How did it get to be Wednesday already? Yet at the same time, Monday and Tuesday are already a blur. I suspect we all feel this way to some extent. I know many of us feel that are time has been swallowed up by adjustments we've had to make due to disasters, leaving us little time for our customary work. The result is longer days and a sense that less has been accomplished. While I wish we weren't all in this situation, I take some comfort in knowing I am not alone. When I talk with my peers, we all wonder about the long term impact of being redirected from the work we would otherwise be doing. However, for the time being, what we are doing is what we need to be doing despite being different from what we signed up for and not identified in our position descriptions. It is a different kind of ‘productive' and important, for now. Fortunately, there remain some elements of my day that are familiar and customary.
Last week, I attended the 2020 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award program. The program celebrates programs that have enhanced their learning, discovery, and engagement missions by becoming more integrated with their communities. I was pleased to see that one awardee, the LIFESports program from Ohio State University, has a strong connection to Cooperative Extension (4-H). If you are interested in learning more about any of these projects, have a look at the event program.
We have our own awardees within UC ANR! Three California state winning entries received national recognition at the recent annual meeting and professional improvement conferences of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) that were held virtually the latter part of September and early October. Michael Rethwisch and student assistant Kassandra Allan had the national winning applied research poster, entitled ‘Dingy cutworm pheromone lures are not highly attractive to the closely related granulate cutworm'. Michael was also selected make a presentation on comparative insecticide efficacy for lygus bugs. The UC Dairy Newsletter was a national finalist entry and western regional winner in Team Newsletter competition. This newsletter is the work of UCCE advisors Jennifer Heguy, Daniela Bruno, Joy Hollingsworth, and Betsy Karle. The University of California Cooperative Extension Subtropical Horticulture News by Sonia Rios was the western regional winner for individual newsletter. Congratulations to the awardees!
Time to get ready for COVID day. I now call Thursdays ‘COVID day'. The morning begins with a standing call at 7:30 AM. Throughout the day are various other calls to discuss some aspect of the pandemic (closing, opening, impacts, post-COVID normalcy, etc.) with various groups within UC ANR, the broader UC, or the region.
On Friday, I am taking the afternoon off. We still have to pick up and move all of the tree trimmings from last weekend. The cooler temperatures will be a big help. However, before I get to that, I need to enter my annual goals into the new UCOP performance system. That will be interesting.