Posts Tagged: July 2023

‘It’s okay to be different,’ Lewis advises Black environmental scholars

Undergraduates from Historically Black Colleges and Universities visit UC for summer session

Na'Zyia Dowdy-Arnold and Destinee S. Whitaker, both of Spelman College, Christopher Bass of Morehouse College, and Carlos Jackson of Tuskegee University spent the summer getting research experience with UC Berkeley scientists. The four undergraduates from Historically Black Colleges and Universities were participating in the UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management HBCU Environmental Scholars Program.

“The program aims to facilitate two-way learning while fostering preparedness and belonging for HBCU students interested in graduate school at UC Berkeley,” said co-founder Rosalie Zdzienicka Fanshel, UC Berkeley doctoral candidate.

Now in its second year, the program, was co-founded by UC Berkeley professor Tim Bowles who also co-directs the program with Fanshel in cooperation with Tuskegee University and Spelman College faculty members.

“After two years as a mentor in the ESPM/UCB HBCU summer research immersion program, I was thrilled to witness the transformation of students,” said Vernard Lewis, emeritus UC Cooperative Extension entomology specialist. “This transformation included doing high-level science and increasing the feeling of belonging. The current cohort of four HBCU students have immersed themselves in lab and field sciences that include campus and ANR units. The hope is to expand the program and to increase the talent pool of HBCU students for graduate programs and careers at UC and ANR.”

During their two-month program, the students toured the San Joaquin Valley with Fanshel and Kristin Dobbin, UCCE water justice policy and planning specialist at UC Berkeley. They visited Allensworth, a utopian agricultural community focused on self-reliance in Tulare County founded in 1908 by African Americans, and UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, where they met Houston Wilson, UCCE entomology specialist.

Near the end of their stay, Lewis and his wife, Lisa Kala, who held administrative, research and teaching positions in UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education for over 40 years, hosted a backyard barbecue at their Hayward home for the students to meet Black UC faculty, administrators and alumni.

Lewis assembled African American friends Mary Blackburn, Gloria Burkhalter, Bill Stevens, Bilal Shabazz and his daughter Amani, Fred Logan, Ben Tucker, Elize Brown, Gregory Bradley, Vincent Duncan, Maria Shalita, Carol Chambers-Blockton, Jariel Arvin, Frank McPherson and Charles Clary – some retired and others still enjoying long careers – to meet the young scholars on July 24. Harry LeGrande, emeritus UC Berkeley vice chancellor of student affairs who served in higher education for 45 years, joined the group by Zoom.

McPherson, who retired from UC ANR as UCCE director for the Bay Area in February, cooked up hot links, seafood gumbo and black-eyed peas, served with salad and fresh fruit for the occasion.

“It's okay to be different,” Lewis, the first Black entomologist hired at UC Berkeley, told the students. “You're not alone. We're all with you,” he added, gesturing to the older guests, who had described their professional journeys and how they navigated sometimes unfriendly environments. Some had graduated from college amid the civil rights movement of the 1960s. 

Blackburn recalled being offered one of four coveted spots in UC Berkeley's new Master of Public Health Nutrition – Dietetic Internship program after graduating from Tuskegee University in 1963. It didn't seem feasible to move since her husband owned his business in Atlanta and they had four young children. But when the Tuskegee University president said she had to go, Blackburn understood that opportunity was not just about her and three days later she boarded a plane to California. In 1968, Blackburn became one of the first Registered Dietitians in the U.S. and completed her Ph.D. in human nutrition and health planning and administration at UC Berkeley in 1974.

“Find your allies; find your advocates,” Blackburn, UC Cooperative Extension's community nutrition and health advisor for Alameda County for the past 33 years, advised the students. 

After the barbecue, the students began collecting email addresses and making connections with their new allies on LinkedIn.

“During our feedback sessions with the students, they expressed their appreciation to all those in attendance, especially Vernard Lewis, who orchestrated the event,” said McPherson. “One of the most important takeaways from the event was their desire to have this type of event with accomplished Black administrators and professionals continue to be part of the programming while at Berkeley. 

“They also suggest that these events take place earlier, so that they might take advantage of the knowledge and experience these Black professionals bring to the table, not only as they return to their individual institutions and career paths, but also have access to this network while in the Bay Area.”

A week earlier, during a lunch with Blackburn and Lewis, the students had said they appreciated meeting the two accomplished Black scientists and wished they could meet more. That comment spurred Lewis and Blackburn to organize the barbecue. Despite the short notice, several of their Black colleagues attended. “They showed up because they care,” Lewis said.

They will continue to modify the program based on feedback from the students.

The first year of the program was funded by UC Berkeley's Berkeley Food Institute and Spelman College. The second year was funded by the UC Berkeley Office of Graduate Diversity; Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; and donations from other campus programs and individuals. Each student receives a $5,000 stipend, room and board and travel.

Bowles and Fanshel have applied for a UC-HBCU initiative grant from UC Office of the President to continue the program for another three years.

Learning platforms available for UC ANR employees

UC ANR has several learning platforms you can use to help you grow in any of four strategic learning themes: extension methods & delivery, building support, office & team management, or diversity, equity and inclusion.

Register for any of these platforms and access content important to your work and role at UC ANR and beyond. 

• You can learn from, teach, and collaborate with colleagues across the nation through Extension Foundation
• You can learn “the art of saying 'no'” from the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
• LinkedIn Learning has 16,000 high-quality on-demand courses in seven languages

We recommend looking at these top sources; we also have additional resources below them.

Extension Foundation (formerly eXtension)

Register here. As a UC ANR employee, you have free access to the Extension Foundation and Connect Extension. The Foundation partners with Cooperative Extension through liaison roles and a formal plan of work with the Extension Committee on

Organization and Policy to increase system capacity while providing programmatic services and helping Extension programs help U.S. Cooperative Extension make a more visible, measurable impact on location issues and scale and investigate new methods and models for implementing programs. The Foundation provides professional development to Cooperative Extension professionals and offers exclusive services to its members. See also Connect Extension where you can find a calendar of events, publications, and tools. There you can also post events you would like to share with our national members.

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

Claim your UC ANR account.

As UC ANR employees, all academics and staff have free access to the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. The NCFDD is the leading provider of professional development in higher education. Working with over 300 colleges and universities, as well as thousands of individuals in schools across the country, we are 100% devoted to supporting faculty members, postdocs and graduate students in making successful transitions throughout their careers. Refer to NCFDD for strategic planning, explosive productivity, work-life balance, and healthy relationship building by learning.

 

LinkedIn Learning
For your account contact ANR IT at help@ucanr.edu.

For many years, UC ANR has been providing employees with access to LinkedIn Learning. There you can access more than 16,000 high-quality, on-demand courses in seven languages as well as podcasts. Furthermore, you'll find certificate preparation courses developed in partnership with certificate providers so you can earn their professional certificate and showcase your mastery of in-demand skills to employers. There are courses representing each of UC ANR's learning strategies. 

 

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                                      Additional Learning Resources
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My UC Career

Create your account. As a University of California employee, you have free access to this online development portal, which

is available to all UC faculty, academic personnel, staff and students seeking to advance their careers. Six self-paced modules help users discover their internal UC career mobility options, highlight accomplishments, and identify how they can achieve their career goals within UC. In this portal you can

• View all UC opportunities
• Build a resume
• Create a pitch statement
• Network and research
• Build: Interview skills, decision making tools, negotiating on the offer

National Association of Extension Programs and Staff Development Professionals(NAEPSDP)

The mission of NAEPSDP is to improve communication and collaboration by discussing issues, needs and opportunities of

mutual interest and building and sharing resources; advocate for the profession by promoting its importance within the land grant system, enhance multistate efforts; develop, sponsor and promote educational training programs and activities that enhance sound program and staff development practices; and advance the professional status of program and staff development professionals by encouraging continuous professional self-improvement. Membership is paid by individual UC ANR units. Free learning opportunities offered, too.

Gartner

Create your account. Gartner, Inc. is an American technological research and consulting firm that 

conducts research on technology and shares this research both through private consulting as well as executive programs and conferences. Gartner provides actionable, objective insights to Education decision makers and their teams. They specialize in Applications & Software Engineering, Data & Analytics, Finance, Human Resources, IT infrastructure & Operations, Marketing. Here are examples of some of their offerings. Build a High-Impact Targeted Marketing Strategy

• Gartner Experts Answer the Top Generative AI Questions for Your Enterprise
• Building a Better Finance Strategy
• The Future of Marketing Organizations
• Cost Optimization Capabilities

 UC Learning Center (UCLC)

The UC Learning Center is the web-based learning management system (LMS) used across the University of California for

training and development. With the UC Learning Center, UC Davis Campus and Health and UC ANR users can register for in-person activities offered at UC Davis, as well as access online activities (eCoures, eBooks) and view their training transcripts. There are “how to navigate” instructions for both individual employees and people managers.

Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI)

The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) is a trusted standard in research, ethics, compliance and safety training, serving the training needs of colleges and universities, healthcare institutions, technology and research

organizations and governmental agencies. CITI fosters integrity and professional advancement of their learners. Besides many other learning opportunities, if your research funding comes from NIFA grants CITI provides you mandatory training in:

• Responsible Conduct of Research for Administrators
• Social & Behavioral Research - Basic/Refresher

 

L&D - Workplace happy hacks, Volunteer recruitment & motivation, Workforce development, Cultivating your network, UCCE social justice

UC ANR LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Landing page| Presentation Recordings| Learning Resources

Extension Methods & Delivery
Building Support
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Office, Team, and Personal Management

Boost Positivity and Productivity in the Workplace with “Happy Hacks” (Extension Foundation)
Aug. 9
8-9:30 a.m. PT

Registration. Details.
Learning Objectives:

• Identify three basic human needs and how they relate to positivity and well-being.
• Review barriers to individual happiness and positivity.
• Discuss simple happy hacks individuals can use to boost their positivity and productivity at
• home and at work.
• Identify tools individuals can use to help improve the lives of those they serve and work with.
• Increased motivation to put the 8 words for resilience into practice.

Volunteer Recruitment & Motivation – Extension Skills
Aug. 10
11 a.m.-noon PT

Registration.
This webinar will discuss the trends that redefined 21st century volunteers,
help better understand the motives of people who volunteer, utilize
strategies for how to recruit volunteers, and foster inner volunteer
motivation to stay. Participants will learn tips on writing a position
description for episodic volunteers, the role of a volunteer-friendly environment in retaining volunteers and how to deal with a “bad” volunteer and tips on how to engage with volunteers through tech. Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay.

What's Extension Doing in Workforce Development? An Update from the Workforce Program Action Team (Extension Foundation)
Aug. 28
11 a.m.-noon

Registration & Detail.
The Workforce Program Action Team (PAT) continues its efforts to coordinate, expand and build the work that Extension is doing in workforce development. Join this Program Center Stage to learn more about the many efforts that Extension is already engaging in in workforce development and to learn more the next steps the PAT is engaging in to build Extension's efforts to tackle our workforce needs.

Cultivating Your Network of Mentors, Sponsors & Collaborators (National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity)
Aug. 10
11 a.m.-noon PT

Open your free account here.
Registration & details. 
Join us for a webinar that will help you:

• Map your current mentoring network
• Identify your unmet needs
• Plan how to expand your existing network to meet your current needs

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Fast Track to Contracts & Grants Recordings (April-May 2023)

Introduction to Contracts & Grants (video) Slide deck, with Kim Lamar
From Concept to Submission (AKA Proposal Development and Proposal Process video), Slide deck, with Vanity Campbell, et al

Cost Share and Academic Cost Recovery-Salary Savings (video), Slide deck
Proposal budget preparation basics (or Budget Basics and Calculator) (Video), Slide deck (PDF) with Kendra Rose
Using the new ANR Workflow Automation program to route C&G Forms “800“and Advance Account Request (Video), Slide deck (PDF) Form 800 Quick Guide (PDF) Advance Account Quick Guide (PDF) 
Understanding the awards process (Video), Slide deck (PDF)
Working with Subrecipients (Video), Slide deck (PDF)
Post Award Process (Video), Slide deck (PDF)

Image by Megan Rexazin from Pixabay

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Grassroots Engagement and Social Justice through Cooperative Extension (Extension Foundation)
Aug. 24
11 a.m. – noon PT

Registration & details.

Join presenter NiaImani Fields, Maryland 4-H program leader and assistant director of Extension, and engage with the co-editors of Grassroots Engagement and Social Justice through Cooperative Extension. This book grew out of a commitment to the belief that Cooperative Extension professionals can and should be deeply engaged with the communities they work in to improve life — individually and collectively. Rooted in an understanding of the history and development of Extension, the authors focus on contemporary efforts to address systemic inequities. They offer an alternative to the “expert” model that would have Extension educators provide information detached from the difficult and sometimes contentious issues that shape community work. Image by John Hain from Pixabay

A Guide to Pronouns and Inclusive Language (UC Davis DEI Resources)
What are pronouns?
Pronouns are linguistic tools that we use to refer to people (i.e., they/them/theirs, she/her/hers, he/him/his). We believe that it is important to give people the opportunity to state the pronoun that is correct to use when referring to them.

Pronouns are integral to who we are, and we share pronouns because we want to avoid assuming someone's pronouns based on factors like appearance. By sharing our own pronouns routinely, we encourage others to do the same and demonstrate that we understand the importance of sharing pronouns. Using someone's correct pronouns is an important way of affirming someone's identity and is a fundamental step in being an ally. Read more.

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Every Semester Needs a Plan
Aug. 17
11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PT

Registration & details.

We offer this planning webinar at the beginning of each semester so that you can take time out of your schedule to identify your personal and professional goals, create a strategic plan to accomplish them, and identify the types of community, support and accountability you need to make this your most productive and balanced semester ever!

Personal Leadership Bootcamp (Extension Foundation)
Sept. 6, 13, 20
11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Registration & details.
This three-part series invites individuals to really get to know yourself, choose a path and take action with the power of your personal leadership philosophy!

Promoting Equity, Transforming the Tenure Review Process (NCFDD, article)

Details. 
We first recommend you reflect on and appreciate the role your specific perspective plays in your letter – your gender, race, class, sexual orientation, able-bodiedness, culture, ethnicity, religion and nationality. We also suggest ways to gather information about the perspective of the letter-requesting institution that encourage them to reflect on what they value in their faculty. Read more.

Effective Listening (LinkedIn Learning video course)

Course link.

Listening is a critical competency, whether you are interviewing for your first job or leading a Fortune 500 company. Surprisingly, relatively few working professionals have ever had any formal training in how to listen effectively. In this course, communications experts Tatiana Kolovou and Brenda Bailey-Hughes show how to assess your current listening skills. Request your LinkedIn Learning account by contacting UC ANR IT help@ucanr.edu. Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.

How to Speak So People will Want to Listen (LinkedIn Learning- audio course)

Course link.
Do you want to be an engaging speaker? In this audio-only course from "How to Be Awesome at Your Job," international speaker Julian Treasure shares tactics and techniques that improve how you communicate. Julian stresses the importance of learning how to listen first. Understanding how your audience listens will improve your speaking. Read more. Request your LinkedIn Learning account by contacting UC ANR IT help@ucanr.edu.

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Everyone can learn something new.
UC ANR Learning & Development

‘UC Environmental Stewards’ is new home of California Naturalist and Climate Stewards

In 2012, the California Naturalist certification course became a statewide program within UC Agriculture and Natural Resources known as the California Naturalist Program. For 10 years, the course and the program have shared the same name. In 2020, we added the new Climate Stewards certification course. Both courses use education and service to inspire and empower individuals to create more sustainable and resilient communities and ecosystems.

Unfortunately, our program name only reflected one half of our work. To better reflect the scope of both the California Naturalist and the Climate Stewards certification courses, we've renamed our program “UC Environmental Stewards.” This new program name reflects the overarching importance of environmental stewardship to both courses.  

While the program name is new, the two courses remain unchanged. The California Naturalist course still proudly focuses on California's natural history under the emblem of the California sister butterfly, and the Climate Stewards course still builds community resilience under the emblem of the lupine. Anyone certified as a California Naturalist or Climate Steward is still a California Naturalist or Climate Steward. UC Environmental Stewards is simply the new programmatic home for these two courses, and potentially any others we may add in the future. 

Along with our program name, we are excited to announce additions to our small but growing program team. Jill Santos joins the program in Ventura County at the end of the month and next month we welcome Michelle Peeters, who will support our partners in Northern California.

The growth of the Environmental Stewards program reflects the demand for our courses and the growing need for community and ecosystem resilience. As Californians search for ways to productively engage in local solutions to the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, they are finding our courses. Through community education, civic engagement, and the cultivation of a shared identity as environmental stewards, the program builds the adaptive capacity of individuals and communities to address the impacts we are already experiencing, as well as those yet to come. 

Our collective impact network of 67 local partner organizations has conducted 422 California Naturalist and Climate Stewards courses and trained over 7,600 participants since the program started. These certified naturalists and stewards have gone on to volunteer over 240,000 hours of service across the state since 2018, worth over $6 million. The UC Environmental Stewards program continues the legacy of the original program started in 2012, and opens the door for many more Californians to effectively engage in discovery, action and stewardship. 

IT answers questions about UC ANR’s web environment and remediation plan

At UC ANR's July Town Hall, Jaki Hsieh Wojan, UC ANR's chief information security officer, explained ANR's recent website and portal issues and the steps being taken to solve them. Below are questions that were asked during the town hall.

Why are we keeping physical servers in Davis? Have you considered transferring from local modems to cloud-based methods?

We are working on a long-term project to move some of ANR's data to the cloud: Integrated Web Platform. IWP will be deployed on Google Cloud. Because we have nearly 1,300 websites, it's taking time to implement a common platform to fit everyone's needs. It is not as simple as picking up our webpage sand moving them to a cloud host, that would just move the existing problems into a new location.  The IWP project is rearchitecting the entire web content management system. You can see the progress at https://iwp.ucanr.edu.

Will ANR publications be preserved?

Yes

Before archiving are you asking permission from the owners of data? Is the data available after archiving if needed?

Active sites won't be removed in our first pass. Before data is archived, owners will be contacted or leaders of the units, if the owner isn't available. Archived data will be kept and can be restored, if needed. 

We can't change owners of websites so some of our sites belong to people who are no longer with ANR. How will IT handle this?

IT can change website owners. You can submit a ticket for that request at help@ucanr.edu

What are our options for taking credit card payments online?

Aventri is an option for taking credit card payments. IT is looking into additional options.

We use some of those websites that are not updated often as a resource of information for the community after an academic leaves. It will be unfortunate to lose that resource. 

Archived data will be preserved and can be made available. You will be able to contact help@ucanr.edu if you need access to archived data.

How can I help reduce the volume of data on the servers?

Please maintain your SiteBuilder sites. Remove images that are no longer being used on particular pages, deactivate or delete outdated info, etc. Send a message to iwp@ucanr.edu if you need assistance. 

Why are we purchasing new onsite equipment if the goal is to move to the cloud?

Moving to cloud is a multiyear, complex project and it encompasses far more than the website and portal.  A “lift and shift” of our current environment to the cloud would just move our current problems to a different location.  We need to modernize on a local level before we can fully migrate everything.

Can we have an all IT Town Hall?

Yes. 

I am worried about refresh rates when the Content Delivery Network (CDN) is in place.

The refresh rates can be granularly configured to treat each type of content with different refresh rates. We will be working on optimizing these rates once we start using the CDN. We will communicate how best to request a different refresh rate when we get closer to implementation. 

A recording of Jaki Hsieh-Wojan's presentation can be viewed at https://youtu.be/wAQGGimS3Rg.

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