Welcome New UC ANR Academics!
You are now part of a large UC ANR community with a wide-reaching academic family that stretches across the state of California. Check out UC ANR’s Programmatic Footprint Maps that provide interactive visual guides to UC ANR’s programmatic reach. The information therein is particularly helpful for finding peer academics and community educators in every county across California.
Begin exploring your new organization by watching the "We are UC ANR" video. Additional information for new UC ANR academics, including a video welcome from UC ANR Vice President Glenda Humiston, can be found in the New UC ANR Employee Guide. Finally, the following orientation video and the “UCCE Centennial – 100 Years of Science and Service” issue of California Agriculture provide information about the exciting history of Cooperative Extension in California.
The academic employee onboarding process is an important step to successfully becoming an employee of UC ANR. If you have any questions regarding your onboarding, contact UC ANR Academic Human Resources and review the Orientation and On-Boarding resources.
Getting Started as a New UC ANR Academic
UC ANR has established a New Academic Peer Cohort group intended to connect you to others early-career Cooperative Extension (CE) specialists or advisors. You will be added to this Collaborative Tools group and will receive information periodically about ways to connect with your peers and opportunities for professional development that are geared toward early-career academics.
Information Resources
Useful web resources include the Program Planning and Evaluation and the Learning and Development web sites. We specifically refer you to our Orientation Guide, which includes a Start-Up Guide for New UC ANR Academics and the Academic Orientation Expectations and Agreement. Although a bit outdated and currently undergoing revisions, the document outlines expectations for your first six months as a new academic.
Getting Connected
UC ANR offers Administrative and Programmatic Orientations designed to help academics jump-start their programs. The programmatic orientation focuses on program design and showcasing successful projects of other UC ANR academics, while the administrative orientation introduces statewide programs and administrative units and services, and provides an overview of UC ANR’s structure, vision, and mission.
History shows that campus-based faculty working with county-based CE advisors strengthens the relevance, reach, and application of our science. Review the Enhancing Campus-County Collaborations at UC guide for helpful collaboration tips. UC ANR also encourages collaborations across the UC network through opportunities such as the Science-to-Practice Grant Program. For examples of successful cross-network collaborations, see these collaboration stories.
Another helpful resource is Steven Worker’s Programmatic Orientation presentation on Strategies for Community Engagement and Leveraging the UC ANR Network and Beyond
Let People Know Who You Are
You will want to create an Academic Profile through the UC ANR Portal. Your UC ANR Academic Profile will help you build a network, facilitate collaborations, and allow potential clientele and partners to learn about you. You are part of an amazing network of incredible academics, and these profiles are one way to support improved communication and coordination among UC ANR academics. UC ANR academics are organized in a network of Program Teams and Workgroups – please contact your relevant Program Team leader(s) to introduce yourself and ask to be added to respective Program Teams. Once added to Program Teams, you can join associated Workgroups, which are managed by their Program Team.
Position Description
An expectation in your first six-to-nine months on the job is to prepare a Position Description (PD). A current and accurate PD is an important foundation of the review process for a merit, promotion, and annual evaluation, and a signed PD must be included in your advancement dossier. Each academic is responsible for updating their PD when their programmatic responsibilities and/or reporting relationships change. Academics are encouraged to update their PD about every five (5) years to ensure that it is an accurate summary of the academic’s responsibilities. Academics and/or their immediate supervisors are also responsible for signing and sharing PDs with Academic HR.
Academic Advancement
You will want to familiarize yourself early on with expectations for academic advancement by reviewing Academic HR’s webpage on Merit and Promotion Criteria, Trainings, and Supervisor Review. Note that every academic title and rank has a different set of expectations, which are summarized in UC ANR’s Guidelines for UC ANR Academics Preparing the Thematic Program Review Dossier, also called the E-book, available in PDF or in Word format.
Program Planning and Evaluation
Starting Your Program: A good program demonstrates positive impacts through condition changes on one’s targeted clientele. This overview of getting started with extension and delivery provides a comprehensive overview of starting a program and complements the academic advancement guidelines. Another helpful resource is the recording of a 2025 Programmatic Orientation panel discussion on Jump Starting Your Program and How Academic Success Looks in your Early to Mid-Career.
Needs Assessments: The priority for all new academics in their first term is to conduct a needs assessment, define clientele, and identify internal collaborators within UC ANR and UC as well as external collaborators. Resources for needs assessment and training are available through UC ANR’s Program Planning and Evaluation (PPE) team. Another helpful resource is Devii Rao’s 2025 Programmatic Orientation presentation on Conducting Informal Needs Assessment for a New Program.
Capacity Training: New academics are strongly encouraged to attend UC ANR’s PPE Capacity Trainings early in your academic career to help with planning your programs and projects, engaging California communities, civil rights compliance, and evaluating your programs and assessing their impact, including the 11-part “a la carte” series with training on conducting a needs assessment, measuring outcomes, writing impact stories, etc. Other helpful resources are 2025 Programmatic Orientation presentations from Aparna Gazula on Measuring Outcomes and from Vikram Koundinya on Measuring Outcomes and Communicating Impact.
Communication: Another important part of your program includes designing and delivering your message. UC ANR’s Communication and Messaging training presents best practices to package and communicate our work to reach and engage others in your program.
Evaluation Tools: UC ANR uses Qualtrics as a valuable companion tool for program evaluation. Explore getting stated with surveys through the Qualtrics Training.