Posts Tagged: personnel

Obrist named Vice Provost – Academic Personnel

I am thrilled to announce that Daniel Obrist will be joining UC ANR on Aug. 15, 2022, as the Vice Provost – Academic Personnel. Daniel will initially hold a 50% appointment through the end of 2022 before assuming the role full time on Jan. 1, 2023.

Currently, Obrist is a professor and the chairperson of the Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. His academic and educational background includes ecology and ecosystem science, hydrogeology, atmospheric and environmental sciences, and soil science. He has published over 85 peer-reviewed publications including in high-impact scientific journals such as Nature, Nature Geoscience, Nature Reviews, and PNAS, and has a strong record of extramural research funding. Obrist has given more than 230 conference and seminar presentations.

Obrist is excited to begin working with UC ANR.

“I am excited to contribute to the important mission of UC ANR to bring research and knowledge generated by the UC system to the people of California,” he said. “In my role, I will strive to support academic personnel at UC ANR and help recruit additional outstanding scientists to further ANR's mission. As I said during my interviews, a guiding principle of mine is to further sustainability and protect natural resources, and I am committed to supporting Californians in adapting to a fast-changing environment.”

Please join me in welcoming Daniel Obrist!

Wendy Powers
Associate Vice President

Staff employee ePerformance evaluation training now online

Staff employees who weren't able to attend the Staff Performance Evaluations webinar on Tuesday may view the slide deck and recorded presentation, which are now posted on the Performance Management website.

The timeline includes links to the March 8 webinar and slide deck: https://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRSPU/Supervisor_Resources/Performance_Management/.

Career and contract employees with more than 6 months of service should complete their self-evaluation by March 25. Please check it out and get started soon!

 

STAR Award nomination deadline extended to Friday, April 17

The deadline to nominate staff for a STAR Award has been extended to 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 17.  This is in response to requests from a number of managers and supervisors whose workload is impacted by the COVID-19 situation and other competing priorities. Please use this extra time to recognize and nominate staff who have achieved great things during the last year, including those who have stepped up during the current emergency. 

The program provides one-time $500 cash awards to eligible staff in recognition of outstanding achievement. Managers may nominate individuals and teams demonstrating exceptional performance, creativity, organizational abilities, work success and teamwork.  

Policy-covered ANR staff and members of the Clerical Unit (CX) are eligible to be nominated for STAR awards. Staff in other collective bargaining units, academics and members of the Senior Management Group are not eligible to receive STAR awards.

Nomination forms and program guidelines are available on the UC ANR Human Resources website. 

Send your nominations via e-mail to humanresources@ucanr.edu by Friday, April 17, 2020.

STAR Award winners will be celebrated during an ANR recognition event on June 18, 2020, even if it's a “virtual” Zoom event.

 

End of academic review period sparks conversations about streamlining paperwork

We are now just one week from of the end of the current review period for UC ANR academics. I know many of you have confirmed your intended salary advancement action for the review period. Whether you intend to seek a salary advancement action or prepare an annual evaluation, you have likely noticed that a few of our trainings on those topics have been postponed.

The postponement is due to efforts underway to make document preparation for all actions less time consuming, regardless of your planned action. At the request of AVP Powers, the Academic Assembly Council Personnel Committee and the 2019 Peer Review Committee are working together to develop recommendations to greatly streamline and improve those processes. Following AVP Powers' review and decision, training dates will be established. All trainings will to take place this fall.

Many of our UC ANR academics say report that they spend over a month preparing their merit and promotion documents and that the current process can be quite stressful. Annual evaluation documents take almost as much time to compile. While the merit and promotion process is important, what's most important is that one's document provide the opportunity for an academic to share their accomplishments and contributions to UC ANR as well as their community, and their profession. The review process does is supposed to help evaluate one's work; it's not supposed to get in the way of an academic actually conducting their work. Similarly, the purpose of the annual evaluation is to guide activities towards achievement of an academic's stated goals without taking so much time that the process itself impedes success.

As we finalize enhancements to the document preparation guidelines that reflect the needed improvements recommended by many of you, I want to share the results of the 2019 merit and promotion review process. Case numbers vary from year to year, as do success rates; however, what we strive to ensure does not change is the rigor and high expectations we ask of our UC ANR academics. Because of this, our UC ANR academics not only progress well throughout their career but they are highly respected throughout the nation and in many sectors.

The message I want to leave you with is that we are committed to ensuring that paperwork and evaluations do not get in the way of the important work research and extension you do. The mission we serve and the work you contribute toward that is where we need to focus our energy. As always, many thanks for all the great work you do!

The following table provides a comparison of Program Review Outcomes over the past 5 years.

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

View or leave comments for ANR Leadership at http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRUpdate/Comments.

This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.

 

Employee comment sought on academic freedom, responsibilities of non-faculty academics

The University invites comments on a proposed new Academic Personnel Manual Section 011 (APM - 011), Academic Freedom, Protection of Professional Standards, and Responsibilities of Non-faculty Academic Appointees.

Currently, APM - 010 (Academic Freedom) defines academic freedom as it pertains to faculty and defines the freedom of scholarly inquiry for students, as it derives from the faculty's academic freedom. APM - 015 (The Faculty Code of Conduct) defines the corresponding responsibilities as it pertains to faculty only. Although APM - 010 states that it is not intended to “diminish the rights and responsibilities enjoyed by other academic appointees,” APM - 010 and APM - 015 do not address how these concepts apply or do not apply to non-faculty academic appointees. The proposed new policy is intended to address the academic privileges, rights, obligations and responsibilities of non-faculty academic appointees.

The proposed new APM - 011, Academic Freedom, Protection of Professional Standards, and Responsibilities of Non-Faculty Academic Appointees, is posted at https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/academic-personnel-policy/policies-under-review/apm-011.html.

If you have any questions or if you wish to comment, please contact Robin Sanchez at rgsanchez@ucanr.edu, no later than July 1, 2019.

 

View or leave comments for ANR Leadership at http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRUpdate/Comments.

This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.

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