(Why did Barbara retire?? Answer: It was Bill Frost's turn.)
Hang on, folks, it's gonna be a long ride
Not even Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh ( well throw in Olivia deHavilland, too) could save it now.
As Seth Grossman (who's he?) wrote (see below) to CHRIS VAN KESSEL (Chris prefers all caps), it's all in the hands of a Nathan Brostrom ("Nathan Brostrom"? Who's he? Ever heard of him before? No? I hadn't either!)
Seth Grossman wrote (to CHRIS) that the task ( you just know it will be a task; that's why it's called a Task Force.) "... will be examining these issues holistically. Now that sent shivers up my spine and raised the (few) hairs left on my scalp. Because the (secret) meaning of a holistic examination is that you throw everything out, even the bath basin, and start from scratch.
Think about what the future anr (It's still a UC Division; you can't get rid of that) might become, as anr/RRR, where the letters in caps stand for Resuscitation, Reincarnation, and Revitalization.
I can hardly wait.
As Seth Grossman (who's he?) wrote (see below) to CHRIS VAN KESSEL (Chris prefers all caps), it's all in the hands of a Nathan Brostrom ("Nathan Brostrom"? Who's he? Ever heard of him before? No? I hadn't either!)
Seth Grossman wrote (to CHRIS) that the task ( you just know it will be a task; that's why it's called a Task Force.) "... will be examining these issues holistically. Now that sent shivers up my spine and raised the (few) hairs left on my scalp. Because the (secret) meaning of a holistic examination is that you throw everything out, even the bath basin, and start from scratch.
Think about what the future anr (It's still a UC Division; you can't get rid of that) might become, as anr/RRR, where the letters in caps stand for Resuscitation, Reincarnation, and Revitalization.
I can hardly wait.
Long years ago, when I was in the (then) Department of Agronomy & Range Science (A&RS), I was fortunate to have a strong working relationship with the Department of Animal Science. Because my Project involved utilization of rangeland and irrigated pastures by beef cattle, I had a strong "day-to-day" working relationship with Animal Science Department Specialist (just plain "Specialist", not the CE kind) John L. ("Roy") Hull. Roy mentioned to me one time that his boss, UCD Chancellor James ("Jim") Meyer, frequently "got things done" by appointing a committee. Paramount was appointment of the issue-appropriate committee Chair, along with a supportive roster of members.
Fast forward to 2015. UC President Janet Napolitano has appointed a committee that, essentially, is charged with resolving the "ANR Issue". Being that Ms Napolitano is not a particularly strong and effective President, her choices in appointments for this new committee could well have been influenced by others in the UC President's Office.
Given the above rationale, it seems that the person to focus on now is UC Chief Financial Officer Nathan Brostrom. It also seems likely that Chair Brostrom's committee members (why only two?) will bend to Chair Brostrom's viewpoints as this "task force" "holistically" creates its assigned analysis and resulting report.
President Napolitano offers December 21, 2015 as a closure date for compiling and submitting it. Ye gods and little fishes! Just before Christmas and a two-week hiatus in which nothing gets done and any rancor generated by previous history has melted away.
Reminds me of the time ANR Vice President Barbara Allen-Diaz, at 4 PM on a Friday afternoon, sent an email to A&RS Chair Chris Van Kessell demanding that A&RS immediately hand over endowment funds that had, decades before, been specifically awarded in perpetuity (and in terms of expected assignment to agronomic research) to the (then) Agronomy Department . I wrote to Chris at the time that if such a demand were to be brought before a civil court of law it would be tossed out summarily.
Deja vu anyone?
The University of California System suffers from the fact that simply because an individual resides at a higher administrative level, that individual may expect that an order issued, no matter how inappropriate it might seem to others, must be implemented. And without recourse to a formal, "built into the System" opportunity to appeal.
I have no idea how other state university and agricultural college combinations deal with like matters. It just seems that there must be a better way to deal with them than is the case here.
Fast forward to 2015. UC President Janet Napolitano has appointed a committee that, essentially, is charged with resolving the "ANR Issue". Being that Ms Napolitano is not a particularly strong and effective President, her choices in appointments for this new committee could well have been influenced by others in the UC President's Office.
Given the above rationale, it seems that the person to focus on now is UC Chief Financial Officer Nathan Brostrom. It also seems likely that Chair Brostrom's committee members (why only two?) will bend to Chair Brostrom's viewpoints as this "task force" "holistically" creates its assigned analysis and resulting report.
President Napolitano offers December 21, 2015 as a closure date for compiling and submitting it. Ye gods and little fishes! Just before Christmas and a two-week hiatus in which nothing gets done and any rancor generated by previous history has melted away.
Reminds me of the time ANR Vice President Barbara Allen-Diaz, at 4 PM on a Friday afternoon, sent an email to A&RS Chair Chris Van Kessell demanding that A&RS immediately hand over endowment funds that had, decades before, been specifically awarded in perpetuity (and in terms of expected assignment to agronomic research) to the (then) Agronomy Department . I wrote to Chris at the time that if such a demand were to be brought before a civil court of law it would be tossed out summarily.
Deja vu anyone?
The University of California System suffers from the fact that simply because an individual resides at a higher administrative level, that individual may expect that an order issued, no matter how inappropriate it might seem to others, must be implemented. And without recourse to a formal, "built into the System" opportunity to appeal.
I have no idea how other state university and agricultural college combinations deal with like matters. It just seems that there must be a better way to deal with them than is the case here.
PS: Seems like"Holistic" has become a new buzzword, and I'm excited about tha....Hold on! Isn't "excited" the word holistic is supposed to replace? (it's about time too, isn't it?)