Sunset over snow covered Blue Ridge Berryessa Conservation Area

If you're a fan of Groundhog Day, you know that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow (Feb 2) and we've got six more weeks of winter. Whether you believe this tale or not, we're definitely in winter. Thank you everyone who shared pictures from throughout California over the last few days. It's been incredible to see SNOW from Arcata (sea level) to Vacaville hills (900') and elsewhere. Frankly, the photos on the evening news are awesome. The days ahead will identify how severe crop damage is and the final impact on our great agricultural bounty. The sky in Yolo County had its share of helicopters out on Saturday.

February 25, 2023. Field at capacity. Almonds in bloom. Bees inside.

The week started off with Programmatic Orientation. Thank you Vice Provost Daniel Obrist and Greg Ira, Lead for State Wide Programs and Institutes who working along with Katherine Webb-Martinez (Program Planning and Evaluation) and Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty (Director of County Directors) to share great information to our new academics. Darren Haver shared about opportunities at our RECs for research. Although I was unable to stay for the entire orientation, I hear presentations were superb: Fadzayi Mashiri (conducting informal needs assessment), Yana Valachovic (strategies for community engagement), Margaret Lloyd (working with diverse, multilingual audiences), JoLynn Miller (increasing reach with social media) and Aparna Gazula (measuring outcomes and communicating impact). Katherine Webb-Martinez and Vikram Koundinya (Evaluation Specialist, UCD) finished off the morning with measuring outcomes and communicating impact. 

It was exciting to see the information in employee news from the staff assembly. Beginning March 1, 2023, the UC ANR Wellness Reimbursement Program will begin accepting applications for reimbursements of personal wellness expenses up to $75. Thank you everyone involved in making this happen. Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity!  If you read the staff assembly e-news you know UC ANR Staff Assembly Ambassadors are committed to making a positive difference for our staff experience and work environment across our community, helping to make UC ANR the best to work, live and learn within the UC system. Thank you, Staff Assembly colleagues who put in time to make this program work!

There's exciting news in the ANR building. Drilling, hammering, and anything else needed is occurring to refresh all our meeting rooms. The new system will enhance our meeting rooms and the ability to zoom people into hybrid meetings. This is fantastic. Recently I used the Coast Room for a hybrid meeting (back in January during floods in Monterey) where we needed to zoom folks in. We had multiple technology failures before Sherry Cooper was able to get the temperamental system to function.  Thank you to Sree Mada, David Hatter, Heather Moore, and everyone else involved in making this transition happen. Also, a quiet shout out to everyone who endured noise while working through these fabulous upgrades!

Welcome to Elizabeth Ramierz, Fresno/Madera MCP, a new Blank Assistant 2. We're excited to have new Community Education Specialists as well: Heidi Holmquist, San Diego; Brittany Gore, Los Angeles; Nancy Chang, Santa Clara; Heather Montgomery, Sutter/Yuba; Vianca Nunez, Riverside; and Kelsey Dugan, San Luis Obispo. We're fortunate to have some familiar faces in new roles as well: Lani Landayan, Immediate Office of the Controller; Bridgette Alvarez, Program Support; Jason Dillon, Resource Planning and Management; Nancy Lu, Statewide Programs and REC ops; Jessica Falor-Ward, Development Office; and Violeta Kavocevic, Facilities, Planning and Management.