Posts Tagged: UC

Join UC ANR Moves at 1:15 p.m. on May 1

Join the UC ANR Moves event on Wednesday, May 1, from 1:15 to 2 p.m. UC ANR Moves promotes health and well-being by encouraging all employees to take a walk or engage in another physical activity for 30 to 40 minutes. This annual event is intended to promote a thriving culture of health and well-being throughout UC ANR's work environment.

At 1:15 p.m., Scott Brayton, Staff Assembly Council chair, will kick off the event with a stretch session. Join him by Zoom:

Zoom https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/98754220328?pwd=b0tML3czSDdKd3U4ZUQzVzBXMGRBdz09
Meeting ID: 987 5422 0328
Passcode: 793713

Make this event fun!

Wear your silliest t-shirt or organize with your colleagues to dress up according to a theme or make posters and spread some love in the community. Either way, wear sun protection and take lots of photos and videos! 

Employees at the UC ANR Building in Davis will meet on the back patio by the breakroom.

1:15 -1:25 p.m. – Kick off: Scott Brayton, Staff Assembly Council chair, will kick us off with a rally and stretch.

1:25 to 2 p.m. – Walk or get moving at your location. Bring a bottle of water or hydrate well before the activity.

Please upload your mp4 videos and photos of your UC ANR Moves activities to the Box folder “UC ANR Moves” by May 8. Ethan Ireland will compile them into a single video, which we will show at the ANR town hall.

Hope to get moving with you!
Jodi Azulai, on behalf of the Staff Assembly Wellness Committee: Scott Brayton, Emma Tribble, Suzanne Burton, Tatiana Avoce, Andrea Rayray, Lucie Cahierre, and Nora Lopez

Attend UC ANR Giving Day webinar April 4 for campaign tips

In its sixth year as UC ANR's independent online giving campaign, UC ANR Giving Day will take place from noon to noon on May 16-17, 2024.

Gifts from past campaigns have supported a variety of program needs including UC Master Gardener demonstration gardens, and pop-up tents and collateral materials for outreach events. Contributions have also helped provide 4-H scholarships for registration fees or special events, and the purchase of materials and supplies for projects to engage members. 

When you click “GIVE” on our website or go directly to donate.ucanr.edu, your gift fund choices appear in the drop-down menus. If you would like to add or change a gift fund, please submit requests to gifts@ucanr.edu by May 1.

Tune in to Development Services' webinar on Thursday, April 4, at 10 a.m. for campaign updates, resources and prize challenge details.

How to participate: 

1. Tune in to the webinar on Thursday, April 4, at 10 a.m. “UC ANR Giving Day: Creating Your Strategy For Success”
2. Register your participation and receive gift notifications by May 1: Register here
3. Send your edits to gift funds to gifts@ucanr.edu by May 1.
4. Look for the Campaign-In-A-Box Toolkit in the next issue of The Scoop.

For more information or to subscribe to The Scoop, please contact Emily Delk, director of Annual Giving & Donor Stewardship at eddelk@ucanr.edu or (916) 564-4862.

Vela speaks to UC regents about outreach to Latinos

Ricardo Vela, manager of UC ANR's News and Information Outreach in Spanish, spoke to the UC Regents Public Engagement and Development Committee on Nov. 15 about science communication for Latino Californians.

Vela explained that studies show that even Latinos fluent in English may prefer to receive information in their “language of comfort.” He described partnering with Univision/Entravision to promote a COVID-19 vaccination campaign on TV in Mixteco, Zapoteco, Triqui and Purépecha, indigenous Mexican languages. 

Vela introduced Josie Huerta of Univision/Entravision, who told the regents that providing science-based information to indigenous Mexican viewers in their native language was important to establish trust with the skeptical audience. The media company ran the vaccination campaign on local TV, radio, Facebook and Instagram with a link to a UC ANR for more information.

“The combined campaigns generated over 1,173,000 engagements of some form,” Huerta said.

The campaign placed the first TV spots broadcast in a language other than English and Spanish on Univision, Vela added.

“It's just amazing the reach that you have and the breadth of folks that you are able to communicate with,” said Regent Janet Reilly, who chairs the committee. “It's so important. I wish we had this in every aspect of the university.” 

Reilly called NOS “an example for the rest of the university how we can reach more people and communicate with them effectively.” 

Alumni regent-designate Alfonso Salazar noted that his mother was an Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program educator, visiting Latino families at their Boyle Heights homes in Los Angeles to deliver nutrition information for 25 years. “My mom is known as 'La Señora' in the neighborhood,” Salazar said. 

Regent Jose Hernandez told Vela and Huerta, “I think you guys formed the perfect partnership with respect to getting any newsworthy item out to the Latino population. I think really, really we should use you folks as a model for the rest of the university, as Chair Reilly suggested, because you guys are doing it right and I commend you. Muchas gracias."

The meeting was held at UCLA and live streamed.

Watch Vela's 10-minute presentation and the regents' reactions at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTPm58GnnSs&t=4178s. 

Celebration Corner

Who else deserves kudos? Share your good news by sending an email to contentpipeline@ucanr.edu. 

Koundinya honored for early career achievement 

Vikram Koundinya, UC Cooperative Extension evaluation specialist, received the 2023 Early Career Achievement Award from the National Association of Extension Program & Staff Development Professionals. The award was presented to him on Nov. 29 at the NAEPSDP conference in Salt Lake City.

Koundinya, who is based in the UC Davis Department of Human Ecology, specializes in program evaluation, needs assessment and mixed-methods evaluation and research.

Koundinya has made notable contributions to the field in extension teaching, research, professional competence and service, wrote his nominator and peers in support letters. He has provided several statewide trainings and one-on-one consultations with UC Cooperative Extension advisors, specialists, Agricultural Extension Station faculty and students. He has published research articles in several journals, including 12 of a total of 35 articles since starting at UC Davis. He also has shared his work at several professional conferences and served in leadership roles on NAEPSDP and American Evaluation Association professional committees.

Au wins nutrition and dietetics award

Lauren Au, Nutrition Policy Institute-affiliated researcher and assistant professor of nutrition at the UC Davis, received the 2023 Huddleson Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation.

The award recognizes dietitians who were the lead author of a peer-reviewed article that made important contributions to the field of dietetics. The award is named for Mary Pascoe Huddleson, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics editor from 1927 to 1946. 

The honored article, “A Qualitative Examination of California WIC Participants' and Local Agency Directors' Experiences during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic,” was co-authored by NPI researchers Christina Hecht, Marisa Tsai, Nicole Vital and NPI Director Lorrene Ritchie. 

The study examines Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children participants' and agency directors' perceptions, practices and other challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Au's research is used to support nutrition policies and reduce disparities among low-income populations. 

ANR dashboards make it easy to find data

In 2023, the Program Planning and Evaluation team is proud to have produced new dashboards that organize important data about UC ANR people and outputs. They make it easy to find facts such as the number of UCCE advisors employed by UC ANR from 2018 through 2023. The dashboards are found on the impact numbers and stories web page and are intended for internal use.

 

UC Master Gardeners teach Napa County residents to grow food

UC Master Gardeners of Napa County have been teaching year-round food gardening with two programs each month.

“Teaching through two methods, we covered different seasonal food growing topics in our one-hour Food Growing Forums by Zoom and in-person, hands-on family programs at the OLE Health Garden,” said Yvonne Rasmussen, UCCE volunteer program coordinator in Napa County.

David Key, UC Master Gardener volunteer, leads this project.

Propose new UCCE positions by Dec. 18

The 2023-24 call for UC Cooperative Extension advisor and specialist positions is underway. Get involved in the process to identify our priority positions. We plan to release 20 new priority UCCE advisor positions and 10 new priority UCCE specialist positions.

Building on the more than 100 UCCE positions released over the last couple of years, UC ANR continues to prioritize growing our academic footprint to provide the expertise needed to improve the lives of all Californians and address emerging and future needs.

There are several phases with the same timeline for UCCE advisor and UCCE specialist positions:

1. Identifying priority positions/connecting interested groups – until Dec. 18, 2023
2. Proposal co-creation and submission – by Feb. 19, 2024
3. Program Council reviews and develops recommendations – March 2024
4. UC ANR Vice President makes final decision and releases positions – May/June 2024

Please see the 2023-24 CE Position Call webpage for process details and important documents, such as the required proposal template. 

The processes for new UCCE advisor and UCCE specialist positions take a similar approach, but have different groups working together and submitting. As always, UC ANR strongly encourages engaging both internal and external stakeholders in identifying and developing proposals for priority positions. The process has been improved in response to feedback. UC ANR Program Teams have an important role given they engage and represent the UCCE and Agricultural Experiment Station network, including statewide programs and institutes.

• For UCCE advisor positions, county directors and the Research and Extension (REC) System will prioritize in their regional teams and work closely with UC ANR Program Teams.
• For UCCE specialist positions, UC ANR Program Teams and the REC System will identify their top priority needs and campuses will select the position ideas that align with their academic planning. Working together, they will develop the proposals.

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