Celebration Corner

Who else deserves kudos? Share your good news by sending an email to contentpipeline@ucanr.edu. 

Koundinya honored for early career achievement 

Vikram Koundinya, UC Cooperative Extension evaluation specialist, received the 2023 Early Career Achievement Award from the National Association of Extension Program & Staff Development Professionals. The award was presented to him on Nov. 29 at the NAEPSDP conference in Salt Lake City.

Koundinya, who is based in the UC Davis Department of Human Ecology, specializes in program evaluation, needs assessment and mixed-methods evaluation and research.

Koundinya has made notable contributions to the field in extension teaching, research, professional competence and service, wrote his nominator and peers in support letters. He has provided several statewide trainings and one-on-one consultations with UC Cooperative Extension advisors, specialists, Agricultural Extension Station faculty and students. He has published research articles in several journals, including 12 of a total of 35 articles since starting at UC Davis. He also has shared his work at several professional conferences and served in leadership roles on NAEPSDP and American Evaluation Association professional committees.

Au wins nutrition and dietetics award

Lauren Au, Nutrition Policy Institute-affiliated researcher and assistant professor of nutrition at the UC Davis, received the 2023 Huddleson Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation.

The award recognizes dietitians who were the lead author of a peer-reviewed article that made important contributions to the field of dietetics. The award is named for Mary Pascoe Huddleson, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics editor from 1927 to 1946. 

The honored article, “A Qualitative Examination of California WIC Participants' and Local Agency Directors' Experiences during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic,” was co-authored by NPI researchers Christina Hecht, Marisa Tsai, Nicole Vital and NPI Director Lorrene Ritchie. 

The study examines Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children participants' and agency directors' perceptions, practices and other challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Au's research is used to support nutrition policies and reduce disparities among low-income populations. 

ANR dashboards make it easy to find data

In 2023, the Program Planning and Evaluation team is proud to have produced new dashboards that organize important data about UC ANR people and outputs. They make it easy to find facts such as the number of UCCE advisors employed by UC ANR from 2018 through 2023. The dashboards are found on the impact numbers and stories web page and are intended for internal use.

 

UC Master Gardeners teach Napa County residents to grow food

UC Master Gardeners of Napa County have been teaching year-round food gardening with two programs each month.

“Teaching through two methods, we covered different seasonal food growing topics in our one-hour Food Growing Forums by Zoom and in-person, hands-on family programs at the OLE Health Garden,” said Yvonne Rasmussen, UCCE volunteer program coordinator in Napa County.

David Key, UC Master Gardener volunteer, leads this project.

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