- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Dear Colleagues,
VP Barbara Allen-Diaz charged the ANR Academic Assembly Council to seek broad and diverse input on the roles, responsibilities and relationships within the statewide ANR network, in order to build on our strengths and prepare for a future that retains our relevance internally (to UC) and externally (to our California communities/stakeholders and beyond).
Areas of current discussions include:
- Is campus research finding its way through county channels to address applied issues of our stakeholders?
- As advisors take on growing responsibilities within larger geographic areas, are we creating a hybrid position that may be more like regional specialists than a traditional advisor? What might be some of the benefits and risks associated with these types of assignments?
- What are the potential benefits and risks associated with locating some specialist positions in county offices or in the RECs?
- How might we develop academic coordinator and/or administrator positions to strategically support this statewide network of advisors and specialists?
These and many other key questions will be openly discussed by the larger UC ANR academic community with the purpose of strengthening the network within the state and providing input to UC ANR leaders regarding potential strategies for the future.
The ANR Academic Assembly Council established a committee called Partnership to Advance Cooperative Extension (PACE). The PACE committee decided to use two main tools to gather input. A survey of CE was developed to inform the key questions to be facilitated at the dialogue sessions. These efforts will inform ongoing discussions at the ANR Statewide Conference April 9-11, 2013.
We encourage Agricultural Experiment Station faculty, Cooperative Extension specialists and advisors, and academic coordinators and academic administrators to join us for one of the following dialog sessions to be held at these five locations:
- January 8, Redding
- January 16, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center
- January 30, UC Berkeley
- February 6, UC Riverside
- February 20, UC Davis
The sessions will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Morning and afternoon refreshments and lunch will be provided.
Register for a PACE Dialogue Session at http://ucanr.edu/sites/pace2013/Register_for_2013_Conference.
Sincerely,
Frank Mitloehner, co-chair, UCCE specialist in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis
Kevin Day, co-chair, UCCE farm advisor in Tulare County
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