UC Blog
UCD e-mail offline Dec. 26; Changes in OAVP for Academic Programs & Strategic Initiatives; NIFA director to speak at UC Davis
UCD e-mail goes offline Dec. 26
E-mail and other computing services that are hosted by the UC Davis Campus Data Center will be interrupted the day after Christmas.
The shutdown, to accommodate an upgrade to the Data Center’s power system, is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 26, and could last up to 48 hours.
Incoming and outgoing e-mail will be stored during the interruption and delivered afterward. This applies to all campus e-mail, even if your particular e-mail server is housed outside the Data Center, which routes all e-mail, regardless of server location on campus.
For more information, see http://www.dateline.ucdavis.edu/dl_detail.lasso?id=13117&fu=120310.
Changes in Office of AVP for Academic Programs and Strategic Initiatives
In the Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs and Strategic Initiatives, Joni Rippee has taken on additional duties. In her new role, Rippee will oversee ANR’s Office of Program Planning and Evaluation in Oakland and the Program Support Unit in Davis. Rippee is also responsible for coordinating workgroups/ coordinating conferences, professional society travel, Academic Assembly Council, reporting to Associate Vice President Barbara Allen-Diaz, and the research and extension centers (RECs), reporting to Associate Director Bill Frost.
The Program Support Unit (PSU) and the Office of Program Planning and Evaluation (OPPE) will be organized within the Program Development Unit, which supports the functions and responsibilities of the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs and Strategic Initiatives. Allen-Diaz receives additional support in the Oakland office from Lorrie Mandoriao, executive assistant.
OPPE supports statewide program planning, ANR reporting systems, advocacy and outreach. PSU provides logistical and administrative support to the strategic initiatives, advocacy efforts, statewide programs, advisor/specialist faculty programs, ANR leadership, and other regional, statewide and national meetings.
Below are lists of the OPPE and PSU staff and their corresponding responsibilities.
OPPE (Oakland) http://ucanr.org/sites/anrstaff/Divisionwide_Planning/Program_Planning_and_Evaluation/
Julie Drouyor - ANR commodity coordinator, National Institutes for Water Research, and professional travel
Vanessa Gomez - program council, program evaluation, and programmatic/analytical support for AVP
Christopher Hanson - administrator for computer-based reporting systems (DANRIS-X, CRIS, EFNEP, FSNEP)
Pat Harrigan - administrative support to OPPE
Katherine Webb-Martinez - program planning and reporting (CRIS, DANRIS-X) and program evaluation
PSU (Davis) http://ucanr.org/sites/PSU/
Melanie Caruso - grant programs and grants administration
Sherry Cooper - office administrator and day-to-day operations manager
Janelle Kohl - event planning and logistical coordination
Heidi O’Guinn - strategic initiative support and event planning
NIFA director to speak at UC Davis
Roger N. Beachy, director of USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is scheduled to speak at the UC Davis Chancellor’s Colloquium Distinguished Speakers Series on Jan. 12.
Beachy’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with faculty and policy experts.
The program will be held at 4 p.m. on Jan. 12 in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. The event is free and open to the public.
View or leave comments for the Executive Working Group
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
Shifting sands at UCR Palm Desert
UC Riverside chancellor Timothy White assured the Coachella Valley community he has no plans to shut down the university's Palm Desert Graduate Center, according to an op-ed that appeared over the weekend in the Desert Sun.
The paper said concerns about a closure were raised in the community last month when the chancellor laid off the center's executive director Carolyn Stark and six staff members.
In an editorial board meeting with the Desert Sun, White told the paper the action was part of a plan to "press the reset button." He called on the community to work with the university on a new needs assessment.
“We want to be a good partner here,” White was quoted. “But I don't want to make promises I can't keep.”
The $16 million educational facility opened in 2005. It offers an executive MBA program and a master of fine arts in creative writing and writing for the performing arts. One consideration raised for bolstering the center would be offering undergraduate coursework.
In the editorial board meeting, White shared information about ongoing UC Riverside activities important to the Coachella Valley, including:
- The S. Roy Wilson Center for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Systems at UCR Palm Desert, a potential leader in the valley's green energy revolution
- The California Center for Native Nations, which initiates, facilitates, and executes research by, about and with American Indian people
- The Coachella Valley Agricultural Research Station, where UC scientists have conducted research on agriculture and pest control for more than 100 years
In a listing of University activities in the area, the story mentioned work by UCCE horticulture specialist Victor Gibeault, who teamed up with Palm Desert-based West Coast Turf to develop grasses used in many valley golf courses and in baseball and football stadiums.
The UC Riverside Palm Desert Center.
Biodynamic farming moves toward mainstream
Nearly 200 growers, vintners, retailers, sommeliers and other tradespeople attended a workshop on biodynamic winemaking Dec. 2, prompting San Francisco Examiner wine blogger Annette Hanami to suggest the process is becoming mainstream.
"Ultimately, biodynamic wines are becoming mainstream because consumers demand it," the author wrote. "Biodynamic products are becoming less 'kooky' and more attractive than the scarier mass-produced alternatives."
UC Cooperative Extension teamed up with Demeter USA to offer the biodynamic program and UC farm advisors Glenn McGourty and Monica Cooper were presenters.
Biodynamic farming is a method of organic production that the involves the use of fermented herbal and mineral "preparations" as compost additives and field sprays, and the use of an astronomical sowing and planting calendar.
With stores like Walmart now selling organic produce and products made with organic ingredients, being “sustainable” and “green” are no longer enough to distinguish a producer in a competitive global market, Hamini wrote.
Currently, there are 75 California wine producers who are certified biodynamic or in transition; the growth rate is 15 percent per year.
Master Gardener news feature 'goes viral'
Alameda County UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Birgitt Evans knows a lot about dirt, according to an article in The Bay Citizen. And now, a lot of people know about Birgitt Evans.
Evans sat down for a lengthy interview with reporter Heather Lynn Wood, who published the Q&A session on winter gardening, getting a garden started, composting and tools, and recounted the Master Gardener training process. The result of each volunteer's 17-week certification course, the story said, is an expert gardener armed with a wealth of research-based information and the ability to mentor others.
"Sometimes the work of Master Gardeners goes viral...and we love it!" wrote statewide Master Gardener academic coordinator Pam Geisel in her blog. "Instead of staying local, (the story) made a big splash all over the Bay Area."
Geisel blogged about her delight that the article shared a message about growing vegetables, and also highlighted the statewide Master Gardener program and it's connection to UC. Wood wrote that UC Agriculture and Natural Resources "has representatives like Evans in each California county." ("Well, that is almost true," wrote Geisel.)
The Bay Citizen story is the first in a series of conversations about gardening in Alameda.
Evans says winter is a good time to compost. Above, an MG compost demonstration.
UC Davis' Thomas Cahill one of 'The Sac 100'
The Sacramento News & Review, an independent "alternative" newspaper, has named UC Davis emeritus professor of physics and atmospheric science Thomas Cahill as one of the 100 most influential, important and interesting people in Sacramento.
"We tried to recognize those people who have made a contribution over the years, who’ve made Sacramento a better place to live," wrote reporter Cosmo Garvin. "We ended up with a pretty epic list."
Cahill was recognized for his involvement in the environmental disaster at Ground Zero following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. His work revealed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency misled the public about the safety of air at the former World Trade Center site, the article said. He later became a champion for the workers at the site of the cleanup.
"The debris pile acted like a chemical factory," Cahill is quoted in a 2003 UC Davis news release about his work. "It cooked together the components of the buildings and their contents, including enormous numbers of computers, and gave off gases of toxic metals, acids and organics for at least six weeks."
The conditions were "brutal" for people working at Ground Zero without respirators and slightly less so for those working or living in immediately adjacent buildings, the news release said.
Cahill speaks to the media at Ground Zero.