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Posts Tagged: Russell Hill
Three counties win Newhall Family Foundation match
Last year, Mary Ciricillo, California 4-H Foundation director, secured a $73,000 gift from the Newhall Family Foundation for 4-H Diversity initiatives, including $36,500 for Santa Barbara, Merced and Fresno counties. In order to receive the $36,500 match, UCCE had to raise funds as well as deliver the program.
“All three counties did it!” said Lorna Krkich, Development Services director.
4-H advisor Russ Hill in Merced County, 4-H community educator Alena Pacheco in Fresno County, and Liliana Vega, 4-H community educator in Santa Barbara County, led the successful fundraising efforts in their respective counties.
“I shared the FY19 fundraising report with the executive director of the Newhall Foundation illustrating how much each county 4-H program garnered in private support since July 1, 2018,”Ciricillo said. “I am happy to share that he was very pleased and impressed by Russ, Alena and Liliana's efforts.”
Learning and Development: Measuring outcomes, professional development, new website
October 16, CE San Diego County Office
October 26, ANR Building, Davis
Workshop desired outcomes: Participants will gain understanding and practice organizing program activities into themes for the merit and promotion process. They will also define their program outcomes and impacts, using logic models and UC ANR's condition changes and public values. Participant will write impact statements about their programs for merit and promotion efforts, for UC Delivers and other communications. Register now
Led by:
Katherine Webb-Martinez, Assoc. Dir., PP&E
Vikram Koundinya, Evaluation CE Specialist
Chris Greer, Area IPM Advisor
Practical methods to measuring outcomes
October 15, CE San Diego County Office
October 25, ANR Building, Davis
Workshop desired outcomes: Participants will gain understanding of and experience in defining outcomes and identifying measurable indicators for their programs. They also will acquire an understanding of evaluation data collection approaches and methods used by UCCE progress on outcomes evaluation plans/efforts. Register now
Led by:
Katherine Webb-Martinez, Assoc. Dir., PP&E Vikram Koundinya, Evaluation CE Specialist
Chris Greer, Area IPM Advisor
Whitney Brim-DeForest, Rice Advisor
Darren Haver, Water Resources/Water Quality Advisor and REC/County Director
Exploring partnerships to address economically vulnerable populations
eXtension Zoom Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 10 a.m.
A New Anchor Partnership Program Between Extension and Everyday Democracy
Engaging people across their community in dialogue and community change with an equity lens can directly address issues of economic vulnerability and poverty. Everyday Democracy, a national organization leading in the field of dialogue and deliberation to promote stronger communities, has recently partnered with several state Extension programs with its new “Anchor Partners” Project. This webinar will explore this new partnership program and the role it can play in in addressing structural racism, engaging all different kinds of people in public dialogue, and linking dialogue to action and positive change, specifically for those who are economically-vulnerable. Find more information here. Register here https://extension.zoom.us/j/250738699.
UC Women's Initiative for Professional Development (UC WI): More than professional development
The UC Women's Initiative for Professional Development was a wonderful experience from start to finish. I was a bit skeptical at first about how much I would get out of it, but it far exceeded any expectations I had. It is so much more than simply a professional development and networking program.
The program designed in collaboration with CORO encompasses leadership skills, team building, negotiation strategies and network building tools along with professional development.
It sounds cliché to say it was a transformative experience, but it truly was. As a group of professional women from across UC, we bonded and connected despite the differences in our locations, titles, ages or experience. The UCWIP made me consider the future of my career when I never had before. I had never thought much about my own career development or searching out mentors and sponsors. I now am actively spending time thinking about the future of my career and steps I can take to constantly improve myself as a team member, speaker, workshop leader, etc. I am building the tools to advance my career, my self-worth as a part of UCANR and my team here at Hopland REC.
To learn more about the program and to apply (by Oct. 12, 2018), read the next article.
It's time again! Nominations are now open through Oct. 12, 2018, for the 2019 UC Women's Initiative for Professional Development (UC WI).
UC WI aims to cultivate a vibrant, professional network of women across the UC system. It's designed for mid-career women, including academics and staff, who demonstrate the potential to advance their careers within UC.
As in the past, ANR will be sponsoring women (academics and staff) to participate in the 2019 program. Six regional cohorts (three in the north and three in the south) will be offered. Each cohort program is comprised of four sessions:
- First session of each cohort is 1.5 days, remaining sessions are 1 day each
- Final session of each cohort program will be a combined north and south capstone event that allows participants to make systemwide connections
The experiential program requires full, active participation; only UC ANR employees who can commit to this will be selected. More details about the expectations and logistics are included on the nomination form.
- When prompted for the FAU (account code) enter “999”
- There is space on the form to add a narrative for each nominee or upload it onto the form itself.
- Nominations should include name and supervisor consent.
If you are interested in participating in this program, please talk to your supervisor. Supervisors are asked to send in nominations by close of business Oct. 12, 2018. Late or incomplete nominations will not be considered.
The program is a collaboration between the UC Systemwide Advisory Committee on the Status of Women and UC Human Resources, and is delivered by CORO, a nonprofit leadership-development organization that has worked with UC for the past decade. UC President Napolitano supports and partially funds the program. ANR will cover registration fees and reimburse travel expenses and half the lodging for those selected.
Apply by Oct. 12, 2018, at https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4458932/2019-UCWI-Nomination-Form.
If you have questions about the program, please contact Jodi Azulai.
New academic and staff administrative employee orientation
- Learn about the ANR's Vision and Mission.
- Learn about ANR structure and individual programs and units.
- Interact with ANR leadership and directors.
- Meet and network with new colleagues from around the state.
- Get answers to burning questions about health benefits, AggieTravel and more.
Who Should Attend: All UC ANR Employees (academics, staff and affiliated staff on campuses, counties and RECs) who have not participated in an administrative orientation in the past. Priority will be given to those hired by ANR within the past year. Register here
Newly designed ANR Learning & Development website
Why does the ANR Learning & Development website have a new look?
UC ANR Strategic Plan Needs Assessment indicated that ANR employees have strategic learning needs, represented by three buckets:
Office, Team and Personal Management
In addition, the new landing page includes the latest training opportunities, including the WebANR Café Thursday topics and a suggestions link. Check out the new website and please send us your suggestions!
When your boss suffers from short-term memory loss
Short of writing down every word, how do you communicate with a boss who repeatedly gives input or instruction “on the fly,” but then later cannot recall what he or she approved or instructed? Often this input comes up rapidly or in response to other issues.
Signed,
Dealing with Short-Term Memory Lapses
Find out what advice Justine Hale from Crucial Skills sends to “Dealing” here.
How to manage someone who is really defensive
The job of any manager is to get the absolute most out of their people. To achieve that, yes, you should recognize your employees' strengths and build them up. But, you also need to address their weaknesses, so they don't hold your employees back. The problem? Some people get really, really defensive when you point out a weakness of theirs. And...read more here and take the Lynda.com course “Coaching Employees through Difficult Situations.”
The best people managers develop their employees and themselves
Being an effective and professional people manager takes many skills and considerable development and the best people managers develop both their employees and themselves.
One of the ways ANR people managers have been developing themselves is by completing UC People Management Series Certificate modules and participating in monthly facilitated networking calls to review what they've learned, ask other supervisors for advice, and share successes. Participants enjoy scenario-based role-playing, excellent tools, a fun and challenging group assignment and networking.
A new cohort will form in January 2019. If you are interested in participating, please fill out this survey. Supervisors who complete the series will be eligible to apply for the 2019 systemwide UC People Conference and preference will be given to networking cohort participants. See what our current and past participants say about the networking cohort experience:
“The information provided could not have been timelier! Each call and each module have improved my skills to support the staff I supervise.”
Kim Delucchi, Office Manager, Confidential Assistant IV, UCCE Stanislaus
“The perfect companion piece to the People Management Program are the monthly networking calls. They are a time to share and delve further into the skills learned from the modules and to discover real-life opportunities to use those skills. It is interesting to learn what your peers are dealing with as supervisors, brain-storm ideas on how to handle current situations, and find support in a confidential, caring, and nurturing environment. The networking calls provide lasting take-aways and are a chance to share your successes and challenges.”
Wilen, Soule and Haviland among Distinguished Service Award winners
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 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 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 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
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
UC ANR and AgStart receive $500,000 to cultivate the VINE
California is constantly being challenged by pest invasions, obesity, labor shortages, water scarcity, food insecurity, climate change and more. To accelerate the development and adoption of technologies that address these challenges and advance food, agriculture and natural resources in California, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and AgStart will receive a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to cultivate the Verde Innovation Network for Entrepreneurship (the VINE).
Like a grapevine, the VINE will connect existing clusters of innovation across California and link entrepreneurs with mentors, advisors, collaborators, events, competitions, education and other services to turn good ideas into products and services people can use.
“We want to make sure every Californian has the support system to take a novel idea and commercialize a new product or start a new business,” said VP Glenda Humiston. “They don't have to be a university inventor, they could be a farmer or a young person.”
AgStart itself was established with an EDA i6 Challenge grant to assist agriculture and food technology entrepreneurs in the Sacramento Valley region. Since 2012, AgStart has supported more than 58 entrepreneurs and their companies.
“In 2016, of the 16 entrepreneurial companies that AgStart assisted, eight resided outside our region, and leveraged AgStart's program to make connections into our Sacramento Valley region,” said John Selep, president of AgTech Innovation Alliance, AgStart's sponsor.
“The VINE will expand this AgStart model of connecting entrepreneurs to the resources they need to be successful, to enable entrepreneurs residing anywhere in California to connect to the clusters of resources, contacts, mentors and potential partners that have emerged across the state,” said Selep.
“There are many wonderful regional innovation hubs in food, agriculture and natural resources so we plan to bring value by amplifying their efforts, connecting regions and organizations into a more cohesive ecosystem, and bringing value-added resources that ultimately benefit all Californians through the innovations affecting our economic prosperity, food supply and environment,” Youtsey said.
UC Cooperative Extension specialists and advisors, who work in every county, can provide insight into real-world conditions that entrepreneurs should consider in the development stage. UC ANR's nine research and extension centers can provide locations to field-test products and demonstrate their effectiveness. For example, start-up Blue River is testing its technology by flying a drone over sorghum crops to collect data at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier.
For the last two years, UC ANR has hosted the Apps for Ag hackathon and has introduced the winners to mentors, tech industry advisors, farmers, funders and legal experts who can advise entrepreneurs on business structure.
The VINE, which is working with UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health and Valley Vision, is being structured to complement other efforts to establish food, agriculture, and natural resources incubation and innovation resources in cluster locations around the state, such as the BlueTechValley Regional Innovation Cluster, the Western Growers Innovation & Technology Center, UC Merced's VentureLab and others.
Youtsey and Selep are seeking more VINE partners with expertise across the business spectrum.
“If our vision is successful, the VINE will make California the most fertile region in the world for entrepreneurs in ag and food technology to establish themselves, to prosper and grow,” Selep said.
Names in the News
Slattery rejoins UCCE in Butte County
Chelsey Slattery rejoined UC Cooperative Extension on Sept. 18, 2017, as an area nutrition, family, and consumer sciences advisor in Butte County.
From 2013 to 2016, Slattery was a UCCE community education specialist, supervising the UC CalFresh Nutrition Education Program in Colusa, Sutter and Yuba counties.
From July 2016 to September 2017, Slattery was a program manager at UC Davis Center for Nutrition Schools, where she oversaw a statewide, multi-component, evidence-based, and research-tested nutrition education program. She facilitated training in coordination with the UC CalFresh State Office and UC CalFresh counties throughout the state of California.
Concurrently, Slattery has been working as a per-diem nutrition specialist since 2015 at Shady Creek Outdoor Education Foundation, where she provides oversight and guidance for the Fit Quest program, bringing comprehensive children's wellness programs to Northern California schools.
Slattery earned an M.S. in organizational leadership from the School of Business Management at National University. She completed a B.S. in exercise physiology/exercise science from CSU Chico.
Based in Oroville, Slattery can be reached at (530) 538-7201 and cslattery@ucanr.edu.
California Naturalist wins ANROSP outstanding team award
The California Naturalist Program was named the 2017 Outstanding Team by the Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Programs (ANROSP). Sabrina Drill, associate director of California Naturalist and UC Cooperative Extension advisor, and Marisa Rodriguez, community education specialist with California Naturalist in Southern California, accepted the award on Sept. 21 at the annual ANROSP conference held at the World Forestry Center in Portland, Ore.
Led by director Adina Merenlender, a UC Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Berkeley, the CalNat staff includes Greg Ira, academic coordinator; Brook Gamble, community education specialist; Drill and Rodriguez.
Teamwork is fundamental to the program structure. Since 2012, California Naturalist has certified more than 1,800 Naturalists, who have logged over 100,000 volunteer hours.
The team credits its success to the support and efforts across UC ANR and an extended team of course partners, instructors, statewide partners, educators, scientists, conservation practitioners, and many others who have contributed to the continued adaptive development of the program.
Grant to be inducted into Ag Hall of Fame
On Oct. 19, Joseph Grant, UC Cooperative Extension advisor emeritus, will be among the people inducted into the San Joaquin County Agricultural Hall of Fame at the 33rd Annual Agricultural Hall of Fame Banquet.
For most of his career, Grant, who retired in 2016, worked as a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor and is known for his research on walnuts, cherries, apples, olives and other tree crops.
“It's kind of awesome. I mean when you look at the other people that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, I don't consider myself in that class of people so it's humbling,” Grant said about his induction to the Lodi News-Sentinel.
In addition to Grant, the San Joaquin County Agricultural Hall of Fame will honor Henry “Skip” Foppiano, Jack and Pati Hamm and Hank Van Exel, and give a posthumous honor to winemaker Robert Gerald Mondavi.
According to the Hall of Fame, it “honors those individuals who have contributed to agriculture and to their community in significant ways.”
The banquet will be held at the Robert J. Cabral Ag Center in Stockton. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased by calling the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce at (209) 547-2770 or by visiting http://stocktonchamber.org/ag-hall-of-fame.
USDA-ARS bestows B.Y. Morrison Medal on Zalom
Frank Zalom, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology and integrated pest management (IPM) specialist, has been named the recipient of the 2017 B.Y. Morrison Medal by U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS).
Zalom is the first entomologist to receive the coveted award established in 1968, according to Kim Kaplan of the USDA-ARS Office of Communications.
Zalom was singled out for his outstanding work in IPM related to sustainable horticulture production, specifically for “his outstanding leadership and public service in IPM for horticultural crops at the regional, state, national and international levels; his stellar accomplishments in horticultural crops sustainability and pest management and his work ethic, service, courage and integrity, all driven by his insatiable curiosity and passion to solve problems in the horticultural crops landscape,” Kaplan said.
Zalom received the award, co-sponsored by USDA-ARS and the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS), on Sept. 21 at the ASHS conference in Waikoloa, Hawaii. He presented the Morrison Memorial Lecture on “Significance of Integrated Pest Management to Sustainable Horticultural Production – Observations and Experiences.”
Read more at //ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=25218. -- Kathy Keatley Garvey
