Yesterday was the start of my third year with UC ANR. I didn't go out and celebrate because we had our meeting with President Napolitano today and she is always well prepared for these meetings so I wouldn't want to risk not being on my toes. Overall, it was a good meeting. We were well prepared and we had strong progress on our goals to be shared. I haven't fully processed the conversations but I'm sure thoughts will weave their way into future blog posts.
Earlier in the day, President Napolitano gave a Town Hall meeting in Oakland. One statistic she shared that we should all be talking about is the fact that 42% of UC graduates were first generation students. That's amazing and I have no doubt that the work UC ANR does around the state contributed to some of those students making their way to UC, through youth development efforts, programs that enhanced skills or business success of parents, and/or money management and budget classes.
During the Town Hall the President was asked about the current practice of leaving vacant positions open. She gave an interesting answer, indicating that it's an opportunity for all to think about what they were doing and if it was the highest priority work versus using the vacancy as a driver to improve process efficiency. She went on to say that ‘change', while hard, can come from within and often it is that change that most contributes to success. The response caught me off guard but at the same time was quite empowering, as I believe it was intended. Sort of a “be the change” message.
During the noon WebANR, Nancy Franz talked about using Public Value Statements in your own program or your team's work. If you were unable to join, check out the recording. And if you have topic ideas for the WebANR series – topics ranging from effective program delivery, to resourcing your program, to navigating the office environment and systems – feel free to contact Jodi Azuli and share your idea! Be sure to thank Jodi for the work she has been doing on these third Thursday WebANRs.
While I may not be an official anniversary celebration, there's lots to celebrate in UC ANR. Fe Moncloa was just appointed to a national leadership role as co-chair of the 4-H PLWG, Equity and Engagement for All (EEA) committee. In this role, Fe will support the professional development needs of 4-H Extension professionals on issues of equity, belonging and inclusion. Congratulations, Fe!
The work of the Fresno UCCE team was recently recognized by CalCAN for their work with the SWEEP program. Congratulations to Michael, Ruth, and team! I had a chance to visit this office not too long ago and we visited a farmer who works closely with the local team. I don't think I will forget anytime soon how moving it was to hear about the partnership with the women's shelter nor with the Street Saints organization.
These are just a couple of examples of what we all have to celebrate. While the process of reviewing merit and promotion documents takes time, the timing is perfect as it allows me the chance to wind down each of my ‘years with UC ANR' recognizing and rewarding all of the outstanding effort, all across the state.
Tomorrow I need to pull together a presentation for the ANR Advisory Committee about the delivery of our programs and processes in place to review and resource programs. It's an easy sell to convey the importance of everyone's work. I just need to sit down and put it together.