Posts Tagged: February 2017

Apply to become the next staff advisor to UC Regents

Staff across the UC system who are interested in public policy, advocacy and the future direction of the university are encouraged to apply to become the next staff advisor to the UC Regents. The application period is now open through March 10.

Staff advisors are staff or non-Senate academic employees who bring the employee voice and perspective to UC Board of Regents deliberations and to decision-makers at the Office of the President. Staff advisors participate in open sessions and designated committees of the board.

Each of the two staff advisors serves two years. The terms are staggered, with one new staff advisor selected each year. The term for the staff advisor position that is open for applications runs from July 2017 to June 2019.

You are eligible to serve in this role if you:

• Are a staff or non-Senate academic employee. The seat is open to both non-represented and represented employees.
• Have at least five years of UC service

The current staff advisors are LaWana Richmond, a business analyst at UC San Diego, whose term expires in June, and Jason Valdry, a director of technology at UC Irvine, whose term expires in June 2018.

You can learn more about the program and how to apply by March 10 on the staff advisor website.

If you have questions about the staff advisor position or the application process, contact Juliann Martinez, UC Office of the President Employee Relations, at (510) 287-3331 or Juliann.Martinez@ucop.edu.

More about the staff advisors to the Regents

A continuing goal of the UC Regents is to foster two-way communication between UC staff and the board.

In January 2007, the Regents voted unanimously to establish positions for two staff advisors to participate in their deliberative process and to provide a staff perspective on matters coming before the board.

One new staff advisor is selected each year for a two-year term. The staff advisors serve as non-voting advisors to designated Regents' committees; they attend and participate directly in committee and board meetings throughout their term of service, and visit many of the campuses to solicit input from staff.

Nominations open for Excellence in Extension and Diversity awards

The 2017 nomination process for the national Excellence in Extension and Diversity awards has been announced by the Extension Committee on Organization & Policy (ECOP) and USDA-NIFA. The due date for online nominations is May 1, 2017, at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

For details and to access the worksheets and online nomination forms go to http://www.aplu.org/CESawards.

When completing a nomination for Excellence in Extension Award, please note that there are some changes to the criteria. Nominations from previous years that were not selected are encouraged to reapply for the national awards. Questions can be directed to Sandy Ruble, ECOP program assistant, at sandyruble@extension.org.

UC Delivers provides opportunity to share impact of your work

 

UC Delivers, a collection of stories showing how ANR is making a difference for Californians, is a great option to consider when relaying the impact of your work. Once a story is posted to the website it is converted to a one-page PDF, shared with ANR senior management and posted to the federal impacts website for land-grant universities at https://landgrantimpacts.tamu.edu.

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. You can view the 2015 Federal Report Snapshot at http://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/files/253625.pdf for a glimpse 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 consider additional creative ways to share your work using UC Delivers. For example, Andra Nicoli from the UC CalFresh state office brought UC Delivers stories to the California SNAP-Ed Local Implementing Agency Forum to distribute as handouts, and included payoffs from the stories on a display board to show off her unit's work.

“I love UC Delivers because it is a quick way for policymakers and stakeholders to understand the context of an issue and the expertise the UC can leverage as problem-solvers and collaborators,” said Nicoli.  

To submit an article to UC Delivers, go to your ANR Portal page and click on “Add a New Story” under UC Delivers.  Program Planning and Evaluation (PP&E) has streamlined the editing process with the goal of posting stories two to four weeks after you submit them. 

Jennifer Caron-Sale will review content and work 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. Additionally, if you completed an ANR Competitive Grant Final Report in 2016 or 2017, she will reach out to you to initiate the editing process for a public-oriented version of the summary that you include in your report.

If you have questions about UC Delivers, please contact Caron-Sale at jennifer.caron-sale@ucop.edu or (510) 987-0214. She looks forward to receiving and posting stories in 2017 that represent all five Strategic Initiatives.

Nominate staff for ANR STAR awards

Nominations are being accepted for the ANR Staff Appreciation and Recognition (STAR) program for the fiscal year 2016-17.

The STAR program is your opportunity to celebrate and reward the great contributions of ANR's people.

The program provides 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.  

ANR staff in PSS and MSP titles, as well as members of the Clerical Unit (CX), are eligible to be nominated for cash awards. Nomination forms and program guidelines are attached. To simplify the process, we've streamlined the nomination form.

Send your nominations to humanresources@ucanr.edu. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 31. 

The purpose of the STAR program is to recognize and reward outstanding staff individual and team performance within Agriculture and Natural Resources. Recipients receive cash awards as well as recognition.

Under the STAR plan, managers can recognize, acknowledge and reward staff employees for exceptional performance or significant contributions related to and supportive of individual, departmental, divisional or organizational goals and objectives.

To nominate a colleague, read the STAR award guidelines and restrictions and download the nomination form.

STAR Awards will be celebrated during an ANR recognition event at the Second Street building in Davis. 

 

 

 

UC ANR resources address sexual violence and sexual harassment

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources is committed to creating and maintaining a community where all individuals who are employed or participate in University programs and activities can work and learn together in an atmosphere free of violence, harassment, discrimination, exploitation or intimidation.

Our commitment includes complying with Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities operated by recipients of federal financial assistance. Sexual harassment and sexual violence are forms of sex discrimination prohibited by Title IX.

To fulfill its obligations under Title IX and other related state and federal laws, including the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA), which amended the Clery Act, effective January 1, 2016, the University implemented an updated Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy. The updated policy outlines the University's procedures for responding promptly and effectively to reports of prohibited conduct such as sexual harassment and sexual violence, which includes sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking and gender-based harassment. The policy prohibits retaliation against a person for the good-faith reporting of any of these forms of conduct or participating in any related investigation or proceeding. The University of California systemwide Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment is available online at http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000385/SVSH.

UC ANR's local procedures have been added to the Administrative Handbook and are available at http://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/files/255148.pdf on page 5. The procedures for reporting incidents are also located on UC ANR's Discrimination and Sexual Violence Prevention website under Reporting Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment.

To further support the UC ANR community, we recently expanded our resources by adding the UC Davis Center for Advocacy Resources and Education(CARE). CARE is the Advocacy Office for Sexual and Gender-based Violence and Sexual Misconduct, and it serves as a confidential resource for UC ANR staff and academics, as well as students, who have experienced any form of sexual violence, including sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic/dating violence and stalking. CARE provides 24/7 emergency response, crisis intervention and support services for survivors.

All UC employees (except those specifically identified and designated as confidential employees) are required to notify the Title IX Officer if they receive information from a student about a possible incident of sexual violence or sexual harassment. CARE and the UC Davis Academic and Staff Assistance Program (ASAP) can offer confidential consultations without reporting the incident to the Title IX Officer.

Any member of the UC ANR community may report conduct that may constitute sexual violence, sexual harassment, retaliation and other prohibited behavior by contacting the UC ANR Title IX Officer, John Sims, or another Responsible Employee. A Responsible Employee in UC ANR who receives a report alleging sexual violence or sexual harassment must promptly notify the UC ANR Title IX Officer even if the individual making the report requests that no action be taken. Responsible Employees include academic appointees, all personnel of the UC ANR Human Resources Office and directors, managers and supervisors.

Anyone who is aware of an act or acts of violence can anonymously report the incident by reporting the incident to The UC Whistleblower hotline at http://www.ucop.edu/uc-whistleblower or (800) 403-4744.

The University will respond promptly and effectively to any report of harassment and discrimination and will take appropriate action to prevent, correct and, when necessary, discipline behavior that violates University policy.

Creating an atmosphere free of violence, harassment and discrimination for everyone to work and learn is a responsibility that we all share. Thank you for helping maintain a safe and comfortable community for UC ANR members and stakeholders.

For more information, please visit UC ANR's Discrimination and Sexual Violence Prevention website at http://ucanr.edu/sites/DiscriminationSexual_Violence.

 

 

 

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