UC Blog
Message from VP Dooley
Dear Colleagues,
In the last 12 months, we have experienced major, if not unprecedented changes across ANR. These changes have been driven by our funding challenges and by the need to prepare for the future.
New relationships, collaborations, and systems have been launched. Many dedicated and experienced staff have moved into very different new roles while others have moved on to new endeavors. I am very proud of your commitment and your sacrifices. The progress we have made is substantial.
These changes are unsettling for some, but maintaining the status quo simply isn’t an option. Dealing with budget realities is an obvious necessity. Organizing and refocusing on the future is also imperative. We must think and aim far enough ahead to be ready to respond to better times.
That is one of the reasons the demanding external relations role President Yudof has asked me to handle is so important. What benefits UC is good for ANR. From a budget perspective, we are now treated the same as UC campuses and we benefit from much higher visibility for ANR within UCOP and across the UC system.
My calendar is busy, but I continue to engage in important ANR activities. Recently, I discussed with a key USDA advisory board the moral imperative to develop a sustainable global food system. Last week I attended the Sierra Foothill REC’s 50th anniversary celebration. The five decades of research recapped by Ed Price, Mel George, and others are solid evidence of ANR’s unique capabilities, our commitment to address California issues, and especially of the extraordinary people who have contributed to that heritage. This week I will be participating in a United Nations Foundation discussion of “Solutions for the Land.”
Early next month, we will host the President’s Advisory Commission and also meet with Roger Beachy, director of USDA’s new National Institute for Food and Agriculture or NIFA. I also have the opportunity to talk to the Western Regional Development Center Board of Directors later this month.
Both as a California farm boy and as an attorney, I’ve always grabbed the best and the biggest tools available either to get the job done or to make the decisive point in a legal argument. It’s no different now. I came to UC to lead ANR and I remain committed to ANR. The reasons are simple. UC is a unique institution and ANR is uniquely capable of extending that excellence to California and beyond.
I hope you will join me for a virtual town hall on May 24. Specifics will be out shortly, but we’ll certainly have much to talk about, including the latest budget news based on the governor’s “May Revise.”
Thanks for your commitment and hard work.
Warm regards,
Dan
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These announcements are also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
Kimberly, of Loma Vista 4-H Club in Ventura County honored with a President’s Volunteer Service Award.
Local 4-H youth receives national awardKimberly Coverly, 15, of Loma Vista 4-H in Ventura has been honored for her exemplary volunteer service with a President’s Volunteer Service Award.
The award, which recognizes Americans of all ages who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to serve their communities and their country, was presented by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program on behalf of President Obama.
Kimberly participated in the Spirit of Community program this year as a representative of Ventura County 4-H in Ventura, where she is a member. Kimberly earned her award from the work she has done through Trick Or Treat So Others Can Eat (TOTSOCE); a program of collecting food rather than candy at Halloween. The food is then donated to Food Share to help feed the 38,000 monthly clients of Food Share in Ventura County.
Kimberly has become very involved in the TOTSOCE program. Kimberly began her participation in TOTSOCE when she was 2, Trick-or-Treating with her mom and a little red wagon. Now 15, Kimberly coordinates & registers participants as well as maintains an Excel spreadsheet to track the food collected.
"Kimberly's President’s Volunteer Service Award is well deserved! Her work on ‘Trick Or Treat So Others Can Eat,’ as well as on other leadership and community service activities within her 4-H club and the community help so many. We are truly proud of her!" said Susan Gloeckler, 4-H Program Supervisor, Ventura County and CA Coordinator – Junior Master Gardener Program.
Sponsored by Prudential Financial in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program recognizes young people across America for outstanding community service activities. More than 275,000 young people across America have been considered for these awards since the program began in 1995.
“The recipients of these awards vividly demonstrate that young people across America are making remarkable contributions to the health and vitality of their communities,” said John R. Strangfeld, chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial. “They truly deserve all of the praise and encouragement we can give them.”
“The young people recognized by the Spirit of Community Awards demonstrate an enormous capacity for giving and reaching out to those in need,” said Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “NASSP is proud to honor them as they are wonderful examples of the high caliber of young people in our nation’s schools today.”
Program applications were distributed last September through all public and private middle level and high schools, Girl Scout councils, county 4-H organizations, American Red Cross chapters, YMCAs, and affiliates of HandsOn Network. After Local Honorees were named, state-level judges selected State Honorees, Distinguished Finalists and Certificate of Excellence recipients. Volunteer activities were judged on criteria such as personal initiative, creativity, effort, impact, and personal growth.
http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=2560
Support developed for AFRI grant proposal process
Bob Sams of Communication Services and Information Technology and Joni Rippee of the Program Support Unit (PSU) recently led a discussion about grant application support with members of ANR Contracts and Grants, Communication Services and Information Technology, and the PSU. From that discussion, a process will be developed to guide and support the AFRI grant proposal process as it relates to the ANR Strategic Initiatives.
The process begins with the principal investigator contacting the Strategic Initiative leader in the appropriate subject area to assess the proposal’s merit and fit within ANR guidelines.
PSU staff will be assigned to handle proposals for each specific request for application. Contracts and Grants staff will match up to each PSU staff member to ensure continuity through the entire process.
A communication plan, including a Collaborative Tools group and training for Contracts and Grants and the PSU staff, will be implemented to keep the PI, initiative leaders, and PSU and Contracts and Grants staff updated.
PopSci pursues the perfect lawn
Popular Science, the world's largest science and technology magazine, spotlighted the work of UC Riverside Cooperative Extension turf scientist Jim Baird in its May 2010 "Statistically Speaking" feature. Titled "The Perfect Lawn," the full-page story said Baird is bioengineering grass that drinks less water and still earns praise for its lush, emerald green appearance.
"The process is sort of a gladiator academy for grass," PopSci says. The scientists grow promising hybrids, then turn off the water to see which ones survive.
The article opens with statistics on turf grass' ability to sequester carbon. U.S. lawns, it says, could trap enough carbon each year to offset the emissions from burning 1.9 billion gallons of gasoline. However, it takes 7 billion gallons of water a year to keep the grass green.
Other statistics in the feature were:
- 625 square feet - Area of lawn needed to make enough oxygen for one person for one day
- 1.57 billion hours - Time homeowners spend mowing the lawn per year
- 37 billion pounds - Carbon dioxide that residential lawns can store per year
- 800 million gallons - Amount of gas guzzled by lawn mowers annually
- 33,000 square miles - Area of the U.S. covered by residential lawns
Jim Baird
Natural Resources conference to focus on initiative
The UC ANR Natural Resources Coordinating Conference is set for June 28-30. ANR academics and members of selected workgroups should plan to attend and discuss how the Sustainable Natural Ecosystem Initiative can best implement its part of the ANR Strategic Vision.
The conference will be held at the Lion's Gate Hotel at 3410 Westover in McClellan (just northwest of Sacramento).
Here is the tentative agenda:
- Monday, June 28: Overview of current understanding and key priorities of major environmental issues affecting California (e.g. demography, water supply, energy availability, transportation infrastructure, climate change, habitat fragmentation, diversity loss, land use change). Panels will comment on a draft of the Sustainable Natural Ecosystem initiative policy statement. In the evening, there will be a poster session and social.
- Tuesday, June 29: Breakout sessions will focus on workgroup suggestions and contributions to the SNE initiative statement. Facilitated breakout sessions will focus on developing strategies for achieving new Sustainable Natural Ecosystem initiative goals (e.g. internal funding programs, outreach and communications, academic positions, outside funding). On Tuesday morning and evening, meeting space will be available for workgroups to conduct their business meetings.
- Wednesday, June 30: Morning plenary session will review key outcomes of the meeting and future actions needed. ANR initiative leaders will discuss integration across initiatives.
Registration and more information will be posted at http://ucanr.org/sites/NRCC_2010.