Wilen, Soule and Haviland among Distinguished Service Award winners

The Youth Retention Study Team won the Outstanding Research award. From left, John Borba, Chris Greer, Russ Hill, Mark Bell, Car Mun Kok, JoLynn Miller, Dorina Espinoza, Marianne Bird, Kendra Lewis, Claudia Diaz-Carrasco, and Wendy Powers.

Wendy Powers, associate vice president, announced the 2018 winners of the biennial Distinguished Service Awards on April 11 at the UC ANR Statewide Conference in Ontario.

Sponsored by UC ANR and Academic Assembly Council, the Distinguished Service Awards recognize service and academic excellence in UC Cooperative Extension over a significant period of time. Awards highlight the use of innovative methods and the integration of research, extension and leadership by UC ANR academics.

Awards were given for outstanding research, outstanding extension, outstanding new academic, outstanding team, and outstanding leader. Winners for each category are listed below.

Outstanding Research - Youth Retention Study Team

The Youth Retention Study examined the retention and drop-out rates (nearly 50 percent) of first year 4-H members. The team looked at re-enrollment trends over a seven-year period to understand the phenomena of why youth leave the 4-H program. While the focus of the study was on California, the team has engaged multiple states in this effort to document the national scope of this issue, and used the data to develop tools and strategies for addressing and extending that information through peer-reviewed articles, workshops and training. Two of the factors they found reducing retention were a lack of communication and the inability to understand and navigate the 4-H program. These findings led to development of a handbook for families to navigate the 4-H program and a Project Leader Checklist for implementing the 4-H project experience. 

The Youth Retention Study Team includes

• JoLynn Miller, CE Advisor - UCCE Central Sierra Multi-County Partnership
• Kendra Lewis, Academic Coordinator - UC ANR Statewide 4-H Program
• Marianne Bird, CE Advisor - UCCE Capital Corridor MCP
• John Borba, CE Advisor - UCCE Kern
• Claudia Diaz-Carrasco, CE Advisor - UCCE Riverside and San Bernardino
• Dorina Espinoza, CE Advisor - UCCE Humboldt and Del Norte
• Russell Hill, CE Advisor - UCCE Merced, Mariposa and Madera
• Car Mun Kok, CE Advisor - UCCE Lake and Mendocino
• Sue Manglallan, CE Advisor - UCCE San Diego
• Kali Trzesniewski, CE Specialist – UC Davis, Department of Human & Community Development

Outstanding Extension - David Haviland

David Haviland, UC Cooperative Extension entomology and integrated pest management advisor in Kern County, won the Outstanding Extension award.

David Haviland has been the UC Cooperative Extension entomology advisor in Kern County and affiliated IPM advisor with the UC IPM Program since 2002. He has developed an exemplary extension program to address the needs of clientele and support continued productivity in the third largest agricultural output county in the nation. Haviland's extension program is based on continuous needs assessment, applied local research to solve problems, collaboration with multiple partners, and extension programming focused on grower and pest control adviser adoption of improved pest management practices. Haviland uses his research outputs to drive his prodigious extension program. This includes 430 presentations to more than 32,000 people, primarily to farmers and pest control advisers. Haviland has developed a national and international reputation through publishing the results of his research in peer-reviewed scientific publications, and by giving national and international presentations.

Outstanding New Academic - Katherine Soule

Katherine Soule, UC Cooperative Extension director and youth, families and communities advisor in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, won the Outstanding New Academic award.

Katherine Soule has been the youth, families and communities advisor since 2013 and director of Cooperative Extension in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties since 2017. Soule has guided programming to increase diversity and reach of the 4-H Youth Development Program. She has more than doubled overall youth participation to more than 16,000 youth in the two counties and increased Latino youth participation by almost 500 percent in less than 4 years. In addition, Soule has built a multicultural, bilingual UC CalFresh staff that focuses on developing sustained engagement with partnering school districts, administrators, teachers, families and other community-based organizations. In the previous two years, the UC CalFresh staff provided nutrition education to more than 17,000 youth; more than 8,500 families and community members attended community events where they received nutrition education; led peer educators in the participation of 4,700 hours of programming and engaged more than 6,600 students in nutrition and physical activities education. The Statewide 4-H Director said, “Despite the large assignment, she has provided incredible leadership in both program areas in both counties.” In partnership with 4-H volunteers and the California 4-H Foundation, she has raised $300,000 annually from grants and gifts to support and advance 4-H programming in Santa Barbara County. This youth, families and communities program also serves as the model for program integration and growth.

Outstanding Leader - Cheryl Wilen

Cheryl Wilen, UC Cooperative Extension area integrated pest management advisor for San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties, won the Outstanding Leader award.

Cheryl Wilen is the area integrated pest management advisor for San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties. Throughout her 23-year career, Wilen's work has represented outstanding leadership through a continual focus on positive changes.  Wilen has been an effective leader in the Statewide IPM Program, ANR and the western region. In this role, she has provided significant input on CE advisor performance and advancement evaluations, represented IPM advisors to UC IPM leadership, and coordinated the annual extension planning meeting for IPM advisors and affiliated advisors. In addition to significant leadership in UC IPM, Wilen was the ANR Strategic Initiative Leader for Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases from 2014 to 2017. She led development of the strategic initiative goals and worked with Program Teams and Workgroups to address these goals. Wilen's leadership style is a direct reflection of her approach to research and extension. If she identifies an important unmet need, then she seeks to address it. Similarly, when she identifies a leadership need that she is capable of meeting, she steps up to help the organization move forward. Her leadership is consistently pragmatic and focused on results.

Outstanding Team - Dairy Quality Assurance Environmental Stewardship Program Team

The Dairy Quality Assurance Environmental Stewardship Program Team won the Outstanding Team award. From left, David Lewis, Greer, Bell, Deanne Meyer, Jeffery Stackhouse, Betsy Karle and Jennifer Heguy.

This team of CE specialists and CE advisors has provided outstanding service to California's dairy farmers as a partner in the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program (CDQAP) through applied research, development of monitoring methods and tools, and implementation of educational programs to help dairy farmers comply with state water-quality law. The team developed the educational component of the “Environmental Stewardship Short Course,” delivering 377 short course workshops (750 classroom hours) throughout the state to date. They developed tools for producers including a lab manual for manure analysis, an e-learning module for sampling methods and an on-line decision support tool. These extension products were based on a prodigious research record including 15 peer-reviewed papers. The Dairy Quality Assurance Environmental Stewardship Program Team is an excellent example of UC ANR academics working together and with government and industry partners under the Sustainable Natural Environment Strategic Initiative. As a result of the team's work, the industry quickly reached a 95 percent compliance rate with water quality reporting requirements.

Dairy Quality Assurance Environmental Stewardship Program Team includes

• Deanne Meyer, CE Specialist – UC Davis, Department of Human & Community Development
• Betsy Karle, CE Advisor and UCCE Director– UCCE Glenn
• Jennifer Heguy, CE Advisor – UCCE Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced
• David Lewis, CE Advisor and UCCE Director – UCCE Marin and Napa
• Jeffery Stackhouse, CE Advisor – UCCE Humboldt and Del Norte

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