It drizzled a bit this morning! What a welcomed occurrence, though I hope it is sunny for the visit to the Lindcove REC on Friday. Despite the rain, the thought of fire is never far away. Take a look at this new report from UC, including our very own Faith Kearns and the California Institute for Water Resources. Congratulations, Faith, on this effort! In particular, I like the policy focus of the report.
The South Coast REC crew have a few minutes of fame for their longstanding program success. The Voice of OC recently talked about just some of the farming activity that goes on at the REC. Take a look. Congratulations to Jason, Tammy, and the entire team that keep agriculture front and center despite urbanization of the area!
Earlier this week I had a chance to meet with the AAC-Personnel Committee. That group certainly stays busy. I enjoyed the conversation and the follow up discussions since that have largely centered on ensuring success for our expanding workforce.
The hiring continues! Since last post, I believe we have filled one or two additional CE Advisor positions (up to 4 now, I believe) plus a new CE Specialist position. This is all very exciting. Equally exciting is the list I received of National Association of County Agriculture Agents awardees. Newer UC ANR academics are among some of our awardees. Congratulations to Brooke Latack who received a national award for a featured story, Apurba Barman who placed as a national finalist for a fact sheet, Sonia Rios who received an early career achievement award and was a Western Region Finalist in the newsletter competition and the photo competition, Zheng Wang who was a Western Region Finalist for the event promotion competition and the website/online competition, and Michael Rethwisch who was a Western Region Finalist in the computer generated presentation with transcript competition and received one of the competitive spots to make a national presentation. Special thanks to Zheng Wang for service as the Western regional vice-chair of the Recognition and Awards Committee!
The deadline to submit position proposals is fast approaching. After I return from the Lindcove Citrus Tasting and tour with UCCE Tulare County, I will be checking email for CE Specialist position proposals from our campuses. Program Council met yesterday and has a process outlined to review and deliberate each submission. It has been hard work for those submitting proposals and will be hard work for Program Council and the Vice President to make decisions. But, work well worthwhile, considering this is what we have wanted for a long time. Imagine how exciting it will be to have more colleagues across the state!
On that note, time for a rest before the work resumes.