.
Drake praised the diligence, resilience and continued productivity of the entire university community, and cited the systemwide 96-97% vaccination rate and judicious public health measures as reasons UC has been able to weather the worst of the pandemic.
While urging care and caution, he also expressed optimism for the future, pointing to the development and availability of better vaccines and treatments.
The PAC – comprising leaders from UC and the agricultural, natural resources and related human resources sectors – then heard from several commissioners about the importance of partnerships in achieving their shared goals.
Mary-Ann Warmerdam, senior vice president of government affairs for the Rural County Representatives of California, emphasized how essential collaborations are to advancing the interests of rural populations. Kathie Sowa, a senior vice president at Bank of America, highlighted the work of the A.P. Giannini Foundation, which supports research in the basic sciences and applied fields, and the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy.
Carol Chandler of Chandler Farms in Fresno County discussed the crucial role of the state's universities in delivering innovative solutions to farmers for a wide range of challenges – from diseases to water issues. Chandler, a former UC regent and California State University trustee, stressed the need for more collaboration between the two systems.
President Drake concurred, voicing his belief that – along with community colleges across the state – the UC and CSU institutions are all part of “one system of higher education.” In particular, he mentioned financial assistance plans and certificate programs as just some of the ways to help more people attain more education.
- Author: Linda Forbes
On Dec. 10, the President's Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources met in the San Joaquin Valley, gathering in person for the first time since December 2019. The group followed strict COVID-19 safety protocols, but that did not interfere with the energy and excitement of the discussions and activities.
Commissioners, UC President Michael Drake and local dignitaries began the day-long event at Lindcove Research and Extension Center (LREC) in Exeter to learn about the latest citrus research, see the packline in action and sample many of the varieties of citrus made available during Lindcove's public citrus tasting on Dec. 11.
Lindcove's greenhouses, orchard and packline are used by researchers for a variety of studies, including developing new citrus rootstocks and scions, evaluating environmental effects on rootstock and scion combinations, screening seedless varieties of mandarins, detecting freeze damage of fruit, and analyzing chemical treatments for pests and postharvest diseases.
Lindcove REC director Ashraf El-kereamy gave an overview of the facilities and discussed research and breeding highlights, including LREC housing the first structure in California to grow Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS). UC Cooperative Extension Specialist and Director of the Citrus Clonal Protection Program Georgios Vidalakis discussed LREC research in huanglongbing disease, which is a major threat to citrus worldwide. Curator 4 and Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection Endowed Chair Tracy Kahn showed some of the many varieties that participants would be tasting and invited people to explore the orchard.
The outdoor tasting tables offered a feast of color, smell and taste with 180 varieties to choose from, and commissioners and other attendees were given boxes of produce as parting gifts.
The group next explored Woodlake Botanical Gardens with UC Master Gardener volunteers who care for the three-acre rose garden. They also met with emeritus UC Cooperative Extension Small Farms Advisor Manuel Jimenez and his wife Olga, who oversee the Botanical Gardens and engage youth volunteers in gardening. They founded a program to help keep young people out of gangs and to teach skills and habits that prepare them for college or jobs. Attendees were impressed by the youth volunteers who spoke about the positive impact the garden and the Jimenez family have had in their lives.
At the Tulare County Cooperative Extension office, participants enjoyed a farm-to-table lunch showcasing local produce, heard remarks from VP Glenda Humiston and President Drake, and participated in interactive displays by researchers and programmatic staff:
- 4-H staff members Rochelle Mederos and Tyler Beck presented a slime making booth
- Citrus advisor Greg Douhan had microscopes to show a variety of citrus pest damage
- Farm advisor Elizabeth Fichtner offered olive oil tasting with three different oils and showed a video on the pomology program
- Nutrition educators prepared a low-calorie oatmeal cookie tasting with an option to vote on the best one
- Cristina Barrick-Murillo, agricultural land acquisition academic coordinator, showed maps of the north and south valley for all to pin a location of their choosing
- Farm advisor Ruth Dahlquist-Willard and Michael Yang, small farms and specialty crops Hmong agricultural assistant, displayed an array of specialty produce grown in the San Joaquin Valley
- Nutrient management and soil quality advisor Joy Hollingsworth showcased soil samples
- Farm advisor Nicholas Clark showed drone footage of agronomy field work
- Karl Lund, area viticulture advisor, offered wine tasting from UC viticulture research
- Farm advisor Konrad Mathesius offered a tasting of beer made with California-grown barley
After so many months of interacting on Zoom, it was a delight to get together to learn about and experience the amazing work that's being done in Tulare County to improve the lives of Californians. President Drake even joked about talking for too long during lunch because it was his first appearance at a lectern in a long time.
County Director Karmjot Randhawa and county and LREC staff – as well as Sherry Cooper and the Program Support team – worked tirelessly to make the event a huge success. We just cannot thank them enough!
- Author: Kathy Eftekhari
UC ANR's strategic planning team presented both the new 2020-2025 Strategic Plan and the 2020-2025 REC Strategic Framework to President Michael Drake on Feb. 2, 2021. His comments were generally very positive. A few minor edits were made to the UC ANR Plan following the meeting to further clarify the relationship between this “operational” plan and our systemwide public value statements and condition changes. The new plans will be posted to the UC ANR website later this month.
Thanks again to the ANR community for providing ideas to the ANR strategic plan during the four input sessions and via the survey. Notes on the ideas gathered will also be available on the web page where the final plans will be posted.