Posts Tagged: Tu Tran

‘Open Conversation’ on Sept. 9 offers chance to chat with leadership

Many of your UC Agriculture and Natural Resources colleagues have already had the opportunity to chat – in an informal, online setting – with UC ANR leadership about a wide range of topics.

Friday, Sept. 9 (1 to 2 p.m.) is your next chance to take part in the series, “Open Conversations with UC ANR Senior Leadership” (submit interest form to participate).

Within this small group format, you can voice your questions, comments, suggestions – or whatever is on your mind – with Vice President Glenda Humiston, Associate Vice President-Business Operations Tu Tran and interim Associate Vice President-Programs Deanne Meyer.

Past participants, such as Ricardo Vela, manager of News & Information Outreach in Spanish, recommend these sessions as a forum for candid, meaningful engagement with leadership.

“I encourage every UC ANR staff member to participate,” Vela said. “Open Conversations with UC ANR Leadership were precisely that – a very casual, open conversation about topics I was interested in. The meeting was not one-sided, and senior leadership showed genuine interest in what I had to say; in the end, participating made me feel that I mattered at UC ANR.”

Organizers seek to limit enrollment to 20 participants to allow for more in-depth dialogue, so submit your interest form early. Attendees are expected to have microphone and camera on for the duration of the online session.

Contact the Program Support Unit at anrprogramsupport@ucanr.edu with any questions.

Open Conversations with UC ANR leadership begin March 31

UC ANR Senior Leadership will begin hosting conversations with small groups of ANR employees on a quarterly basis. The first will be Wednesday, March 31, at 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. with VP Glenda Humiston and Tu Tran, associate vice president for business operations. 

Enrollment will be limited to 20 participants per session to allow for open dialogue, so please register at https://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=32978.

The dates below are being held for future sessions. Dates and times may be adjusted as needed. 

June 23, 1 – 2 p.m., with Wendy Powers, associate vice president, and Tran

Sept. 21, 1 – 2 p.m., with Humiston and Powers

Dec. 15, 1 – 2 p.m., Humiston and Tran 

Open Conversation sessions will be announced about one month prior to each session.

UCPath cutover postponed for UC ANR and UC Davis

In a Feb. 28 meeting, President Napolitano, UC Davis Chancellor May, UC Berkeley Chancellor Christ and Vice President Humiston agreed to postpone UCPath implementation at UC Davis and UC ANR as recommended by the UCPath program leadership and its executive sponsors. This postponement is necessary to allow time to properly analyze and resolve critical issues related to the readiness level at UC Davis and the UC Davis Health System due to data accuracy and compounding complexities of the downstream system interfaces.

UC ANR's readiness to go live in UCPath meets required specifications thanks in part to our smaller population and a centralized administrative structure. However, it is not feasible for UC ANR to cut over to UCPath independent of UC Davis in the short time necessary to meet the April cutover because we use many UC Davis systems. Therefore, Vice President Humiston voted to postpone UC ANR's cutover as well.  

Cutover activities for UC Berkeley will proceed as planned for the March and April dates.

We are working now with our partners at UC Davis and the UCPath central project team to analyze deployment options and to identify a new target go-live date. It is my sincere hope that we will be able to go live this summer in concert with our campus partners at UC Davis. 

Although we are disappointed about the delay, I am proud of the outstanding work our teams have done to meet project milestones and demonstrate our readiness to go live on schedule.  Our project team has been recognized for taking the lead role among UC locations in testing and readiness activities. I'd like to share VP Humiston's thanks to all involved for a remarkable job and ask that we stay engaged in this very strategic and important project.

We will use the next few months to continue our training and preparation activities so that UC ANR maintains its readiness level to achieve a smooth transition. We will keep you apprised of any updates.

Tu M. Tran
Associate Vice President, Business Operations

 

 

PAC discusses ANR Advisory Committee recommendations

The UC ANR Advisory Committee, appointed by President Janet Napolitano to consider options for UC ANR's structure, governance and funding, submitted its recommendations to her, Don Bransford told the UC President's Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources (PAC), which met Dec. 18 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Berkeley.

PAC Chair Bransford, who also served on the UC ANR Advisory Committee, said the committee saw opportunities to strengthen governance, increase budgetary transparency, provide more stable and predictable funding models and enhance collaborations between UC ANR and UC's broader academic and research enterprise.

The committee, which included deans Kathryn Uhrich of the UCR College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and Michael Lairmore of the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, consulted internal and external stakeholders, then conducted its own analyses in consultation with UC ANR leaders.

The committee made four key recommendations:

1. Maintain UC ANR's status as a systemwide program within UCOP, reporting to the president.
2. Create a UC ANR governing council for oversight and to promote greater understanding of UC ANR across the university.
3. Create a funding model using a combination of the “set-aside” and “corridor” models.
4. Retain campus oversight of and reporting responsibility for state Agricultural Experiment Station funds.

Napolitano told the PAC she would be moving forward on the recommendations because she thinks they will ensure ANR greater budget stability, a broader understanding of ANR across the UC system and create more opportunities for collaboration between ANR and campus academics. She issued a statement Dec. 19 on her decisions for UC ANR.

Uhrich said she sees the governing council as an “opportunity to educate, integrate and be inclusive” to have people from across the UC system and outside of UC participating.

UC expertise

In other discussions, Napolitano commended ANR employees for their responses to the Camp Fire and Woolsey Fire, noting that employees and volunteers lost homes in the devastating wildfires.

At a recent meeting with some legislators to discuss automation and the future of work, wildfire, health issues and homelessness, Napolitano said the policymakers told her they want to hear more from UC experts to help them think through policy challenges.

One commissioner commented, “We're going to have more fires, more foodborne illness outbreaks. Let's have our folks out there to talk to media and have them wearing a UC shirt.”

Napolitano replied, “I like the idea of folks wearing UC garb when they're on TV.”

Budget

Humiston and Tu Tran, associate vice president for business operations, briefed the PAC on ANR's budget. Administrative costs are up this fiscal year to invest $4 million to join UCPath, the new systemwide payroll and personnel system. UC ANR has begun the transition and will go live in March-April. “Ultimately UCPath will save us money, but it's costing us now,” Humiston said.

Due to budget constraints, Humiston explained that UC ANR isn't offering competitive grants nor announcing UCCE positions to be filled in 2018-19. Recruitment for previously approved positions is ongoing and new hiring will begin as resources become available to make the long-term commitment to support positions.

In her budget PowerPoint presentation for the PAC, Humiston listed actions ANR has taken in the past to compensate for budget cuts and steps that will be taken in FY 2018-19.

Tran explained that UC ANR relies on six sources of funds – state, federal, county, extramural, endowments and income from gifts, patents, investments and program fees. State funds, which constitute the largest portion of the division's funding, pay for employee salaries and benefits. He noted government funding is highly volatile so “we are trying to raise money in other ways.”

California Agricultural Resources Archive

UC Merced's librarian HaiPeng Li, project archivist Lisa Valens and project director Emily Lin gave a presentation on the California Agricultural Resources Archive or CARA. The UC Cooperative Extension archive project, which was launched after UC Cooperative Extension's centennial in 2014, started with UCCE in Merced, Humboldt and Ventura counties. The team has been digitizing annual reports and historical photos to make them accessible to the public and researchers.

“The data isn't just history,” Humiston asserted. “There are notes on research that may hold the key to something like huanglongbing.”

Mining the data, advanced analysis and linking to other information might open new avenues of research, she said.

UC ANR is seeking partners and trying to raise funds for the archive project. Jim Downing, publications director, will assume leadership of the project to succeed Jan Corlett, chief of staff to the vice president, who plans to retire in July.

Deans' updates

To help students with career planning, Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said she seeks UCCE advisors to show students the research and outreach being done in the counties and planning a course on Cooperative Extension to introduce students to career options. She is in talks to partner with UC Davis medical center on health research such as the connection between diet and disease.

David Ackerly, dean of the UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources, announced the recent hiring of new Cooperative Extension specialists Ellen Bruno for policy analysis and Rob York for fire and policy, and that he is striving to create new faculty positions that will not depend on state money. He also announced that UC Cooperative Extension specialist Adina Merenlender received a $5 million gift to train California climate stewards through a program similar to California Naturalist. Ackerly also noted that Giannini Hall is closing temporarily for seismic upgrades so faculty and staff are packing to move out during construction.

Katherine Uhrich, dean of the UC Riverside College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, announced CNAS has hired 24 faculty this year including two Nobel laureates – Richard Shrock and Barry Barish. She also announced that Givaudan, a Swiss company that creates fragrances and flavors, is donating funds to cover UCR's citrus variety collection, to protect the trees from pests and diseases.

Michael Lairmore, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, announced that his veterinary team worked tirelessly treating animals injured during the Camp Fire, taking in 70 animals, most of which have returned to their families. About $2 million has been donated to offset the costs of treating the animals. Veterinarian Jamie Peyton covered burns on cats and dogs with tilapia skin to help with healing and has a provisional patent for the fish skin treatment. Lairmore also announced the school is planning to build a Livestock and Field Service Center. “We are in need of donations and there are naming opportunities for interested individuals or companies,” Lairmore told PAC members. He also announced the hiring of Emmanuel Okello, the new UCCE specialist in antimicrobial stewardship.

The PAC, which meets twice a year, will meet next in the spring.

Names in the News

Bruno named dairy advisor in Fresno and Madera counties

Daniela Bruno joined UCCE on Nov. 5, 2018, as the area dairy advisor in Fresno and Madera counties.

Bruno completed a Ph.D. in comparative pathology from UC Davis and a DVM from The Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Throughout her professional and academic career, Bruno has carried out work related to animal health and welfare, food safety, milk quality, wastewater and dairy systems management. Prior to joining UCCE, Dr. Bruno was a technical services specialist/dairy advisor at DeLaval, Inc. where she provided technical support with trainings, webinars and newsletters to local California dairies and worldwide. She worked closely to field veterinarians and consultants troubleshooting problems at dairies assuring the food supply is safe. Bruno, who is fluent in Portuguese, provided oversight on field clinical trials for products developed for the U.S. and global market.

She collaborated with CSU Fresno and UC Davis in several projects, including studies on animal health, mastitis and milk quality, hoof diseases and calf management and the results from these studies have been presented at National and International meetings such as National Mastitis Council meetings, Lameness in Ruminants Conference and at the World Buiatrics Congress. From 2009 to 2012, Bruno was a dairy specialist/microbiologist at Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory. There, she oversaw dairy specimens on performing diagnostic testing and assisting field veterinarians with troubleshooting problems at their client dairies. She also worked closely with the Texas A&M Extension team, providing training on milk quality and mastitis control to herdsmen and other dairy employees, helping them to be more effective in all aspects of dairy management.

Bruno is based in Fresno and can be reached at (559) 241-7552, (559) 241-7515 and dfbruno@ucanr.edu.

Okello named UCCE specialist in antimicrobial stewardship

Emmanuel Okello joined the Department of Population Health and Reproduction as Assistant Specialist in Cooperative Extension in antimicrobial stewardship on Nov. 1, 2018.

Prior to accepting his UCCE position, Okello was a postdoctoral research scholar at the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, gaining valuable epidemiological experience on dairy production units conducting studies on selective dry cow treatment and surveys of anti-microbial resistance. This has enabled him the opportunity to establish good working relationships with extension specialists, dairy owners, herd managers, farm workers, veterinary practitioners and researchers across California.

Working with farmers and other stakeholders to improve livestock health and productivity, Okello will develop antimicrobial stewardship guidelines and best management practices for veterinarians, livestock owners and their employees that reduce antimicrobial resistance yet maintain healthy herds and flocks.

Okello earned his veterinary degree (DVM equivalent) from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, a master's in molecular biology from Katholieke University Leuven, in Belgium and a Ph.D. in bio-engineering sciences from Vrije University Brussel in Belgium.

Okello is based at the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center in Tulare and can be reached at (559) 688-1731, ext. 267, and eokello@ucdavis.edu.

 

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