Christopher Chen started his career at UC ANR this week as the Integrated Vineyards Systems Area Advisor, based at the Hopland Research and Extension Center in Hopland, with programmatic responsibilities in Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma Counties. Christopher is a hire from the positions released in July. We are excited to have him on board! Also joining this week is Philip Weisen began as the Vegetable Crops and Small Farms Advisor, based in Indio, with programmatic responsibilities in Riverside and Imperial Counties. We have eagerly awaited Philip's arrival for some time! Please take a minute to reach out and welcome both Christopher and Philip.
These hires represent the start of something special. I anticipate regular ‘welcomes' over the next few months. This is long overdue, but hopefully something that continues well into the future and the result of new partners and funding sources.
After a somewhat slow Monday, Program Council met for almost 12 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday. We reviewed CE Advisor position proposals, repeatedly remarking on the extraordinary effort by proposers to work collaboratively and think strategically about statewide needs. Kudos to everyone for their role in the process! We will have a few more conversations about the CE Advisor positions at our February meeting, before reviewing and discussing the CE Specialist positions at the March meeting. The Vice President has some tough decisions to make. I would venture a guess that we will hear about her decisions before mid-March. In the meantime, the hiring continues. The search committees, Mark, Pam, Tatiana, Tina, Val, Bill, and Alma have been so efficient in getting positions advertised. For many of the positions, Becky plays a big role in getting the new hires here. What a team!
Thursday is the quarterly meeting with the Dean's Council. I have a list of projects to wrap up including a few communications to finalize and distribute, homework for a National Academy committee, complete some email tasks. I am on a plane most of Friday, assuming airlines are flying that day, and need to wrap up the weekly tasks a bit early. I need another slow Monday! Already, I am starting to feel the winter chaos with merit and promotion packages, national and regional meetings, and decision-maker visits. Is it me, or does time get shorter?