Volume 6, Number 1, Winter-Spring 1997
Originally from south-central Kansas, Brian acquired some hands-on farm labor experience while working at a dairy and beef operation as well as a small peach and apple orchard near Kansas City, Missouri. More recently, Brian has been living in Ohio, where he completed his M.A. degree in Industrial/Personnel Psychology with an emphasis in organizational development, employee selection, and compensation systems at the University of Akron. During the four years between receiving his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Kansas and entering graduate school, he was employed by a research organization working as an associate on several projects ranging from employee wage and job satisfaction surveys to workplace violence prediction, sexual harassment/diversity awareness training, and employee assistance program evaluation. Additionally, Brian has worked in a human resources consulting firm, where he was actively involved in the design of testing and selection systems and job evaluation in compliance with employment laws.
"We are extremely pleased to have Brian join our program group," said APMP Director Howard Rosenberg upon Linhardt's arrival. "With a strong technical background in the field of personnel management, he will be not only a terrific asset to the agricultural community in the Sacramento Valley but also a resource to APMP clientele and Cooperative Extension colleagues throughout the state. Brian clearly recognizes the vast opportunities to apply his skills in agriculture, and I expect that he will soon be meeting a heavy demand for help in developing job descriptions, recruitment strategies, employee training plans, pay rate structures, personnel policies, and more. The growers who find him early will be most fortunate."
"I am excited and honored to join the University of California Cooperative Extension working in the Agricultural Personnel Management Program," Linhardt said. "I am fortunate to work with three well-established colleagues in the APMP who have built successful educational and research programs. I have much to learn from them, and also look forward to working with other extension advisors and with clientele. It is an interesting and challenging time to be in agricultural labor management, with the many recent changes in labor law and shifts in the economy and population. California farmers continue to adapt to technological innovations and social changes as they supply the state and the world with quality agricultural products. I will enjoy the opportunity to be a part of that process."
"We have needed extension work in this field for a long time in the Sacramento Valley, and Brian's arrival culminates a three-year effort to get it," says Bill Olson, Butte County Cooperative Extension Director. "The other two personnel management Farm Advisors in California have been very helpful to their grower clientele, and we expect that Brian will develop an equally effective program here. He will be a valuable member of our local Cooperative Extension staff and contributor to the agricultural community."
Now significantly closer to many family members in the Sacramento area, Brian and his wife, Elizabeth, have moved to Chico with their two-year old daughter and lazy black Lab. Brian can be reached at the Butte County office at (916) 538-7201, or by email to bklinhardt@ucdavis.edu.