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Posts Tagged: Bill Frost
Working at UC ANR a family affair for Bill Frost and Cherie McDougald
McDougald was director of the Business Operations Center at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier. Before joining UC ANR, she worked for UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine for nine years. Over the 26 years she worked for UC ANR, McDougald built a reputation for deftly navigating UC policies to help county-based UC Cooperative Extension employees get things done properly and efficiently.
“A veteran of many ANR organizational re-engineering and structural reorganizations, Cherie is my go-to person on the Administrative Review Council, working through complex business operations issues and implementing solutions,” said Tu Tran, UC ANR associate vice president for business operations.
Frost joined UC ANR in 1994 as a UC Cooperative Extension advisor in natural resources working in El Dorado, Amador and Calaveras counties, where he applied his expertise to issues relating to agriculture or natural resources in the central Sierra Nevada.
“He made major contributions in establishing Agricultural Districts in the County Land Use Plan for El Dorado County,” said Leisz, who worked with him on county issues. “That required we review all of the soils and develop criteria for suitability for commercial agriculture. We examined areas thought to be suitable and produced the guidelines for classification. Thousands of acres were identified and accepted by the County. There were challenges but the selection criteria and mapping were accepted and are in place today. Bill was a leader in that effort.”
Through his research and work with ranchers, Frost improved rangeland management and resource monitoring on the watersheds of the East Bay Municipal Utilities District lands, National Forest System lands, as well as on many private ranches.
“Bill authored a number of the agricultural elements for the General Plan, appeared before the Board of Supervisors and became a respected leader in both agriculture and natural resource elements in the General Plan,” Leisz said. “He provided guidance for the future and always acted in a professional way.”
“As associate vice president, Bill has been instrumental in transforming ANR's processes to include more stakeholder input for selecting research projects to fund and for prioritizing Cooperative Extension positions for recruitment,” said Glenda Humiston, UC vice president for agriculture and natural resources.
Frost earned his doctorate in range management from the University of Arizona and bachelor's and master's degrees in range science from UC Davis. Before joining the University of California, he was a University of Arizona Cooperative Extension agent and director in Gila County from 1991 to 1994. Prior to moving to Arizona, he worked for the California Agricultural Technology Institute at California State University, Fresno, as a postdoctoral research fellow, research associate and a rangeland resources specialist and director of the San Joaquin Experimental Range.
“It's the personal connections that are the strength of Cooperative Extension, I think, the relationships that we form over time and continue to nurture our programs,” Frost said. “I couldn't have done the things I've accomplished without the support of a lot of people.”
May 5 deadline to submit 2016 Cooperative Extension position proposals
Colleagues,
The 2016 Call for CE Positions was released January 12, 2016. The position-proposal submittal phase is scheduled to close May 5 at 5 pm. In some earlier materials, the deadline was indicated to be May 2; however, we are now confirming that the deadline is May 5.The position development phase has been open for the past several months, designed to allow as much time as possible for internal consultation and discussions with ANR stakeholders in all program areas.
The program area/unit review phase is May 5 - August 1, 2016. During this time, the Programs Teams, the ANR-affiliated colleges and professional school, and the regional groups of County/Multi-county Directors and Research and Extension Center Directors will conduct reviews, by doing the following for the proposals under their purview: 1) rate (high, medium, “this can wait”); 2) prioritize their highly rated positions (up to 5); and 3) provide concise rationale.
The approved submitters are the Program Team Leaders, the Executive Associate Deans, and the one person from each of the regional groups. These submitters will be provided a reviewer orientation in early May, and the presentation will be posted on the position call webpage afterwards. The public comment period remains open until July 11, 2016.
Submitted CE position proposals can be viewed on thecall web page http://ucanr.edu/2016callforpositions. Click the proposal title link to see the description. In addition, the full call, including the updated position proposal template as well as the process flowchart timeline and criteria documents are posted as well.
Filling critical academic positions remains a top priority for ANR. Over the past several years, more than 90 CE advisors and CE specialists have been hired, and there are 45 more recruitments approved. New 2016 position proposals should identify additional crucial positions.
Sincerely,
Bill Frost
Associate Vice President
Humiston meets ANR clientele in SB-SLO counties
VP Glenda Humiston visited UC Cooperative Extension staff in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties in January. During her visit, she met with several cooperators, including a blackberry farmer, a vegetable grower and community members who work with youth, families and community development.
UC ANR's 2015 competitive grants program funds 17 projects
I am pleased to announce that VP Glenda Humiston has approved funding 17 projects for UC ANR's 2015 Competitive Grants Program, for a total of $3.7 million over 5 years. The awards range from approximately $50,000 to $450,000. This is comparable to past years' awards. UC ANR awarded $4.46 million supporting 21 projects in 2011, $3.8 million supporting 16 projects in 2012, and $3.5 million supporting 15 projects in 2013. After four grant cycles, the Division has approved funding for 69 projects totaling an investment of $15,464,934. To view the 2015 list of approved projects, please visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRUpdate/files/227066.pdf.
As you may recall, in 2014, the Division did not release a call for ANR's internal competitive grants program in order to conduct a formative assessment to determine if the program's intended results were being reached or if there were plans in place to achieve appropriate outcomes. As a result, applicants this year were required to address strategic initiative priority issue areas to better facilitate the identification and measurement of efforts and impacts.
Key highlights from 2011-2013:
- 229 UC ANR-affiliated faculty and staff — AES, CE Specialists, CE Advisors, and Academic Administrators and Coordinators — have participated in the grants program.
- 95 UC students (56 graduate and 39 undergraduate) have participated in grants.
- 27 early-career UC ANR-affiliated faculty are supported by the grants program (early career is defined as 6 years or less in their current appointment).
- 228 people have served as collaborators, many of them on more than one project.
- 65 non-UC ANR-affiliated agencies/partners have collaborated on UC ANR grants (e.g. USDA, CDFA, nonprofits, non-UC universities, among others).
UC ANR's internal competitive grants program continues to support high-priority issues that are consistent with the Strategic Vision, encourage collaboration among academics, strengthen the research-extension network, support short-term, high-impact projects and contribute policy-relevant outcomes that address significant agricultural, economic, environmental and social issues in California.
With UC ANR's Strategic Vision as our guide, we are focusing our resources where there is an opportunity to demonstrate impact, inform public policymaking and attract new resources to support all elements of UC ANR. In doing so, we strive to achieve the greatest benefit for Californians with our investment. Please join me in congratulating this year's recipients of UC ANR competitive grants.
Sincerely,
Bill Frost
Associate Vice President
UCCE advisors and specialists invited to Extension Showcase Nov. 19
The Graduate Students in Extension invite all UC Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists to an Extension Showcase on Nov. 19 at UC Berkeley. The aim is to connect graduate students who are interested in working for UCCE with UCCE academics who are interested in mentoring them. The event will be held in 103 Mulford Hall from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Bill Frost, associate vice president, will kick off the event. UCCE academics are invited to give a lightning talk on their work or prospective research and to meet with interested students.
Advisors and specialists from all disciplines are welcome to participate regardless of whether they have an appropriate 3- to 12-month project in mind or are simply interested in getting involved. Talks will be followed by topic-specific breakout sessions and a happy hour at 5 p.m.
GSE program
The Graduate Students in Extension pilot program at UC Berkeley facilitates Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists to mentor current graduate students to conduct applied research and develop extension products. The three-year program, now in its final year, is intended to train graduate students for careers in extension research and outreach. This is also a great way for advisors and specialists to receive research assistance at a quarter of the price of a normal Graduate Student Researcher!
Students work with UCCE personnel on projects and products for a summer, one or two semesters or a full calendar year. To support the student, ANR provides 50%, UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources provides 25%, and CE advisor/specialist or other mentors are responsible for the remaining 25% (For details on the funding structure please refer to this year's Request for Applications on the GSE website). However, if a UCCE advisor does not have funds to cover 25%, there is an opportunity this year for advisors to apply for funds that will cover this portion.
The GSE program is available to graduate students in all departments within the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley, which includes students in Environmental Science Policy & Management (ESPM), the Energy & Resources Group (ERG), Nutritional Science & Toxicology (NST), Agricultural Resources & Economics (ARE) and Plant Microbiology (PMB).
Getting involved
To RSVP for the Extension Showcase, please email Matthew Shapero at matthewshapero@berkeley.edu by Nov. 6. If you are unable to attend the Nov. 19 showcase but would like to connect with students, please send a paragraph to matthewshapero@berkeley.edu describing your work and potential research so it can be included in the literature for the event.
Travel support may be available for CE advisors and specialists to travel to Berkeley for the event. In your RSVP, please note if you need travel support.
As the pilot program comes to a close, the GSE steering committee will conduct a formative assessment to propose continuation and model changes of the program to Frost. For more information about the Graduate Students in Extension pilot program, visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/GGCE or contact Vanessa Murua at Vanessa.murua@ucop.edu.
