Posts Tagged: Keith Nathaniel

Join UC Black Staff & Faculty, BAE for Juneteenth events

UC ANR employees are invited to join the UCOP Black Staff & Faculty Organization for a Juneteenth week of events!

More information and an event flyer (PDF) can be found on the UCOP page. 

The UC ANR Black and Allied Employees are also hosting a "Celebrating Juneteenth" event on June 14, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, featuring Dr. Mary Blackburn and Dr. Keith Nathaniel (see Zoom information in event listings below).

What's Juneteenth

Monday, June 12
Noon-1 p.m.

Come learn about the significance of Juneteenth.

David H. Anthony III, professor emeritus of African History at UC Santa Cruz, will delve into the significance and history of Juneteenth, exploring its roots and its importance in American culture.

Join via Zoom https://ucop.zoom.us/j/93634417310#success

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Reparations Speaker

Tuesday, June 13
1-2 p.m.

Join Cheryl Grills, Ph.D., as she discusses the meaning and importance of reparations, including the history of reparations in America. She will also provide information on how to support tangible reparations for American Descendants of Slavery.

Join via Zoom https://ucop.zoom.us/j/98089055733#success
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Celebrating Juneteenth

Wednesday, June 14
10:30 a.m.-Noon

Join UC ANR Black and Allied Employees as we learn about the lives of Dr. Keith Nathaniel and Dr. Mary Blackburn — including their journeys in agriculture and extension, how their experiences shape their work, and how their lives connect to present patterns of inequity that are commonly believed to be a thing of the past. 

Voting Rights

Wednesday, June 14
Noon-1 p.m.

Kristin Nimmers from the California Black Power Network will speak about the importance of voting and voting rights.

Join via Zoom: https://ucop.zoom.us/j/98089055733#success
980 8905 5733

"Ferguson Rises" Film Screening

Thursday, June 15
3-5 p.m.

Join UC colleagues for a special movie screening of "Ferguson Rises," followed by a thought-provoking discussion with esteemed speakers who will explore the themes and issues presented in the film.

In-person at Broadway Conference Center in Oakland or join via Zoom: 

https://ucop.zoom.us/j/91215595154#success
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Speaker Rendon gets update on UCCE in his district

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon met with UCCE Los Angeles director Keith Nathaniel and communicator Dohee Kim on March 13. Rendon represents the 63rd Assembly District in Southern California, which includes nine cities southeast of Los Angeles.

Armed with UC Cooperative Extension's annual report for Los Angeles County as well as spreadsheet data, maps and photos depicting program activities in his district, Nathaniel and Kim described the different kinds of programs that are available to Rendon's constituents, providing concrete examples.

They also talked about UC ANR's presence in the state of California. This information allowed Speaker Rendon to consider possible collaborations with UC Cooperative Extension to better serve and represent his communities.

“It was a wonderful and productive meeting at his district office in Lakewood,” Kim said. “We are pleased to report that Speaker Rendon was familiar with UC ANR and UC Cooperative Extension before the meeting.” 

 

New leaders named for three strategic initiatives

New leaders for three of the five UC ANR Strategic Initiatives have taken the helm for the three SI leaders who rotated off, effective Jan. 2.

Jim Farrar, director of UC Integrated Pest Management Program, succeeds Cheryl Wilen as leader for Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases (EIPD).

David Lile, UCCE director in Lassen County, succeeds John Harper as leader for Sustainable and Natural Ecosystems (SNE).

Neil McRoberts, associate professor of plant pathology at UC Davis, and Deanne Meyer, UCCE specialist in animal science at UC Davis, succeed David Doll as co-leaders for Sustainable Food Systems (SFS).

The strategic initiative leaders play a key role in unifying, communicating and advocating to promote the science and impact of the work of UC ANR. A key undertaking for the SI leaders in 2018 will be to revisit and evolve the role of the initiatives themselves, identifying how the strategic initiatives can better help us advance the UC ANR agenda of touching the lives of 40 million Californians.

Wendy Powers, associate vice president, and Mark Bell, vice provost for strategic initiatives and statewide programs, thanked Wilen, Harper and Doll for their service as SI leaders.

Keith Nathaniel continues to lead the Healthy Families and Communities initiative and Doug Parker continues to lead the Water Quality, Quantity and Security initiative.

4-H Youth Development team wins national diversity award

4-H Youth Development advisors Dorina Espinoza, Russell Hill, Fe Moncloa and Keith Nathaniel and 4-H associate director Shannon Horrillo have won the National Extension Diversity Award for systematically enhancing the intercultural competency of 4-H personnel and others in California. Moncloa and Hill accepted the National Extension Diversity Award on behalf of the UC ANR team on Sunday, Nov. 13, at the 129^th Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. 

The award, given by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), Cooperative Extension System and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), honors the team for creating and using Intercultural Development Inventory© to shift organizational culture. This shift includes mutual respect, acceptance, teamwork and productivity among diverse people.

To meet the needs of a culturally and ethnically diverse youth population in California, they created a professional-development intervention for 4-H academics and staff. The Intercultural Development Inventory© is a cross-culturally generalizable, valid and reliable assessment of intercultural competence. Calling themselves the Intercultural Development Inventory Qualified Administrators, they applied the strategy over three years, providing 176 hours of intercultural communication feedback sessions, learning communities and regional conferences to enhance the intercultural competence of 65 4-H personnel.

Evaluations demonstrated that after the intervention UC 4-H Youth Development Program personnel had acquired skills and characteristics to become more culturally competent. The program has moved from focusing on similarities across diverse people that can mask deeper recognition of cultural differences to recognizing the complexity of dimensions of diversity.

The action plan and resulting positive change provides the potential to improve hiring and professional development nationwide by replication in other states. A summary of California's IDI professional development activities can be found in the National 4-H Latino Youth Outreach: Best Practices Toolkit, Professional Development.

 

ANR reaches out to donors on #GivingTuesday

This year ANR will participate in #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season. 

Last year, the 4-H Youth Development Program and UC Master Gardener Program successfully participated in #GivingTuesday campaigns.

“Our goal for 4-H was to raise $10,000 and we exceeded our goal with donations totaling over $13,000,” said Andrea Ambrose, acting director of Development Services. 4-H programs in 17 counties participated. In Placer County, the robotics team got their friends and family involved to promote #4HGivingConfidence on social media, leading Placer County to collect the largest amount for the 4-H Youth Development Program.

Although not as widely recognized as the shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday appeals to people swept up in the spirit of giving at the end of the year.

“#GivingTuesday is a wonderful opportunity for all ANR programs to augment their funding with private donations,” said Ambrose.

A website is being created with links to all of ANR's programs, Research and Extension Centers and extension offices. Donors will be invited to designate the program or location to which they wish to donate. The URL for the #GivingTuesday website will be announced in ANR Update soon. 

ANR will provide a toolkit for county offices and programs to participate. It will include:

• A customizable letter to send to stakeholders
• Templates for “unselfies.” Donors may take photos of themselves holding an unselfie sign and share on social media how they are giving.
• Sample tweets and social media posts
• Sample thank you note

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