UC regents were complimentary when Vice President Glenda Humiston presented an overview of UC ANR to the board on Jan. 23. It had been five years since she last provided such an update to the board on UC ANR activities.
Flanked by Associate Vice President for Business Operations Tu Tran and Associate Vice President for Research and Cooperative Extension Brent Hales, Humiston noted that UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz were recently designated Agricultural Experiment Station campuses, joining UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UC Riverside, and announced a UC Cooperative Extension specialist will be joining a ninth campus: UC San Diego.
To reverse the 20-year decline in academics, Humiston described the establishment of endowments, partnerships and other creative ways of funding new positions. She also gave examples of research and extension that help Californians improve their lives.
Focusing on the future, she discussed UC ANR's Strategic Vision 2024, reading the vision statement: “UC ANR will be valued in every California community for meaningful engagement and making a positive impact in people's lives.”
After Humiston concluded her remarks, regents and President Drake enthusiastically offered compliments about UC ANR.
Chair Janet Reilly commented on the breadth of UC ANR's work and said, “I'd like to come out to a controlled burn and maybe to the Rodent Academy.”
Student Regent-designate Sonya Brooks said, “I'm just thrilled with the work that you are doing.”
Alumni Regent Alfonso Salazar said, “I think we need to do a much better job at sharing these success stories with our legislators and stakeholders about the great work UC is doing beyond our 10 campuses throughout the state of California.”
Gesturing to the map of UC ANR locations, President Michael Drake said, “This is one of the ways that we touch the greatest number of people in the greatest number of ways so I want to thank you for that and congratulate you…on the amazing work that you're doing.”
The recording of Humiston's presentation to the regents is at https://youtu.be/libNFjBQ2Nc.