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Posts Tagged: Tracy Schohr
New Disaster Preparedness and Response Workgroup forms
Disasters are increasingly common in California, ranging from droughts, floods and wildfires to human health (e.g. COVID-19). Given the frequency of disasters in California, it is important that UC ANR is prepared to engage before, during, and after emergencies across the state.
The new UC ANR Workgroup on Disaster Preparedness and Response will create a forum to bring together colleagues across multiple disciplines to support our communities through trainings, grants, research and extension projects.
If you are interested in joining the workgroup, please contact co-chairs Sabrina Drill at sldrill@ucanr.edu or Tracy Schohr at tkschohr@ucanr.edu.
UC ANR visits the Capitol
UC ANR Day at the Capitol was held on March 26, 2019, to update California legislators and legislative staff on UC ANR's research and outreach projects. Vice President Glenda Humiston and a UC ANR delegation discussed a wide variety of topics during the legislative visits, including wildfire and forest health, water quality, youth development, nutrition and climate adaptation.
Every year, representatives from each UC campus gather in Sacramento for UC Day at the Capitol to educate lawmakers about the importance of research and higher education and their contributions to California's economy and progress. Although UC ANR participates in the annual Ag Day at the Capitol, this was the first UC ANR Day at the Capitol.
ANR's Global Food Initiative fellow Maci Mueller set up appointments with the policymakers and coordinated the UC ANR delegation to explain the value of investment in UC ANR research and outreach.
The UC ANR delegation consisted of two teams led by Humiston and Wendy Powers, associate vice president. The teams included Faith Kearns, California Institute for Water Resources academic coordinator; Ruth Dahlquist-Willard, UC Cooperative Extension small farms advisor for Fresno and Tulare counties; Tracy Schohr, UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resource advisor for Plumas, Sierra and Butte counties; Alena Pacheco, 4-H community education specialist in Fresno County; Bailey Butler, Oroville 4-H member; and El Dorado County 4-H Ambassadors Emily Ferrell, Josie Rothman and Isabella Veffredo, who were accompanied by El Dorado County 4-H program representatives Vera Bullard and Denise Veffredo.
“As a team, we were able to connect with every member or staffer that we met,” Powers wrote in her ANR Adventures blog. “Sometimes it was around the 4-H program, and what the program has done for our impressive team members, sometimes it was around fire or water, and other staffers or members were particularly interested in moringa. Either way, the goal was to make a connection so that each visit left an impression.”
“UC ANR Day was a terrific opportunity for 4-H members to practice their communication skills and get involved in advocacy at the state level,” Mueller said.
Oroville 4-H member Bailey described for legislators and their staff how she worked from Nov. 8 when the Camp Fire broke out until after Christmas with UC Cooperative Extension advisor Tracy Schohr and UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine staff to care for 1,200 evacuated livestock and to train others to assist. Emily, a 4-H Ambassador in El Dorado County, said her 4-H experience with STEM activities and leadership training helped her get into the university of her choice – UC Santa Barbara.
Greeted warmly by each office, the teams shared examples of work being done by UC ANR in their districts, offered them assistance and thanked the legislators for their support. They left a copy of the UC ANR Snapshot, UC ANR map and overview, a 4-H fact sheet and UC at a Glance.
Legislators praised the 4-H members and UC ANR staff for the work they do for Californians.
“I look forward to making UC ANR Day at the Capitol an annual event,” Humiston said. “Telling people about the value of ANR's work is not only part of our mission, it is essential in educating others about all that we accomplish with the resources we have.”
A fact sheet showing the effects of shrinking public investment in the University of California and agricultural research can be downloaded at https://ucanr.edu/sites/Professional_Development/files/302896.pdf.
Sean Hogan, IGIS academic coordinator, talks drones with Assemblymember Devon Mathis.
Delivering hope in the midst of loss
Between the Camp Fire in Butte County and the Woolsey Fire in Southern California in November, most ANR members have been affected in some way by the devastating wildfires. Several have experienced major personal losses that they are still dealing with.
While the Camp Fire was still raging on Nov. 14, Emily Symmes, director of UCCE in Butte County, wrote:
“As you can imagine, due to the destruction of nearly the entire town of Paradise and other ridge communities, all of our employees have numerous friends, family, and loved ones who have lost their homes and all of their belongings, as evacuations were so sudden and urgent that most left with only what they could grab in minutes. As such, all have been affected to varying degrees. We have two direct staff members, Alexandra Falk (nutrition education specialist) and John Klepps (Honey Bee Tech Transfer Team) who lived in Paradise. Both have received confirmation that their homes were among those destroyed. They and their families and pets are now safe and have found temporary housing. Many in our extended network of 4-H and Master Gardener program participants and volunteers resided in Paradise have also been heavily impacted, losing everything.”
Among the Master Gardener volunteers in Paradise who lost their houses is Bob DiPietro and his wife, parents of Damon DiPetro of ANR's IT team. Damon's sister and her family also lost their house.
Colleagues have asked how to help.
Emergency resources for UC employees
In response to queries, the Staff Assembly has posted information on their website about the impact of the Camp Fire on our ANR employees and their families at http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu/Resources_/Emergency_Resources_/. Earlier in the year, they posted similar information for those impacted by the Mendocino fires and have committed to maintain Emergency Services information on their website whenever any UC ANR employees are impacted.
Emergency support is also available to UC employees from the university's benefit plans https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/2018/11/emergency-support-from-ucs-benefit-plans.html.
UC ANR assists Camp Fire survivors
In the midst of their own losses, UCCE staff in Butte County and neighboring counties have been reaching out to assist community members. For example, Ryan Cleland, 4-H representative, has been working with the 4-H community since Nov. 8, the day the Camp Fire erupted, to coordinate assistance and volunteerism. He is providing vetted and frequently updated information on where evacuated and displaced people can find help and how other community members can volunteer, donate and contribute.
The UCCE nutrition education team has been assisting with meal preparation at shelters, and also with volunteering at indoor youth activities available through the shelters and the local area recreation district.
Other UCCE staff and advisors have been volunteering where needed – helping gather and deliver supplies, volunteering at human shelters and animal shelters, helping out at the numerous meal centers that have popped up.
UC Master Gardener volunteers have been reaching out to fellow Master Gardeners who have lost their homes or remain evacuated to offer housing and other support.
Tracy Schohr, UCCE livestock and natural resource advisor in Plumas and Sierra counties, has been helping care for large animals in the evacuation zone.
The forestry, fire and natural resource advisors have ongoing fire safety research and education programs, coordinating with fire safe councils, and working with other agencies to assist in recovery and become better prepared for natural disasters.
UC ANR to launch fourth annual #GivingTuesday campaign Nov. 27
On Nov. 27, ANR is once again participating in #GivingTuesday—a 24-hour global giving challenge—a movement about ordinary people coming together to do extraordinary things. Celebrated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season. For ANR, Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to raise funds for UC Cooperative Extension county programs, research and extension centers and statewide programs. To help Californians recover from recent wildfires, adapt to climate change and escape persistent pockets of poverty, the needs in the coming year will be great, and year-end giving is an opportunity for donors to assist.
UC Cooperative Extension staff and 4-H members took care of evacuated farm animals at the fairgrounds, and in Siskiyou County, partnered with local agencies to create and distribute Pet Emergency Evacuation Plan pamphlets.
For UC ANR stakeholders, #GivingTuesday presents an opportunity to support the many programs and services that strengthen California communities each day and more importantly, during times of crisis. Last year, over $76,000 was raised on #GivingTuesday to support UC ANR programs including the 4-H Youth Development Program and UC Master Gardener Program.
“As residents of California, we're all each other's neighbors—we lend a helping hand, we share information, we care about our community. That's what our #GivingTuesday #NeighborCA campaign is all about.” said Emily Delk, director of annual giving for UC ANR.
A website is up with links to all of ANR's programs, Research and Extension Centers and UCCE offices: ucanr.edu/givingtuesday. It invites donors to designate programs or locations to which they wish to donate.
The website contains a toolkit for county offices and programs to participate. It includes:
- Sample tweets and social media posts
- Custom images to include in social posts
- Templates for “unselfies.” Donors may take photos of themselves holding an unselfie sign and share on social media how they are giving.
The 4-H Youth Development Program also has its own website at http://4h.ucanr.edu/GivingTuesday.
Although not as well-known as the shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday appeals to people who are swept up in the spirit of giving at the end of the year.
This year Development Services has set a goal of collecting a total of $100,000 for 4-H and UC ANR from 300 or more donors on #GivingTuesday. Last year UC ANR and 4-H received nearly 300 gifts.
“The #GivingTuesday #NeighborCA campaign is a fun way for people in all ANR programs to give to the programs most important to them,” said Delk.
Cybersecurity and UCPath to change the way ANR does business
When ANR joins UCPath in the spring, it will introduce new technology that will ultimately unify and standardize payroll, benefits and human resources systems for all UC employees. As we adopt new technology to modernize ANR business systems, we are strengthening our online security measures.
In a recent webinar to prepare ANR office managers and others for the transition to UCPath in the spring, John Fox, Human Resources executive director, brought in Dave Krause, manager of web development and applications programming, to discuss multi-factor authentication to access online systems, and Emily LaRue, associate director of the Business Operations Center, to discuss the impact of UCPath on the Business Operations Center.
Multi-factor authentication
To use an online system that is operated by UC Davis for ANR, such as the time reporting system, KFS, Aggie Buy or AggieTravel, an ANR employee logs into a form. Historically, once your credentials are “authenticated” against a database hosted by UC Davis, you are redirected to the system and off you go. Another step is being added to protect the system from hackers. A tool called “Duo” will ask you for a second form of authentication.
“Duo seamlessly adds this second form of authentication right in the login form,” Krause said. “For this example, I have preset Duo to send the second authentication to my phone as a 'push notification' (a mobile phone alert that appears onscreen while the phone is still in locked mode). Duo will also happily call you or send you a code to use instead.”
Once the user clicks “approve,” the website immediately accepts the second authentication and opens the site.
Mobile phones, tablets and Apple watches are among the devices supported by Duo. “It doesn't take up much space on your device,” Krause said.
For employees who don't have mobile devices for authentication, physical tokens that connect directly to your computers will be available. Currently, only mobile devices are eligible for enrollment. More information about tokens will be available soon.
If you lose or forget your device or token, UC Davis IET Express help desk can send you a temporary access code.
UC ANR will be rolling out Duo for its identity management system next year. Volunteers, affiliates and collaborators will have unchanged access.
“We are now inviting all UC ANR employees who use UC Davis systems to enroll in Duo via a smartphone or tablet,” Krause said. “Be sure you use a device that is with you when you work!”
For details on Duo enrollment and setting it up, go to http://ucanr.edu/mfa.
Impact of UCPath on Business Operations Center
Becoming its own business unit with UCPath will increase ANR's visibility as equivalent to the 10 campuses and change its business relationship with UC Davis. In addition, ANR's responsibility for compliance and accountability will take on even greater importance. Implementation of UCPath will create some changes to ANR's Business Operations Center, including the location of ANR's UCPath payroll team, work assignments and responsibilities, and systems and processes.
“For the first several weeks, everything will seem different!” LaRue said.
Personnel action entry functions for new hires, terminations and pay changes will be performed by ANR HR or the UCPath Central Team. A single ANR BOC Payroll unit composed of a payroll manager and three staff members will be located in Davis. The BOC will be responsible for audits and additional reporting and there will be new terms, different business processes, and different routing of forms and documentation.
LuRue expects the following to remain the same:
- Payroll (time and leave reporting) processing
o Timely submission for all organizational units
o Time Reporting System review and corrections as needed
- Service level
o ANR UCPath Hypercare Team – Group devoted to resolution of ANR employee issues
- Processing of financial transactions
o BOC-Kearney – UCCE (Gifts excluded)
o BOC-Davis – Statewide programs, Research and Extension Centers and administrative units
For more information about UCPath changes, visit the website at https://ucanr.edu/ucpath.
