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Join the UC ANR Staff Assembly Council

Are you looking for leadership development opportunities within UC ANR? Would you like to add new skills and meet new people? Are you interested in promoting the welfare of staff? The UC ANR Staff Assembly Council is for you. 

The UC ANR Staff Assembly works to cultivate satisfied, dedicated and professional staff and promotes the interests of all staff employees. While providing a valuable service in this capacity, many members of the Council have used the exposure and experiences they gained from participation in Staff Assembly Council to advance their own careers. 

Each spring, the UC ANR Staff Assembly holds elections to fill positions on the Council. Nominations are now being sought for the following positions (self nominations are accepted and encouraged):

• Vice chair/treasurer (two-year position)
• Program chair
• Vice program chair
• Jr. CUCSA Delegate

Read more about these positions and their roles in the UC ANR Staff Assembly bylaws.

The Council meets monthly via Zoom during lunchtime. There are also annual in-person meetings for the Council and with the Staff Assembly Ambassadors. (Travel costs are covered by the SA budget.)

If you're not ready to commit to a Council post, positions are also available on three ad-hoc committees:

• Scholarship review committee
• Wellness committee
• Learning and development committee

Committees meet monthly via Zoom.

The nomination deadline is April 26.

For more information about Staff Assembly Council and the upcoming elections, contact Jeannette Warnert at (559) 240-9850, Lori Renstrom at (858) 822-7717, or Allie Stefanchich at 530-639-8807. 

 

California Institute for Water Resources drafts new strategic plan

The committee was carefully selected to represent the diverse stakeholder interests of the institute. Through a variety of inputs during an assessment phase, which included several stakeholder surveys, committee members gathered information to help identify the strengths, opportunities and challenges of the organization to help formulate the plan. The final plan is a living document, which will be used as a flexible framework to develop annual priorities and evaluate progress.

The mission of the California Institute for Water Resources is to integrate California's research, extension and higher education programs to develop and communicate research-based solutions to water resource challenges. CIWR directly impacts California water issues through research and extension programs. The institute keeps its partners informed through its website, newsletter, blog and social media outlets and actively contributes, shapes and diversifies the conversation on California water issues. Meeting the objectives set forth in its strategic plan will increase the effectiveness of CIWR in helping California meet its future water challenges.

CIWR identified five strategic goals to focus on over the next five years:

1. Foster and incubate research and extension focused on California's critical water challenges.
2. Engage with and convene the water community to define and address California's water challenges.
3. Enhance communication and engagement capacity and increase visibility.
4. Strengthen the relationship between CIWR and UC ANR.
5. Increase resources to better incubate research and engage the water community.

The complete plan is available at http://ucanr.edu/CIWRStrategicPlan or by visiting CIWR's website: http://ciwr.ucanr.edu.

Staff-performance appraisal webinars offered in March

The annual performance appraisal is an opportunity for staff and supervisors to recognize accomplishments, identify opportunities to build skills, and align individual efforts to high-level unit and division goals. Take time in the next month to review and reflect on the past year, and plan your future work with your supervisor.

The staff performance review period runs from April 1, 2018, through March 31, 2019. An annual appraisal should be completed for all ANR staff employees, including represented and non-represented, career and contract employees with at least six months of service as of March 31, 2019.

This year ANR Human Resources has modified the Employee Performance Appraisal Form to align with the UC system-wide core competencies and to prepare supervisors and employees for the future online appraisal process. Please plan to attend one of the upcoming webinars to learn more.

Upcoming webinars

ANR Human Resources will host Zoom webinars for staff and supervisors during the month of March. Please hold one of these dates/times on your calendar:

• Employee Role: March 5, Tuesday, 9 a.m.–10 a.m.            
• Supervisor Role: March 6, Wed., 3 p.m.–4:30 p.m.
• Employee Role: March 20, Wed., 10 a.m.–11 a.m.              
• Supervisor Role: March 26, Tuesday, 3 p.m.–4:30 p.m.

Zoom info:

• Zoom: https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/8151602829
• Telephone   US: +1 408 638 0968  or +1 646 558 8656
• Meeting ID: 815-160-2829

If you are a supervisor, you only need to participate in a supervisor session.

More information about the annual process, including timelines, guidelines and Performance Appraisal Tools are available on the ANR Human Resources website http://ucanr.edu/sites/ANRSPU/Supervisor_Resources/Performance_Management.

Note: ANR staff based at the Office of the President will follow the UCOP-HR performance process with separate trainings, timelines and forms.

If you have questions regarding the appraisal process, please contact Mary Vlandis at maryvlandis@ucanr.edu.

Program Team meetings, fire summit and programmatic orientation dates set

Save the dates for Program Team meetings, a fire summit and UCANR's programmatic orientation.

Vision 20/20: A fire-resilient California: April 16-17, ANR-only follow-up meeting, April 18, Redding CA

The fire summit will bring together community leaders, policymakers, and movers and shakers—people like you!—from a wide range of disciplines on April 16-17. Vision 20/20: A Fire-resilient California will expand our understanding of California's fire problem and provide an opportunity to build connectivity, interaction and integration across disciplines and better understand the complexity of and find solutions to California's wildfire challenge.

On April 18, we'll have an internal ANR meeting where we can share our own work in fire and strategize how together we can better respond to California's fire challenges at local and regional levels. We hope ANR academics and staff from a wide range of disciplines will attend. Travel funds will be available for ANR-affiliated academics and programmatic staff.

Open to ANR academics and programmatic staff – registration now open.

UC ANR Programmatic Orientation: April 23-25, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Parlier, CA

Plan to join ANR leadership for the Programmatic Orientation to discuss the mission of UC ANR and our varied roles in California and the University, as well as see examples of successful research and outreach programs. Take this opportunity to engage in discussions with colleagues about the resources and opportunities available through ANR as a UC division. 

All early career UC Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists, academic coordinators and administrators are invited to attend – registration now open.

Upcoming Program Team meetings

                Water Resources PT – March 5-7 – Registration

                Positive Youth Development Meeting – March 18-20 – Registration

                Pomology (PECC) PT – March 27-28 – Registration opening soon

                Dairy Production and Food Safety PT – April 9-10 – Registration opening soon

                Research to Policy PT – April 10-11 – Registration opening soon  

OPIC offers UC ANR pesticide policy trainings

The Office of Pesticide Information and Coordination (OPIC) is offering its annual UC ANR pesticide policy update trainings. These trainings are intended for campus, field station and county-based UC ANR personnel who apply experimental pesticides either on UC property or on cooperators' land. It is important for all personnel handling pesticides in research and demonstration settings to attend this training.

Upcoming training dates and locations:

• March 6, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. – UC Riverside Botanic Gardens Conference Room
• March 19, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. – UC Davis Plant and Environmental Sciences Room 3001. Co-scheduled with respirator fit testing done by EH&S (email mmmaccree@ucanr.edu to schedule). Respirator safety training offered 12:30 pm-1:30 pm
• March 20, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. – Distance training. Register to receive a link to the online training.

Training at UC Davis is co-scheduled with the EH&S Respirator Fit Test. If you plan to be fit tested, contact Malendia Maccree at UC ANR Environmental Health and Safety (mmmaccree@ucanr.edu) to schedule a time for your fit test. 

OPIC can reimburse travel for anyone who needs it.

Registration is online only: http://ucanr.edu/opic2019.  Deadline for registration is one week prior to the training. There are no fees for these sessions. Three (3) hours of Laws and Regulations Continuing Education (CE) units will be offered for UC Pesticide Policy Training. If you have any questions, please email OPIC, OPIC@ucanr.edu, or call Lisa Blecker at (530) 750-1251.

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