UC Blog

Apply to become HFC or SFS Strategic Initiative leader

ANR is seeking leaders for two strategic initiatives: Healthy Families and Communities and Sustainable Food Systems. The new Healthy Families and Communities leader will start on Nov. 1, and the new Sustainable Food Systems leader will start on Jan. 1, 2024.

SI leaders work with their panels to help people connect while unifying, communicating and advocating for UC ANR's work internally and across the state. SI leaders seek information from their panel members to help inform discussions related to programmatic resources within ANR.

Panels vary in their frequency and duration of meetings (1 to 2 hours per month on average). The SI leaders meet monthly (2 hours) and represent their panels on Program Council (up to 8 hours/month), which provides input for programmatic policy and direction for the organization. Program Council meets the first Tuesday and subsequent Wednesday of each month (except August).

These meetings may be via Zoom, in person at the UC ANR building in Davis or at a research and extension center. These are mandatory meetings and SI leaders receive a stipend. 

To apply for an SI leader position, visit https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=40584 and fill out the brief form. The deadline for applications is Sept. 29.

To learn more about the SI leader role, feel free to reach out to Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty forHealthy Families and Communities or Rachel Surls for Sustainable Food Systems.

[Updated 9/14/23 to revise Program Council meetings from 6 hours to up to 8 hours]

Employee support resources available

Understanding our options for self-care and support may make a significant improvement in our health and well-being. We invite you to explore the generous benefit options that UC has to offer to help ease these stressful times. 

• The Academic and Staff Assistance Program (ASAP) - Offers confidential, cost-free assessment, intervention, consultation and referral services to all UC ANR employees and their immediate families.

• Ombuds Office Services - The UC Davis Ombuds Office provides UC ANR staff and faculty with off-the-record conflict management services. The Ombuds Office focuses on helping employees to develop strategies for navigating challenging situations, planning for difficult conversations, and/or addressing conflict. The Ombuds Office operates confidentially, informally, impartially and independently. Staff and faculty can also learn strategies for improving conflict management and communication skills by attending Ombuds sponsored workshops. For details, please visit https://ombuds.ucdavis.edu/services/training.  
• Reasonable Accommodations - Reasonable accommodation is a reasonable change or modification that will enable an employee to perform the essential functions of the job. If an employee has a medical condition that affects their ability to work within the conditions of their assignment, it is critical to engage in the interactive process and coordinate with Human Resources to ensure we are accommodating appropriately based on feedback from a medical provider.
• Family and Medical Leave (FML) - UC is committed to supporting faculty and staff who need time off to care for themselves, a family member or to bond with a new child. FML provides job protection when employees need time off for a number of reasons, consistent with federal and state law.

• Center for Advocacy, Resources and Education (CARE) - Provides free, confidential advocacy, support and healing services to survivors of sexual harassment and all forms of sexual violence, including sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and stalking. 
• Child and Family Resources – A comprehensive listing of resources available to UC ANR employees including access to legal services, family care services and more. 

• Catastrophic Leave Program – This program permits temporary salary and benefit continuation for eligible employees who have exhausted all paid leave credits as a result of a catastrophic illness or injury of an employee or family member, death of a family member, casualty loss suffered due to terrorist attack, fire or natural disaster.
• If you are interested in donating hours, please complete the donation form and send your e-mail directly to humanresources@ucanr.edu. Employees at or above their vacation accrual maximums are encouraged to donate.  

If you have any questions or would like to discuss options further, please feel free to contact Jodi Rosenbaum at jrosenbaum@ucanr.edu for more information. 

Complete strategic visioning survey by Sept. 8

We are currently updating our UC ANR Strategic Vision. We kicked-off the conversation at the April 2023 UC ANR Statewide Conference, and that then informed the development of the strategic visioning survey that is currently open.

While we have received responses from across our employee and external stakeholder groups, overall response rates are still lower than desired. The strategic visioning process will outline UC ANR's areas of focus and will influence allocation of resources for the next 15 years so it's critical that everyone's voice is represented. 

Hoping to appeal to healthy competition, we especially need to hear from those in the groups listed below that currently have lower response rates.

• Campus-based colleagues, especially those of you at UC Berkeley and UC Davis (nice job so far from UC Riverside and UC Merced)
• County- & REC-based colleagues (kudos to statewide program/institute staff and statewide administrative staff for higher response rates so far)
• All program areas (but a shout out to those working in Healthy Families and Communities who are leading in response rate)

If you haven't yet responded, please be sure to find the Aug. 21 email from noreply@ucsd.edu and respond to the survey by Sept. 8. The survey takes about 15minutes to complete.

On Aug. 21, you received an email from our Vice President Humiston inviting you to participate in the UC ANR Strategic Vision Input Survey with a unique survey link just for you. On Aug. 28, reminders were sent to those who had not yet submitted a response. 

All responses are confidential, and will be aggregated, analyzed, and provided to the strategic visioning committee to develop the Strategic Vision 2024.

COVID-19 update

We hope you had a happy and healthy Labor Day weekend.

While the COVID-19 pandemic officially ended months ago, the virus is and will continue to be present in our communities. Family members, friends, colleagues and clientele are still becoming ill from the virus, so we can all be potentially exposed and get sick as we go about our personal and work lives. Over the past month, the number of COVID-19 cases has been gradually increasing in most parts of the state. The California Department of Public Health's COVID-19 dashboard summarizes the current status: https://covid19.ca.gov/state-dashboard/

With the above conditions in mind, I wanted to take a moment to remind us all of the COVID-19 practices that we all need to continue to follow in the workplace.

• The most important thing you can remember to do is STAY HOME IF YOU ARE SICK. Employees are advised to stay home if they have symptoms of any infectious illness or are feeling sick. As always, contact your supervisor if you need to take sick leave or work from home.
• If you do test positive for COVID-19, you need to report that positive test result, so we can advise on when you can return to work and assess the potential that other employees or clientele that you work with may have been exposed.
• The best way to report symptoms or positive test results is the symptom screening report survey (http://ucanr.edu/symptomscreening).
• Employees who test positive will need to stay away from the workplace and isolate at home for at least 5 days. See the Quarantine, Isolation, and Return to Work chart.
• Our COVID-19 response team reaches out to each person who tests positive for COVID-19 and provides specific instructions. In some cases, we notify other employees at a worksite that they may have been exposed, while protecting the privacy of the individual who tested positive.
• If you have general questions about COVID-19 or UC ANR's procedures, please check the website http://ucanr.edu/covid19 or email ehs@ucanr.edu.

While public health orders and other emergency measures have ended, some basic workplace safety rules to prevent disease transmission remain in effect.

Masks and testing are not mandatory in most cases, but we still must make masks available and provide access to testing if there are workplace exposures. We will continue to share resources for local testing or provide self-administered tests to locations to distribute as needed - please contact your location's Safety Coordinator if you need a test. Investigation of positive COVID-19 cases is required to determine if additional exposures may have occurred at work. All employees must receive COVID-19 prevention training. The COVID-19 prevention plans that were developed for each ANR location must be maintained. Employees are encouraged to maintain recommended booster vaccinations or opt out.

These workplace safety procedures can be expected to continue to prevent outbreaks of COVID-19 or other infectious diseases in ANR workplaces statewide. Thank you for continuing to monitor your health and to take routine measures to keep yourself and your colleagues healthy and safe.

Brian Oatman 
Director, Risk & Safety

Gender recognition training available

The Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy (GRLN) ensures that all individuals are identified by their accurate gender identity and lived or preferred name on university-issued documents and in UC's information systems. In order to support these new policies and procedures, UC ANR will be providing regular updates along with training materials to allow employees to gain a greater awareness and understanding of the importance of gender recognition. 

Learn More about Gender Recognition

A training course has been added into the Learning Management System (LMS): UC Gender Recognition and Lived Name: An Introduction to Gender Awareness (35 minutes)

UC is making systemic changes to ensure greater inclusion of gender. This includes changes in data systems, policies, and awareness within the UC community. To help build that awareness, this course will introduce users to terms and concepts related to gender and nonbinary identities, as well as best practices for name, pronoun, and title usage.

Direct Link: UC Gender Recognition and Lived Name

LMS Code: UCGRLN-03-ECO

For More Information 

Please feel free to email the Gender Recognition and Lived Name workgroup at GRLN@ucanr.edu if you have any questions or want additional information on items related to the Gender Recognition and Lived Name policy at UC ANR.

 

 

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