Posts Tagged: positions

UCCE positions recruitment hindered by budget constraints

Dear Colleagues,

Over the course of the past 11 months, UC ANR has undertaken a position call process to identify the priority UCCE advisor and UCCE specialist position needs to support the work of the division. After a great deal of work, 46 positions were identified by the UC ANR Program Council and divided into three categories (highest, high, and can wait). Although we will utilize this categorization to the degree possible, the reality is that we need each and every one of those positions to serve our mission – all 46 positions are high priority to me. Furthermore, there are additional positions needed that were not on the list of 46 positions but are important gaps that have arisen over the course of the year. This includes three CE advisor positions vacated within two years of hire and not re-opened for recruitment.

Despite that, and unlike past years, we will not be releasing a list of approved positions at this time. The current budget situation leaves us unable to recruit immediately for positions reviewed during the 2018 process. All positions will remain under consideration based on funding availability, including the opportunity to find funding partners to share position costs.

This difficult decision is part of a larger effort to manage a challenging financial situation that also includes reductions to statewide programs and less subsidy for research at our RECs. UC ANR has managed the past several years of budget cuts and unfunded obligations through judicious use of our reserves, increases to program fees, fundraising and excellent work by our academics to increase the capture of competitive grants. While those options allow us to maintain a strong program and continue to deliver our research and extension mission, sound fiscal management does not allow us to expand academic positions in the immediate future.

2019 recruitment depends on budget and partners

Having said that, it is my sincere intent to recruit for a small number of these 2018 positions during the 2019 calendar year. As the FY19/20 budget unfolds, we will closely watch retirement announcements, the impact of those retirements on critical gaps in service, and any other items that might affect the budget available for recruiting. In addition, we will actively seek opportunities to partner with various entities to jointly fund positions as a key strategy to maintain or, preferably, increase our academic numbers. As a result, the order of recruitments may vary from the categorized list provided to me and we may also need to re-evaluate whether priorities have changed along the way.

More 2016 positions to be filled

Our academic numbers remain steady, not growing at a rate we wish to see, but steady nonetheless. This is in large part because academic HR, search committees, vice provosts, and campus departments have worked very hard over the last two years to recruit talent and fill positions identified during the 2014 and 2016 position call processes. All of the positions approved during the 2014 call have been filled; you might recall that at the time that the 2016 positions were approved, 25 of the positions approved in 2014 were still vacant. All but three of the 26 positions approved in the 2016 position call process are filled or under recruitment. The remaining positions (two CE advisor and one CE specialist positions) will be released for recruitment very soon. Additionally, the three FTE that were reserved for partnership opportunities have resulted in six new academics: three CE advisor positions filled, one CE advisor position under recruitment, and two CE specialist positions under recruitment. This valuable tool allows us to jointly fund positions with external partners as well as other parts of the UC system; we will be exploring how best to expand and leverage this moving forward.

Recruitment and retention of top talent a priority

Recruitment and retention of top talent is a crucial strategic objective. Toward that end, I recently announced approval of year two of a four-year salary equity plan for CE advisors that will bring their salaries into market norms. Offering competitive salaries to our academics and staff is of highest priority to me and the entire UC ANR leadership. Despite our budget challenges, we are pleased to be able to continue with this extremely important plan to improve academic salaries that had failed to keep pace with increased cost of living and academic norms for many years.

While the current budget situation for UC ANR is reminiscent of similar scenarios in the past, it is a strong wake-up call on the need to find new ways to fund our mission. State and federal support for the land grant mission has decreased or, at best, remained flat for the past few decades. UC ANR, the national Cooperative Extension system, the Agriculture Experiment Station system, and public research institutions in general, are at a crossroads – we must develop better ways to fund our mission, deliver our programs and leverage partnerships. This will include deployment of different business models. UC ANR is actively doing just that, while adapting to change along the way. I am confident that by remaining mission-focused we will grow stronger, more impactful, and more relevant to California and beyond.

Sincerely,

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

To answer questions about the positions process, VP Humiston held a town hall on Nov. 29. A recording of the 30-minute town hall is at http://bit.ly/2BGvO73.

Final position proposals due Sept. 15 for 2018 Call for Cooperative Extension positions

On Aug. 1, phase 2 of the Cooperative Extension Positions Call process ended and phase 3 began. During phase 2, the Program Teams reviewed the 40 phase 1 proposals and submitted six additional proposals. All submitted proposals are posted on the 2018 Call for Position web page: http://ucanr.edu/2018callforpositions.

Phase 3:

• The statewide programs and institutes are now reviewing all 46 proposed positions to determine if there are any positions they feel are of higher priority.
• If so, they can propose up to two additional CE advisor positions and two additional CE specialist positions by Sept. 15 – keeping in mind that the more proposals there are at the end, the lower the probability of being approved for recruitment.
• The proposals that did not make the phase 1 final 40 can be picked up during these subsequent phases. They can be found on the proposal ideas web page. New proposals are not limited to these ideas.

After Sept. 15, Program Council will review all the feedback and make recommendations to the vice president.

“We thank the ANR network for actively engaging in this participatory process to strengthen and rebuild CE positions statewide,” said Wendy Powers, associate vice president.

Forty UCCE position proposals submitted as process enters phase 2

The 2018 UC Cooperative Extension call for positions process has entered phase 2. The UCCE county directors and REC directors have submitted 20 CE advisor position proposals and the executive associate deans, working with campus departments, have submitted 20 CE specialist position proposals. Both groups engaged program teams, statewide programs/institutes, and external stakeholders in the development of these proposals. All 40 phase 1 proposals are posted on the 2018 Call for Position web page: http://ucanr.edu/2018callforpositions.

Phase 2 is underway:

• Program teams are reviewing the 40 phase 1 proposals to determine if there are any positions they feel are of higher priority.
• If so, each program team can propose one additional CE advisor position and one additional CE specialist position by August 1-- remembering that the more proposals there are at the end, the lower the probability of being approved for recruitment.
• The proposals that didn't make the phase 1 final 40 can be picked up by Program Teams. Proposed positions available for pick up can be found on the proposal ideas web page.

“We thank the ANR network for actively engaging in this participatory process to strengthen and rebuild CE positions statewide,” said Wendy Powers, associate vice president.

2018 call for Cooperative Extension positions released

ANR is committed to increasing our academic footprint for more effective deployment of Cooperative Extension (CE) specialists and advisors to address local issues with global impact. The 2018 CE Call for Positions is released, with the aim to identify positions that address programmatic gaps and emerging needs. The call, including the position proposal template, new process flowchart and timeline and criteria, is posted at http://ucanr.edu/2018callforpositions.

The advisor and specialist position proposal-development processes will be open from Feb. 8 to Sept. 15, with three phases of groups working collaboratively to develop proposals, and later phases reviewing earlier proposals to add proposals that they think are higher priority. Each proposal development phase is intended to include internal consultation and external input from ANR stakeholders to identify priority needs.

“Strengthening and rebuilding the ANR network remains a top priority for ANR,” said Wendy Powers, associate vice president. “Since the beginning of 2012, ANR has hired 175 academics, and has 11 approved CE positions under recruitment in 2018 (list posted on the 2018 call web page). Through this call, we plan to add around 26 additional crucial CE positions.”

Powers said, “As with the current recruitments, we will remain nimble with future hiring in phases over time to enable us to accomplish the search and hiring process in an orderly fashion, evaluate resources on a real-time basis, deal with unexpected changes in staffing, and address unforeseen critical gaps as they emerge. The resources released through retirements and separations continue to enable us to hire new advisors and specialists. The ANR strategic plan 2016-2020 also prioritizes strengthening partnerships to establish new co-funded positions and developing other new sources of revenue to grow the academic footprint.”

 

 

VP Humiston releases 26 UCCE positions for recruitment

VP Humiston announced on Dec. 14 the release of 26 new academic UC Cooperative Extension positions (see list below) for hiring over the next two years. 

The positions from the 2016 process will be released for recruitment in phases as Human Resources continues recruiting for more than 25 specialist and advisor positions yet unfilled from the 2014 process.

“This new release continues our commitment for hiring to exceed projected turnover, thus achieving our goal of academic growth. And, as funding becomes available, we will consider additional positions,” Humiston said.

“At present, we are also exploring the opportunities to expand academic numbers using non-traditional funding models, such as sharing positions and leveraging resources with public and private partners,” she said. “Furthermore, given that needs change and new challenges emerge that must be addressed quickly, we are optimistic we have some flexibility to react to new needs.”

Humiston thanked Program Council, UC ANR academics, county and REC directors, program directors and ANR stakeholders for the time and effort they put into the 2016 positions process, identifying position needs for the future and helping to prioritize those needs.

UC ANR Cooperative Extension positions approved for release FY2017-2018 (If more than one county is listed, the position is headquartered in the first county.)

Round 1 (Winter 2017)

CE Advisor - 4-H Youth Development: Orange County

CE Advisor - Area 4-H Youth Development: San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties

CE Advisor  - Area Forestry/County Director: Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma counties

CE Advisor - Area IPM: Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino counties

CE Advisor - Nutrition, Family & Consumer Sciences: Kern County

CE Specialist - Antimicrobial Stewardship: UCD

CE Specialist - Pathology of Vines, Berries & Fruit Trees: UC Davis

CE Specialist - Small Scale Fruit and Vegetable Processing: UC Davis

CE Specialist - Subtropical Fruit Crop IPM:UC Riverside

Round 2 (Spring/Summer 2017)

CE Advisor - Area Agronomy and Weed Management: Merced and Madera counties

CE Advisor - Area Forestry/Natural Resources: Plumas, Sierra and Lassen counties

CE Specialist - Forest Ecology/Silviculture: UC Berkeley

CE Specialist - Soil-Plant-Water Relations/Deficit Irrigation: UC Davis

Round 3 (Fall 2017)

CE Advisor - Area Urban Forestry/Natural Resources: Los Angeles and Orange counties

CE Advisor - Area 4-H Youth Development: Shasta, Trinity and Tehama counties

CE Specialist - Water Resources Economics and Policy: UC Riverside

CE Specialist - Citrus Horticulture: UC Riverside/Lindcove REC

Round 4 (Winter 2018)

CE Advisor - Area Orchard Systems: San Joaquin County and Northern San Joaquin Valley

CE Advisor - Vegetable Crops: Kern County

CE Specialist - Orchard Systems, Southern San Joaquin Valley: UC Davis/Kearney REC

CE Specialist - Sheep and Goat Herd Health and Production: UC Davis

Round 5 (Spring/Summer 2018)

CE Advisor - Area Livestock/Natural Resources: Tuolumne, El Dorado, Amador and Calaveras counties

CE Advisor - Area Rice Farming Systems: Butte and Glenn counties

CE Advisor - Area Specialty Crops: Contra Costa, Alameda and west San Joaquin counties

CE Specialist - Feedlot Management: UC Davis/Desert REC

CE Specialist - Economics of Sustainable Agriculture Management: UC Davis

 

Read more