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4-H & Families
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.
ANR timeline for staff performance appraisals differs from campuses
On March 5, ANR Human Resources launched the 2017-18 Annual Staff Performance Appraisal Process. The UC Davis campus has also announced their annual “call” for staff performance appraisals. Please be aware that ANR has a separate process and timeline. Please do not use the UC Davis online system for submitting Summary of Accomplishments and Employee Performance Appraisals.
It is critical that all units meet the May 14 deadline for submitting proposed overall ratings.
This timeline is subject to change with prior notice:
March 1-23: Employee prepares Summary of Accomplishments. Supervisor option: Employee prepares Self-Assessment using the Performance Appraisal form.
March 23-May 11: Supervisor meets with employee to review Summary of Accomplishments. Supervisor drafts Employee Performance Appraisal. Supervisor confirms agreement on proposed rating with second-level supervisor.
May 14: Proposed overall ratings and draft appraisals due to ANR Human Resources.
May 14-June 1: HR reviews proposed ratings for consistency, and confirms final ratings.
June 1-July 31: Supervisor meets with employee to communicate overall rating.
If you are uncertain about the process, please reach out to your supervisor or contact Mary Vlandis at (530) 750-1321 or maryvlandis@ucanr.edu.
Forms and more information regarding the ANR process are available on the Staff Human Resources webpage http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRSPU/Supervisor_Resources/Performance_Management.
Learning & Development Update: WebANR Café Thursdays start May 17
WebANR Café Thursdays: Starts May 17, 2018
You'll need to bring your own beverage and food, but please join us for our first WebANR Café Thursday on May 17 at noon: “Planning Makes Perfect: Best Practices for Engaging Webinars”
During this webinar, Brook Gamble, community educator with the California Naturalist Program, and Steven Worker, 4-H advisor will help you
- Improve your understanding of the critical steps for preparation, implementation and post webinar follow-up.
- Introduce ZOOM capabilities.
- Introduce tricks of the trade to keeping webinar participants engaged and not checking their email.
Please join us with the following Zoom information:
https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/963167636
(646) 558-8656 or + (669) 900-6833
Webinar ID: 963 167 636
These sessions will be recorded and linked to the WebANR page in case you would like to access them at a later date.
You can register now for yourself or for a new employee who will be onboarding soon.
Who Should Attend: All UC ANR Employees (academics, staff and affiliated staff on campuses, counties and RECs) who have not participated in an administrative orientation. Priority will be given to those hired by ANR within the past year.
For more information, visit http://ucanr.edu/sites/orientations/Administrative_Orientations.
Performance Appraisals: Empower yourself with career planning tools
Performance appraisal season can be stressful for many of us and receiving performance feedback can trigger negative feelings. Understanding that these feelings are normal, and preparing yourself in advance, whether you're a supervisor or an individual contributor, can help reduce the stress and make it a positive experience.
You have many tools available to guide you through the appraisal process, starting with the ANR Learning & Development Career Planning Tools page.
Use the Self-assessment Worksheet to help you identify your strengths, skill gap areas, career goals, interests and values. You can share it with your supervisor or use your responses to help draft your Individual development plan (IDP). You can also find help from UC Davis with writing your Summary of Accomplishments.
If you struggle with feedback, here are some additional resources to empower you:
- UC Learning Center (UC Davis): Receiving Feedback and Criticism; for People Managers UC Performance Management: Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Corporate Executive Board Learning & Development Leadership Council (CEB register or reset a password): 3 Tricks Your Brain Plays When Receiving Feedback and Manager Guide: Improve Employee Performance through Informal Feedback
- TED Talk: How to use others' feedback to learn and grow, with Sheila Heen, Harvard University professor (19:28 minutes)
LYNDA FEATURES
Option B: Building Resilience
We have all experienced loss and grief. Even our ANR Report includes In Memoriam pieces to recognize the passing of our ANR colleagues and retirees. Psychologists state that when we experience a primary loss, we often experience secondary losses, including self-confidence at work. Maybe you, the reader, can identify with this. In this 2+ minute video The Importance of Resilience, Facebook COO and author Sheryl Sandberg explores this subject with Wharton psychologist Adam Grant. They share:
- How to talk to friends and colleagues who are hurting, when you're not sure what to do
- How to fight the idea that your hurting is permanent
- How to give yourself permission to experience happiness again
New implicit bias modules: UC People Management Certificate Series
Elevate your people-management skills by completing the UC Systemwide People Management Series and Certificate. This course is for all ANR people managers consisting of core and elective courses, which include local and systemwide programs and eCourses. Earning this certificate aligns you with ANR's Strategic Plan Goal for people managers!
The following topics are included in the People Management Series and Certificate: Performance Management, Managing Implicit Bias, Managing People, Administration & Operations, Change Management and Communications.
New for 2018 is the addition of the UC Managing Implicit Bias Series, which is made up of six self-paced, online interactive courses, ranging between 15 and 20 minutes each in length. The series is designed to increase awareness of implicit bias, reduce its impact at the university, and further reinforce the university's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
- What is Implicit Bias?
- The Impact of Implicit Bias
- Managing the Influence of Implicit Bias: Awareness
- Common Forms of Bias
- Managing the Impact of Implicit Bias: Mindfulness and Conscious De-biasing
- Managing Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process
These courses can be completed individually or together as a series to earn the UC Managing Implicit Bias Certificate. As a UC People Manager, being aware of implicit bias and how it impacts the way we work and interact with others is especially important. Therefore, this series is now a part of the 2018 UC People Management Series and Certificate core requirements.
If you are a formally designated supervisor/manager, completing the 2018 UC People Management Series and Certificate will make you eligible to attend the UC People Management Conference held later this year.
RECs develop new funding model
To address these budgetary issues, cost increases must be offset by increasing the proportion of research costs covered by research projects. We project that approximately 25 percent of today's central funding will need to be redirected to cover increases in personnel salaries and benefits, deferred maintenance, strategic investments to ensure long-term operation of the REC system for generations to come, and increases in operating expenditures that are not included in research expenses. Increased expenses will be covered over time through a combination of fund development, increased revenue generated through increased programming and services, increased efficiency of business operations, and a reduction in the current level of research funding by UC ANR which, at present, averages approximately 80 percent across all REC supported projects.
For over a year now, we have been working to secure a bright future for the REC system by looking at the research that is conducted at each REC and considering how we do business now and in the future. In addition to the current work and programming that occurs at each REC every day, there is incredible untapped potential for new research and programs. Improved understanding of the cost to conduct research has been a key part of the review process undertaken at each of the centers over the past year. A deep dive into the accounting and cost structure has occurred at each facility; identifying the lines of service at the facility and the costs to provide those services. The FY 2018-19 cost structures for each center have been submitted to the UC ANR Rate and Recharge Committee for review this past week. Following review, the REC system will receive feedback and recommendations for changes to be made prior to rate approval.
We aim to have the full cost structures approved by late April 2018. Concurrent with the effort to identify costs for each line of service is work by each REC director to identify the level of funding that will be available in their individual budgets to reduce those costs to support research projects at each facility. We anticipate these rates will be available in late April for projects conducted in FY 2018-19 and with estimates for FY 2019-20 available at the same time.
Continuing a long tradition of supporting impactful research at each REC to solve agricultural and natural resource issues remains our highest priority. Ramp up of fund development efforts and identification of new or additional income opportunities at each REC will take time as will the ability for these strategies to offset research costs. In the meantime, the REC directors have identified that providing extra financial support to UC academics who have been in their jobs six years or less is critical to the success of new and early-career UC academics. To the extent that UC ANR funding permits, extra financial support may also be provided to support exploratory or high risk/high reward projects, projects that extend critical, under-funded, long-term research, and projects conducted by PIs who are first time users of the REC.
While the current budgeting efforts come with uncertainty and discomfort in the short-term, change is needed to secure long-term success. The leaders of each REC and UC ANR senior leaders are committed to transparency of research costs, exemplary customer service and investment into facilities and infrastructure that further our ability for sustained growth of the REC System.
Sincerely,
Glenda Humiston, vice president
Wendy Powers, associate vice president
Tu Tran, associate vice president, Business Operations
Jeff Dahlberg, director, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Jairo Diaz, director, Desert Research and Extension Center
Jose Fernandez De Soto, director, Hansen Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Beth Grafton-Cardwell, director, Lindcove Research and Extension Center
Darren Haver, director, South Coast Research and Extension Center
Bob Hutmacher, director, West Side Research and Extension Center
Jeremy James, director, Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center
Kim Rodrigues, director, Hopland Research and Extension Center
Rob Wilson, director, Intermountain Research and Extension Center
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.
IGIS to host next ANR DroneCamp June 18-21
The UCANR IGIS team will hold its next DroneCamp training June 18-21, 2018, at UC San Diego.
This bootcamp-style workshop will cover the full suite of steps and skills for using drones for mapping and data collection, including:
- UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and sensor technology
- Principles of photogrammetry and remote sensing
- Safety and regulations
- Mission planning
- Flight operations including hands-on practice
- Data management, processing, and analysis
- Visualization
The fee for this three-day workshop is $500 for University of California employees and students, and $900 for everyone else. A limited number of fee waivers are available based on need.
Additional information and registration information can be found at http://igis.ucanr.edu/dronecamp. Registration requires a short application (no fee) about your background and learning goals. Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to submit an application by April 15 for guaranteed early registration.
