It's finally Thursday! All week I've been off on my days, for some reason thinking it was Thursday each day. I chalk it up to trying out more powerful allergy meds. I don't think there's anything particularly special about today that had me longing to get to it, but who knows, I might be surprised by the end of day. It promises to be an interesting day – CDs and REC Directors need to narrow the list of Advisor positions down to 20 (from 27).
I was able to attend portions of the CD Institute meeting this week. The group of participants worked really well together. Hopefully the group rely on each other as time goes on; there's much to be learned from peers, particularly when the group, while all relatively new in the CD role, are at varying stage of career. David Lewis did a great job facilitating the portions I attended, including some conversations about working with different personality types and conflict resolution using case studies. A refresher in these areas could prove useful in navigating the Thursday conversations. It was nice to find a few minutes to chat with the CDs and even those ‘CDs in waiting' that attended. Kudos to Wei-ting Chen and the program planning team; nicely done!
In between, Tu and I finished reviewing the FY18-19 budget requests in preparation for our meeting with Glenda at the end of the month. The ECOP Budget and Legislative committee had their quarterly call; one of the key topics again this month was the status of SNAP-Ed and EFNEP. Still no final decision who will administer which program(s). Like many other things, the conversation is bogged down in debate over organization to the point where you wonder if the mission and commitment to the goals of the programs are lost in the discussion. I just want to raise my hand and say “Can we make certain we don't lose sight of what's really important!”
I was also in discussion with some folks from NIFA who pointed out that the current they hope to see Extension driving the submissions to the current AFRI RFAs (Education and Workforce, Foundational (note that deadlines have passed; new RFA not posted yet) and Sustainable Agricultural Systems). That's nice to hear though I will reserve my enthusiasm until the review panels are seated. I would hope that Extension is prominent in submissions to the InFEWs program as well. I'm anxious to see the Foundational RFA to see how it incorporates Extension. Regardless of that one reads, the other three are tightly aligned with Extension and applied research so I hope UC and UC ANR are able to capitalize on the opportunities out there. I have to admit, the idea of getting in on the granting game again is more appealing than some of the other items on my ‘to-do' list.
A few dates to keep in mind as we rush to the weekend:
Tuesday is your last day to Raise Your Hand in support of California 4-H. Let's not let those Midwestern states get ahead of us. Pass the link on to your friends and family.
Wednesday, May 16, is UC ANR Walks for Wellness day! While finalizing plans with your team, ask them to raise their hands by May 15.
Next Thursday is the first third Thursday WebANR Café. Perhaps I had my weeks confused and that's why I was so anxious to get to Thursday this week.