Posts Tagged: Staff Assembly

UC ANR staff: Snack healthy on Aug. 29 and win a prize for your office

The UC ANR Staff Assembly's new Wellness Committee is sponsoring its first activity on Healthy Snack Day, Aug. 29. Healthy Snack Day is a statewide day of action led by the Champions for Change Program of the California Department of Public Health.

Many UC Cooperative Extension food educators are planning activities with their clientele Aug. 29 to promote the benefits of eating nutritious foods at snack time, and the Wellness Committee is bringing the celebration to UC ANR staff by sponsoring a healthy competition.

The Wellness Committee has asked UC ANR Staff Assembly Ambassadors to coordinate a breaktime healthy snack event at their local facilities. All staff can share their snacks on social media using the hashtag #SnackHealthyUCANR. To win, each ambassador can submit his or her location's best photo. The Wellness Committee will select a winner to receive a dispenser for infused water for the facility.

Find out who your staff assembly ambassador is by visiting the UC ANR Staff Assembly website.

Members of the UC ANR Staff Assembly Wellness Committee are:

• Jeannette Warnert, chair
• Austin Cantrell
• Michelle Hammer Coffer
• Kaela Plank
• Alyssa Rodriguez
• Anne Schellman
• Shawnice Sellers
• Wylie Skillman
• Leah Sourbeer
• Christopher Gomez Wong

Staff Assembly offers scholarships

The UC ANR Staff Assembly has established a scholarship program that is available to all UC ANR staff employees and county-paid employees. The scholarship provides financial assistance to UC ANR staff to pursue career interests, develop new career paths, and address knowledge or skill gaps needed to reach professional development goals.

Scholarships may be used for

• Courses/tuition/registration fee for required certification(s).
• Courses/tuition/registration required for degree attainment if related to current position or career development.
• Registration fees for seminars and workshops (excluding travel).
• Books and materials for career development (as required by selected course/workshop etc.).

Up to $499 is available, depending on the amount of eligible applications received. Only successfully completed training activities will be approved. Applicants must provide proof of completion with a passing grade for courses or seminars.

This year's award dates are for courses taken between April 16, 2018, and Oct. 31, 2018. Deadline for applications is close of business Oct. 31, 2018.

For more information and the application form, visit http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu/Scholarships.

Scholarship recipients

During the last cycle, Staff Assembly doubled the number of scholarship awards offered – six people received scholarship reimbursements, ranging from $494-$499 each. The recipients were:

• Christina Becker, lab asst. 3, Nutrition Policy Institute
• Lea Corkidi, staff research associate 2, UCCE San Diego     
• Ria Debiase, Pest Management Guidelines coordinator, IPM Statewide Program
• Jerry Harris, administrative services officer, UCCE San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara
• Kim Ingram, HR analyst III, Academic Human Resources
• Rhett Woerly, facilities management specialist 3, UC ANR Facilities Planning and Management            

Here is what the scholarship recipients are saying about the program:

When Ria Debiase was asked if she would apply for a scholarship again she replied, “Yes. As I will be entering grad school while working as a UC employee, I appreciate any help I can get.”

Lea Corkidi heard about the program at an all-staff meeting in her office. She definitely plans on applying for funds again in the future and absolutely recommends the scholarship program to peers and colleagues!

Rhett Whoerly took courses related to his Construction Management Certificate and also plans on applying for scholarship funds in the future. 

Kim Ingram, who is working on a masters degree in education, adult education and training, says “I was able to apply methods learned in this class to a recent facilitation training I co-lead, and to other process situations I engage in as part of my job.” She said she also recommends this program to others and will apply again in the future.

The Staff Assembly Council and the Scholarship Award sub-committee congratulates all the recipients.

We are so happy to be able to provide these reimbursement scholarships and hope that more employees take advantage of this program.

 

 

UC ANR Staff Assembly offers scholarships for staff

The UC ANR Staff Assembly has established a scholarship program that is available to all UC ANR staff employees and county-paid employees. The scholarship provides financial assistance to UC ANR staff to pursue career interests, develop new career paths, and address knowledge or skill gaps needed to reach professional development goals.

This year's award dates are for courses taken between May 1, 2017, and April 15, 2018. Deadline for applications is close of business April 15, 2018. Late applications will not be accepted. Courses taken after April 15, 2018, will be eligible for reimbursement on the next scholarship cycle of April 16, 2018, to Nov. 30, 2018.  

Scholarship criteria:

• Funding up to $499, dependent on amount of eligible applications received. 
• Training activities must occur between May 1, 2017 and April 15, 2018.
• Scholarship allocation will be considered only for successfully completed training activities. Proof of completion with a passing grade must accompany applications for courses or seminars (i.e. grade report, transcript, certificate, etc.)
• Applications must be submitted by close of business April 15, 2018. Late applications will not be accepted.
• Receipts for all eligible expenses are required for reimbursement and must be submitted with application.
• Applications received incomplete or without required documentation will not be considered.
• The UC ANR Staff Assembly Council will review applications within 30 days of application close date. Award recipients will be notified within 60 days and receive reimbursement checks when notified.

For more information, please visit the Staff Assembly website http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu/Scholarships.

Nominations open for staff assembly leadership

The staff assembly is seeking volunteers interested in serving a leadership role within the staff assembly on the Staff Assembly Council. This is an exciting opportunity for senior and junior staff to engage senior leadership, expand their network, and help to improve the working experience for fellow staff members. 

The Staff Assembly Council currently consists of a chair, a vice chair/treasurer, a scribe, a program chair, a senior Council of University of California Staff Assemblies (CUCSA) delegate and a junior CUCSA delegate. 

ANR staff members are being sought to serve in the posts of junior CUCSA delegate, vice chair, program chair (s) and scribe. Candidates can be self-nominated or nominated by someone else.

Matt Baur is currently chairing the nominating committee, which conducts the elections and will communicate the results of the elections at the Staff Assembly Networking function at the ANR Statewide meeting in Ontario in April. In addition to Baur, the nominating committee includes two UC ANR Staff Assembly members at large. 

Nominations for positions on the Staff Assembly Council will take place from March 1 through March 9. Voting will be by survey and will take place March 19 through March 30. 

The duties of the positions can be found on the Staff Assembly website http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu under the “Bylaws” tab. In short, the vice chair/treasurer drafts annual budgets, the scribe takes meeting minutes, program chair develops programs and meetings, and the Junior CUCSA representative attends quarterly CUCSA meetings and participates in CUCSA workgroups.  All members of the council assist with committee responsibilities and committee assignments as needed. The council meets monthly by zoom and has in-person meetings once or twice a year.

If you have additional questions, please contact your local staff assembly ambassador.

 

Recording of staff engagement survey results discussion available

Human Resources and Staff Assembly hosted an online town hall with Vice President Glenda Humiston to discuss ANR's results of the staff engagement survey on Feb. 6. The discussion focused on three main areas raised in the survey: change management, performance management and wellness.

If you missed the town hall, a video recording of the Zoom meeting is available at https://ucanr.zoom.us/recording/play/gL9SQUszO9DdC-P-Ec7HHusAJC5RLuRbDgcN2Qt__VBccf6cR0FZ-BJ-T8cs47u3.

To hear only the audio, visit https://ucanr.zoom.us/recording/play/ikr3TuSmSXNFMbv4snPwcDWtOYjOCu5Jt8uEPNqbUzBq32NaiVyO7pvXavceuLP-.

Both links display an autogenerated transcript of the audio, but the transcript is not a reliable representation of the discussion. For example, John Fox's introductory statement was transcribed as “I'm joined here in the room and Davis by Pam con rise from Strategic Communications Christina Adam sinned from IBM is also One of the leaders of our staff assembly group shame and guilt from HR, who's also in staff assembly as a junior delegate to the cook. So organization and our Vice President going to Houston.”

What Fox actually said was, “I'm joined here in the room in Davis by Pam Kan-Rice from Strategic Communications; Christina Adamson from IPM, who's also one of the leaders of our staff assembly group; LeChe McGill from HR, who's also in staff assembly as a junior delegate to the CUCSA organization; and our Vice President Glenda Humiston.”

The staff engagement survey results and a recording of the Dec. 13, 2017, ANR Engagement Survey orientation webinar are available at http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu under the CUCSA tab. 

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