University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources: Cooperative Extension Area Integrat

Cooperative Extension Area Integrated Pest Management Advisor:
Commensal Rodents and Urban Wildlife Serving Santa Clara County and the San Francisco Bay Area (25-27) Application Window

Open date:
February 13, 2026

Next review date:
Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Final date:
Friday, June 26, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

The University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) invites applications for a UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Integrated Pest Management Advisor:
Commensal Rodents and Urban Wildlife, serving Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Mateo/San Francisco Counties at the Assistant rank. The Advisor will develop an innovative multi‑county applied research and extension education program that supports integrated management of commensal rodents and urban wildlife in the five‑county area.

The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Advisor will focus on research and education to effectively manage vertebrate pests in urban areas, with a special emphasis on commensal rodents such as rats and mice infesting areas in and around dwellings and other structures. Commensal rodents are considered “pests of significant public health importance” by the US EPA and are among the most important of all urban pests worldwide.

Effective management of these pests protects both public health and the environment. The Area IPM Advisor will develop IPM strategies to manage these pests, working closely with public agencies, pest control operators, licensed pest management professionals, and other practitioners in the public health and pest control sectors.

UCCE Advisors are responsible for applied research and extension of knowledge. Research activities are applied, needs‑based, and mission‑oriented, focusing on addressing the challenges in our communities. Extension activities are the educational practices that Advisors use to share research results directly with clientele and communities to increase their knowledge and understanding of science‑based research that supports and promotes the adoption of practices and technologies to solve problems.

Extension methods may include individual consultations, presentations, organizing educational workshops and short courses, field demonstrations, and site visits. Information may also be disseminated via radio outreach, webinars, fact sheets, policy briefs, news blogs, and social media. Publications are expected in various formats, such as newsletters, articles for the popular press, curricula, conference proceedings, and peer‑reviewed publications.

Successful research and extension programs result in new information that improves knowledge or understanding and adoption of new skills, practices, changed attitudes, policies, and improved environmental, health, economic, and/or social conditions. UCCE Advisors are evaluated through an academic advancement system based on four criteria: extending knowledge, applied research and creative activity, professional competence and activity, and university and public service.

The position will be headquartered at the University of California Cooperative Extension Office in Santa Clara County, located at 1553 Berger Drive, San Jose, California.

Roof rats, Rattus rattus, have increased in range in recent years and are considered major pests in most of California's communities. Norway (or sewer) rats, Rattus norvegicus, are also very common, especially in inner cities with aging infrastructure and large communities of unhoused residents. Mice, including the house mouse, Mus musculus, and several native Peromyscus deer mice species (known to vector hantavirus), are also very common within California's dwellings and other structures.

At the same time, formerly common tools for management have become more restricted. Urban uses of anticoagulant rodenticides have recently been restricted or removed…