Posts Tagged: UC

Join the UCCE wildfire learning exchange April 15-17 at Yosemite

The UC ANR Fire Network invites UC ANR colleagues to a “Cooperative Extension Fire Peer-Learning Exchange” in Wawona, (within Yosemite National Park), April 15-17. 

This interactive workshop is designed specifically to provide participants with the knowledge, tools and skills necessary to bring fire-related educational programming to the communities they serve. 

“Join us in this peer-learning exchange to learn about wildfire preparedness, mitigation and recovery,” said Katie Low, UC ANR Fire Network statewide coordinator. “You do not need to work in fire or have experience doing fire-related programming to join this event.” 

Through train-the-trainer style presentations, demonstrations, field tours and discussion panels, attendees will gain the confidence and resources to serve as community leaders in wildfire education. Sessions during the workshop will include a panel discussion about cultural burning and partnership with tribes, a mini pile-burning workshop, home hardening 101, post-fire landowner workshops, and a fire ecology hike in the nearby Mariposa grove of giant sequoias. 

This event will take place at the beautiful UC Merced Yosemite Field Station in Wawona and run from noon on April 15 through noon on April 17, with an optional field tour to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias on the afternoon of April 17.  

This workshop will be the second Cooperative Extension Service Fire Workshop. The first workshop, hosted by North Carolina State University Extension in 2023, was developed in response to interviews with Extension professionals in the Southeast U.S., which demonstrated that many desired more fire-related training and wanted to learn how to better communicate with their clientele about fire.

If you are interested in joining the California Fire Peer-Learning Exchange workshop to learn, share and grow together, please register at https://ucanr.edu/extensionfireworkshop.

The cost for this workshop is $275 and will cover meals and lodging throughout the event. 

“We understand that the cost may make the workshop inaccessible for some participants,” said Alison Deak, UCCE fire advisor for Mariposa, Madera and Fresno counties. Please reach out to Deak at aldeak@ucanr.edu if you will require travel support or need some or all of your registration costs covered to attend the workshop. 

If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact Low at katlow@ucanr.edu or Deak at aldeak@ucanr.edu.

Become a UC ANR brand ambassador

We are recruiting for brand ambassadors. The Brand Ambassador Certification Program is designed to encourage colleagues to actively steward effective branding for the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.

In return, brand ambassadors will receive branded promotional items, eligibility for prize drawings and public recognition.

Employees in any role are welcome to participate. As Vice President Glenda Humiston often says, we don't want UC ANR to be UC's best-kept secret.

“Help make the UC ANR brand as strong and memorable as possible!” said Linda Forbes, director of Strategic Communications.

Brand ambassador activities include:

• Auditing your branding and your unit's branding and fixing any compliance issues
• Ensuring that your unit knows where to find branding information and templates
• Encouraging colleagues to use properly branded email signatures, letterhead, etc.
• Sharing branding information and resources at meetings
• Asking people who are wearing/using outdated logos to work with Strategic Communications to update their items
• Recognizing people who do a good job with brand compliance
• Keeping track of “bad branding” examples you run across (and sharing them with Strategic Communications if they can't be addressed with your guidance)
• Viewing and recommending brand training resources on LinkedIn Learning or elsewhere for inclusion in the communications toolkit

Brand ambassadors serve for a year and must attend two 45-minute brand ambassador meetings. Ambassadors are eligible to renew their certifications annually.

To become a UC ANR brand ambassador, attend an in-person brand training workshop or watch the recorded brand training sessions “Stewarding the UC ANR Brand” at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLjlfxpbNglZ1WUSs3127QrKDkkLEk5rT. Then, let Forbes know you are interested in being a brand ambassador by sending her an email to lforbes@ucanr.edu or adding a note to the post-workshop survey. 

“Stewarding the UC ANR Brand” workshops will be offered at the ANR building in Davis on Thursday, April 10, and at the UCCE Riverside County office in Riverside on Thursday, April 24. Both sessions are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Register at https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=45661.

Participants must pass the Brand Ambassador Certification Test to demonstrate their understanding of effective branding. 

For more information on becoming a UC ANR brand ambassador, visit https://ucanr.edu/sites/communicationstoolkit/Branding/Brand_Ambassador_Program.

Certified Brand Ambassadors:

Elizabeth Bezark, Business Operations Center

Amber Butland, Climate Smart Agriculture

Zeva Cho, 4-H Youth Development

Emily Delk, Development Services

Jessica Falor-Ward, Development Services

Kristen Farrar, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program

Katie Kilbane, Academic Human Resources

Dohee Kim, UCCE Los Angeles

Alexandra Stefancich, UC Environmental Stewards

Kevin Waterson, UC Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program

Melissa Womack, UC Master Gardener

UC regents, President Drake laud UC ANR’s successes

UC regents were complimentary when Vice President Glenda Humiston presented an overview of UC ANR to the board on Jan. 23. It had been five years since she last provided such an update to the board on UC ANR activities.

Flanked by Associate Vice President for Business Operations Tu Tran and Associate Vice President for Research and Cooperative Extension Brent Hales, Humiston noted that UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz were recently designated Agricultural Experiment Station campuses, joining UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC Riverside, and announced a UC Cooperative Extension specialist will be joining a ninth campus: UC San Diego.

To reverse the 20-year decline in academics, Humiston described the establishment of endowments, partnerships and other creative ways of funding new positions. She also gave examples of research and extension that help Californians improve their lives.

Focusing on the future, she discussed UC ANR's Strategic Vision 2024, reading the vision statement: “UC ANR will be valued in every California community for meaningful engagement and making a positive impact in people's lives.”

After Humiston concluded her remarks, regents and President Drake enthusiastically offered compliments about UC ANR.

Chair Janet Reilly commented on the breadth of UC ANR's work and said, “I'd like to come out to a controlled burn and maybe to the Rodent Academy.”

Student Regent-designate Sonya Brooks said, “I'm just thrilled with the work that you are doing.”

Alumni Regent Alfonso Salazar said, “I think we need to do a much better job at sharing these success stories with our legislators and stakeholders about the great work UC is doing beyond our 10 campuses throughout the state of California.”

Gesturing to the map of UC ANR locations, President Michael Drake said, “This is one of the ways that we touch the greatest number of people in the greatest number of ways so I want to thank you for that and congratulate you…on the amazing work that you're doing.”

The recording of Humiston's presentation to the regents is at https://youtu.be/libNFjBQ2Nc.

 

UC ANR welcomes AES faculty at UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz

Since President Drake announced the expansion of the UC Agricultural Experiment Station (AES), we have partnered with UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz leadership to integrate these two campuses into our UC ANR network.

We are excited to share that their founding AES faculty have started new AES projects as of this federal fiscal year, which started Oct. 1. See list below.

Please join us in welcoming them to the UC ANR network and reach out to grow our collaborations.

For more information about UC AES, visit https://ucanr.edu/UC_AES.

Name	Dept./Campus	AES Project
Michael Loik	Environmental Studies, UCSC	Measurement / Control of Resources in Controlled Environment Agriculture
Greg Gilbert	Environmental Studies, UCSC	Fungi and Fire in Central Coast Forests
Hannah Waterhouse	Environmental Studies, UCSC	Building Soil Health to Help Farmers and Communities Adapt to Climate and Regulatory Realities While Protecting Water Quality
Matt Sparke	Politics, UCSC	Farmworker Community Training Innovations for Climate Resilience
Colleen Josephson	Electrical & Computer Engineering, UCSC	Open-source hardware and software to democratize agricultural and ecological sensor networks
Rebecca Ryals	Life & Environmental Science, UCSC	Coupling Organic Waste Streams with Agricultural Health
Reza Ehsani	Mechanical Engineering, UCM	Automation, Sensing, and AI for Climate-Resilient Specialty Crop Production in Central Valley
Safeeq Khan	Civil & Environmental Engineering, UCM	Assessment and Modeling of Climate Change and Human Interventions Impact on California's Water Resources, Agriculture, and Dependent Ecosystem Services
Josue Medellin-Azuara	Civil & Environmental Engineering, UCM	An Agro-economic and Water Supply Framework to Quantify Economic Impacts of Climate and Management Adaptation

 

 

 

UC ANR launches Leadership Academy

The first UC ANR Leadership Academy has been launched with a cohort of 20 ANR members. The program, which is being conducted in collaboration with Coro Northern California, held the first of its 10 sessions in August and just finished the sixth session. The participants will graduate during the final session on Feb. 25 at UC ANR's Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center.

“We hope this academy will provide UC ANR academics and staff with critical leadership tools to apply in their current roles, grow in leadership roles, or move up in the organization,” said Daniel Obrist, vice provost for academic personnel and development, who worked with Linda Marie Manton, emeritus UC Cooperative Extension advisor and former executive director for Staff Personnel, and Coro to develop the training.

"The UC ANR-Coro Leadership Academy's experiential learning program empowers participants to grow their leadership skills through dynamic, hands-on learning that equips them to tackle some of the most pressing challenges in their fields,” said Grace Turkis of Coro, who is facilitating the training. “By engaging in real-world, applied experiences, participants deepen their capacity to lead with resilience, creativity and a commitment to impactful change."

In the academy, participants engage in role-play exercises, pairs discussions, small group discussions, large group discussions, peer coaching and group activities.

"Coro's leadership tools help participants grow through a framework designed to lead inward, outward and forward,” said Turkis. “By fostering self-awareness, critical thinking and inclusion, Coro supports leaders in strengthening their communication skills and building collaborative influence. This approach equips them to navigate complex challenges with purpose and resilience.”

The concepts of leading inward, outward and forward can include deepening self-awareness (e.g., exploring one's values), critical thinking (e.g., challenging oneself to consider where our assumptions come from), inclusion (e.g., being cognizant of one's agency and circle of influence when leading), communication (e.g., being able to tell a narrative about one's value-add), influence (e.g., understanding people's drivers to enact change), and collaboration (e.g., working with people who have different styles and preferences to put the best thinking forward).

We asked a few participants for their thoughts about the training.

Why did you decide to participate in the ANR Leadership Academy?

Steven Worker, 4-H youth development advisor: I decided to participate in the ANR Leadership Academy to enhance my leadership abilities related to my role as the Strategic Initiative Leader for Healthy Families and Communities. I believe this program will help me in three key areas: bringing together academics in the HFC space, improving my ability to lead without formal power, and becoming a stronger advocate in meetings and collaborative efforts. This opportunity will also allow me to build relationships with emerging leaders who will shape the future of ANR in the coming decades.

Devii Rao, UCCE livestock and natural resources advisor:I was hired on as a livestock and natural resources advisor in 2015. Over the past nine years since I've been with UC ANR, I've been asked to be county director once and interim county director three times, covering a total of more than five years. In addition, as I've grown in my career as an advisor, I have taken on the role of being the chair of committees both inside and outside of UC ANR. I anticipate continuing to take on leadership roles with increased complexity. I've never thought of myself as a leader and have never had any formal leadership training. So when I heard about the UC ANR Leadership Academy, I jumped at the chance to learn how to more clearly think about leadership, what it means, and how to make better decisions as a leader.

John Bailey, director of UC Hopland Research and Extension Center: Having been in a leadership position at UCANR for over seven years, first as the HREC Superintendent and then as the first administrative (as opposed to academic) REC Director, this was the first official leadership training opened to me. Operating in the complex situation of our large institution, and focusing on issues in agriculture and natural resources that have stakeholders with dramatically different perspectives, I was feeling the need to improve my leadership skill sets. While I have been in leadership positions in private industry and nonprofits, the UC is a very different environment with large flows of information, complex and nuanced conversations, and a complicated set of rules and relationships in which we operate, I wanted to learn a skill set that UC leadership felt was worthwhile and focused on developing the type of leaders needed for our organization.

Aliasghar Montazar, UCCE irrigation and water management advisor: I have been an irrigation and water management advisor in southern California since 2017. Over these past years within UC ANR, I've held several leadership roles, including the president of the Academic Assembly Council and chairing various committees both within ANR and across different campuses. Prior to joining UC, I held the position of chairing the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering at my former university.

Although I've held several leadership roles throughout my academic career, I have never had the opportunity to participate in a leadership academy or undergo formal training. I often find myself questioning how my leadership and decision-making might have evolved over the years if I had pursued that kind of education. This leadership academy arrived at an ideal moment for me, offering the chance to learn from both my peers and the program itself to enhance my leadership skills. It also challenges me to seek answers to crucial questions that could significantly boost my future performance.

Sarah-Mae Nelson, UC Climate Stewards Initiative academic coordinator: I was hired in 2019 by the UC Environmental Stewards program to be the Climate Stewards Academic Coordinator – developing and leading a statewide climate change education, outreach and service course. Since launching the class in September 2020, we have certified over 1,000 Stewards across California and have begun extending our reach as the Climate Stewards course is being taken up by other states. As my programmatic leadership role expands, I wanted to connect with other leaders within UC ANR to increase collaboration and grow the impact of our climate-centered course.

What do you think of it so far?

Worker: So far, I think the Leadership Academy is a great opportunity to grow professionally. It feels relevant, especially with everything I'm working on across healthy families and communities as connected with the new ANR Vision 2040. The Coro facilitator, Grace, is knowledgeable, patient, and skillful in helping me – and all of us – gain practical insights and some deeper reflection on how to navigate challenges in leadership roles.

Rao: So far, I've been really pleased with the Leadership Academy. It has been great meeting colleagues I would never have met otherwise. I've benefited from learning about others who have similar challenges to me and who I may be able to connect with outside of the leadership academy to brainstorm solutions. Participating is giving me space and time to focus on a leadership project that I'm excited about and would not have known how to begin without the support of the Leadership Academy. I have also learned about specific tools that can help me understand why I think the way I do and help me re-focus in a way that will be more productive.

Bailey: This is a very worthwhile training academy. I appreciate the mixture of both the solid skills and tools being taught and the network of other people within ANR that operate in different fields or areas. The facilitators/trainers seem to be skilled in both the specific topics and in guiding a diverse group through various conversations. The tools we are being taught are a mixture of practical skills like developing effective meeting agendas as well as mental tools that can help a person in a leadership position to ensure their decisions are well founded in both facts and a variety of qualitative information. I also like that the program allows opportunities to use the tools and professional network to focus on real issues confronting the participants.

Montazar: We are currently midway through the program, and I've thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the leadership academy. The diverse group of colleagues creates a supportive and enriching environment, allowing us to learn from one another. I've already gained several valuable tools and eagerly anticipate discovering more that will enhance my future leadership capabilities.

Nelson: It's been wonderful to connect with other growing leaders within UC ANR – many of whom have years more experience within UC than myself. I also had the opportunity to participate in the UC Women's Initiative a few years ago, and this has been a great chance to build on and further apply the tools I learned through that training.

For colleagues considering participating in the next academy, what should they know about it?

Worker: The ANR-Coro Leadership Academy uses an experiential approach to leadership development. Participants engage in interactive learning through group challenges, interviews, and discussions. The program focuses on deepening self-awareness, improving interpersonal communication, and enhancing the ability to analyze and address complex organizational issues. Building connection to colleagues has been valuable, creating a cohort of emerging ANR leaders. The Academy's Coro approach uses an Inward, Outward, Forward framework that supports participants in reflecting on their own leadership style, engage with diverse perspectives, and move forward on initiatives that contribute to shaping the future of UC ANR. The combination of in-person and virtual sessions allowed for a dynamic learning experience.

Rao: For colleagues considering participating in the next academy, I say, “Do it!” It has been a great experience so far, with lots of opportunities to practice practical skills that will help me grow as a person and as a leader. It's fun, too!

Bailey: This is a valuable academy. You will learn practical skills for your work in ANR, do work on actual projects of your choosing, and develop relationships with people from across ANR with whom you might not interact otherwise.

While the in-person start to the Academy was a wonderful introduction to the program and people, and I look forward to the final session which will also be in-person, I do find the five- or six-hour Zoom meetings to be tiring. It makes developing relationships with other participants a little more difficult than in an in-person session and it can be difficult to maintain the same level of attention in the afternoon hours. However, overall, I really like it and feel like I am building my skills and network.

Montazar: I encourage my colleagues to consider participating in the next academy, even if they aren't currently pursuing a leadership role. My own journey into leadership has been serendipitous, shaped by unexpected opportunities rather than prior aspirations. The opportunities could arise unexpectedly and we need to be prepared with leadership skills in both professional and personal settings.

Nelson: The academy is a fabulous way to connect more deeply with UC ANR colleagues while learning ways to improve your leadership skills and have a chance to apply that learning through real-time, in-class activities. It's a big-time commitment over five months, so make sure to prepare your calendar adequately. :)

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