Posts Tagged: UC Walks

See the winning UC Walks 2020 photos

This May, UC ANR staff and faculty opted outside for a Virtual UC Walks 2020. More than 100 ANR staff and academics chose to walk together while apart for a total of 90 hours! Several participants chose to submit photos of their walks to the photo contest competition hosted by the UCANR Staff Assembly Wellness Committee.

Best Nature photo winner Ana Medina, awed us with her lovely twilight panoramic of the Bay Area.

Best Fashion photo winner, Emily Melton Casado, made us smile with family's coordinated UC Walks attire.

Last but certainly not least, Best Urban photo winner Sarah Angulo impressed us with the creativity her walking team brought to the event by turning their walk into a Zoom meeting.  

In addition to a photo contest, the UC Staff Assembly Wellness Committee raffled off two Fitbits. Congratulations to Ben DiAnna for winning the participation survey raffle and to Russ Hill for winning the social media post raffle.

See more UC Walks photos on the Staff Assembly website.

To see photos selected for 'honorable mention,' visit the UC ANR Staff Assembly Wellness Committee website.

The UC ANR Staff Assembly Council wants to send out a huge thank you to everyone who participated in this year's event. Your participation highlighted how, even in these unusual times, UC ANR stands together. Here's to a UC Walks 2021 that is not just virtual. In the meantime, we hope this event inspires everyone to get outside and take a stroll.

Be well,

The UC ANR Staff Assembly Council

UC Walks together apart on May 6

Shelter in place got you stuck in the house? Not on May 6, 2020! Walking together, even when we're apart - that's the mission for Virtual UC Walks happening on May 6, 2020! Anytime on May 6, put on your walking shoes and take a walk around your block.

Share your experience with the ANR community. Submit your best nature, urban or fashion photo from your walk to the photo contest and win some cool prizes! Keep a look out for further details from your Staff Ambassador on how to participate in Virtual UC Walks 2020.

Contact your Staff Assembly Ambassador to get involved. 

FitBit raffle give away! 

Enter our raffle by doing the following:

• Complete this survey 
• Promote your walk on social media (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) using the hashtags #UCANRmoves and #ucwalks

Photo contest

The best nature, best fashion, and best urban point-of-interest photos will win a signed UC WALKS t-shirt, water bottle and fanny pack. Take photos along your walk and submit your best ONE photo here. 

Please remember to stick to California's shelter in place guidelines while outdoors:

1. Be sure to wear a mask during your walk
2. Stay 6 feet apart from others while outside in your community
3. Cover coughs and sneezes with your elbow
4. Be sure to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds upon returning home

Make your walk an adventure, play Walking BINGO. Download the card at https://ucanr.edu/sites/Staff_Assembly/files/324342.pdf. 

For more information, contact your Staff Assembly Ambassador  or visit http://staffassembly.ucanr.edu/Subcommittees/Wellness_Committee/Wellness_Committee/UC_Walks/

UC walks for wellness on May 17

UC Walks returns for its eighth year on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, bringing together faculty, staff, students and retirees to take a walk, share wellness tips and (with luck) enjoy the spring sunshine.

UC Walks is a free, systemwide event that began in 2010 as a way to raise awareness about the importance of making time for walking or fitness. Over the years, UC Walks just keeps growing, highlighting UC's commitment to becoming among the healthiest places in the country to live, work and study. Wellness managers and benefits professionals organize the events, making sure that each location offers something special – like UC Berkeley's signature flash mob, free health screenings at UC San Diego, and a Wellness and Safety Fair at UC Irvine.

Visit the UC Walks page on UCnet to check out this year's video and find out what's happening at your location. Although most events will take place on Wednesday, May 17, UCSF's event will be held on May 10, and UC Berkeley's event will be held on Friday, June 16. Participants will receive a free T-shirt while supplies last, courtesy of UC's medical and behavioral health plans.

Show your UC Walks spirit by sharing photos of you and your colleagues on Twitter, using #UCWalks. A collection of #UCWalks photos will be posted on UCnet after the event. Check out a photo slideshow of last year's event.

 

 

ANR develops innovation incubation strategy

“If UC ANR isn't an incubator, I don't know what is. Furthermore, I would argue that the partnership of our land-grant university system with Cooperative Extension is the original and most productive incubator that the world has ever seen,” VP Glenda Humiston wrote in the October-December 2015 issue of California Agriculture.  

Since joining ANR, Humiston has been working to expand UC ANR's incubation activities by joining with diverse partners to develop a much broader innovation infrastructure specifically designed to support intellectual property, innovation, entrepreneurship, tech transfer, startups and commercialization aimed at agriculture, natural resources and rural communities. 

“A lot of people have ideas, but they don't know how to be business leaders. An incubator connects them with the things they need to be successful as new entrepreneurs,” said Gabe Youtsey, chief information officer.

To kick off development of such a system, Humiston brought together 40 people on Aug. 30 with a wide range of expertise and representing a variety of sectors: agriculture, banking, business, government, technology and higher education – including leaders of several successful incubators. The purpose of the meeting, held at the ANR building in Davis, was to engage the group in developing a comprehensive strategy to nurture new technologies and innovative businesses for agriculture and natural resources. 

“We're not looking to reinvent the wheel or duplicate existing efforts,” Humiston said, explaining that she hopes to support and leverage the strengths and efforts of partners.

Christine Gulbranson, UC senior vice president of research innovation and entrepreneurship, and Reg Kelly of UC San Francisco, who created QB3, – one of UC's best performing incubators – participated in the session. The quantitative biologists at UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and UC Santa Cruz who comprise QB3 take on challenges in biology using physics, chemistry, and computer science. QB3's Startup in a Box provides legal and grant-writing help for biotech startups.

“We want to take the QB3 model and modify it for ANR,” Humiston said. “But we don't have the resources to build a statewide system by ourselves so we're catalyzing like-minded partners to jointly develop the needed statewide innovation infrastructure.”

Such an innovation system could benefit a wide array of entrepreneurs in rural areas and help to commercialize ideas generated by UC Cooperative Extension specialists and advisors.

“Over the past eight years, ANR researchers have filed 148 patents,” Humiston said. “However, it is unclear if many of those had the support they needed to go the next step.”

At the meeting, the group divided into five tables of eight people. Each table had representatives of UC ANR, various UC campuses, state and federal government, funding institutions, incubators, and different industries. They discussed issues around innovation, place, talent, stewardship and engagement, answering the following questions:

• What exists now?
• Where are the gaps that need to be filled?
• Which of these gaps could UC ANR help catalyze and fill, either with partners or on its own?
• How could this work to fill the gaps be funded?
• How do we measure success?

Conversations were lively and many ideas were brought forth for specific projects and other implementation. “It's really exciting,” said Humiston. “People were jazzed. Virtually all of the participants said they want to work with us on next steps.”

In addition to Humiston and Youtsey, AVP Wendy Powers and UCCE advisors David Doll and Andre Biscaro participated for ANR. Consultant Meg Arnold is writing up a report, which is expected to be released in early October. 

Names in the News

Mathesius named UCCE agronomy advisor in Capitol Corridor

Konrad Mathesius (pronounced “Muh-tay-zee-us”) is the new UCCE agronomy advisor for Yolo, Sacramento and Solano counties.

Mathesius, who joined ANR on June 27, will be working with growers and pest control advisers in the Capitol Corridor area to address issues related to soils, pests, diseases and production efficiency. In addition to collaborating on a few projects with UCCE advisor Rachael Long in alfalfa, dry beans and sunflowers, he will work on a wide range of agronomic crops including corn, wheat, barley and safflower. 

Mathesius will work with growers and PCAs to mitigate crop losses by addressing pest and disease pressures and to help them comply with nitrogen, pesticide and water regulations. He also plans to develop crop guidelines based on difficulties associated with specific soils in the Capitol Corridor.

The native of Logan, Utah, earned his undergraduate degree at Utah State and his master's degrees in soil science and international agricultural development at UC Davis.

“After graduation, I spent a few years working in the private sector, where I gained a sense of respect for bottom lines and the hustle to make ends meet,” Mathesius said. “I intend to bring the question of cost and efficiency into most, if not all of my work.”

Based in Woodland, Mathesius can be reached at kpmathesius@ucanr.edu and (530) 666-8704.

Stein joins ANR as AVP executive assistant

Kathryn Stein has joined ANR as executive assistant to Wendy Powers, Associate Vice President 

Prior to joining ANR, Stein worked in the College of Engineering Dean's office at UC Berkeley for three and a half years. She earned a B.S. in environmental horticulture and urban forestry from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. While in Davis, she worked for the Whole Earth Festival, an annual sustainability festival on the UC Davis campus.  

Stein is based on the 10th floor of UCOP and can be reached at Kathryn.Stein@ucop.edu  and (510) 587-6240.

Martinez and Au receive NIH Career Development Awards

Two researchers at the Nutrition Policy Institute have been awarded K01 Career Development Awards by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Lauren Au will research disparities in the relationship between the school nutrition environment and childhood obesity and Suzanna Martinez will study sleep duration and risk for obesity in Mexican-American children.

Martinez will receive $895,620 and Au will receive $840,871. Martinez has also been accepted into the K Scholars Program at UC San Francisco, which will provide her with peer support and mentorship to conduct the study.

Allen-Diaz honored by APLU

Barbara Allen-Diaz, who retired as ANR vice president in 2015, is among five Land Grant university leaders recognized for Excellence in National Leadership by the Experiment Station Section of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).

The other individuals honored with Allen-Diaz were:

• Walter A. Hill, Dean, College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences, Tuskegee University
• Steve Slack, formerly associate vice president for agricultural administration and director of OARDC, The Ohio State University (recently retired)
• Daniel Rossi, formerly executive director, Northeastern Regional Association of State Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (recently retired)
• William (Bill) Brown, dean of research and director of the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Tennessee

The resolution reads in part: “These leaders have personified the highest level of excellence by enhancing the cause and performance of the Regional Associations and Experiment Station Section in achieving their mission and the Land-grant ideal.”

The awards were announced at the annual Experiment Station Section meeting on Sept. 21 in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Read more