- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Now, in a scenario turned full circle, Guggenbickler is drawing appreciation from students and faculty for her own “incredible support.”
Guggenbickler, staff academic advisor of the GDB program since June 2019, is the newly selected staff recipient of the 2020 Eleanor and Harry Walker Academic Advising Awards, announced Susan Ebeler, associate dean for undergraduate academic programs, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES).
Guggenbickler coordinates a 400-student program that includes course scheduling, faculty and instructional reports, statistical analysis of the major, and individual advising sessions.
“Andrea has made such a positive impact on student success in the GDB major,” said Ebeler. “She has created innovative materials for incoming GDB students to support their remote advising experience and she is dedicated to student welfare and ensuring that the basic needs of every student are met.”
Nominator David Rizzo, professor and chair of the Department of Plant Pathology, described Andrea “as a huge part of the development of the relatively new Global Disease Biology major at UC Davis. Since becoming a GDB major, she has played many different roles in the major.”
“Although she has been a staff advisor for a only a short period of time, Andrea has had a tremendous impact on the major,” wrote Rizzo in his nomination letter. Praising her leadership, dedication, communication skills and problem-solving expertise, he characterized her as a “truly a caring advisor” and someone with “an excellent sense of the needs of our students in order for them to be successful in the major.”
The Walker Academic Advising Awards recognize faculty, staff, and peer advisors who have demonstrated excellence and innovation in academic advising for CA&ES academic programs.
The 2020 recipients also include Jim Fadel, faculty master advisor, Department of Animal Science and Management; and Kiara Cuevas, peer advisor for Agricultural and Environmental Education, Animal Science, and Animal Science and Management.
CA&ES is postponing a reception honoring the award winners “until later in the summer or fall when we can hopefully all meet together again in person,” Ebeler said.
“It's so nice to see our hardworking advisors being recognized college-wide,” said Nora Orozco, chief administrative officer serving both departments. Last year Elvira Galvan Hack, staff advisor for animal biology (ABI), received the Walker staff award and forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey received the faculty master advisor award. They went on to win regional and international advising awards from NACADA, the global community for academic advising.
Guggenbickler formerly served as an academic advising assistant to the animal biology and entomology majors, both housed in the Department of Entomology and Nematology.
“One of the main ways I've tried to make a difference in our advising center is to create our student pantry,” Andrea said. “We provide healthy, easily accessible, snacks and on-the-go food and drinks for students. Food insecurity can be a huge issue for students, and we have done our best to mitigate that barrier for them. The pantry is open to everyone, and we have gotten some really great feedback from students who have said that it has really helped them. Getting that feedback and tangibly making a difference has been by far one of the most rewarding parts of my job.”
Her favorite part of being an advisor? “Watching students succeed. I've been with the program in some capacity since 2017, so I've seen a lot of students come through the office. I make an effort to meet with every student at least once per year, and it is amazing seeing them grow, conquer obstacles, excel in coursework, graduate, and move on to their next adventure.”
“Advisors have a really unique opportunity to touch a lot of lives in a meaningful way,” Andrea said. “I can only hope that in my time as an advisor at UC Davis that I've been able to create a positive change in the lives of others the same way that my students have made a positive change in my life. As I move on to my next adventure as a master of public health student I will take with me the lessons my students have taught me: the importance of equity, advocacy, belief in oneself, and perseverance. I am thankful to the advising community in the College of Ag for creating a space in which advisors are able to make a difference for students while also growing themselves.”
Guggenbickler grew up in Ferndale, Humboldt County, and now lives in Woodland with her fiancé, Tyler Baum, an associate veterinarian at Broadway Veterinary Hospital, Sacramento. Baum, a “double” UC Davis alumnus, holds a bachelor's degree in animal science and a DVM from the School of Veterinary Medicine. They share their home with three UC Davis-connected cats: “Butters,” “Toast” and “Dr. Professor Stripey Pants.”
"We got Butters and Stripey (they are brothers) from the Orphan Kitten Project run through the Vet School," she said, "and we got Toast from a shelter when Tyler did a shelter medicine rotation--and he fell in love with her and brought her home."
The couple purposely selected "breakfast names" for Butters, a light orange tabby and Toast, a black and white feline, but they couldn't bear to change the name of Dr. Professor Stripey Pants, a gray tabby ("it was too perfect").
Her career plans? “My career plans are to complete my master's degree in public health, and hopefully pursue my Ph.D in public health. After that I would love to dive into public health research and advocacy for women and minority health. Ideally, in the future, I would like to do some teaching at the collegiate level.”
Rizzo says that GDB is now the fifth largest major in the CA&ES, but it still maintains the “small-college” feel. Among Andrea's many accomplishments: modifying and expanding the department's professional development modules. “Over the holiday break, she developed a series of orientation modules (seven in total) within Canvas,” he wrote. “All in all, the whole project is amazing. And it was done without dropping the ball with any of her traditional advising.”
As a facilitator with First-Year Aggie Connections, Guggenbickler mentors students as they navigate their first-year experience. She created a 10-week course on professional development that encompasses such topics as “how to read a scientific paper” and “how to create a resume.”
In a group letter, GDB students Austin Dalmasso, Bianca Arao and Brandon Nguyen, all who worked as either peer mentors or peer advisors, praised her dedication and accomplishments.
“As the academic advisor, she communicates efficiently with students when they need to speak to her regarding urgent or sensitive circumstances, and when she is with students, she is attentive and sensible to any situations that may need care beyond her scope,” they wrote. “Andrea cares about her students and wants to equip them for success in their future endeavors.”
“Throughout all of the responsibilities that govern an academic advisor's role, Andrea is always looking for novel ways to improve student advising,” they wrote. “As students, we look back on our own informative orientations, and praise Andrea for making this year's orientation user-friendly.”
“From the countless interactions we have shared with Andrea, we are grateful that she always puts it upon herself to be an open crisis line. Andrea is genuinely supportive of our successes as students, and continues to be a comforting figure we greatly appreciate. It is Andrea's nurturing character that we want to honor and showcase to the UC Davis community.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Forensic entomologist and adjunct professor Robert Kimsey, master advisor in the Animal Biology program and a lecturer in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and Elvira Galvan Hack, staff advisor in the Animal Biology major and a member of the Phoenix Cluster, won the 2019 Eleanor and Harry Walker Advising Awards from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, for faculty advisor and staff advisor, respectively. The awards honor excellence and innovation in academic advising.
They will be honored at a Thursday, May 2 ceremony, along with peer advisor Mirella Lopez of Animal Science, announced Susan Ebeler, associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs, CA&ES. The event takes place at 3:30 p.m. in Room 3001 of the Plant and Environmental Sciences Building. Ebeler praised Kimsey: "The committee was especially impressed with your strong student mentorship. Student and faculty nominators noted that you provide an inspiring model to students, helping them to explore diverse career paths and make connections with numerous employers and graduate and professional schools. Your enthusiasm and support for students is contagious!"
Ebeler praised Hack: "The committee was especially impressed with your commitment to and leadership in developing a strong community for students in the majors you advise. Your deep compassion and respect for students was noted by many in the nomination materials."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won a gold or first-place award for her photograph, "It Tickles," of two youths getting acquainted with a rose-haired tarantula last April at the “Take Your Daughters (And Sons) to Work Day” at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. It was published in Garvey's blog, Bug Squad, on the UC Agricultural and Natural Resources website; on the Entomological Foundation's website, and in the Bohart Museum newsletter, among other sites.
The image shows Joel Fuerte, 6, of Woodland, and Roxanne Bell, 7, of Davis, reacting to a rose-haired tarantula named Peaches. The UC Davis event drew Roxanne's mother, Jenna Bell, who works at the Mondavi Center, and Joel's mother, Gabby Sanchez Fuerte of the School of Education.
Garvey also won a silver or second-place award for her feature story on entomology Jeff Smith, who curates the butterfly and moth collection at the Bohart; a silver or second-place award for her photo series, “Miracle of Life,” depicting a monarch butterfly egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult, and a bronze or third-place award for a feature photo of two praying mantids mating, also published in Bug Squad.
“California's aquifers are shrinking as more growers pump groundwater to keep crops alive,” she began. “But that fertile farmland may also provide the means for replenishing groundwater to benefit everyone in the drought-stricken state.” Nelson scored a perfect 100 from the judges.
Steve Elliott, communications coordinator for Western Integrated Pest Management Center, won a silver or second-place award in the newsletter category, for the monthly Western IPM Center's electronic newsletter, “The Western Front.” The Western IPM Center is a USDA-funded regional program housed within the UC ANR Statewide IPM Program.
“The Pest Wheel helps the user identify and manage 12 common pests, including ants, snails, powdery mildew, and scale insects,” according to Pests in the Urban Landscape blog on the UC ANR web site “The Weed Wheel covers 12 common garden and landscape weeds, including crabgrass and yellow nutsedge.” (The Pest and Weed Identifier Wheels can be purchased for $4 each; this includes tax, shipping and handling. For more information or to place an order, please contact Scott Parker at saparker@ucanr.edu or 858-822-6932.)
The UC communicators will receive the awards at the ACE conference, to be held June 13-16 in Memphis, Tenn. ACE, an international association of communicators, educators and information technologists, offers professional development and networking for individuals who extend knowledge about agriculture, natural resources, and life and human sciences.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Smith, who curates the 400,000 butterfly and moth collection at the Bohart Museum, will be honored Friday, Oct. 2 at the college's Award of Distinction ceremony in the UC Davis Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) Pavilion.
“Alumni, students, staff and faculty will gather to celebrate the contributions made by our college,” said coordinator Carolyn Cloud. “This year the college will present the Award of Distinction to seven outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions to our college's success.”
The other 2015 recipients are Jacqueline Beckley, Chuck Nichols and Tony Smith, alumni awards; Chris van Kessel, faculty; David Ginsburg, staff, and John Meyer, friend. The ceremony begins at 5:30 and will be followed by a reception and farmers' market from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. See http://collegecelebration.ucdavis.edu.
Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and UC Davis professor of entomology, nominated Smith for the award. “You could not ask for a better friend than Jeff Smith,” she said, noting that he has “brought us international acclaim and saved us $160,000 through donations of specimens and materials, identification skills and his professional woodworking skills. This does not include the thousands of hours he has donated in outreach programs that draw attention to the museum, the college and the university.”
Kimsey, who has directed the museum since 1989, remembers when Smith joined the museum. “When Jeff was working for Univar Environmental Services, a 35-year career until his retirement in 2013, he would spend some of his vacation days at the museum. Over the years Jeff took over more and more of the curation of the butterfly and moth collection. He took home literally thousands of field pinned specimens and spread their wings at home, bringing them back to the museum perfectly mounted. To date he has spread the wings on more than 200,000 butterflies and moths. This translates into something like 33,000 hours of work!”
Kimsey praised Smith for completely reorganizing the butterfly and moth collection. “It's no small feat to rearrange this many specimens, housed in roughly one thousand drawers,” she said. “Many thousands of the specimens needed to be identified, and the taxonomy required extensive updating and reorganization.”
“As if this weren't enough, Jeff has made many other contributions to the museum. He donated his brother's collection and library when his brother died unexpectedly. He and his wife have made financial contributions towards the museum's endowment, and he donates other materials and specimens he collects on various collecting trips in the U.S. and overseas.”
Lauding Smith's “phenomenal knowledge of urban insect and spiders,” Kimsey said: “We often go to him with questions we get from the public and from colleagues. He volunteers for our weekend open houses as often as he can, as well as the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day in February and UC Davis Picnic Day in April. Few volunteers, faculty, students or staff work as well with the public as Jeff does. He has a wonderfully engaging way of talking to children and adults, and he knows just how to inspire and educate every age group. It's awesome to watch.”
“Overall, Jeff has made major contributions to the Bohart Museum of Entomology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and UC Davis in his work with the museum collections and his tremendous public outreach and education efforts,” Kimsey concluded. “For him it's a labor of love, for us he's the best thing that ever happened.”
Smith, a resident of Rocklin, is not only a Bohart associate but a member of the Bohart Museum Society and the Lepidopterists' Society. Of his work, he puts it this way: “Entomology is my passion and the Bohart Museum is my cause.”
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum.
Special attractions include a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold the insects and photograph them. The museum's gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
The Bohart Museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free. Open houses, focusing on specific themes, are held on weekends throughout the academic year.
More information on the Bohart Museum is available by contacting (530) 752-0493 or Tabatha Yang, education and public outreach coordinator at tabyang@ucdavis.edu
Related Link:
Spreading Wings: The Amazing Work of Bohart Museum Associate Jeff Smith
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Sandra "Sandy" Vice, financial analyst/supervisor with the UC Davis Department of Plant Pathology and Department of Entomology and Nematology, has just completed the seven-month “UC Davis Administrative Officers for the Future” (AOFTF) Program.
Vice received a certificate, signed by Chancellor Linda Katehi and presented by the chancellor and Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph Hexter, at a ceremony held recently in the UC Davis Conference Center.
The only participant from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Vice was one of 18 UC Davis-campus staff enrolled in the program, who were selected from a pool of 47. Also chosen were 12 from the UC Davis Health System.
The AOFTE program took place Oct. 1 to April 22 and involved 16 hours a month. It also included some 40 to 60 hours of “home work,” involving individual work and group projects. Vice was assigned to a group researching disability awareness. They teamed to present a Powerpoint to the entire group and special guests. “The objective was to improve the climate of disability among staff,” she said.
Among the other topics they pursued were personal branding, strategic planning, leadership, and management tools. Guest speakers included a number of UC Davis and UC Davis Health System administrators.
Vice joined the UC Davis workforce in January of 1995, when she accepted a purchasing position with the Center for Engineering Plants for Resistance Against Pathogens. She advanced to account manager and then joined Plant Pathology as an account manager.
“Eventually I would like to apply for a CAO (chief administrative officer) post,” Vice said. She also plans to enroll in more leadership and management classes.
A graduate of Vacaville High School, Vice studied business at Solano and Mira Costa community colleges. She and her family, husband James, and son, Luke, 15, reside in Winters. Another son, James, resides in the Bay Area.
Military service runs in the family. Husband James was active in the Marine Corps and is now in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. Son James, who works for United Airlines in communications, is a reservist in the Air Force (he was active- duty Marine Corps but after college joined the Air Force Reserves).
