15 left! I am in the homestretch! I should finish the merit and promotion reviews tomorrow and then just need to enter them into the system. I'm not sure how Justify felt about it, but I am glad to be wrapping things up so that I can move onto other items I have putting off. This means I have next weekend free to work on a Letter of Intent for a grant program and catch up on email that I am overdue on! Who ever thought I'd be eager to work on such things.
After a great weekend, weather-wise, it's shaping up to be a hot week. That's how it was last week for many. While we had fantastic weather in Butte and Sutter/Yuba Counties, others were on fire. Two of the RECs were conducting controlled burns. At the Hopland REC (@Hopland REC), Cal Fire performed prescribed burns last week as part of a wildfire prevention plan. Crews were onsite a couple of days in order to cover the amount of ground that was planned. On the other side of the state, Kate Wilkins (@WilkinKate) and a crew of UCCE Advisors held a workshop to teach principles of prescribed burning. It was unfortunate that Kate and Dan were unable to participate in our visit, but it looks like they were with a number of their peers. Can you identify all of the UCCE Advisors?
Out in the Pacific, last week brought fire to one of my other happy places, Vacationland Hawaii. The lava flows meant not only structural fires that resulted in complete destruction of the neighborhood but loss of the marine reserve and the old growth trees. Fire Goddess, Pele, must have had her reasons.
Back on the homefront, VP Council meets on Thursday this week. And with Tu's return from a much-needed break, we resume conversations about the FY18-19 budget. It's late to be still making budget decisions. Unfortunately final decisions remain on hold while we wait to learn our allocation for the upcoming year. The end of the week brings a Project Board update.
As emeritus requests come in, it's a reminder what that means in terms of loss of expertise. While the number of Advisors retiring in June is relatively low (5 or 6) it still creates a gap. Our visit last week included discussion about the need for mentoring of new Advisors. While the Vice Provost – Academic Personnel and Development hire is suspended for a bit, I'm confident we will fill that position in the near future. A key component of that position is a mentoring program.
In addition to academics, a number of staff are fortunate to have reached their retirement year. And with this group, too, goes a wealth of knowledge and expertise. But congratulations to all of the soon-to-be retirees for achieving this point! You, too, are in the homestretch!