Aggiextra Spring 2017

Spring 2017 Volume 20 No. 2

One Aggie network. Many connections.

Autism research improves lives for families 4 / Aggie tech leaders 16 / Farms of the future 20 / Picnic Day preview

On the Cover

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he UC Davis MIND Institute (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) is a collaborative international research center, committed to the awareness, understanding, prevention, care, and cures of neurodevelopmental disorders. In 1998, families of children with autism helped found the UC Davis MIND Institute. They envisioned experts from every discipline related to early brain development working together toward one goal: finding and developing treatments for individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Read more about how UC Davis has made a positive difference in the lives of families, beginning on page 12.

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Aggie leaders in technology

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MIND researchers bring health and hope to families

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FEATURE:

Cover Story:

RESEARCH THAT MATTERS:

PICNIC DAY FEATURE:

Farms to feed the future

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What’s new this year?

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Mel Ramey’s legacy of inclusion and empowerment

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Q&A with new UC Davis Head Football Coach Dan Hawkins

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What alumni have to say about their CAAA connections

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CAAA Alumni Awards Gala recap

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It was love at first sight for a new Aggie family

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UC Davis staff member builds a successful wine business

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How UC Davis Extension can boost your career

UNIVERSITY NEWS:

office hours:

Gary May will be UC Davis’ new chancellor

Professing the joys of whitewater rafting

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By Laura Pizzo

Aggie Leaders in Tech

UC Changing the Ratio – PAGE 6 A World of Opportunity – PAGE 8 A ‘Netflix Original’ Aggie – PAGE 10

UC Davis alumni are connected to an expansive network of Aggies, including leaders at Fortune 500 tech companies

Davis students learn to collaborate and innovate in quickly changing, interdisciplinary environments. And upon graduation, UC Davis alumni begin applying those lessons to real-world challenges, proving themselves as leaders and changing lives for the better.

Additionally, many Aggies feel inspired by nearby Silicon Valley’s large and successful technology industry—and technology’s influence in countless other important fields, such as medicine, agriculture and more. Drawing on the creative foundation that was fostered by their UC Davis education, Aggies have built careers in tech occupations around the globe.

That’s why, as part of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s #Aggiesatwork series, the following stories feature UC Davis alumni who are leaders at Fortune 500 tech companies.

These Aggie leaders are changemakers at top companies where advancements in wireless connectivity, content creation and distribution, artificial intelligence and more are rapidly achieving what was previously thought as impossible.

Aggies everywhere are hard at work, solving challenges and making the world a better place. And throughout California and beyond, Aggies build strong career connections through UC Davis and CAAA and find themselves working beside other talented alumni.

Read on to find out how these Aggies achieved their goals and discover what it is like to be an Aggie leader at top tech companies.

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Changing the Ratio

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iane Bryant ’85, executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center Group at Intel, is a leader in the field where artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and other exciting innovations are poised to transform the way we live, learn, work and play. But, when asked what keeps her motivated, she notes that in terms of diversity, both tech and engineering stagger far behind other prestigious industries— a fact that Bryant is working tirelessly to change.

“The lack of equal representation in engineering and technology is an issue for a couple of reasons,” said Bryant, a graduate of UC Davis’ electrical engineering program. “First, no group should be left out of such high impact, high value, and high reward professions as

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engineering and technology.

And second, diversity of thought and diversity of experience is critical to innovation—to devising the best solutions and obtaining the best results.”

In fact, while women comprise 47 percent of the total U.S. workforce, they make up only 25 percent of tech and 15 percent of the engineering workforce.

And certain ethnicities are even scarcer; many top tech companies have reported that African Americans make up less than two percent of their employees. These statistics motivate Bryant to push harder as a female Intel executive and engineer. And she also says they make her glad she’s an alumna of UC Davis, one of 13 universities that Forbes recently named among the Most Important STEM Colleges for Women.

“I am proud of being the most senior woman at Intel, which includes being the most senior technical woman at Intel, because I have the honor of being a role model to minority populations in tech,” said Bryant, who recently received the Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s 2017 Outstanding Alumna Award. “I am one data point of proof that the tech world presents wonderful opportunities for all.”

The Data Center Group is the fastest growing and most profitable division at Intel and is responsible for the products and technologies that fuel servers, storage and network infrastructure, making both the Internet and cloud computing possible. Bryant says her job, and the job of the Data Center Group, is “to deliver the technology solutions

UC Davis alumna turned tech executive fights to increase diversity in STEM fields

that drive transformation.”

She is particularly excited about their efforts in artificial intelligence—a field she believes will transform the way all businesses operate and how people engage with the world.

To assist other smart and motivated Aggies, Bryant created the Diane Bryant Endowed Scholarship for Women in Engineering, which supports women pursuing engineering degrees at UC Davis.

“The culture of UC Davis is one of solving problems for the betterment of society—whether related to the environment, health, agriculture or tech,” said Bryant. “My rewarding career at Intel is a direct result of my engineering education at UC Davis.

It’s literally impossible to separate who I am today from being an Aggie.” 

Click on the button below to see Diane Bryant in action at Intel. #Aggiesatwork

“I am one data point of proof that the tech world presents wonderful opportunities for all.”

After paying her own way through college, Intel executive Diane Bryant was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune in 2015 and 2016, and Business Insider ranked Bryant No. 32 in the 2016 list of “Silicon Valley 100.” Additionally, she received CAAA’s 2017 Outstanding Alumna Award.

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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A World of Opportunity

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here is no denying that Michael Hurlston’s ’88 MBA ’90 M.S. ’91

triple play of degrees from UC Davis has made a huge impact on his career. Now the vice president and general manager of the mobile connectivity and product division at Broadcom, he credits his success to his education at UC Davis, where he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in electrical engineering as well as an MBA. “During the first few years of my career, I was an electrical engineer, but then I wanted to shift to marketing because it fit my personality better,” said Hurlston. “So I went to one of my bosses who was looking for a marketing person and told him I had an MBA, but he didn’t believe me. So I literally went home to find

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my degree, brought it in, and he gave me a chance.

That’s how my marketing career started, and I have done very well since.”

Ranked No. 340 on the Fortune 500 list, Broadcom is one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, with operations in 15 countries and nearly 10,000

markets. Hurlston’s division is also one of the largest at the company, requiring him to manage teams all over the world, including in the United States, Australia, China, India, the Netherlands and more.

“One of the great things about my job is the travel,” said Hurlston, who

Three-degree alumnus leads worldwide semiconductor company

Now, I’ve been to more countries than I can count and nearly every state.”

Even though time differences sometimes require him to work from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. the next day, he believes the job is well worth the workload.

“What I like most about my role is that I don’t have

“We as a family wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for UC Davis, and I think that goes for a lot of UC Davis alumni.

So it’s incumbent on us to say, ‘We got this amazing start from our education, and now it’s time to give back.’”

employees. The company is a leading designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of digital and analog semiconductor connectivity solutions, serving the wired infrastructure, wireless communications, enterprise storage and industrial

previously ran the company’s worldwide sales department. “I grew up in the Silicon Valley and work and live there now, so in some ways I haven’t gone very far. But when I was a student at UC Davis, I’d only been to the U.K., where my family is from, and Nevada.

a typical day,” he said. “I may meet with customers about new products or with the engineering department to help solve issues, or any number of other tasks. It’s very diverse work and isn’t easy to predict, and I’m of course lucky that I don’t need a lot of sleep.”

Giving back

Grateful to UC Davis for preparing him for his complex leadership role, Hurlston and his wife Joelle Hurlston ’89 recently pledged $1.5 million to establish a first-of-its-kind endowed chair position.

The Michael and Joelle Hurlston Presidential Chair will rotate between the Graduate School of Management and College of Engineering, where Michael earned his degrees, as well as the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, where his wife received her bachelor’s. Joelle works part-time as a hazardous materials consultant, where her assignments include

inspecting new facilities at state-of-the-art Silicon Valley manufacturing companies, among other tasks.

“We’ve obviously done very well from a financial and career standpoint, and this gift was a thank you to UC Davis for setting us on this track,” said Hurlston.

“And, with that, we wanted to recognize all three colleges that contributed to us as a family: the College of Engineering, where I started and also got a master’s; the Graduate School of Management, which was really instrumental for me as a leader and marketer; and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, which set Joelle

up for the career that she embarked on.”

Hurlston is also an active UC Davis volunteer.

He is a new member of the Graduate School of Management’s Dean’s Advisory Counsel. He has also been instrumental in partnering with the management school on several Integrated Management Projects, a capstone course in which teams of UC Davis MBA students consulted on a specific business issue and provided recommendations at Broadcom. Additionally, he has advised engineering students on their presentations and remained active with the College of

Engineering in other ways.

“We as a family wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for UC Davis,” Hurlston explained. “And I think that goes for a lot of UC Davis alumni. So it’s incumbent on us to say, ‘We got this amazing start from our education, and now it’s time to give back.’” 

A proud member of the first UC Davis Graduate School of Management MBA class, Michael Hurlston is now the vice president and general manager of the mobile connectivity and product division at Broadcom.

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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A ‘Netflix Original’ Aggie

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hen people find out what Tim Mizrahi ’98

does professionally, they usually have two reactions. First, they are really excited to meet the vice president of business & legal affairs and content acquisition at Netflix because they love the service. Second, they want to know why their favorite show isn’t available for streaming.

“I’m always prepared for these conversations,” he laughed. “If I wear a Netflix sweatshirt when I walk my dog, I’m invariably going to be stopped, but I like that people are excited about what we do. And rest assured, we are very thoughtful about which content we put on our service.”

Mizrahi explained that Netflix analysts develop sophisticated models to determine what kind of content

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would be successful. There are also teams devoted to evaluating scripts and determining what subscribers want to binge watch. Then, Mizrahi’s legal team joins in to help with the acquisition, along with various other complex legal issues the company encounters across

UC Davis alumnus shares what it’s like to be an executive at one of the fastest growing tech companies

with the company’s first international launch, Mizrahi now focuses largely on the company’s major studio television, film licensing and reality TV series. In 2016, Netflix released more than 600 hours of original content, including dozens of original shows.

Mizrahi’s UC Davis experience included studying abroad at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, as well as working in the study abroad office and attending events put on by the LGBTQIA Center.

“As I look back at my time at UC Davis, I think

“... I really try to keep that sense of humility and calm and respect, which was fostered in me by the culture at UC Davis.”

190 countries and 93 million customers.

“Every 18 months, I feel like I am doing a different job,” he said. “I love the variety. When I started, our LA office where I work had around 40 people; now, there are more than 800.”

As an executive at the second-fastest growing Fortune 500 tech company, Mizrahi has learned to be flexible. Initially hired to help

“No matter how stressful things get at work, how many hundreds of millions or billions of dollars a deal may be, at the end of the day, I’m trying to get content to entertain people,” he said.

“I’m not saving lives. I’m not getting a spaceship to Mars. So I really try to keep that sense of humility and calm and respect, which was fostered in me by the culture at UC Davis.”

the culture was most important to my professional and personal development,” said Mizrahi, who has been married to his husband Doug Cullum for eight years. “The community was welcoming, energizing and respectful. Those qualities were hugely important to me as a student and a member of the LGBT community—and I continue to strive for them today.” 

At UC Davis, Tim Mizrahi majored in international relations before attending law school at the University of Oregon and starting his career.

Prior to Netflix, he served as counsel for worldwide digital distribution at the Walt Disney Company. In his free time, Mizrahi is an avid cyclist—a hobby that harks back to his undergraduate years when he navigated UC Davis on two wheels.

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Improving the Lives of Families UC Davis researchers search tirelessly for solutions for families affected by autism

By Laura Pizzo

FROM LEFT to RIGHT: The MIND

Institute (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) is a collaborative international research center, committed to helping families of individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism.

Kira Duley, who recently enjoyed a family day trip to Lake Chabot in Castro Valley, California, has autism spectrum disorder.

She wears noise reducing headphones to help with her sensitivity to sound.

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“Every day, children are in our clinics because they have a suspected autism diagnosis.

Needless to say, the child is almost always there with Mom, with Dad, with little brothers and sisters, sometimes with an aunt or uncle and often with grandparents.

And for me, that is a perfect example that this is not a diagnosis that resides in a child.

This is a diagnosis that changes families forever. And that’s why we’re here.”

Leonard Abbeduto

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hen 16-yearold Kira Duley wants to tell her mom how she’s feeling, she does a Google image search. For love, she points to a heart. For sad, a frowning emoji. For lonely, a photo of a woman standing alone on a beach, looking off into a sunset.

Kira communicates this way because she has autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Although autism presents itself differently in different people, 25 percent of people with autism—like Kira— do not develop spoken language.

“If she wants to tell me, ‘I want to eat something,’ it’s pretty easy, but any of the complex feelings that a 16-year-old girl may be having, that’s where we’re stuck,” said her mother Nancy Brackner Duley, who serves on UC Davis MIND Institute’s Community Advisory Committee.

The Duleys have participated in several MIND Institute studies, as well as autism studies around the country. Many of these studies have been designed to understand the causes of autism rather than to develop treatments. Understanding the causes is

necessary to developing the most effective treatments, which could one day benefit Kira and others with ASD. Today, one in 68 children is diagnosed with ASD. And because autism presents itself in many different ways and is likely caused by hundreds of different genetic and environmental factors, it is extremely difficult to find treatments that work for each person, especially as their brains continue to develop and behaviors change throughout their lives. But at UC Davis, researchers with expertise in epidemiology, neuroscience, technology, education and more are tirelessly searching for solutions for families like the Duleys.

“Every day, children are in our clinics because they have a suspected autism diagnosis,” said MIND Institute Director Leonard Abbeduto. “Needless to say, the child is almost always there with Mom, with Dad, with little brothers and sisters, sometimes with an aunt or uncle and often with grandparents. And for me, that is a perfect example that this is not a diagnosis that resides in a child. This is a diagnosis that changes families forever. And that’s why we’re here.”

Finding individualized treatments that work

Professor Kimberley McAllister, who works at the Center for Neuroscience in the College of Biological Sciences, has studied autism for more than 15 years.

Together with other UC Davis researchers, she has played a leading role in convincing scientists and clinicians worldwide that the immune system—along with genetics—can spark the development of autism in the brain.

“We don’t know what causes autism. There are over 100 different genes and many different types of environmental risk factors that have been linked to it,” explained McAllister, whose work is funded by philanthropy and government-issued grants.

“And we don’t really know if autism is a single disorder.

Of course we talk about it like it is, but if you know people affected by it, and have seen their range of behaviors and disabilities, you know it’s probably several disorders rolled into one name.”

Because autism is likely caused by so many different known and unknown factors, it is extremely

difficult to discover new drugs to treat it.

“Some drugs will help a subset of people with a similar cause of their autism, but not others. So, when all of those people are included together in the same drug trial, the positive effects are washed out by the negative ones,” she said. “If we could identify subsets of people with autism that have a similar cause, we would make much more rapid progress in finding new and more effective treatments.”

McAllister’s research helps identify new targets for drug development by using animal models to determine which pathways in the brain, when disrupted, can lead to disease. Her work using mice has shown that activation of a pregnant mother’s immune system can cause changes in specific immune molecules in the offspring’s brain, leading to autism or schizophrenialike behaviors. As the offspring grow up, those changes evolve, affecting how the subject responds to treatment.

“What is really exciting is that this work may lead to new therapies against those immune targets in the brain,”

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“I want us to make the most of technology to positively change lives for every family affected by autism. This is not just about early intervention—we need interventions at every point to optimize development and make services available and effective for everyone.”

Leonard Abbeduto

she said. “Currently, we are mostly limited to behavioral therapies for autism, which do not work for everyone, or which may not continue to work over time as an individual’s brain develops.”

New ways to teach and learn

In addition to investigating the causes of autism, UC Davis researchers are searching for new and more effective ways to improve the quality of life for people with autism, including creating more fulfilling educational opportunities for them.

Peter Mundy—who serves as the director of educational research and the Lisa Capp Endowed Chair at the MIND Institute—is an expert in the education and development of children with autism. As such, he wanted to understand why children with autism were not succeeding in school despite the success of early identification and treatment programs that made it so nearly two-thirds of children

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with autism had sufficient language skills to enter general education classes.

His interest led him to study ways in which virtual reality tools could be used for classroom interventions.

For this project, Mundy and his team conducted a study of 160 students ages 8-18, of which about half had been diagnosed with autism. The results led them to examine how social communication relates to reading comprehension.

“When we read, we have to focus on what the person who wrote the book is trying to tell us,” said Mundy.

“Children with autism may not understand that at all because they have difficulty adopting a common focus with other people. This matters because if they’re falling behind in reading comprehension, they’re losing out on a lot of their educational experience.”

In fact, 68 percent of children with autism have IQ scores in the average or above range, but they often fall behind in school because their struggles with reading comprehension cause their writing and math skills to suffer as well. So Mundy’s team turned to Associate Professor Emily J. Solari in the School of Education— one of a handful of researchers nationally exploring how children’s reading difficulties might be related to problems with comprehending both oral and written language.

As director of UC Davis’ Reading and Academic

Development Center, Solari was already developing a new type of reading curriculum to be used in the classroom by K-3 teachers to supplement their existing instruction for struggling readers. She had worked with children with autism in the past, so when she learned about Mundy’s ongoing study, she realized her curriculum could be adapted for this population.

It just needed to be adjusted to support the development of social skills, so she reframed it as a two-teacher and two-student model that seamlessly included a social skills component. The results of the pilot study were so promising that the curriculum has since been moved into school settings.

“We’re seeing that the students are responding to this curriculum,” she said.

“Even though the pilot programs were only eight weeks long, we saw gains in expressive vocabulary.”

How technology can improve quality of life

When Kira’s mom is asked why her family continues to participate in studies when they have so far failed to directly benefit Kira, she responds with the same hope that brings many of UC Davis’ researchers to work each day.

“Even though Kira hasn’t gotten any direct benefit from the studies thus far, it is still valuable to participate,” said Brackner Duley. “I want to understand what is going on, and—in doing so—if we could understand

where this disorder comes from, well, would that lead to improvements in treatment? If we knew why this happened, could we do something more for her and others like her?”

With this same sentiment, the MIND Institute aims to expand the scope of autism treatment so it can better help teenagers like Kira— and as many people affected by autism as possible.

Technology is making it easier to reach families all over the world with individualized treatments.

For example, Abbeduto’s lab uses video teleconferencing to teach parents in real-time how to act as speech and language clinicians from the comfort of their own homes.

“The parents are learning really well; they feel empowered, and their children are making great progress in language,” Abbeduto said. “And with projects like this, I want us to make the most of technology to positively change lives for every family affected by autism.

This is not just about early intervention—we need interventions at every point to optimize development and make services available and effective for everyone.”

Read more

The research presented in this article represents only a fraction of what is being done at UC Davis to improve the lives of all families affected by autism. Visit the MIND Institute’s website for more information. 

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Kimberley McAllister, who is the interim director of the Center for Neuroscience and has joint appointments in the College

of Biological Sciences and the School of Medicine, studies how changes in immune molecules in the brain may lead to disease. Len Abbeduto, director of the MIND Institute and Tsakopoulous-Vismara Endowed Chair at the School of Medicine, studies the development of language across the lifetime of individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. At UC Davis’ School of Education, Emily Solari studies language and literacy development and is one of a handful of researchers in the U.S. who are exploring how children’s reading difficulties might be related to problems with comprehending both oral and written language. In addition to his appointments at the MIND Institute, Peter Mundy is a professor and associate dean for academic personnel and research at UC Davis’ School of Education and has been working on defining the nature of autism and developmental disabilities for the past 30 years.

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Farms to Feed the Future

By Laura Pizzo

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“Without sensors, it is extremely difficult to detect when an individual hen has a problem, making preventative medicine very difficult if the infected or injured hen is in a flock of 3,000 to 6,000 birds.”

Maja Makagon

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he many intersections surrounding food and agriculture—from labor and the economy to health and the environment to globalization and even ethical considerations—result in several urgent issues arising at the same time.

Two billion people—nearly a third of the global population—are currently food insecure, a number that is expected to skyrocket as the worldwide population reaches nine billion in 2050. There are also significant labor shortages in agriculture, with farmers across the country, and particularly in California, reporting that they are struggling to find farmhands. Additionally, weather variability is projected to decrease the yields of California’s crops by approximately 15 percent over the next four decades.

This is why UC Davis is taking cropping systems and animal agriculture to the next level of productivity, sustainability and responsible resource use by developing and utilizing robots, sensors and other new technologies for agriculture.

By marrying research, extension and teaching across the agricultural, biological, environmental and engineering fields, UC Davis is helping to advance California’s signature food products and create a leading model for transforming agricultural systems around the world.

“UC Davis’ work to develop more precise, efficient and sustainable practices in agriculture is responding to a very urgent issue for California and the world,” said Helene Dillard, dean of UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Addressing labor shortages

UC Davis Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering David Slaughter has been a pioneer at the intersection of technology, engineering and farming since his career’s early beginnings when he developed one of the first robotic fruitharvesting systems.

Recently, among other accomplishments, he developed a weed control robot that could significantly reduce the amount of laborers needed to weed a field. His robot, guided

by GPS and armed with a map of the exact location of every crop seedling planted, selectively kills weeds in-between crop plants and in crops thick with weeds. Slaughter’s device works 50 to 80 percent better than commercially available robots. This is possible because UC Davis engineers have taken a systems approach to solving some of agriculture’s most

challenging problems, building not one smart machine, but two. The first smart machine marks the longitude and latitude of the crop when planted, so the second robot—the weeding robot— knows exactly where the crop plants are located and, by default, knows that plants growing outside of those locations must be weeds.

“In a field where the weeds are very thick and you’re spending $500 per acre for farmhands to weed it, you’d definitely want our machine,” he said. “That’s because the commercially available robots would get confused and be unable

to tell the weeds from the crops, opting not to try at all. Our technology could kill 50 to 80 percent of the weeds, saving a farmer 50 to 80 percent of the labor for weeding.”

Slaughter says this smart technology also saves the workers from drudgery by transferring repetitive work, such as hoeing under the hot sun, to the robot, replacing these jobs with better opportunities.

“These robots are doing menial, demanding and arduous tasks, and we are hoping that the replacement jobs will offer a higher quality of life,” Slaughter

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said. “We are of course concerned that there will be fewer laborer positions, but we hope that these workers will be supervising robots in the future and will also be able to go to the grocery store and buy food at a lower cost than if we had no automation.”

Increasing sustainability

Kaan Kurtural was born into the grape business.

Both of his parents are raisin growers on the West Coast of Turkey. Now, he jokes that he is their competition.

As the cooperative extension specialist in viticulture at UC Davis, he works on production systems for vineyards in California. His specialty is making certain that resources are used in accordance with the needs of an individual vineyard.

“For the last 200 years, vineyards have been managed uniformly, meaning for example that we would prune or water an entire vineyard the same,” he said.

“But there’s a lot of variation in vineyards and so many ways that a property can affect how vineyards perform, including fruit quality and yields. So, in this example, we can now direct water where it’s needed and not irrigate where it isn’t needed. The same goes for fertilizers, etc.”

Kurtural does this work by using UC Davisdeveloped technology that models and senses terrain and water status of the vineyard. For example, a field may have higher ground at one end than another, affecting sun exposure, water needs and more. Soil quality could

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also be different across a large vineyard. Kurtural helps farmers model, sense and transform this data into usable information.

At a field in Lodi, California, Kurtural’s team found that certain parts of the vineyard were outperforming others in both yield and quality. By removing leaves in underperforming areas, allowing for more sun exposure and instituting differential irrigation, they were able to help solve these issues and also conserve resources.

“Not only do we develop this technology, but we also train the growers’ crews to use it,” he said.

Kurtural is motivated to build upon UC Davis’ strong relationships with California growers—and not just in the grape industry. He says these practices can translate to other crops as well, benefiting agriculture all over California and across the globe.

“We can do the research, but unless we extend it to the growers, it’s not meaningful,” he said. “So the work in the lab and the work in the field are both important to UC Davis and the growers alike. Whatever I do, I am charged with extending this knowledge.”

Collaborating across disciplines

Assistant Professor Maja Makagon from UC Davis’ department of animal science uses sensors to monitor the health, welfare and production of poultry animals, especially at the individual level.

“Without sensors, it is extremely difficult to detect when an individual hen

has a problem, making preventative medicine very difficult if the infected or injured hen is in a flock of 3,000 to 6,000 birds,” Makagon said.

Makagon’s research in part focuses on trying to understand why and how hens sustain damage to the keel bone, an extension of the bird’s breastbone.

Keel bone damage can affect 30 to 90 percent of a flock, depending on the age and housings of the birds. Ultimately, Makagon’s research could improve animal welfare by reducing painful injuries and could also increase productivity and hen and egg weight.

To conduct this research, Makagon tracks laying hens throughout a year.

By monitoring the hens with CT scans, sensors and video, she can assess what in their environment is causing them to sustain keel bone damage—knowledge that could potentially help farmers alter or remove structural risk factors.

Currently, Makagon must partner with outside universities to conduct this research. She hopes that in the near future, UC Davis engineers and animal scientists will come together—much like they have in David Slaughter’s laboratory—to create new technology in-house.

“When you look at precision farming and see what is happening in technology, a lot of it is being led by engineers, and there is a need to have both the engineers and the people who are using it—whether on a farm or in a research lab— develop this technology

together,” Makagon said.

“And UC Davis, well-known for our collaborative culture, is the perfect place to conduct this work.” 

“These robots are doing menial, demanding and arduous tasks, and we are hoping that the replacement jobs will offer a higher quality of life.”

David Slaughter

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Junior specialist Andrew Beebe and Ph.D. student Runze Yu measure water status in a local vineyard. Sydney Baker ’17, a UC Davis graduate student in animal science, stands beside her poster summarizing the work she helped complete in Maja Makagon’s lab. Dr. Thuy Nguyen, a postdoctoral scholar in David Slaughter’s lab, operates the weed-eating robot.

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Save the Date UC Davis’ 103rd Annual Picnic Day When:

April 22, 2017

Check out the schedule of campus events Click here for the CAAA Picnic Day page

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n Saturday, April 22, 2017, experience a Picnic Day like no other you have seen before. The Cal Aggie Alumni Association (CAAA) will be adding new activities to create a truly exciting Picnic Day experience for Aggies of all ages. Join or cheer on alumni, parents and friends in the Picnic Day parade, celebrating “Every Aggie Counts” in collaboration with UC Davis Give Day. Then, located on Vanderhoef Quad outside the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, the Authentic Aggie Zone will feature fun activities focused on traditions.

Here are a few ways you and your family can celebrate Picnic Day in the Authentic Aggie Zone. Stop by, or visit CAAA’s website for even more! — Laura Pizzo

Volunteer for the parade or other duties

Five New Activities in the Authentic Aggie Zone Alumni Wine Program Picnic Day Kickoff Event The eve of Picnic Day (Friday, April 21) from 6 to 8 p.m.

When:

Raise your glass and celebrate the night before Picnic Day! Enjoy an evening filled with Aggie camaraderie while tasting exceptional wines produced by local alumni vintners, paired with delicious hors d’oeuvres. UC Davis coaches including alumnus and Head Football Coach Dan Hawkins and Athletics Director Kevin Blue will be on hand for a brief discussion on this year’s athletics highlights. Register here.

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VIP Member Lounge Picnic Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

When:

Members get an upgrade this year in the Picnic Day VIP lounge.

The lounge will feature stylish cocktail tables, lounge seating and catered food provided by Woodstock’s Pizza. Come for the air conditioning, but stay for the refreshing lemonade, iced tea and infused water and delicious free food. As always, members can bring guests. There will also be free Davis Creamery ice cream outside on the Moss Patio.

PetersenDean Drone Photo When:

Picnic Day at 1:30 p.m.

Join UC Davis alumni, families and friends in Vanderhoef Quad for CAAA’s first-ever group drone photo in partnership with the UC Davis Drone Club. The photo will be displayed on social media, so be sure to tag yourself and share it with your networks. It will also be put on display in the Alumni Center. CAAA hopes to have the alumni drone photo become a new annual occurence on Picnic Day—so come out and make it a success in its first year!

Student art show Picnic Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

When:

Come by the Alumni Center’s art gallery to admire beautiful and engaging work by current UC Davis students. Paintings, drawings, photography and more will be on display.

Authe Tradit When:

10 a.m

UC Dav parents a list of allowin campu helping of the A When y come b with ph traditio numbe first-co

Give Day: A New Picnic Day Tradition

O “What better way to support our alma mater than with a donation of any size to continue building its legacy?”

Toni Alejandria ’08

n Picnic Day, when Aggies everywhere are thinking of their alma mater, UC Davis will hold its first Give Day—a 29-hour fundraising drive that celebrates the theme “Every Aggie Counts: Together, We Add Up!” Join fellow Aggies online and in-person from noon on Friday, April 21, until 5 p.m. the next day, which will be Picnic Day. Donors, scholarship recipients and faculty members who have been supported by philanthropy will also participate in the Picnic Day Parade, to illustrate philanthropy’s impact on UC Davis. Additionally, a text-to-give campaign will be promoted at various Picnic Day events.

Keep an eye out on social media for posts from alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends about how you can support the university. Grateful patients of UC Davis Health will also be encouraged to give to programs that have made a difference in their families’ lives, and likewise for pet owners grateful for UC Davis veterinary services.

“Give Day is a great and user-friendly opportunity for alumni, friends, students, parents, and others to donate to UC Davis,” said Toni Alejandria ’08, a CAAA board member, Life Member and Give Day social ambassador who will be tweeting on Give Day @aTouchofAir. She added, “We’re growing as a university in our research and recognition, and what better way to support our alma mater than with a donation of any size to continue building its legacy? My fellow alumni and I are excited to take part in Give Day, and we encourage others out there to give what they can—every Aggie counts!”

Give Day will benefit UC Davis Health, all schools and colleges, student programs including Picnic Day, Intercollegiate Athletics, the UC Davis Library, We Are Aggie Pride, Cal Aggie Alumni Association, the Arboretum and Public Garden and several other campus units.

Visit the Give Day website for details or to become a social ambassador. — Laura Pizzo

entic Aggie tions Competition

Picnic Day from m. to 3 p.m.

vis alumni, friends and s are invited to complete f 10 UC Davis Traditions, ng you to get to know the us better in addition to g you get the most out Authentic Aggie Zone. you complete the list of 10, back to Vanderhoef Quad hotos of your completed ons. There will be a limited er of prizes available on a ome, first-served basis.

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Event Calendar 5A Jazz and Wine Social Saturday, May 20 4–7 p.m.

Location: Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, 530 Alumni Lane Website: Click here Date:

Native American Alumni Chapter Inaugural Reunion

Time:

Saturday, April 15 11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Location: The Native Nest, University House & Annex Website: Click here Date: Time:

Join fellow Aggies for our annual jazz and wine social immediately following the celebration of Black Family Day. The event will include sampling delicious wines made by UC Davis alumni winemakers while enjoying the sounds of smooth jazz.

Join the Native American Alumni Chapter for the inaugural alumni and friends reunion during Native American Culture Days! We will celebrate together at the UC Davis Native Nest before the Grand Entry of Powwow.

UCDC Students Welcome Event Wednesday, April 26 6–8 p.m.

Location: Vapiano M Street, 1800 M St NW, Washington, D.C. 20036 website: Click here Date: Time:

Join Aggie Alumni to welcome the new UC Davis students participating in the UC Washington Program for the spring quarter. Making the move from California to D.C. has its joys and challenges, so come share your experience about life in the District and give the students inside tips on how to make the most of their time here.

Davis Pride Brunch Saturday, May 20 11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Location: Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, 530 Alumni Lane Website: Click here Date: Time:

The Cal Aggie LGBTA Alumni Association would like to invite you to our second annual Davis Pride Community Bubbly Brunch held in conjunction with Davis Pride. Join us for a morning of community and friendship as we reflect on the accomplishments we’ve made over the past year.

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Learn More

Aggies at the A’s Sunday, July 30 1:05 p.m. first pitch Location: Oakland Coliseum Website: Click here

Date: Time:

Additional details on these events and others can be found at www.alumni. ucdavis.edu/rsvp.

Join Aggies for a fun day of baseball as the Oakland A’s take on the Minnesota Twins.

Colorado Aggies: Giants at Rockies

LGBTA Campus Community Welcome

Chicano Latino Alumni Association Second Annual Fall Welcome

Saturday, June 17 1:10 p.m. first pitch Location: Coors Field cost: $25 Website: Click here

Date:

Wednesday, October 11 Time: 4:30–6:30 p.m.

Location: Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, 530 Alumni Lane Website: Click here

Date:

Date: Time:

Join the Colorado Aggies as we watch the San Francisco Giants take on the Colorado Rockies. Don’t forget to sport your Aggie Pride by wearing Aggie blue. If you’re low on Aggie gear, check out the UC Davis bookstore online.

Join the LGBTA Alumni Association for our Second Annual Campus Community Fall Welcome and National Coming Out Day. Come kick off the start of the new academic year and enjoy hors d’oeuvres and delicious wines made

by UC Davis alumni winemakers while catching up with fellow alumni, faculty and staff.

Saturday, October 23 5–7 p.m.

Location: Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, 530 Alumni Lane Website: Click here Time:

Join the Chicano Latino Alumni Association this October for our second annual alumni and friends Fall Welcome event, kicking off the new academic year at UC Davis and welcoming students back to campus.

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Aggies Making a Difference

By Laura Pizzo

A Legacy of Inclusion and Empowerment

P

rofessor Emeritus Melvin “Mel” Ramey’s eyes welled

up with tears when he found out his colleagues, friends and former students had established a studentsupport fund in his name and that the lobby of the Student Community Center would be named after him.

“It meant so much to me

because I have seen faculty who have devoted all their energy, spirit and knowledge to the university, and then six weeks after they retire, it’s like they were never here,” said Ramey, who taught civil engineering at UC Davis for 37 years until retiring in 2004. “Now, people will always know I was here.

That’s a huge deal.”

The Melvin R. Ramey Fund for Student Success is an endowment fund that will support student services housed in the Student Community Center.

This support will include funding student leaders in the student retention and success centers of the university, providing training and support for

peer advisors and outreach coordinators and for students who serve as dynamic leaders in their respective communities.

“I have been here at UC Davis for three and a half years, and I have been hearing Mel Ramey’s name the whole time all across this campus,” said Milton Lang, associate vice chancellor

Professor Emeritus Mel Ramey is known for fostering diversity and inclusion at UC Davis, as well as being a role model for students and faculty across the university. Now retired, he and his wife Felicenne live just a few miles from UC Davis.

Their son, David Ramey ’92, is an airline pilot and their daughter, Daina Ramey Berry, is an award-winning author and a history professor at the University of Texas-Austin.

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for student life, campus community and retention services. “We were so fortunate to have someone with his commitment to equity, inclusion and the student experience. I just want to say thank you to Mel for his contributions and for allowing us to honor him in this way that will continue to empower our students as they become extraordinary contributors to society.”

More than a dozen

Change agent

lobby in his honor.

Ramey took on a variety of roles during his tenure at the university, and his deep commitment to student success led to many faculty and staff considering him the creator of student affairs programming at UC Davis.

In addition to mentoring students as a professor and assistant track coach, Ramey served as a civil and environmental engineering department chair, an associate dean of Graduate Studies, and—being the second African American faculty member—the Academic Senate’s educational opportunity program (EOP) chair and the first faculty advisor to the program.

EOP has served thousands of students in the nearly 50 years since it was established.

Today, the EOP continues to strive to improve the access, retention and graduation of students who have been historically disadvantaged, either socially or economically.

But when the program first began, Ramey and his team were given an allotment of 200 students in June—only three short months before the start of fall semester. In order to reach their admissions goal, they had to get creative.

of Ramey’s former students, colleagues and friends sent heartfelt letters to the UC Davis Office of the Provost, supporting the naming of the Student Community Center

“We would recruit students who were working in the fields. We also put fliers at barbershops and churches.

The university would then allow us to admit them, and we did,” Ramey explained.

“And when I went to the Academic Senate meeting when grades came out the first term, the Senate said, ‘Look at these grades, about half these students are not performing up to University of California standards.’ And I’d say, ‘You’re looking at it wrong. Half of them are!

And this is the least likely group to succeed.’”

With a knack for pushing students to work hard and believe in themselves, Ramey also has a long affiliation with UC Davis athletics. He served as an assistant track coach and faculty athletics representative, and his influence in track and field quickly stretched beyond the UC Davis campus. His standout research in biomechanics and engineering earned him a spot as one of the biomechanists who assists the U.S. Olympic Team in long and triple jump

events—a position he still holds to this day. In fact, at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, four of the six medalists were athletes Ramey had worked with on technical aspects of jumping.

“Coach Ramey was the first educated male that did not look at my shortcomings or use my upbringing to define me; he was a teacher, father and coach who cared about students beyond academics and sports, and more importantly, taught us about life,” wrote Byron Patterson, ’90, M.D. ’95 in his letter of support for the lobby dedication. Patterson, a former All-American track star at UC Davis, is the founder and medical director of Primary Care Sports Medicine. He credits Ramey for empowering him both on the track and in academics.

In addition to helping students, Ramey also had a leading role in changing the face of UC Davis.

He served as the head of the building committee for Ghausi Hall, which provided a single home for the department of

civil and environmental engineering. Previously, the department was spread out across Bainer, Everson Hall and Walker Hall—an arrangement that made collaboration very difficult.

“A lot of faculty want change and move from university to university to get a different view of the world, but I didn’t have to do that because UC Davis was growing and changing in front of me,” he said. “Now, there are new people, new buildings, new opportunities, new curricula and ideas and a much more diverse student body. I loved being in the middle of it, being a change agent, and I couldn’t be prouder of what UC Davis has become.” 

How to Get Involved The Melvin R. Ramey Fund for Student Success is nearly a third of the way to its $500,000 goal. To get involved, give online or contact Elizabeth Bishay, director of development for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity. Through this fund, the legacy of Mel Ramey’s impact on thousands of students throughout his 37 years of service will continue for generations to come.

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Athletics Update

By Laura Pizzo

Meet the New Head Football Coach Aggie alumnus Dan Hawkins ’84 returns to his alma mater to lead the UC Davis football program. As a student at UC Davis, Hawkins played fullback (1981-82) for legendary head coach Jim Sochor as a first-generation college student. Hawkins went on to earn national notoriety as a coach leading Boise State to elite status and coaching at the University of Colorado.

What does it mean to you to come back to coach football at your alma mater?

I don’t want to just say, “excited.” It’s a feeling of fulfillment.

My goal in life as a coach was always to make a difference. I coached my grandson’s team of five-yearolds. I’ve coached in Austria, Sweden and Australia. In all of those places, I was trying to make a positive difference. And I am blessed to be able to take that goal back to UC Davis now. I truly believe this is the right place and time for me to return to UC Davis. I have the experience I need to help raise the bar here. And

it’s not just “Hey, let’s make our football program better.”

It’s “Let’s make UC Davis better.” And even if it wasn’t me, UC Davis needed somebody in this position to build that kind of connection between athletics and the entire university.

How would you like to see alumni involved?

I’d like to see them involved globally in a wide range of ways—whether that’s wearing an Aggie shirt, buying season tickets, supporting our program financially or volunteering in our football office. Let’s get people to our home football games!

We also have a lot of

professional and knowledgeable people that donate their time. That could mean sharing their expertise in physical therapy, strength and conditioning—or by helping us find jobs and internships for our players.

We need to continue to maximize those connections because that can differentiate us when we are recruiting.

What draws you to football?

I love that I can make a difference in my players’ lives and also in the lives of the people they know.

Also, if you study success, like I have, the number one determinate about people’s success in life is their ability to thrive in adversity. And when somebody goes over there in a face mask, trying to shove you into the ground, and you’re hurt, and you’re down by two touchdowns, and you’re tired, you better keep fighting. Because that guy is going to pound you into the next area code, so you better play. That’s life.

with Dan Hawkins

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This is it. You better get up and play. And our players learn that lesson and carry it with them throughout their lives and careers.

How did Coach Sochor influence your coaching style and philosophy?

He was an amazing person and coach and was also lucky enough to be surrounded by a great group of people, including Bob Foster, Sam Young and Bob Biggs. And as most fans know, he was very into Eastern philosophy— a tradition I have continued.

But it’s also important to note—always, but particularly in this case when we’re talking about athletes and coaches and sports—that no one is any one thing, and we can’t put people in boxes.

Coach Sochor was an outstanding teacher. He was not a yeller or a screamer.

When you look at a lot of the coaches now that are prominent, they have his style. He understood that

whether you win or lose is not really about whom you’re playing. You’re always playing yourself; you’re your own competition.

When I left here to become the head coach at Christian Brothers High School, the first thing I asked myself was, “What was it about UC Davis? Why did we win all those championships, and why were we so good?”

“The players were respected. They were coached and taught. They were valued. They were taught that life was just as important as football, and school was just as important as football, and not one more than the other— it was all important.”

Dan Hawkins ’84

The answer is we had tremendous players. But there was also this unexplainable good feeling.

And then I asked myself, “What does that mean, ‘a good feeling’?” That’s something fostered by the coaching staff and the team.

The players were respected.

They were coached and taught. They were valued.

They were taught that life was just as important as football, and school was just as important as football, and not one more than the other—it was all important.

Make no mistake: We were extremely serious about football, but one of my best friends from the team also

graduated No. 1 in nuclear physics. So like I said, let’s not put people in boxes.

How do you keep your players motivated when they’re balancing so many important priorities?

I tell my guys, “Be a little different than the average cat walking on the sidewalk.” That’s how they play the game and train, but it’s not just about football. That’s also how they go to school, how they study and how they interact with people. If you took our players’ manual and playbook and you took football out of it, you could give it to anybody in your family, and they’d say, “That’s cool. I can learn from this.” It just so happens that football is our medium, but it could be music, theater or biology.

What I’ve found is that in coaching and recruiting, you get what you

emphasize. So we emphasize being outstanding. I’m not afraid to say I want to win the national championship in football at UC Davis. And more importantly, I want to do things in a national championship fashion.

What will it take for us to win a national championship?

It starts with the players.

So how do we get those top student-athletes here?

People are already very attracted by the academic

quality at UC Davis—that sells itself. But we also have to have the facilities these guys need. We need to build a state-of-the-art Student Athlete Performance Center that will include a new weight room, sports medicine center and academic support space for our players. Most high school weight rooms are in better shape than ours, and our prospects and players know that. We need to send a signal to our recruits and the Big Sky that we are committed to providing the best student-athlete experience in FCS football. 

In his first few months on the job, new head football coach Dan Hawkins recruited a class of 32 for the 2016-17 season— nearly double the Aggies’ previous record class of 18, set in 2010.

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Network Update

The Cal Aggie Alumni Association con Aggies, helping them build strong career Here’s what our network leaders find m in the Alumni Association in Ca

“There are so many reasons to become involved as alumni. First, it brings those fond memories of UC Davis back and allows you to interact with people who are as passionate about the mission or their experience at UC Davis as you are. Second, it is a great networking experience and, if you are across the country, it is a great way to meet new friends in a new area. Third, staying engaged as alumni boosts UC Davis’ rankings and demonstrates to the world that Aggies are very happy with our degrees!”

Carly Sandstrom ’14 Network leader, Washington D.C. Senior operations associate, Politico

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“It’s important to be actively involved as alumni because it helps us live balanced lives. We get the opportunity to give and receive in so many ways and work with incredible people. The Cal Aggie Alumni Association keeps us all connected, and the benefits of the relationship definitely go both ways!”

Algie Mosley ’96 Historian, African and African American Alumni Association (5A) Public programs & alumni services coordinator, Pacific Charter Institute

“I enjoy being involved with the Mexico network of CAAA because it lets me share cultural, professional and academic knowledge with former Aggies who all benefited greatly from their time at UC Davis. The connection with the chapter also allows me to lead dynamic and exciting activities with a variety of new and different people, which has always been a goal of mine.”

Garrett Nasworthy ’08 Network leader, Mexico Business team representative, PerkinElmer

“I got involved with the CAAA London group to maintain a connection with my world back in California and to give back to the university I cherish so much.”

Soren Christian ’13 Network leader, London/UK Economic Analyst, NERA Economic Consulting

nnects alumni to a powerful network of rs, mentorships and lifelong friendships. most valuable about their involvement alifornia and around the world.

“The greatest value of joining CAAA continues to be the connections I have made with other alumni in San Diego as well as all over the country and abroad. As a network leader, I have also loved having opportunities to return to UC Davis and reconnect with a place I truly love.”

Elana Hamovitch ’99 Network president, San Diego network San Diego School psychologist

“The greatest value of CAAA is that it allows members to stay connected. For a lot of alumni, when they graduate, they find themselves in like-minded circles, where their friends are often in the same place in their career and struggling with the same things.

By becoming involved with other alumni, members have a breadth of individuals at various stages in their careers and personal lives who they can pull from—that dynamically expands your circle and perspective.”

Bridget Bugbee ’13 Network leader, Sacramento and Yolo regional network Area sales executive, Siemens

“I have reached a stage in my career where I need to think about what I can do to give back.

My education at UC Davis helped me reach the point where I am now, and now there’s impetus on me to contribute back to the university, especially given that UC Davis is a public university.”

Bessie Chu ’08 Network leader, New York Data visualization manager at GroupM

“Aggies are everywhere, and we make many deep and diverse impacts on the regional and global stage. I love hearing about the great work that UC Davis alumni and students achieve.

For me, staying connected to UC Davis means that I am in the know about present and future trends in agriculture, technology, business, medicine, social sciences, and psychology fields, just to name a few, before the general public.”

Tiana Koziol ’03 Network leader, Cal Aggie LGBTA Alumni Association Assistante Développement et Promotion, Lycée Français de San Francisco

alumni.ucdavis.edu

29

Event Recap

A Night of Surprises

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T

his February, the Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s 2017 Alumni Awards Gala was a night like no other, with Rob Stewart from KVIE’s Rob on the Road as the emcee for the evening. Celebrating the theme “Aggie Excellence Takes Center Stage,” the 44th annual event honored seven award winners and delighted the audience with surprises.

Act I At the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, the UC Davis men’s rugby team set the tone for the evening by having “McCapes” shaved into the back of their heads, in honor of Aggie Service Award recipients Dick ’56 DVM ’58 and Marilyn ’55 McCapes.

Next, the evening honored Distinguished Friends of the University Carol and Gerry Parker with a charcoal drawing by UC Davis student Rachel Dirk ’17. The Parkers are generous supporters of the Manetti Shrem Museum as well as many other UC Davis units.

Sacramento-area philanthropist and businessman Mac Clemmens MBA ’07 received the Young Alumnus Award and was honored with a certificate of appreciation from UC Davis alumnus and mayor of Sacramento Darrell Steinberg J.D. ’84.

Act II For the rest of the evening, guests dined on the stage of the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. There, they heard from CAAA board president Debby Stegura ’79 and Interim Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter before enjoying the four

remaining award presentations.

Intel executive Diane Bryant ’85 received the Outstanding Alumna Award, presented by Kendra Moore ’17, who received the 2016 Diane Bryant Endowed Scholarship for Women in Engineering.

UC Davis student Takarra Johnson ’20 received a standing ovation for her poem dedicated to eye surgeon Michael Schermer ’76, the 2017 Distinguished Achievement Award recipient.

Executive Director of the UC Davis MIND Institute Leonard Abbeduto brought tears to the crowd’s eyes as he read from a book of thanks dedicated to Randi Hagerman ’71, a neurobiological researcher and medical director at the MIND Institute. The book was written by families of Hagerman’s patients.

Lastly, the event concluded with an interview with Marko Zaninovich ’64, this year’s recipient of the prestigious Jerry W. Fielder Award. Zaninovich shared trade secrets of the grape growing industry and reminisced about how UC Davis impacted his successful career as one of the largest grape growers in the world. — Laura Pizzo

The CAAA Alumni Awards Gala is an annual event occurring every February. This year, attendees discovered right away that they were in for a good show. UC Davis’ men’s rugby team kicked off the evening with ‘McCapes’ shaved into their heads in honor of Aggie Service Award recipients and CAAA Life Members Dick and Marilyn McCapes.

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Big Picture

A Dif-fur-ent Look UC Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine has created a new entrance, with a gateway to the arboretum and enhanced food services. This year welcomed the opening of a new student services and administration building, funded in part by philanthropy. The new facility brings together, for the first time, teams in information technology, student and academic programs, human and financial resources, development and alumni relations and the executive suite—all under one roof. This year, UC Davis will also further advance plans for a comprehensive Veterinary Medical Center, focusing on the initial phases, including an equine performance center, livestock and facility improvements and an all-species imaging center. Philanthropy will be the primary funding source for this project, helping UC Davis continue to define the future of veterinary clinical and translational medicine. Read more here.

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alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Parent Profile

By Benjamin Ginsburg

A Joint Venture Family falls in ‘love at first sight’ with UC Davis

G

loria and LOUIE Vega of Bakersfield,

California, have both witnessed firsthand how education can improve a child’s life. Louie is a juvenile court judge, and Gloria, holding a bachelor’s in education, has volunteered regularly at their daughter Raquel’s schools since preschool. Raquel VEGA ’18 is now a third-year transfer

“We are native Californians, but we’d never been to Davis before our first visit.

It was love at first sight.

The ambience of the civic community blended into the campus so seamlessly. It’s an authentic college town.”

Gloria Vega

Gloria and Louie Vega have stayed involved in their daughter Raquel’s education by becoming members of the Aggie Parent and Family Association. Raquel is finishing up her first year at UC Davis as a third-year transfer student in communication.

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student at UC Davis, and her parents have stayed involved in her education by becoming members of the Aggie Parent and Family Association.

“We think education is a joint venture,” said Gloria.

“Beginning with pre-school, parents’ participation lets children know that we believe firmly in the value of education. So now, even at the collegiate level, our continuing interest lets Raquel know it’s as important as ever.”

In part to prepare for transfer, Raquel spent this past summer interning in Washington, D.C. She spent seven weeks immersed in the history of the nation’s capital, which she found was good preparation for the academic rigor at UC Davis, as well as a great opportunity to learn how to live on her own.

“At UC Davis, you have this intense environment of learning, but there are also places to sit back and ease your mind,” said Raquel.

Shortly after arriving at UC Davis, Raquel rushed Kappa Kappa Gamma, where she has found study partners, community service opportunities and more.

“Rushing Kappa Kappa Gamma has been a great way to meet a diverse group of new friends that are focused on education and self-improvement,” Raquel said.

Like their daughter,

Gloria and Louie have fallen in love with the well-known friendly atmosphere at UC Davis and in the City of Davis.

“We are native Californians, but we’d never been to Davis before our first visit. It was love at first sight,” said Gloria. “The ambience of the civic community blended into the campus so seamlessly. It’s an authentic college town.”

Luis agreed, “Making your child feel comfortable when they are away at school is a balancing act between giving them independence and giving them attention. We’re happy that Raquel is thriving on her own, getting active with her sorority sisters in Kappa, and we’re also happy to be there for her when she asks for us.” 

CAAA Welcomes New Business Partner

T

he Cal Aggie Alumni Association (CAAA) is excited to welcome our new insurance partner GEICO to the Aggie Family. CAAA and Aggie Parent and Family members can receive special savings on GEICO auto insurance. GEICO offers low rates, exceptional 24-hour customer service and high-quality auto insurance to over 13.5 million policyholders in the United States. In addition to auto insurance, GEICO also insures motorcycles and can help you with homeowners, renters, condo, boat insurance and more.

Visit geico.com/alum/ucdavis, call 1-800-368-2734 or stop by a local GEICO office to find out how much you could save today! Be sure to mention your affiliation with the UC Davis Cal Aggie Alumni Association to be eligible for the special savings.

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Wine Partner Profile

By Benjamin Ginsburg

Moonlighting Winemakers

D

on Van Wie spends most of his time as the manager of the environmental health and safety department for UC Davis Facilities Management, but he is also the proprietor of a small winery known as Wasted Grape.

Van Wie and winemaking partner Jake Stuessy started their business in 2011 after hearing about a grape grower in California’s Suisun Valley who was forced to discard a large amount of Viognier grapes after a deal fell through. The partners quickly reacted by buying the grapes, which they later processed into their first wine. They were surprised

and pleased with the results.

And they weren’t the only ones: award-winning restaurant Hakkasan in San Francisco featured Wasted Grape wine on their menu.

“Hakkasan was a big deal for us, and we thought this might be a good business model,” Van Wie said.

“All the major winemakers want to get their fruit from these rock star vineyards in Napa; meanwhile, there are all these lesser-known vineyards in the area with beautifully grown fruit, and that’s what we use to make our wine.”

Wasted Grape has become something of a boutique winery. They produce only a couple

hundred cases per year and quickly sell out of their stock. Keeping in mind the joke that in the wine business it takes a big fortune to make a small fortune, Van Wie and Stuessy have found success by keeping their staff small and renting their space. But the artistry of winemaking does not require fancy facilities or expensive grapes. When it comes to the details of the craft, Stuessy’s creative process is determined by knowledge and experience supplemented by winemaking courses at UC Davis Extension.

“UC Davis is the university for wine,” Van Wie said.

“If you have a relationship with them, that’s a very good thing.”

Part of the Aggie Family

Van Wie’s work in UC Davis Facilities Management affects

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the entire university. His department ensures that all staff and faculty on campus work in a safe and rewarding environment.

On multiple occasions, Van Wie has been the “I think about all the ways UC Davis has invested in me, and donating my wine seemed like a small but important way to give back.”

Don Van Wie

direct contact for someone needing help, and these opportunities connect him more deeply to the UC Davis community. After 14 years of working for UC Davis, Van Wie feels that he has become part of a family that invests in his success and personal

Don Van Wie manages the environmental health and safety department at UC Davis and has also jumpstarted Wasted Grape, a successful wine business out of the Suisun Valley.

improvement—qualities he also tries to instill in his management style.

Van Wie’s love for UC Davis motivated him to add Wasted Grape to the list of Cal Aggie Alumni Association (CAAA) wine partners. He donated $8,500 worth of Wasted Grape’s wine, which has since been featured in several CAAA events, including the prestigious 2017 Alumni Awards Gala.

“Leadership at UC Davis has always invested in people who want to go further and do a better job,” Van Wie said. “They’ve given me professional development, extra education and opportunities to run special programs. If you show the ambition and the work ethic, they help you succeed. I think about all the ways UC Davis has invested in me, and donating my wine seemed like a small but important way to give back.” 

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Alumni Profile

By Benjamin Ginsburg

An Aggie Advantage Young philanthropist and entrepreneur Mac Clemmens credits UC Davis for a boost to his career

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t’s not every day that a side-project evolves into a multi-million dollar company. Michael “Mac” Clemmens MBA ’07 certainly didn’t expect it when he founded Digital Deployment in graduate school to help

pay his MBA tuition. Now, the web development company in his hometown of Sacramento handles contracts for Google, the California Bankers’ Association, CalSTRS, United Way and UC Davis’ Graduate

GSM Programs UC Davis’ Graduate School of Management offers the following programs:

• Full-time MBA, UC Davis • Part-time MBA in the San Francisco Bay Area or Sacramento, Calif.

• Master of Professional Accountancy, UC Davis • Master of Science in Business Analytics, San Francisco, Calif.

• Non-degree open-enrollment Executive Education programs, San Francisco Bay Area and UC Davis • Academies, workshops and programs for aspiring entrepreneurs, UC Davis If you’re interested in learning more about opportunities at the Graduate School of Management, click here.

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Mac Clemmens (center) gladly accepts CAAA’s 2017 Young Alumnus Award, along with a surprise certificate of appreciation from Mayor of Sacramento and UC Davis alumnus Darrell Steinberg J.D. ’84, presented by GSM Dean Rao Unnava (left) and emcee Rob Stewart (right).

School of Management (GSM)—the latter of which is where Clemmens says he got his leg up in business.

“Getting an MBA moved me out of the cubicle and provided a foundation that helped me beyond what

I’d learned from my computer science degree,” said Clemmens, who was named one of the Sacramento Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” in 2013 and this year’s Cal Aggie Alumni Associa-

tion Young Alumnus Award recipient.

“As the business has grown and I’m evaluating financial decisions and financing options, leveraging my network, and especially when pitching to business executives, I have a huge advantage over the pre-MBA Mac.” At UC Davis’ Graduate School of Management, Clemmens was part of a class of 60 students with opportunities to work and consult with faculty—an experience he said was exactly what he was looking for in an MBA program.

“UC Davis is incredible in the scope of research—one of the best in the world,” he said. “I was so humbled

and amazed to be among so many thought leaders that were involved in the students’ success.”

Clemmens is proud of the ways his UC Davis education helped him apply deep business knowledge and build a collaborative culture at his company.

He places great value on employee happiness and well-being and believes that employees must have extraordinary lives in order to build an extraordinary company. Clemmens’ lessons at the GSM taught him that Digital Deployment’s ability to offer quality service and be successful depends more on the caliber of his leadership than his

technological expertise.

“I tell my employees who have kids, ‘Being a parent is your number one priority. Period. Your second priority, hopefully, is working here,’” he said. “If they’re at work but worrying about their families, they won’t be at their best anyway. I encourage creating space in your work life for spouses/significant others, international travel and pursuing passions.”

An Enduring Connection to UC Davis

Since earning his MBA, Clemmens continues to support UC Davis and the Graduate School of Management with giving,

volunteer activities and as a business partner. He considers himself to be an informal recruiter for the MBA program and loves talking to prospective students about its benefits— an effort he hopes will help UC Davis as well as his business.

“I plan to continue tapping UC Davis for its talent,” Clemmens said, who already employs three UC Davis alumni at his nine-person company. “In addition to GSM grads, I hope to hire computer science and engineering alumni from UC Davis as well. Aggies are smart, hardworking and collaborative, and I love having them on my team.” 

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Member Benefit

By Benjamin Ginsburg

Angela Nubla harnessed the skills and knowledge she acquired in UC Davis Extension’s fundraising and development courses to achieve successful employment as a development analyst in Development and Alumni Relations at UC Davis.

Growing the Reach of Aggie Excellence CAAA Members can grow their careers with a $50 UC Davis Extension discount

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or professionals looking to be more effective at work, earn that next promotion, or make a career change, UC Davis Extension has many options to explore.

As the continuing and professional education arm of the university since 1960, UC Davis Extension offers students the chance to enjoy a UC-caliber education in a format convenient for working professionals.

With 3,000 yearly courses and more than 58,000 enrollments each year, UC Davis Extension offers both in-person and online classes, as well as individual

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classes and full certificate programs. These courses cover topics that span UC Davis’ excellence in academics. What’s more, CAAA members get a $50 discount on their first class each quarter.

“Our programs give working professionals access to the knowledge, resources and expertise of UC Davis,” said Paul M. McNeil, dean of UC Davis Extension.

“They provide alumni with an ongoing connection to UC Davis that supports and enriches them throughout their careers.”

Here’s a small sampling of the many programs

UC Davis Extension has to offer in some of California’s fastest-growing career fields.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

UC Davis is one of the world’s leaders in research of Autism Spectrum Disorders, with internationally recognized faculty performing breakthrough studies at the MIND Institute. Teachers, therapists and administrators can earn an ASD

Professional Concentration certificate through UC Davis

Extension courses, with curricula developed by faculty from the MIND

Institute. As awareness of ASD grows and diagnoses increase, understanding the behavioral and neurological characteristics of the disorder becomes more crucial than ever before.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the Autism Spectrum Disorders Professional Concentration because it was flexible and accommodating to my hectic teaching schedule,” said Evelyn Margolin, a special education teacher in the San Juan Unified School District. “The readings were invaluable and the assignments were interesting and relevant to my job. I especially appreciated the

ability of the instructors to meet our needs. They gave clear agendas and requirements, encouraged us to collaborate through the forums, and offered upto-date research and expert knowledge.”

Fundraising and Development

Charitable giving is rebounding as the economy improves. Yet there is a shortage of qualified fundraising professionals to help organizations connect their needs with donors.

With a projected industry growth rate of 28 percent above the national average according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fundraising experts will continue to be crucial in the nonprofit sector. Learn about fundraising and development from UC Davis’ very own award-winning fundraising and development leaders.

“My passion for giving back to the community started in high school when I volunteered at several nonprofit organizations in the Bay Area,” said Angela Nubla. “I’ve continued to participate and help coordinate events for many local nonprofit organizations in the Sacramento area. And after completing three out of the four classes in this program, I was able to start my career as a development analyst in Development and Alumni Relations at UC Davis. These courses have provided me with the right tools I needed to be successful in my new position, and I’m excited to

have this opportunity where I can make an impact.”

Leadership and Management

From new supervisors to seasoned executives, UC Davis Extension offers a full spectrum of management classes to improve leadership skills. These courses provide practical skills, techniques and management strategies applicable to any work environment. Even more, as new industries emerge and develop, skilled managers are always in demand.

Some of the courses offered include coaching, multitasking and delegating, and using data to supplement leadership strategies.

NEW: Project Management

UC Davis Extension’s brandnew, redesigned

Project Management Certificate Program

is shorter, faster, and more affordable than ever before.

Professionals will earn their Project Management Professional certification through a rigorous and reality-based curriculum.

Project management is a high-value skill in demand across industries, with a median salary in California of $126,730 and a projected growth rate of 12.4 percent in the state. The entire program can be completed in just nine months. Taken online at your own pace, this program offers practical skills and tools in each class that can be immediately applied to the workplace.

Winemaking

UC Davis is known for agriculture, veterinary medicine and a host of other specialties. And around the world, one of those most popular specialties is winemaking. The award-winning Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis is one of the premier winemaking programs in the world, and the university has strong relationships to some of the top vineyards and wineries in the region, many of which are owned or run by alumni.

Whether you’re a winemaker looking to deepen

your knowledge, a secondcareer seeker new to the field, or an amateur oenophile interested in developing a greater appreciation for wine, the UC Davis Extension program has world-class courses available for both newcomers and veterans.

“The reason I chose UC Davis Extension is because as somebody who wanted to get into a new career, I really needed a way to actually get the knowledge and techniques and do it in a timely fashion,” said Pedro Vargas of Vino Vargas in San Jose. “The online program was perfect for me.” 

Proud partner of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association

Click here to learn how URC is redefining retirement

alumni.ucdavis.edu

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Aggie Adventures

2017 Featured Trips China Connoisseurs and Tibet Date: October 1-16 Cost: $5,499 v Rating:

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xplore the cultural and historical treasures of China and Tibet. This popular 16-day all-inclusive deluxe journey is exceptional in both quality and value, which includes airfare from San Francisco, five-star accommodations (e.g. the Beijing Ritz Carlton), most meals, cultural performances and the experience of a lifetime.

India: Timeless Land of the Taj Mahal and Wild Tigers Date: October 6-15 Cost: From $3,295 Rating:

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Autumn Colors from Chattanooga to Nashville Date: October 22-30 Cost: From $1,999 Rating:

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Machu Picchu to the Galapagos Date: October 31-November 15 Cost: From $8,493 v Rating:

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“The UC Davis Cal Aggie Alumni Association trip to China and Tibet was incredible.

The entire group was comprised of 12 alumni with an English-speaking Chinese tour guide who was with us the entire time in China and Tibet, sharing customs, history and personal information about family life in China. At each location, we had additional English-speaking local guides with a driver of a small van. The hotel restaurants, in my opinion, had the best meals of the day, featuring fresh international cuisine. UC Davis takes excellent care of their travel group in a professional and joyful fashion. I highly recommend Aggie Adventures Travel. Go Ags!” — DIANE CARLSON BIGGS ’81

Bon Voyage For a full list of Aggie Adventure travel opportunities, in-depth trip details, discounts, and up-to-date deadlines and costs, please visit alumni.ucdavis. edu/travel, call 530-752-4502 or e-mail aggieadventures@ ucdavis.edu. Please note that prices and dates are subject to change. Airfare is not included unless otherwise indicated.

` = Activity level is relaxing `` = Activity level is moderate ``` = Activity level is active v = Airfare is included

Save the Date: 2017 Aggie Adventures Travel Fair Date: June 5 Time: 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Location: Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, 530 Alumni Lane

While exploring China and Tibet, UC Davis alumni climb the Great Wall, the only human construction visible from the moon. Built in 600 B.C., it stretched approximately 6,000 miles.

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University News The Giant Panda Mystery: The Answer is Black and White

King Hall Outreach Program Honored for Diversity The School of Law’s King Hall Outreach Program (KHOP) has been honored by the American Bar Association Council for Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Educational Pipeline with the 2016 Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Award for Excellence in Pipeline Diversity.

Making History

The research team that discovered why zebras are black and white* asked the same question about panda bears. The study, a collaboration between scientists at UC Davis and CSU Long Beach, determined that the panda’s distinct markings have two functions: camouflage and communication. Their white fur helps them hide in the snow; their black limbs help them hide in shady forests. Their dark eye patches help them recognize each other.

UC Davis men’s and women’s basketball teams both posted historic seasons!

The men’s team made their first NCAA tournament appearance and the women’s team advanced to the WNIT Sweet 16.

“Understanding why the giant panda has such striking coloration has been a long-standing problem in biology that has been difficult to tackle because virtually no other mammal has this appearance, making analogies difficult,” said lead author Tim Caro, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. “The breakthrough in the study was treating each part of the body as an independent area.” *Answer: to repel biting flies

$1.5 Million Gift Establishes Presidential Chair Mohini Jain, philanthropist, retired teacher and UC Davis Foundation trustee, has made a $1.5 million gift to UC Davis to advance the study of Jainism, one of the world’s most revered and ancient philosophies.

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New School of Education Dean Lauren E. Lindstrom is the new dean of the School of Education. She holds a Ph.D. in educational leadership and most recently served as associate dean of Research and Faculty Development in the College of Education at the University of Oregon.

New College of Letters and Science Dean Elizabeth Spiller is the new dean of the College of Letters and Science. A professor of English, Spiller was previously the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech.

Tackling Energy Challenges

Breeding Crops for an Uncertain Tomorrow Breeders and engineers at UC Davis are helping crops keep pace with variable weather by using advanced genetic strategies, developing robotic sensors to measure plant performance and training the next generation of plant breeders.

UC Davis has been selected to host the second energy institute for young African leaders who are tackling energy challenges in their countries. Last year, UC Davis pioneered the fellowship’s first energy-themed institute for 25 participants from sub-Saharan Africa, where two out of three people lack access to electricity.

Regents Confirm Gary May as Chancellor

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he University of California Board of Regents has unanimously approved Gary May, dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering, as the seventh chancellor of UC Davis. Ralph Hexter will continue to serve as interim chancellor until May assumes the chancellorship on Aug. 1, 2017.

May earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley in 1988 and 1991 respectively and has worked to increase diversity in STEM at Georgia Tech for over three decades. May was honored for his efforts to promote female and underrepresented minority enrollment in the College of Engineering with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2015.

“I hope that during my tenure as chancellor at UC Davis we come to accept some of the daily habits, the precepts that I try to apply in my own life, and that’s that every day I want to learn something, I want to help somebody and I want to make the world better— and I hope that’s what we’ll do at UC Davis,” May told the regents after the vote. He concluded his remarks by saying, “Go Ags!”

New Ecological Fellows UC Davis has two new fellows of the Ecological Society of America, Richard “Rick” Karban and John Stachowicz.

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Board’s Eye View

250,000 Aggie Connections A message from CAAA Executive Director Rich Engel ’90, CRED. ’91

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C Davis will surpass a quarter of a million alumni at this spring’s commencement ceremonies— a major milestone for both the university and our alumni around the world.

This growth makes the Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s (CAAA) unique and important role in connecting UC Davis alumni and helping them advance in their careers all the more critical.

We also hope our expanding alumni base will encourage more alumni, parents and friends to get involved.

UC Davis is well known for our collaborative culture and for training students to have a positive influence on the world. With this foundation, our alumni go on to feed the world, innovate and build a better future for all of us, and— with CAAA’s support— they benefit greatly from professional and personal connections with other Aggies around the globe.

Our growing alumni network that includes more than 50 regional and special interest alumni chapters around the world shows time and time again that Aggies love helping other Aggies.

At our 44th Annual Alumni Awards Gala this February, which this year returned to the UC Davis campus, we

also witnessed the university community’s enthusiasm for celebrating the successes of fellow Aggies.

Get involved

When you get involved with CAAA, you get access to a powerhouse of go-getters, problem solvers, changemakers and team players who become both lifelong friends and incredible assets for your career.

One of the most popular ways to get involved with UC Davis is right around the corner. Picnic Day, which will occur on April 22, will include more than 200 events on campus and will also have satellite events around the world. Please stop by the Authentic Aggie Zone, located on Vanderhoef Quad outside the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, to enjoy the Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s new and revamped Picnic Day activities.

This year’s Picnic Day will also coincide with UC Davis’ first ever Give Day. The theme “Every Aggie Counts: Together We Add Up!” encourages alumni, parents, friends, faculty, staff and students to give to programs that have made a difference in their families’ lives. In honor of Give Day, gifts to CAAA

will be matched by over $25,000 in challenges from CAAA’s board of directors, past presidents and chapter leaders who are encouraging as many Aggies as possible to support CAAA. The future success of

CAAA and UC Davis is dependent upon the participation of our alumni.

Help us preserve a legacy for UC Davis’ future generations while also forging powerful connections between our 250,000 living alumni!

Board Update The nomination and governance committee of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association (CAAA) is pleased to present the following group of new and continuing directors of the CAAA Board. Directors can serve up to three consecutive terms. The current term begins July 1, 2017 and runs through June 30, 2019.

Directors nominated for their first term:

Neptaly “Taty” Aguilera ’73 ​ Alex Chan ’01 Molly Fluet ’09 Anupreet “Anu” Johl-Singh ’04

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Directors nominated for their second term:

Diane Carlson Biggs ’81 Paul Keefer ’89 Algie Mosley ’96 Karla Stevenson ’93 Ron Van De Pol ’72 The Executive Director shall be instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for each of the above-named nominees unless a petition in the form described below is delivered to the Executive Director at the offices of the Association located at Room 211, Cal Aggie Alumni Association, Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8517, on or before April 15, 2017. To the petition shall be attached the declarations, in the form and format set forth in Appendix A to these bylaws of 100 sustaining members. The petition shall be in the following form, “We (those sustaining members who have completed the attached declarations) hereby nominate ________________ for the office of ________________. He/she has indicated by the attached letter his/her ability to assume the office for which he/ she is nominated. We hereby request that an election be held to fill this office.” The form of the declaration may be obtained from the executive director.

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Office Hours

Whitewater Faculty

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ohn Pascoe Ph.D. ’86 and Susan Stover Ph.D. ’87 met soon after they arrived at UC Davis for postgraduate clinical training in 1976. After intending to stay at UC Davis for only a year, they married, earned their Ph.D.s and never left. Pascoe is now an executive associate dean at the School of Veterinary Medicine, where Stover is director of the J.D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory and a professor of anatomy, physiology and cell biology. In order to balance the demands of their careers with their desire to enjoy time together outside the workplace, they picked up an exciting hobby: whitewater rafting.

“We’re both outdoors people, and whitewater rafting allows us to see some amazing country,” said Pascoe, who has mostly rafted western rivers in the U.S. “And the really great thing for me is that there’s no electronic leash once you start down a river.”

Pascoe and Stover learned to raft alongside their children, who were eight and 10-years old when they got in their first raft. Now, their kids are 26 and 28 and are certified rafting guides. In 2014, they even instructed their parents in an eight-day rowing school. It’s become tradition for the family to do at least one trip per year together.

“Whitewater rafting is a new experience every time,” said Stover, a current CAAA member. “And as someone interested in wildlife and the environment, I appreciate that people who do these sorts of things earn a greater respect for the environment based on the incredible experience and country that they’re exposed to on the river.”

In addition to rafting, Pascoe and Stover are passionate about UC Davis. They have generously given to the School of Veterinary Medicine, the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, the Arboretum and more. — Laura Pizzo

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CAAA is excited to recognize the following new Life Members who joined between September 2, 2016 and March 1, 2017: Douglas Adams ’73, M.S. ’74, Ph.D. ’79 Mark Agius Neptaly Aguilera ’73 Carolyn Alyanakian-Smith ’92 David Anderson Shuntell Anthony ’95 Jennifer Baeseman ’90 Franco Balitaan M.S. ’16 Diane Barrett ’78 Robert Becker Wendy Bell ’85 Bruce Bell ’85

Richard Evans M.B.A. ’05 Thomas Famula Edward Feldman DVM ’73 Xiaoxue Feng ’15 Caitlin Ferguson ’17 Linda Ferris Gene Fisher Barbara Fitzgerald ’83 Jacqueline Flin ’09 Rachel Foust ’17 Mark Friedman ’79 Evelyn Gallegos ’15

Robert Bettinger Thomas Bills Kathryn Blackmer Reyes ’88 Carole Blair Patricia Blanchard Ph.D. ’87 William Bommer Paul Bonomo Richard Breedon Andre Brown ’16 S. Terry Brugger Ph.D. ’09 Kevin Bui ’13 Harold Burgee Bryan Burton ’17 Edward Callahan Chris Calvert Gary Caputo Kathleen Cawley ’79, CRED. ’81, M.A. ’88 Victor Chan M.S. ’05, M.B.A. ’08 Doris Chin ’90, M.S. ’92, M.S. ’95, Ph.D. ’00 Brian Cho ’00 Michael Choy ’76 Jean-Pierre Colinge Geoffrey Conine Jr. ’89 Katrina Cosner ’06 Joanne Cox ’68 James Cullor Ph.D. ’86 Karleen Darr ’77 Scott Davis Gina Davis-Wurzler D.V.M. ’94 Ralph De Vere White Theodore DeJong Ph.D. ’77 Julian Del Real-Calleros ’14 Maxwell Drolet ’17 Laura Dubcovsky M.A. ’99, Ph.D. ’03 Linda Egan

Timothy Ginn Barbara Goldenberg ’69 James Goodnight Darryl Goss ’83 Marilyn Goss ’88 Ryan Greene ’97 Walter Gubler Ph.D. ’82 German Gullon John Gunion Randy Harris M.A. ’81, Ph.D. ’85 Virginia Harvey Ronald Hess Stuart Hill Silvia Hilt Leonard Hjelmeland James Holcroft Doris Jacks ’66 Louise Jackson Lynn Johnson ’07 Carly Jones ’10 Lucia Kaiser M.S. ’81, Ph.D. ’89 Eneas Kane ’16 Peter Kelly Ian Kennedy Deborah Kimbrell Leah Klinke ’96 Emily Klipfel ’16 Karen Klonsky Scott Kresie ’17 Lauren Kwok ’16 Jeanny Lam ’15 Jacek Leskow Harold Levine Grant Liang ’15 Michael Liszka ’17

Robert Loeb Bo Lonnerdal Jina Lopez Myrna Lopez ’12 Deborah Lowery Dorothy Mak ’93 Christopher Maldonado ’13 Sandra Mansfield ’73 Mark Matthews Sergio Mcclain ’16 Michael McCloud Albert McNeil Marcia Meister Joy Mench Andrew Mendlin ’88 Paloma Michelsen ’09 Daniel Micsunescu ’00, M.D. ’06 Janis Miller Kathleen Monroe ’83 James Moore Ph.D. ’90 Lars Mortensen ’13 Andrew Mu ’13 Harriett Murav Keith Myers CERT. ’00 Krishnan Nambiar Linda Netzley ’70 Miroslav Nincic Heather Novaresi ’16 Marilyn Olmstead Ann Orel Shirlee Owen ’84 Riki Owyang ’14 Roni Owyang ’17 Edward Panacek Quirino Paris Benjamin Parodi Jr. ’16 Debora Paterniti ’85, M.A. ’89, Ph.D. ’95 Julie Pedersen Rex Perschbacher Christina Porter ’14 Alveena Prasad ’07 Darlene Preston ’88 Willie Preston Martine Quinzii Bruce Reed Kenneth Renwick Jr. ’71 Kevin Rich ’90, M.S. ’91, M.S. ’94, Ph.D. ’00

Russell Richardson ’17 Channa Roe ’94 Sarah Roeske Bailey Rose ’15 Luana Ross Patricia Rowe ’76 Adib Rowhani Mikal Saltveit Elias Sanchez M.D. ’97 Arnab Sarkar M.S. ’02, Ph.D. ’04 Amy Satterlund ’98 Lorin Scott-Okerblom ’09 Dean Simonton Ishan Singh ’12 Robert Small Lloyd Smith ’69, M.D. ’81 Andrew Smith ’91 Arlen Soghomonians M.S. ’03, Ph.D. ’05 David Spiller Ph.D. ’85 Richard Stamm ’77 Marjorie Steiner ’14 Pieter Stroeve Carolyn Stull Wan Mun Tam ’09 Andy Tam ’17 Shweta Tendolkar ’14, CRED. ’15, M.A. ’16 Christopher Thaiss Hung Hin To ’11 Robert Triest Dana Van Liew ’78, CRED. ’79, M.A. ’83 Jeanette Vance ’76 Catherine VandeVoort Tassanee Visis Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater Jiabin Wang ’14 Kelley Warner ’85 Barbara Weiser Lauren Wiggins J.D. ’08 Sharon Wilson Maisha Winn ’94 Michael Winter Mary Wood ’79 Emily Wu ’99 Ingrid Wynden ’84 Gail Yokote ’71 Baochi Zhang Lin Zucconi ’72, M.S. ’74

Membership dues allow CAAA to offer a wide variety of programming and alumni networking locally, across the United States and around the world. Thank you for your continued support and dedication, both to your alumni association and to UC Davis.

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CAAA Staff Emily Ault ’90 Parent and Family Program Coordinator Adrianne Bataska Facility Manager Val Bishop-Green ’05 Director of Partner and Member Services Amanda Crisman Data Administrator Jamie Dixon ’05 Director of California, Student and Scholarship Programs Rich Engel ’90, CRED. ’91 Assistant Vice Chancellor for Alumni Relations and Executive Director, Cal Aggie Alumni Association Becky Heard Director of Affiliate Programs Jaime Heppler Director of Partnership Sales

Rita Lundin Executive Analyst to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Alumni Relations and Executive Director, Cal Aggie Alumni Association Veronica Meza ’16 Alumni Membership Manager Sandré Nelson Volunteer Engagement Assistant Laura Pizzo Senior Writer

AggieXtra Staff: Benjamin Ginsburg ’17 / Writer Michelle McKim ’89 / Designer Laura Pizzo / Senior Writer Gregory Urquiaga / Photographer

Coming back to campus?

Jennifer Thayer ’02 Assistant Director of Programs Ginger Welsh ’95 Director of International Alumni Programs Thomas Whitcher Director of Out-of-State and Special Interest Alumni Programs Carrie Wright ’99 Associate Executive Director and Chief Programs Officer

Jasmine Herrera ’15 SAA and Parent Membership Manager

Drop by and see us. We’re in the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center—the building with the blue roof, next to the Mondavi Center. From Interstate 80, take the UC Davis exit and head north.

Follow the signs to your campus home.

Mail Cal Aggie Alumni Association University of California One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616-8517 Web alumni.ucdavis.edu Email alumni@ucdavis.edu Phone (530) 752-0286 or (800) 242-GRAD (530) 752-3395 (Fax)

Heather Hunter ’96 Associate Executive Director and Chief Revenue Officer

To enrich the lives of alumni, students, families and friends worldwide and develop lifelong ambassadors for UC Davis.

CAAA Board Debby Stegura ’79 President

William Cochran ’73, CRED. ’74 Vice President/President Elect

Marie “Toni” Alejandria ’08 Bridget Bugbee ’13 Michael Campbell ’68 Diane Carlson Biggs ’81 Brian Ebbert ’92 Stacie Hartung Frerichs ’01 Sandra Frye-Lucas, Ph.D. ’03 Stephen Inouye ’90, CRED. ’96 Scott Judson ’09, J.D. ’12

Alex Kang ’09 Paul Keefer ’89 Ron Maroko, J.D. ’86 Charles Melton ’08 Jill Miller ’97 Algie Mosley ’96 Molly Mrowka ’93 Karla Stevenson ’93 Scott Stevenson ’92 Frederick Taverner ’87 Kyle Trinosky ’05, M.B.A. ’12 Ron Van De Pol ’72 Jon Weiner ’85 Derek Wilson ’99

Advisors to the Board Ralph J. Hexter Interim Chancellor Shaun Keister Vice Chancellor of Development and Alumni Relations Richard R. Engel ’90 Assistant Vice Chancellor of Alumni Relations and Executive Director

Ramak Siadatan ’99, M.B.A. ’06 Past President Bruce Bell ’85 Chair, UC Davis Foundation Patrick Sherwood ’87 Alumni Representative, UCDF Global Campaign Leadership Council

Michael Sellens Co-President, Aggie Parent and Family Programs Bret Hewitt ’76, M.A. ’83 Alumni Representative (College of Letters and Science) Lori K. Madden, Ph.D. ’14 Alumni Representative (Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing) Sandi Redenbach ’72, CRED. ’73 Alumni Representative (School of Education) Carlos Ruvalcaba Acting Chair, Graduate Student Association Alex T. Lee ’17 President, Associated Students, UC Davis Mason Schmidt ’17 President, Student Alumni Association

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Privacy Notice Affinity Programs Affinity programs are agreements between the Cal Aggie Alumni Association (CAAA) and our business partners that offer products and services. In addition to offering discounts, these partners may also give a portion of their profits to CAAA, which uses these funds to support UC Davis alumni programs.

Please read the following privacy information so we may follow your wishes for handling your data.

This opt-out is only for affinity partner services and will not impact the other communications you receive from UC Davis.

Important Privacy Notice You have the right to control whether we include you in product and service offerings provided by our affinity partners. Please read the following information carefully before you make your choice: Your Rights You have the following rights to restrict what you receive from us. This includes sending you information about the alumni association, the university and other products and services. You have the right to restrict the sharing of your name, address and electronic mail address with our affinity partners.

This form does not prohibit us from sharing your information when it is required by law.

Your Choice You can restrict information sharing with affinity partners, but unless you say “No,” we may include you in product and service offerings provided by our affinity partners. Our affinity partners may send you offers to purchase various products or services we have agreed they can offer in partnership with us.

Time Sensitive Reply You may decide at any time that you do not wish to receive product and service offerings provides by our affinity partners. If you decide that you do not want to receive information from our partners, you may do one of the following: (1) Fill out this form and mail it to us at the following address. You may also want to make a copy for your records.

Cal Aggie Alumni Association One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616 (2) E-mail us at optout@ucdavis.edu (3) Call 1 (800) 242-4723

The Last Word Current student and former CAAA employee Peter Nasielski ’18 designed this image after a 1957 photo that alumnus Amram Ashri ’54 donated to CAAA in 2008. Come by the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center lobby to see this and other vintageinspired posters in person!

Something old. Something new. Something gold. Something blue. alumni.ucdavis.edu

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