Celebration Corner

Humiston wins CUCSA leadership award, reappointed to state ag board 

Vice President Glenda Humiston was recently honored with the Outstanding Senior Leadership Award from CUCSA, the Council of UC Staff Assemblies. The award recognizes senior-level leaders in the system who are supportive and inclusive of UC staff and who encourage equity, diversity, inclusion and community. 

Working with UC ANR Staff Assembly Council members, 2023-24 UC ANR CUCSA delegates Shirley Salado and Christine Davidson nominated Humiston for the award. They presented their nomination during the winter quarter CUCSA meeting at UC San Diego, Feb. 28-March 1.

After presentation of nominations by CUCSA delegates from across the UC system, the delegates voted on recipients for the Outstanding Senior Leadership Award, as well as the Kevin McCauley Outstanding Staff Award, Outstanding Board Member Award and Outstanding Alumni Award.

"Glenda authorized and initiated ANR's first Staff Assembly Council in 2015 and has been a tremendous supporter throughout its history," Salado said. "She has increased SAC's budget for a variety of programs that provide tremendous benefit to our staff, from the Wellness Reimbursement program to the Employee Experience and Engagement Challenge to the Educational Reimbursement Program." 

Although he didn't win, UC ANR Staff Assembly Council Chair Scott Brayton was nominated for the Outstanding Board Member Award, in recognition of his tremendous record of service.

"Scott shows genuine care and appreciation for ANR Staff Assembly, as he is always thinking about its past and its future," Davidson said. "He is always finding opportunities to recognize past officers and volunteers, recruiting potential new members for the Council and making himself available to all Council members and staff."

In more good news, Governor Gavin Newsom has reappointed Humiston to the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, where she has served since 2022. Humiston has been UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources since 2015. She was California state director for rural development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2009 to 2015. 

ANR wins gold award for educational advertising 

Strategic Communications won a gold award for ANR's “Improving Lives in California” social media campaign in the 39th Annual Educational Advertising Awards.  

The “Improving Lives in California' campaign” is designed to showcase ANR research and those who deliver it by featuring compelling content and UC Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists. The campaign targets Californians interested in agriculture, pests, environment, wildfire, water, youth development and nutrition with paid campaigns and organic posts on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.

The campaign's strategic emphasis on showcasing employees within the narrative of research efforts enhances the UC ANR brand identity and positions the organization as a collaborative pioneer in innovation. This comprehensive approach leverages the power of social media to extend reach, foster engagement, and effectively serve our online community.

The EduAdAWARDS, dedicated to recognizing excellence in educational marketing and advertising, attracted entries from more than 1,000 colleges, universities and secondary schools nationwide, including UC Davis and UC San Diego, competing across 54 categories. 

Crisosto wins journal award 

Carlos Crisosto, UC Cooperative Extension specialist based in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, won an “Editor's Choice” award for a paper about plums.

Crisosto's article describing how to measure firmness for optimum harvest, plus steps to ensure postharvest deliciousness and a proposed consumer quality index, was published in the journal Horticulturae. In February, the article won the journal's Editor's Choice award. 

Read more about the article at https://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/news/crisosto-plums.

Warner to present SFREC oak research at international symposium

Andrea Warner, staff research associate at the Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center, recently has been invited to present at the International Oak Symposium in October in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her abstract titled “Best Practices for Regeneration of California Blue Oaks (Quercus douglasii)” will highlight the findings from an oak regeneration project that started in 2019 at SFREC.

SFREC has dedicated 44 acres of previously cleared rangeland to researching best practices for blue oak regeneration, taking the effects of irrigation, weed mitigation strategies, various shelter types and seedling source into consideration with approximately 6,500 individual planting sites. 

The International Oak Symposium provides a platform to exchange information and build collaborations around the best available science and technology on oak ecology and management for a global audience. The meeting will provide innovative and progressive formats to deliver and exchange information and foster collaborations between researchers and practitioners.

“We are excited to have Andrea present the work being done at SFREC on an international level to represent UCANR and connect with other researchers in the natural resources field from around the globe,” said Dustin Flavell, SFREC superintendent and interim director.

First 5 Imperial releases Farm Smart videos

Farm Smart hosted another successful Farm-to-Preschool Festival that brought over 1,000 participants, 35 community resource tables, and over 100 volunteers to Desert Research and Extension Center this past winter, said Jairo Diaz, DREC director.

“Thanks to our staff for supporting this large and complex event and maintaining the vegetable garden,” said Diaz. 

First 5 Imperial, which funded the festival, produced two videos: Farm to Preschool Festival 2024 and UC-Farm Smart - Harvest Day 2024.

 

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