Academic Assembly Council

AAC Committees and Members

The Academic Assembly Council is composed of six standing committees and six representative committees. Click on the title of the committee to learn more about it and how you can get involved.

Executive Committee

Whitney Brim-DeForest, President

Chris Greer, Past President

VACANT, President-Elect

Rubia Branco Lopes, Secretary

VACANT, Specialist Chair

Siavash Taravati, Advisor Chair

Hope Zabronsky, Academic Coordinator Co-Chair

Personnel Committee

Aparna Gazula Chair | Small Farms and Specialty Crops Advisor | Santa Clara, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties

Mark Bolda |Strawberry and Caneberry Advisor | Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito Counties

Tunyalee Martin  |Academic Coordinator, IPM| Statewide

Oli Bachie | Agronomy & Weed Management Advisor | San Diego and Imperial 

Max Moritz | Fire Ecology & Management Specialist |  Statewide

JoLynn Miller | 4-H Youth Development Advisor | Central Sierra

Jennifer Heguy | Dairy Advisor | Stanislaus, San Joaquin, and Merced Counties

Luis Espino | Rice Advisor | Butte and Glenn Counties

Chris McDonald | Inland and Desert Natural Resources Advisor | San Diego, Riverside, Imperial and San Bernardino Counties

Whitney Brim-DeForest| Ex-Officio | CE Rice and Wild Rice Advisor | Sutter, Yuba, Placer, and Sacramento Counties

Program Committee

Daniela Bruno, Chair| Dairy Advisor | Fresno, Madera and Kings Counties

Nicole Marshall-Wheeler | 4-H Youth Development Advisor | Butte, Colusa, and Glenn Counties

Tracy Schohr| Livestock and Natural Resources | Plumas, Sierra, and Butte Counties

Monica Cooper| Viticulture | Napa County

Amrita Mukherjee| Urban Agriculture/Small Farms Advisor | San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles Counties

Hung Doan | Small Farms Advisor | Riverside and San Bernardino Counties

Rules & Elections Committee

Tobias Ebong OkerCo-Chair| Irrigation and Soils Management Advisor | Kern County

Brian WoodwardCo-Chair| Forestry Advisor | Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties

Nick Clark | Vegetable Crops and Weed Management Advisor| Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz Counties

Jaspreet Sidhu | Vegetable Crops Farm Advisor | Kern County

Hedmon Okella | 4-H Animal Science Youth Advisor| Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz Counties

Welfare & Benefits Committee

Joy Hollingsworth, Co-Chair | Viticulture Advisor | Tulare and Kings Counties

Steven Worker, Co-Chair | 4-H Youth Development Advisor | Sonoma and Napa Counties

Sarah Light | Agronomy Farm Advisor | Sutter and Yuba Counties

Laljeet Sangha | Community Water Systems Advisor | Kern, Tulare and Kings Counties

Elizabeth Fichtner| Nuts, Prunes, and Olives Advisor | Tulare County

Academic Coordinator Representative Committee

Hope Zabronsky, Co-Chair | Climate Smart Agriculture Program | Yolo, Sacramento, and Solano Counties

Katie Low, Chair-elect | UC ANR Fire Network | Statewide 

Matt Baur, Western IPM Center | Statewide 

Marianna Castiaux, Small Farms Fresno and Madera Counties

Rachel Shellabarger, California Institute for Water Resources Statewide

VACANT

Advisor Representative Committee

Siavash Taravati, Chair| IPM Advisor | Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino Counties 

Yu Meng | Youth Family and Community Advisor | Riverside, Imperial, and San Bernardino Counties

Sudan Gyawaly| IPM Advisor | Butte, Glenn, Sutter-Yuba, Colusa, and Tehama Counties

Luke Milliron | Orchard Systems | Butte, Glenn, and Tehama Counties

Jeff Stackhouse | Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor | Humboldt and Del Norte Counties

Ricky Satomi | Forestry Advisor | Sutter and Yuba Counties

Cindy Kron | IPM Advisor | Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and Lake Counties

Multiple Academic Titles Representative Committee

Annemiek Schilder, Chair | Director | Hansen REC

Peter Larbi | CE Specialist | Kearney REC

Max Moritz | CE Specialist | UC Santa Barbara

Prakash Kumar Jha  | Project Scientist | UC Merced

Edith de Guzman| CE Specialist | UCLA

Jackie Atim | CE Specialist | Kearney REC

VACANT

UC Berkeley Specialist Representative Committee

Kristen Shive, AAC Representative | Specialist | UC Berkeley

UC Davis Specialist Representative Committee

Johanna Del Castillo Munera and Frank Mitloehner | AAC Representatives | Specialist | UC Davis

UC Riverside Specialist Representative Committee

Ashraf El-Kereamy, AAC Representative | Specialist | UC Riverside