December 22, 2004
Dear Friend of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources:
Thank you for participating in one of the ANR Listening Sessions convened in 2004 as part of our continuing effort to guide the Division's future direction. The comments and suggestions we received from these sessions were extremely useful and have been shared widely with planning groups, campus and regional administrators and advisory boards throughout the Division. ANR leaders have given thoughtful consideration to all input received.
As you are aware we sustained significant reductions in our Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) budget in 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 and in our Cooperative Extension (CE) budget in 2003-2004. These cuts have resulted in a smaller workforce and fewer dollars to support our remaining people. Given
As we come to the close of 2004, we want to update you on actions taken to maximize the use of remaining Division resources, to make the Division's organizational structure and procedures more efficient and effective, and to ensure continued delivery of important UC-ANR research and extension programs to the citizens of
Action Taken re: Listening Sessions' Themes .
What was heard and next steps.
Listening Session Up-date VP Gomes' Stakeholder Letter - December 22, 2004 (MS Word .doc)
Listening Session Downloads
ANR's Executive Council hosted a series of 10 Listening Sessions as part of ongoing strategic planning for the Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station system in the University of California. The Listening Sessions provided an opportunity for ANR leaders to hear directly from key stakeholders, who provided advice on ANR's future directions and programs. A total of 240 external and 273 internal stakeholders attended sessions at five locations in the state (San Luis Obispo, Riverside, Redding, Parlier and Davis).
ANR Vice President W.R. (Reg) Gomes, members of the Executive Council (Dean Paul Ludden, UCB-CNR; Dean Neal Van Alfen, UCD-CAES; Dean Bennie Osburn, UCD-SVM; Dean Steven Angle, UCR-CNAS; and Interim Associate Vice President Lanny Lund) and members of the Program Council listened to stakeholders as they discussed:
- Challenges and opportunities they are facing;
- Expectations they have of ANR in the future;
- Ways ANR can assist them in meeting these challenges and opportunities in the future;
- How ANR should position itself to be most effective in the future.
Executive Council and Program Council members met immediately following the final Listening Session in Davis to identify the initial themes that they heard across all the Listening Sessions. From external stakeholders, they heard very strong support for ANR programs, especially those located locally. They voiced considerable concern over the potential loss of these programs. Internal stakeholders expressed widespread concern about ANR's ability to maintain the excellence of its programs and respond to changing and growing critical needs throughout the state without additional resources. Here are other major themes they heard from stakeholders and their perspectives about what ANR needs to do in the future:
- Confirm ANR's core mission as a land-grant institution, identify priorities and focus programs on relevant needs of clientele through continued dialogue and a "bottom-up" planning process that includes external stakeholders.
- Improve statewide, campus and county linkages to strengthen the research-outreach continuum through a variety of means, including recognizing and rewarding ANR academics for work relevant to the land-grant mission and contributing to an effective research/outreach continuum, as well as expanding forums for interaction between statewide, county and campus-based ANR academics.
- Maintain a visible and responsive local presence for CE focused on local issues and problem solving. Establish methods by which to encourage campus-based academics to contribute to the resolution to these problems.
- Improve marketing and promotion of ANR - including raising public awareness of the value of ANR and ongoing public relations with state, county, other partners and ANR members to maintain and increase support for AES and CE programming.
- ANR's role as provider of critically needed unbiased science relevant to issues facing California today was highly valued by all clientele representatives from agriculture, natural resources and human services. All sectors advocated for continued, if not expanded, services of this kind.
- Make ANR and campus administrative services more responsive to programs and as efficient and non-duplicative as possible - instill a customer service orientation and culture in all service units.
- ANR leadership must commit to a team effort to provide vision and direction for ANR as well as restore confidence and boost morale of stakeholders. There is a sense of urgency to begin now, recognizing that this is a unique opportunity to transform the organization and recommit to the land-grant mission.
- Create mechanisms for effective statewide coordination of ANR programs and resources - through empowerment of Program Leaders and further strengthening of ANR workgroup system.
- Develop strategies to increase resources through cost recovery, extramural funding and other sources. Engage clientele in the process of identifying and securing new resources. Build and leverage existing and new partnerships with other agencies and external groups.
ANR leaders appreciated the candor and perspectives shared by stakeholders at the Listening Sessions which provided a deeper understanding of stakeholder viewpoints. ANR leaders are now better informed to make organizational and programmatic decisions about ANR's future directions.
At their Listening Session debrief meeting on Feb. 26, Executive and Program Council members agreed that "we remain open to all possibilities for ANR in the future - there is no predetermined outcome - we understand it is important and urgent for us to take action and provide leadership - we are developing an action plan now." The Executive Council and Program Council are convening a two-day strategic planning retreat on March 31 and April 1 to develop recommendations for future action - including ongoing dialogue with key stakeholders - in response to what was learned from the Listening Sessions.
All comments gathered in each Listening Session were transcribed and distributed to Executive Council and Program Council members, providing one source of guidance for AES and CE planning in the campuses and regions throughout ANR.
Listening Sessions Background: January - February, 2004
Key leaders, partners and members of UC's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources were invited to participate in one of a series of ten listening sessions as part of ANR's continuing effort to plan the Division's future direction and programs. The experience, vision and insights of these stakeholders are valuable to ANR leaders who listened to thier comments to help ensure the success of ANR in the future. ANR administrators, including campus deans and Cooperative Extension regional directors attended to hear stakeholders' thoughts.
Members of ANR have been engaged in ongoing strategic planning efforts for both Cooperative Extension and the Agricultural Experiment Station. These efforts, prompted by a constantly changing environment, the budget cuts of the past two years, and the need to maximize the use of Division resources, considered possible changes to the Division's organizational structure, procedures and program delivery.
Recommendations were submitted to ANR administration in three reports linked to this site ANR - An Improved Statewide Organization
As ANR leaders consider these recommendations and develop strategies to move forward, they want to hear your ideas on how to provide the most effective programs to meet the needs in local communities and throughout the state now, and in the future. Ultimately, the goal is to continue developing and delivering excellent research and extension programs addressing the needs of the citizens of California.
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The dates and locations for the January and February 2004 ANR Listening Sessions were as follows:- Jan. 29 Main Hall or Right Wing of Veteran's Hall in San Luis Obispo
- Feb. 5 Conference Room D in UC Extension Center in Riverside
- Feb. 10
The Appaloosa Room in the Holiday Inn in Redding - Feb. 19 Multipurpose Room of Kearney Research and Extension Center in Parlier
- Feb. 26 Alpha Gamma Rho Room in Buehler Alumni Center at UCDavis.
Two sessions were held at each location: ANR personnel met from 9:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. and separate sessions for external clientele were held from 1:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m at each location. There was a brief introduction by an Executive Council member followed by discussion in small groups and concluding in an open forum with the entire group. The discussion topics included the challenges and opportunities that stakeholders face in the future and how ANR can best help meet them -- focusing on how ANR can position itself (organizationally, programmatically) in the future to best fulfill its mission.
In addition, stakeholders not able to attend the sessions, had the opportunity to send in comments through a web based survey instrument.
All the listening session comments can be reviewed by clicking on the desired files below:
Listening Session Downloads