Welcome to Beatriz Nobua-Behrmann who starts this week as an Urban Forestry and Natural Resources Advisor, based at the South Coast REC, with programmatic responsibilities in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Last week, Ryan Tompkins started as the Forestry and Natural Resources Advisor, based in Quincy, with programmatic responsibilities in Plumas, Sierra and Lassen Counties. IT is great to see our forestry capacity building.
I looked at the academic footprint numbers this weekend. It's possible we are down in numbers, but before I share the graph, I want to confirm how counting occurs for some positions. I know we are all very interested in our numbers and growing that footprint; it came up as a question during the Town Hall last week. We have a few CE Advisor and 4 CE Specialist positions yet to fill from the 2016 position call process. Plus we will backfill a Table Grapes Advisor position, based out of Kern County, as a result of a partnership with the California Table Grapes Commission. We should be moving forward with other hirings soon, too.
Also over the weekend, I had dinner with friends. We had teff as part of the meal. Did you know that UC ANR researches teff? Both the Desert REC and the Blythe area have research underway. My friend was quite interested in the study for her work. I think there may be some opportunity to work together on things; we'll see. I was interested to learn that my friends knew about Elkus Ranch and that their kids had been in 4-H! While that may not be surprising to many, it caught me off guard because they live right in the Mission District of San Francisco.
Tomorrow I head to Salinas to meet with the California Leafy Greens Research Program committee. I've met with the group a few times; every 6 or 8 months. Tuesday a dozen of us are at the State Capitol meeting with assembly persons and state senators to talk about the work of UC ANR in their districts. Then Wednesday I am at UC Merced for a tour of the campus and discussions about our partnerships with the university. Although I am home every night this week, it is shaping up to be a bit of car time. Keeping up on emails may prove to be all I can manage. The remaining 51 dossiers will still be there next week.