From the Dean

We are in the penultimate month of the school year. Already, commencement is around the corner, and the finish line is fast approaching. We’re used to cyclical patterns here on campus, but each year – as the season moves from wet and cold, to warm and bright – it’s a source of renewal and comfort to see many of our students preparing to take the final steps of their undergraduate academic journey. 

It’s officially spring in Davis. That means finding your bike or scooter – or even car – covered in a yellow dusting of pollen. In my Colorado days, dusting was snow! 

Here in Davis, it's getting warmer, spring quarter is just around the corner, and the energy of campus is high. It’s hard to believe we’re already in March! As usual, there’s been no shortage of activity in the college.

While there are many achievements and accomplishments still ahead of us this year, some have happened already. Researchers in the Department of Plant Biology received a $5 million Gates Foundation grant to support the expansion of self-cloning crops from rice to other staple foods in areas where availability of high-yield seeds is either unreliable or expensive.

California’s Tule Fog is always thick, but not always as persistent as it has been lately. With finals concluded last week and the students home, campus has been grey, cold and dreary – until today. For the first time in almost two weeks, blue sky was visible, the sun was out, and we were reminded of how beautiful our region is.

We are in the tail-end of the year. The quarter is in full swing, midterms are behind us and campus continues to bustle. There’s been no shortage of activity this fall, and I was very pleased to see UC Davis recognized as one of the top 10 public universities in the nation. 

Almost overnight, the season changed from the usual Davis summer heat to fall, which is a welcome shift—the wind is up, the skies are a little grayer, the days are shorter and, most importantly, the students are back.

The UC Davis College of Biological Sciences (CBS) is launching a major revision of its introductory biology curriculum, known as the BIO123 Series, beginning this academic year. This initiative modernizes the long-standing BIS2A/B/C sequence, which was introduced in 2008 and has grown to serve over 9,000 students annually. Offering introductory biology comprises over 30% of CBS’s total student credit hours.

Though there is much turmoil in the higher education landscape—and though it will continue, and may even worsen—one thing remains the same: commencement is a joyful time.

And it’s that time of year. Students are in their caps and gowns, families are here and the stage is set. This year, UC Davis commencements will see approximately 8,000 students complete their undergraduate journeys.

Spring began just two months ago, and already here in Davis it’s starting to feel like summer. There’s just about a month of the quarter left, during which our students will be preparing for final exams and then, for many, commencement. There’s still much to do between then and now, but the excitement of graduation season is already being felt in our classrooms, labs and across campus.