Posts Tagged: June 2021

Reopening guidelines posted online

UC ANR officially reopened all locations on July 1. Risk & Safety Services Director Brian Oatman and Interim Human Resources Executive Director Bethanie Brown recently reviewed and updated UC ANR's guidelines on re-opening and remote work. 

Remember to complete the Clearance-to-Work survey daily by 8 a.m., whether or not you are going to an office. The invitations are emailed daily at 4 a.m.

If you missed the June 24 meeting, a link to the recording of the reopening guidelines presentation is posted at http://ucanr.edu/reopening under the headline for “Reopening Guidelines, Safety Standards and Plans.”

Reopening guidelines and additional protocols are posted on the website http://ucanr.edu/covid19.

A Q&A about reopening will be posted at http://ucanr.edu/reopening as soon as it becomes available. Please contact Oatman or Brown with any urgent questions that are not addressed on the website.

Names in the News

Baur named Western IPM Center director

After leading the Western Integrated Pest Management Center through the global COVID crisis as acting director, Matt Baur has been named permanent director effective July 1 to lead the center into the post-pandemic future.

Baur, an IPM practitioner and entomologist by training, had been the Western IPM Center's associate director since 2014. 

“Like everyone, the center had to change the way we worked during the pandemic and some of those changes are likely to continue into our future,” Baur predicted. “The region we serve in the West is huge – Guam to Colorado, Alaska to New Mexico – and the remote technologies and virtual platforms we all became familiar with in 2020 can help us connect across those miles.”

Baur's goals for the center are to build on its successes and expand its outreach to serve new areas and audiences, promoting smart, safe and sustainable pest management across the region to protect the people, environment and economy of the American West. 

“The vision of the center is “A healthier West with fewer pests,'” he explained, “and that's something I care about deeply. I have two sons and promoting integrated pest management is one way I help protect their world.”

Baur sees a need to reconnect with the people who research and teach IPM, and plans to attend meetings and conferences for all the scientific disciplines involved in pest management. He also plans to expand the center's connections to communities that have been under-represented and under-served in the past.

“I believe it's vital that we not only listen to but represent all the stakeholders in the West affected by pests and pest-management practices,” Baur said. “There are voices we haven't heard and communities we haven't served well in the past, and I am very happy to have the opportunity to change that. Integrated pest management can be a way to promote environmental and social justice, and as a regional IPM center, we can be leaders in that.” 

Before joining the Western IPM Center, Baur worked as a research scientist at DuPont/Pioneer and was a research assistant professor at Louisiana State University. He received his doctorate in entomology at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, and his bachelor's degree in biology from UC San Diego. He is a licensed pest control adviser in the state of California. 

Baur is based at the UC ANR building in Davis and can be reached at mebaur@ucanr.edu. – Steve Elliott

Shum named director of Business Operations Center

Su-Lin Shum joined UC ANR as director of the Business Operations Center June 14, 2021. Shum will oversee the consolidated Business Operations Center in Davis.

Shum brings over 25 years of experience in financial management, budget oversight, and financial operations and analysis within the UC system and beyond. Throughout her career, she has specialized in finance and business services while serving as the director of finance and business services at Sierra College, the director of budget and finance at the UC Berkeley Library, the interim assistant dean for Finance and Administration at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, and project manager and principal budget analyst at the UC Davis Budget Office.

While living in Canada, Shum served as the executive director of strategy and operations at the Pacific Carbon Trust Environmental Investment Agency and as director of corporate planning, reporting and program reviews/audits at the British Columbia Office of the Auditor General.

Shum earned an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, and a BA from the University of British Columbia.

Shum is based at the UC ANR building in Davis and can be reached at sshum@ucanr.edu.

Kawakami named associate director of statewide programs operations and RECs

Heather Kawakami rejoined ANR as associate director of statewide programs operations and research and extension centers on June 7.

Kawakami, who has worked for UC since 1992, served as chief business officer for the Nutrition Policy Institute in 2017 and 2018. She has also worked in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis, most recently as the business unit manager for the Department of Plant Sciences.

She earned a BA in medieval studies with a minor in Latin from UC Davis.

Kawakami is based at the UC ANR building in Davis and can be reached at hekawakami@ucanr.edu.

Haghverdi receives UCOWR Early Career Award 

Amir Haghverdi, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in irrigation and water management in the Environmental Sciences Department at UC Riverside, has been selected to receive the 2021 Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) Early Career Award for Applied Research. The national award recognizes outstanding early contributions in applied research related to water and promise of continued professional growth and recognition. 

Haghverdi's research focuses on developing and disseminating scientific knowledge, practical recommendations, and tools for sustainable urban and agricultural water resources management. His approaches include field research trials, laboratory analyses, and computer modeling to identify opportunities for synergy between research and extension activities. His main research themes include irrigation water management, root zone soil hydrology, and precision agriculture. He is also interested in applications of advanced data acquisition and mining techniques, including remote sensing, GIS (geographic information systems) and GPS (global positioning system) technologies, machine learning, and wireless sensors.

UCOWR is a consortium of academic institutions and affiliates invested in water resources research, education and outreach.  

4-H wins Diversity & Inclusion Award

The 2016-2019 UC 4-H Latino Initiative is the recipient of the Diversity & Inclusion: Expanding the 4-H Audience Award from the National Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals.

Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty, statewide 4-H director, and 4-H advisors Steven Worker, John Borba, Claudia Diaz-Carrasco, Russell Hill, Katherine Soule and Liliana Vega, and Lupita Fabregas, former 4-H Youth Development assistant director for diversity and expansion, developed, implemented and evaluated culturally responsive program models to attract and retain Latino youth, families and volunteers into 4-H.

The project focused on seven counties – Kern, Merced, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Sonoma – selected to represent rural, suburban and urban communities. The number of Latino youth participating in the 4-H program increased more than 250% in three years. Youth enrollment statewide grew from 1.1% of the school-aged population in 2016 to 1.9% at the end of 2019. All counties achieved parity – within 80% of Latino youth in the population – by the end of year three (except Orange County which withdrew in year two). Read more about the UC 4-H Latino Initiative at http://4h.ucanr.edu/Resources/Latino/.

The NAE4-HYDP Diversity & Inclusion Award recognizes outstanding effort and accomplishments in achieving, expanding and/or sustaining diversity in the NAE4-HYDP organization, programs, and/or audiences.

The UC 4-H Latino Initiative team will be recognized at the NAE4-HYDP Conference in Memphis, Tenn., on November 16 or 17. 

WEDA honors California Dairy Quality Assurance Program

The Western Extension Directors Association presented a 2021 Award of Excellence to the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program - Environmental Stewardship: A Public Private Partnership.

Launched in 1997, the program is led by Deanne Meyer, UCCE livestock waste management specialist, UCCE advisors Betsy Karle, Jennifer Heguy, David Lewis, Jeffery Stackhouse, Nicholas Clark, Randi Black and Daniela Bruno, and Denise Mullinax of the California Dairy Research Foundation. 

The California Dairy Quality Assurance Program is a voluntary partnership between the dairy industry, government and academia. It has been proactive in addressing environmental concerns, setting up a voluntary certification project before the adoption of water quality regulations that targeted nitrogen management. To protect California's air and water quality, more than 700 dairy farms have completed an on-site, third-party evaluation of their facility's manure management.

Uhde named Bloomberg American Health Initiative Fellow 

Katherine Uhde, UC Master Gardener Program coordinator in Santa Clara County, has been selected as one of 50 Bloomberg fellows to receive full scholarships to earn a Master of Public Health through the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Uhde's project will focus on environmental challenges. She is working with Lucy Diekmann, UCCE urban agriculture and food systems advisor for Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, to develop project ideas that address public health practice needs.

“Generally, the project will focus on environmental health and wellness in Santa Clara County and the Bay Area,” Uhde said.

U.S. Golf honors Harivandi

Ali Harivandi, emeritus UC Cooperative Extension turfgrass advisor, recently received an Ike Grainger Award from the United States Golf Association. 

A UC Cooperative Extension environmental horticulturist based in Alameda County who specialized in turf, soil and water for 33 years, Harivandi served on the USGA's Turfgrass and Environment Committee and Green Section Research Committee. He is recognized nationally and internationally as an expert on recycled water use on golf courses and other landscape sites. His expertise in soil and water quality have been important to the USGA.

Each year, the USGA presents the Ike Grainger Award to individuals who have served the Association as a volunteer for 25 years. These dedicated men and women tirelessly give back to the game through a variety of roles. 

Harivandi was instrumental in encouraging the committee to seek out research to develop warm season grasses with greater drought tolerance and grasses that will some day be able to remain green during the winter in areas where bermudagrass has historically gone dormant.

Garvey wins ACE photo awards

Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis communications specialist for UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won silver and bronze awards in a photography competition hosted by the international Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Life and Human Sciences (ACE). ACE announced the awards June 22 at its virtual conference.

She captured the silver  with a Canon MPE-65mm lens and posted the image at https://bit.ly/3cUx358 Aug. 10, 2020, on her Bug Squad blog. 

“The purpose of my image is to draw attention to the dwindling monarch butterfly population,” wrote Garvey, who creates habitat for monarch butterflies in her family's pollinator garden. “They are on life support.” The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation reports that overwintering monarchs have declined 99% in coastal California since the 1990s. 

In addition to the silver award, Garvey won a bronze award for her photo series of male and female Gulf fritillaries, Agraulis vanillae, “keeping busy.”  Her post, “Fifty Shades of Orange, with a Touch of Silver,” appeared July 13, 2020, on her Bug Squad blog at https://bit.ly/2Q6cU3q. 

PAC discusses advancing President Drake’s priorities

The President's Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources (PAC) met virtually on June 16 and had a lively discussion with one another and later with President Drake about how UC ANR can deliver on the president's priorities of social/environmental justice, public health and economic impacts of the pandemic, and climate change and agriculture. Discussion evolved about how UC ANR could be a convener and facilitator of needed community discussions around these important and often difficult topics. ANR could serve as a bridge-builder, bringing in multiple partners and disciplines.

Vice President Humiston provided an update on the state budget, COVID-19 operations, a new virtual tour of the research and extension centers, and the “Hub for Urban Living Design Workshop” that was held on May 18. She also discussed the new, optional, monthly PAC discussion sessions on emerging issues that began in May and commended Jim Farrar, Statewide IPM Program director, and Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty, Statewide 4-H Youth Development Program director, for their presentations at the first two sessions. Anne Megaro, government and community relations director, and PAC member Don Bransford reported on the activities of the Outreach and Advocacy and Funds Development committees. Deans Michael Lairmore, Helene Dillard and David Ackerly shared updates on key campus happenings.

Commissioners participated in breakout discussions to generate ideas about how UC ANR could make a greater impact in each of President Drake's priority topic areas. President Drake joined the meeting after lunch to hear presentations from commissioners that were informed by the breakout sessions:

• Sharon Nance, assistant state conservationist at the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service discussed social/environmental justice
• Mary-Ann Warmerdam, deputy controller, environmental policy at the State Controller's Office discussed public health and economic impacts of the pandemic
• Rodger Wasson, owner and president of Wasson & Associates, discussed climate change and agriculture

L&D: Lessons from the pandemic, Activiti, Principles of Community, Leadership in the City

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

ANR Learning & Development Webpage
Past webinar recordings

EXTENSION DELIVERY

Virtual Summer School with National Association of Extension Programs (NAEPSDP)
Moving Extension Forward: 
July 12 - 16
Noon – 1 p.m. (PDT)

Click here to register.

All Extension professionals are invited to join us for this informative webinar series on where Extension goes from here. We will examine how Extension was able to respond to the challenges posed during the pandemic and how we will take those lessons and strategies into the future. *All session recordings will be housed on the NAEPSDP Webinar Archives Page at https://naepsdp.org/Webinar-Archive.

Engaging Your Community to Strengthen Farm and Farm Family Risk and Resilience Interactive Workshop
July 12 and 26, 2021
11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Click here to register.

The second of three professional development workshops available for Extension professionals on Engaging Strategically to Build Farm and Family Resilience. In these workshops, you and your team will increase your understanding of how to integrate theory-based risk and resilience concepts into programming, develop confidence to engage community members in building resilience of farms and farm families, and create a plan of action for incorporating risk and resilience and community engagement. Offered by the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension and University of Maryland Extension, supported by the Extension Foundation through a USDA-NIFA New Technologies in Agriculture Extension grant.

During this session you will:

• Learn how to frame problems inclusively,
• Identify strategies to make impact at multiple levels (individual, family, community),
• Learn strategies for collaborative engagement and
• Walk away with a draft of the Farm and Farm Family Risk and Resiliency Planning Worksheet that will outline your collaborative solutions that will create change.

Click here to read more.

Innovation Skill-Building Experience (Q3, Session 1)
July 20, 2021, (and July 27, Aug. 3, Aug. 10)

ANR is a member of eXtension. For individuals to participate in Extension Foundation events, please register here.

Do you have a project idea that needs incubation, innovation and ways to get to implementation and impact faster? Are you looking to learn about design thinking and lean experimentation combined with Cooperative Extension's best practices for solving important community issues? Are you interested in becoming an Innovation Facilitator/Coach for future Impact Collaborative events and to support your institution's teams and teams across the nation? Are you already an Innovation Facilitator or a team member who would like a refresher on the Innovation Skill-Building process? If you answered yes, to any of these questions then join us to explore the Impact Collaborative's Innovation Skill-building experience in a whole new way: The ISBE will meet via Zoom for four sessions covering specific ISBE building blocks to spark ideas, increase innovation, and turbocharge implementation to ultimately create local impact. Click here to read more.

Image by ar130405 from Pixabay

BUILDING SUPPORT

Using our new ANR program activities to route our C&G Forms “800“ and Advance Account Request
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Introduction and training on the new Activiti system. Kathleen Nolan and Kendra Rose will go through the program and show how to use it for the C&G Form 800 and the C&G Form Advanced Account Request.  

Zoom: https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/751701428?pwd=Q1ZrbUtoQVJwMXJVRkQydUlwNytJQT09
Password: 4Learning | +1 669 900 6833 | Webinar ID: 751 701 428

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION

Inclusive Instructional Design (LinkedIn Learning)
Click here for course.
Does the training you create really reflect your audience? Have you considered someone's geographical location, learning preference, or accommodation needs? These types of questions should be core to the instructional design process. In this course, learn how to make sure your training is inclusive by considering everything from your graphics to the subject matter experts (SMEs) you select. Request your LinkedIn Learning account by contacting ANR It at help@ucanr.edu.

Image by Here and now, unfortunately, ends my journey on Pixabay from Pixabay.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Resource at UC Davis
To learn more about your part in DEI practice and developing an inclusive and equitable ANR and community, refer to the learning resources on the UC Davis DEI page here.

OFFICE, TEAM and PERSONAL MANAGEMENT

Giving Life to the ANR Principles of Community 
Thursday, July 15, 2021
Noon-12:30 pm

Join your colleagues to brainstorm the behaviors that breathe life into our ANR Principles of Community.

It will be a fun collaborative session. We'll use a 15-minute breakout session and a collaborative platform tool to share the behaviors we have done or should do to embrace these principles.

• Ensure open communication
• Work together to achieve common goals and mutual understandings
• Value the contribution and worth of all members
• Appreciate and celebrate differences and diversity
• Foster a sense of belonging and emotional safety
• Practice mutual respect
• Demonstrate ethics and integrity
• Invest in all members
• Recognize that all members are important

The second half we will review the board and discuss. Then these behaviors will be conveyed into a document that we can use for future discussions. --> And if you're inspired by this WebANR, perhaps you'd like to contribute to an ANR Principles of Community video montage. More on that to come!

Zoom Meeting (not Webinar): https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/5307501239?pwd=WDI3U2g5cXRvWUhVUlY3MitJWkVVUT09
Meeting ID: 530 750 1239 Phone +1 669 900 6833 US
Password: 4Collab

Leadership in the City
Click for more information and registration details.
Leadership in the City is a professional development program for Extension professionals working in urban areas who aim to be locally relevant, responsive statewide, and recognized nationally. 

In the first four years of the program, 103 Extension professionals from 31 states have participated. Here's what some of your peers had to say:

• “Thought-provoking and a good way to learn about what others are working on across the country.”
• “The course went beyond giving content, to encouraging critical thinking and application.”
• “Completing the course has pushed me to explore my inner self to look deep into how I can be a better leader and how to be a more inclusive leader.”
• “I appreciated the vast number of resources that were shared. A great investment.”

This online professional development program will help you learn about leadership, networks, innovation, marketing, management and more. The program is based on a foundation of entrepreneurial theory and urban Extension practice and will build upon existing leadership experiences, management training, and Extension professional development.

You will learn from experienced leaders; apply what you learn in your city, region, or state; engage in critical thinking and creative problem solving; and participate in online learning. The final session of the course will be held in conjunction with the 2022 National Urban Extension Conference (May 23-26) in New Jersey.

The investment in the program is $500 plus a commitment to work hard and have fun investing approximately 8 hours per month. The five-month online course begins in January 2022. If you have multiple participants from the same institute, you are each entitled to a $100 discount (Discount code: LITC22-MULT).

This course is led by Julie Fox from the Ohio State University Extension. Course manager Michelle Gaston.

Complete details and registration can be found at go.osu.edu/urbanleadership. The deadline for registration is Nov. 19, 2021. 

Burnout - (Part of the UC Davis Resilience Series)
July 8, 2021
12 – 1 p.m.

Click here to register.

Burnout is not a personal failing nor a badge of honor. It is an "occupational phenomenon" recently (but actually before COVID) added to the World Health Organization classification of diseases.  It is defined as a syndrome of exhaustion, cynicism and inefficacy. The tagline for the presentation is "Why are we so Exhausted?" The presentation explores the neurobiology behind our demanding new ways of working and explains that sense of depletion, negative feelings about work and increased difficulty with motivation. We explore scientific data to see why videoconferencing is so draining, the effects of (normally helpful) brain short cuts called cognitive associations and some common feelings we are seeing across the workforce today. Presenter: Sandy Batchelor, WorkLife. Click here to read more and see other dates/topics.

Self-compassion Quiz 
When you're struggling, are you your own worst critic? Take the Berkeley Greater Good Science Center Quiz

New Employee Administrative Orientation
Tuesday & Wednesday, August 17 & 18, 2021
9 a.m. – Noon
Click here to register.

Learn about ANR Administrative Units and Statewide Programs and Institutes!

Who should attend: All UC ANR Employees (academics, staff and affiliated staff on campuses, counties and RECs) who have not participated in an administrative orientation in the past. Priority will be given to those hired by ANR within the past year. Click here to read more.

Customer Service Foundations (LinkedIn Learning)
Click here for course.

Do your customers feel valued? When they do, they keep coming back. When they don't, your business suffers. In this course, writer and customer service consultant Jeff Toister teaches you the three crucial skill sets needed to deliver outstanding customer service and increase customer loyalty. Request your LinkedIn Learning account by contacting ANR It at help@ucanr.edu.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

Everyone can learn something new
ANR Learning & Development

 

 

 

UC ANR participates in nationwide COVID-19 vaccination education effort

UC ANR is participating in a national Cooperative Extension partnership with Extension Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine education and uptake called Extension Collaborative on Immunization Teaching and Engagement (EXCITE). The CDC recognizes that Extension's position as a trusted partner in communities can help address hesitancy around COVID-19 vaccines and other adult immunizations. As part of this effort, UC ANR's Program Planning and Evaluation unit worked with UCCE county offices and statewide programs/institutes to collect baseline activity around COVID-19 vaccine outreach and education across UC ANR's programs to share with our national partners.

Here are some of the things the team learned:

• UC ANR's vaccine education and promotion efforts occurred in at least 15 counties;  
• Vaccine education was included in a unique 4-H statewide project, the 4-H Disease Detectives Project; see their UC Delivers blog; 
• UC ANR reached approximately 18,545 individuals through in-person, virtual, email, direct mailing, or social media posts that extended vaccine education and referral to sites;
• County offices partnered with at least eight different vaccine sites on promotion and referral activities. Two counties hosted vaccine sites through their offices (kudos to San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz!). 

UC ANR leadership applauds these efforts that demonstrate the organization's ingenuity and commitment to public health.

If you or your office are conducting new or ongoing activities on vaccination outreach and education, please email leyla.marandi@ucop.edu.We would love to share your work with our EXCITE Collaborative partners!

The News and Information Outreach in Spanish (NOS) team also received funding from the EXCITE program to promote vaccination in Spanish-speaking and indigenous communities and is working with Marcel Horowitz, UCCE healthy youth, families and communities advisor for the Capitol Corridor, and UC San Diego microbiologist Fabian Rivera to develop the campaign messaging and materials.  

Read more