Posts Tagged: November 2017

See a sneak preview of UC ANR home page’s refreshed design

You are invited to review the new ucanr.edu design refresh.

Strategic Communications now has a Website Redesign Feedback survey that offers an opportunity for additional input. You'll find links to the proposed designs for desktop, tablet and smart phone. It shows the website interactions and a survey, where you can rate various elements of the website project and offer open-ended comments and ideas, at http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=22172.

Please submit your feedback by Friday, Dec. 1.

Names in the News

Marotta joins UC ANR as program integration coordinator

Megan Marotta joined UC ANR Youth Families and Communities Statewide Program team as a program integration coordinator in July and is working with five statewide programs: Master Gardeners, Master Food Preservers, 4-H Youth Development, UC CalFresh and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Her position, which is new, provides an opportunity to capitalize on the partnerships and programming that already exist in each county.

Marotta brings more than 13 years of experience building partnerships in communities, the last 7 years as a program director for afterschool and summer programs in the Bay Area. She received a BA in psychology from Pepperdine University and a master's degree in organizational leadership from Chapman University.

Marotta is based at the UC ANR building in Davis and can be reached at (530) 750-1225 and mrmarotta@ucanr.edu.

4-H team wins national teamwork award

A multi-state group formed to study 4-H youth retention received the Excellence in Teamwork Award from the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents (NA4-HA). Kendra Lewis, 4-H academic coordinator for evaluation, and JoLynn Miller, 4-H youth development advisor for the Central Sierra Multi-county Partnership, accepted the award on Nov. 16 in Indianapolis at the NA4-HA Annual Conference.

The youth retention study is focused on understanding why youth and families join, drop out or stay in 4-H. By learning about these factors, youth recruitment and retention in 4-H can be improved. Being able to learn about these issues across states has been valuable as 4-H professionals create tools to help mitigate some of the issues learned from the study.

Since 2014, Lewis and Miller have been co-chairs of the group, which also includes UC Cooperative Extension 4-H advisors Marianne Bird, John Borba and Russell Hill, and specialist Kali Trzesniewski.

For California youth and families, the team has already created a New Family Handbook and a Project Leader Checklist to help leaders as they welcome new families. UC ANR is currently partnering with Cooperative Extension staff at University of Idaho, Rutgers University, University of Wyoming and Louisiana State University. 

The team won the California 4-H Association, Western Region of the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents, and National NAE4-HA awards for Excellence in Teamwork.

Blackburn and Lagura win NEAFCS research award

Mary L. Blackburn, nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor, and MaryAnn A. Lagura, early childhood program coordinator, both of UC Cooperative Extension in Alameda County, won first place in the Program Excellence Through Research Award category for their “Preschool Wellness Policy Development,” both in the nation and in the western region in the National Extension Association of Family & Consumer Sciences Annual Awards Program.

In 2017, about 67,000 children in Alameda County participated in California's Child and Adult Care Food Program - Child Care and Adult Care Components. Of that number, about 12,000 (17.93 percent) of these children were at 319 sites operating without wellness policies. The early childhood obesity prevention initiative, funded by the Alameda County Health Department – Nutrition Services, was launched in 2014 to develop wellness policies at 20 preschools with 1,074 children in five cities in Alameda County. Blackburn and Lagura provided guidance and support to develop, approve and adopt policies to promote healthy eating, physical activity, environmental changes and model healthy behaviors. They also evaluated the outcomes.

At the end of the 2017 school year, 18 sites had fully implemented policies. Twelve are entering a third year and six are in the second year of implementation – two sites lost funding. Preliminary evaluations of the overall outcomes found goal achievements by all sites exceeded the total number of priority goals sites selected for the first year by a ratio of 2:1.

The award was presented at the annual NEAFCS Awards Ceremony in Omaha, Neb., on Oct. 18 and 19. 

Gerry earns lifetime achievement award  

Alec Gerry, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and professor in the Department of Entomology at the UC Riverside, received the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award in Veterinary Entomology. 

Gerry's outstanding contributions to animal health and productivity were recognized at the 61st Livestock Insect Workers Conference in Savannah, Ga., in June 2017. He serves as president of the Medical, Urban and Veterinary Entomology Section of the Entomological Society of America.

Last year Gerry was honored as a member of a multi-state research team for “S-1060: Fly Management in Animal Agriculture Systems and Impacts on Animal Health and Food Safety.” The 2016 Experiment Station Section Award for Excellence in Multi-State Research was given by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Cooperative Extension System and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU).

To learn more about Gerry's research, visit http://veterinaryentomology.ucr.edu.

UC ANR shares staff engagement survey results

Last spring, a sampling of non-represented UC ANR staff were asked to complete the biennial Staff Engagement Survey to gauge their impressions about working for the University. The Council of UC Staff Assemblies (CUCSA), in collaboration with Systemwide Human Resources' Employee Relations department, developed the survey with the company Willis Towers Watson. The 2017 survey follows similar surveys conducted in 2013 and 2015. The results have been tabulated, and the UC ANR Staff Assembly and UC ANR Human Resources are preparing to share the results broadly across the division.

All staff and academics are invited to take part in a webinar review of the survey results from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Dec. 13 (additional information and the webinar link will be e-mailed). Vice President Glenda Humiston, ANR Staff Assembly and ANR Human Resources will host a town hall meeting from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on Jan. 16 to discuss the results and ideas for improvement.  

“Reviewing the engagement survey results gives us the opportunity to have open conversations about how people feel about working at UC ANR, and identify ways we can improve,” said John Fox, ANR Human Resources executive director.

At the UC ANR Staff Assembly ambassadors' meeting in October, CUCSA delegates Jeannette Warnert and LeChé McGill presented a preview of the results in three areas that show opportunities for improvement: organizational change, performance management and wellness. After the presentation, the ambassadors broke into groups to suggest ways to improve staff impressions in these areas.

According to the survey, 34 percent of respondents had a favorable impression to the statement, "Generally, recent major organizational changes across the UC system have been planned well.” This is a 2 percentage-point increase from 2015.

The most popular suggestion from the ambassadors for improvement was including staff (particularly those affected by the changes) in the change process. The ambassadors also emphasized the importance of communication about changes, such as information about why changes are being made and how they will be implemented. They also stressed the importance of listening to staff and taking their input seriously.

In the area of performance management, 70 percent of staff surveyed responded favorably to the statement, “I think my performance on the job is evaluated fairly.” However, this was an 8 percentage point drop from the 2015 survey. A significant proportion, 67 percent, had favorable impressions about the statement, "I feel my personal contributions are recognized." A smaller group, 20 percent, responded favorably to "I feel my campus/location does a good job matching pay to performance."

The ambassadors felt strongly that performance management impressions could be improved by helping staff and supervisors develop a better understanding of the new employee-performance-appraisal report rating system. They suggested sharing details about the successes of staff who were rated "transformational," and providing training to staff on their role in the performance appraisal process.

Ambassadors also expressed a concern that there is an assumption among UC ANR managers that staff cannot be rated as "exceptional.”

The 2017 Staff Engagement Survey covered the topic of “wellness” for the first time. Sixty-one percent of UC ANR staff responded favorably to the statement, “My supervisor is supportive of my participation in health or wellness-related initiatives and programs offered at my campus/location.” A similar number, 60 percent, gave favorable responses to the statement, “My organization promotes an environment of physical, mental and social well-being.”

Ambassadors shared a number of ideas for improving this outcome, such as offering discounts for local health clubs/gyms, release time for exercise, exercise awards, structured wellness activities, and support for telecommuting.

For more information on the 2017 UC Staff Engagement Survey, see the UC ANR Staff Assembly website.

Nominate a UC leader for the Bradford Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award

Nominate someone you know for the Bradford Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award.

Every year, the Agricultural Sustainability Institute at UC Davis recognizes an individual from the University of California for their leadership in sustainable agriculture. The award honors individuals exhibiting the leadership, work ethic and integrity epitomized by the late farmer Charlie Rominger and the late UC Davis livestock geneticist Eric Bradford. Awardees demonstrate leadership with a passion for service as they aim to improve the world through their contributions to agriculture.

Help celebrate the work of a UC faculty, staff, Cooperative Extension advisor, student, or alum who helps make California agriculture thrive, now and for future generations.

Nominations are welcome for UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors and specialists as well as UC Davis graduate students, faculty members, and in special cases, alumni, for their work toward agricultural sustainability. Award recipients will receive a cash prize and may be invited to give a lecture sponsored by ASI, which manages the award and selection process.

Nominations are due Jan. 15, 2018. To submit a nomination or for more information about the award, visit http://asi.ucdavis.edu/about/awards-and-scholarships/bradford-rominger-award/nominate.

 

 

UC Delivers highlights impact of UCCE and AES work

To show how ANR is making a difference for Californians, ANR collects impact stories from UC Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station work in UC Delivers. Please help us keep the collection updated by contributing your success stories that include documented or potential impacts.  

Once a story is posted to the website, it is converted to a one-page PDF that is shared with ANR senior leaders and posted to the federal impacts website for land grant universities at https://landgrantimpacts.tamu.edu. At the end of January, the national land-grant impact writing team will be gathering stories from this database to share with members of Congress.

Stories or portions of stories may also be included in the annual federal report that is submitted to our funding partner, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The 2016 Federal Report Snapshot can be viewed at http://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/Divisionwide_Planning to see a sample of research and extension that was included in the report. One-pagers on UC Delivers may also be used to educate county supervisors, legislators, funders and reporters about the impact of ANR activities.

You may find other ways to share your work using UC Delivers.

To submit an article to UC Delivers, go to your ANR Portal page and click on “Add a New Story” under UC Delivers. or if you are AES faculty without access to the portal, you can contact Jennifer Caron-Sale directly for assistance posting a story. Program Planning and Evaluation's editing process is designed to post stories within four weeks after submission.

Caron-Sale, Program Planning and Evaluation policy analyst, reviews content and works with authors to ensure articles are written in lay language, have strong payoffs and conform to ANR's writing style and the UC Delivers template. For academics who have completed an ANR Competitive Grant Final Report in 2017, she will reach out to initiate the editing process for a summary written for the general public. 

If you have questions about UC Delivers, please contact Caron-Sale at jennifer.caron-sale@ucop.edu or (510) 987-0214.

Read more