Posts Tagged: December 2019

New annual report shows how UC ANR is improving California life with science-based solutions

UC ANR's program planning and evaluation has compiled a 16-page 2018 annual report that provides an overview of the sweeping impacts our scientists and educators made in 2018. The impacts are felt across the state – in places where water is scarce, climate is changing farming practices, children need a little extra support to get to college, and families can use guidance to stretch their food budgets.

Of the hundreds of ways UC ANR impacts California lives and livelihoods, 40 are highlighted in the new publication, Working for the Benefit of All Californians: 2018 UC ANR Annual Report. A limited number of printed copies are available. Email jennifer.caron-sale@ucop.edu to request paper copies.

UC ANR has identified public value statements that reflect the breadth of its efforts. Academics and staff are working to promote economic prosperity, safeguard sufficient safe and healthy food for all, protect the state's natural resources, promote healthy people and communities, develop a qualified workforce, build climate change resilience in communities and ecosystems, and develop an inclusive and equitable society. These values touch every person in the state.

During the period covered in the new report, robust research and education programs supported agricultural communities. For example, UC ANR scientists improved the ability to predict beet curly top virus, avoiding losses approaching $100 million in processing tomatoes. A workshop offered by UC ANR educators on low-stress livestock handling convinced all the participants to incorporate the practices on their ranches. Online and in-person workshops provided to urban farmers resulted in new food safety plans for nearly all of the growers involved.

Families, farmers and natural resource managers are facing the prospect of climate change and looking for ways to continue prospering under uncertain conditions. Increasingly ferocious wildfires are causing serious losses to ranchers. UC ANR provided information on management practices to safeguard resources, prevent soil erosion and estimate the cost of forage losses so ranch owners can prepare loss claims. UC ANR has been instrumental in development of a website, Cal-Adapt.org, a clearing house to collect and disseminate climate change data.

Families and youth are a focus of UC ANR nutrition research, nutrition education and programs such as 4-H and CalFresh Healthy Living, UC. One UC ANR researcher collaborated with the Karuk, Yurok and Klamath tribes to identify culturally sound solutions to reduce food insecurity. In two Northern California counties, students were introduced by UC ANR educators to 36 local produce items. Their selection, consumption and interest in the produce served at lunchtime increased. UC ANR piloted a program that gets Latinx youth outside for environmental education.

Making food safer, enriching children's lives, extending reliable nutrition education and improving the productivity on California farms and ranches add up to significant value to the recipients of the services and to all Californians by making the state a better place to live and work.

ANR releases 6 UCCE advisor positions for recruitment

I am thrilled to announce that the following 6 CE Advisor positions from the 2018 CE position proposals are released for recruitment:

• #12 Production Horticulture Advisor, San Diego County
• #42 Agronomy Area Advisor, Merced County
• #54 Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor, Siskiyou County
• #58 Nutrition, Family, and Consumer Sciences Area Advisor, San Mateo-San Francisco Counties
• #62 Vegetable Crops and Small Farms Advisor, Riverside County
• #66 Pomology and Water/Soils Area Advisor, Kings County

The Academic HR unit will begin to work on recruitment plans for the above CE Advisor positions immediately following the winter break.

In addition, I commit to refill the position “#49 Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor, Glenn County” at such time that a gap occurs.

These were difficult decisions to make because while we need the above positions, there are many more needs for both CE Specialist and CE Advisor positions that continue to wait for additional funding. Additionally, while we have grown the CE Specialist numbers over the last several years, the number of CE Advisors in the field has steadily declined. For this reason, we are not releasing additional CE Specialist positions at this time. I remain deeply committed to the 4-H Youth Development Program and support the current conversations underway about investments in expanding non-academic support to improve program delivery to our local communities.

I hope to release 5 to 6 more positions in the spring/summer. This is possible, in part, due to the advanced notice provided by individuals planning to retire June 2020. In addition, we will complete recruitment of other academic positions currently advertised, including those that are funded through partnerships. See Status of Recruitments and Hires for a list of positions under recruitment now. That list does not reflect a few recent CE Advisor and CE Specialist hires who have not yet started.

I wish to thank the Program Council for their work providing recommendations to me. Likewise, I thank the County Directors, Program Team Leaders, Statewide Program/Institute Directors, REC Directors and Associate Deans for their efforts to identify priority needs.

I look forward to sending more of these notices soon!

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

 

Important year-end tax and payroll reminders

 

As you begin holiday celebrations and look forward to the new year, the UCPath Center has some important year-end and new-year reminders to share. Please read closely and mark your calendar for upcoming deadlines.

2020 payroll notices

• Employees paid monthly will receive payment for December 2019 earnings on January 2, 2020. View the 2020 monthly payroll calendar.
• Employees paid biweekly will receive the first paycheck of 2020 on January 8. View the 2020 biweekly payroll calendar.

New year, new benefit enrollments
It is important to make sure that the benefits you enrolled in during Open Enrollment are reflected correctly in your paycheck. Here's a checklist to compare against. 

The following table illustrates the coverage begin date for Open Enrollment changes and the paycheck on which new benefit rates take effect.

Pay Schedule	Open Enrollment Coverage Begin Date	Paycheck Deduction begin date	Paycheck date
Bi-Weekly	1/1/2020	11/17/2019	12/11/2019*
Monthly	1/1/2020	12/1/2019	1/2/2020**

*2020 Disability premiums for January and Flexible Spending Account contributions deduct from the 1/8/2020 paycheck for bi-weekly employees.

** 2020 Flexible Spending Account contributions deduct from the 1/2/2020 paycheck for monthly employees. 2020 Disability premiums for January deduct from the 2/1/2020 paycheck for monthly employees.

Jan. 18, 2020: Tax information deadline

The UCPath Center will begin processing W-2s in late January. In order to ensure that the information on your W-2 is complete, accurate and reaches you, please take the following steps by January 18.

• Verify your home mailing and personal email address in UCPath online. Even if you plan to opt for a digital W-2, it's important that UC can reach you.
• Verify your dependents. UC needs the social security numbers of your spouse/domestic partner and any dependents. To review and update, log into UCPath online and go to Employee Actions > Health and Welfare > Dependent Coverage.
• International workers: Verify your GLACIER account information. International persons receiving UC wages may receive either a W-2 or 1042-S. Verify that your email and home mailing addresses match exactly in UCPath online and in the GLACIER database to ensure that your tax information is sent correctly. You can also opt for an electronic 1042-S through GLACIER.

W-2s for the 2019 tax year

For the 2019 tax year, UCANR employees will receive two W-2 statements:

• W-2 statement from AYSO will cover your January – September 2019 paychecks.
• W-2 statement from UCPath will cover your October - December 2019 paychecks. 
• If your first paycheck was after September 30, 2019, you will only receive one W-2 from UCPath.
• Opt-in to receive your W-2 electronically. It's easy, safe and convenient! Sign up today at UCPath online and click on Employee Actions >Income and Taxes> Enroll to Receive Online W-2.

Other Information

• Box C of the 1095 Affordable Care Act form will display the UCPath address as your employer.

Federal and State Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

• All W-2 notifications include IRS Notice 797, alerting you that you may be eligible for the federal EITC, a benefit for working people with low to moderate income. To qualify, you must meet certain requirements and file a tax return, even if you do not owe any tax or are not required to file. The federal EITC reduces the amount of tax you owe and may give you a refund. For more information, visit the IRS website or contact the IRS at (800) 829-3676.
• Similarly, you may be eligible for the California EITC. To claim this credit, you must file a CA income tax return, and complete and attach the CA EITC form (FTB 3514). For more information visit the Franchise Tax Board website or call (800) 852-5711.

Claiming exemption from withholding

The IRS requires you to complete a new W-4 form each year if you are claiming exemption from tax withholding. If you wish to claim exemption from withholding in 2020, you must make this choice on UCPath online before Feb. 15, 2020.

Have questions or need help?

Please visit UCPath and click on “Ask UCPath Center” to submit an inquiry. You can also speak with an associate by calling the UCPath Center at (855) 982-7284 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

 

 

 

EPA awards UC IPM $2.675 million for PREP

The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program has received funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement the Pesticide Regulatory Education Program (PREP). EPA expects the total funding for the five-year cooperative agreement, which begins in fiscal year 2020, to be $2.675 million.

“The PREP Network creates and promotes professional development opportunities for pesticide regulatory officials throughout the United States and its affiliated territories,” said Lisa Blecker, Pesticide Safety Education Program and OPIC coordinator for the UC Statewide IPM Program. “Our courses foster network building and sharing of strategies to increase the likelihood that people will comply with critical safety regulations.”

UC IPM will manage the logistics of developing and hosting the courses at UC Davis and in different locations around the nation. 

PREP is an educational program designed primarily for state managers who conduct pesticide regulatory and enforcement programs. The program, which began 30 years ago at UC Davis, provides information on technical, policy and management issues, as well as a wide array of cutting-edge pesticide topics.

In memoriam: Keith C. Knapp

Keith C. Knapp passed away on Nov. 27, 2019, surrounded by his family and friends, in Riverside. Born in Wichita, Kan, on July 28, 1950, Keith was the first son of William H. and Jane L. Knapp.

After moving around the Midwest with his family early in his life, he graduated from Davenport Central High School in 1968. After high school, he went to Iowa State University where he earned a B.S. degree in economics in 1972. He served in the U.S. Army for two years, being stationed in West Germany for 18 months. Following an honorable discharge in 1974, he entered a Ph.D. program offered by the College of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, where he received the Johns Hopkins Fellowship from 1975 to 1980 and specialized in resource and environmental economics. During this time in graduate school, Keith interned at the Water Resources Council and did part-time consulting for the World Bank, both in Washington D.C.

After earning his Ph.D. in 1980, Keith accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position in the Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences at UC Riverside, where he spent the entirety of his career conducting research on irrigation management, salinity and drainage problems in the San Joaquin Valley, renewable resource management with an emphasis on groundwater, agricultural markets (grain reserves and perennial crops), and the implications of exhaustible resources for economic growth. Keith became a tenured associate professor in 1986, a full professor in 1992, and retired as a professor emeritus in 2019.

Over the 39 years of his distinguished career, Keith published over 85 scholarly articles. In 2002, he and co-authors received the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics Published Research Award from the Western Agricultural Economics Association for an article titled “The Microeconomics of Irrigation with Saline Water.” In 2006, he was awarded the Quality of Research Discovery Award from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association for an article he co-authored titled “Estimating Intertemporal Preferences for Natural Resource Allocation," published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Keith was an excellent teacher, mentor, friend and colleague. His friends and colleagues knew him as a very caring person who always pursued the truth and looked for practical and logical solutions to tough problems; someone who had a unique ability to explain complex problems in a simple and understandable way; and as a dedicated researcher with original and independent thoughts, but one who would listen carefully to others views. Keith was also beloved by his students for what they would describe as his “lovably gruff commitment to the environment, academic excellence and UC Riverside;” his continual and unwavering belief in their abilities gave them the confidence to more fully reach their potential.  

Outside of his professional life, Keith's passions included skiing, windsurfing and star-gazing/astronomy.

Keith is survived by his brothers Kirk O. Knapp and Kevin B. Knapp, and his sister Julie E. Steelman.

A memorial will be held in Riverside in January 2020. For more information about Knapp's memorial, please contact Kurt Schwabe at  kurt.schwabe@ucr.edu or (951) 827-2361.

 

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