Graduate Group & Designated Emphasis Chair Nominations

About the Process

Whether you’re helping to administer a Graduate Group or a Designated Emphasis (DE), you’ll periodically be asked to partner with Graduate Studies on the appointment process for your Chair. This process typically begins during the Winter Quarter before the Summer in which your Chair’s term expires, although you may initiate the process at any time if your Chair is departing their role early, or taking a leave which is longer than one quarter.

In this guide, you'll learn a bit about how the nomination process works, what your Nomination Committee needs to do, and what Graduate Studies does to facilitate the process.

  • Who Leads the Nomination Process?

  • For clarity’s sake we’ve used the word “you” in this guide; for both Groups and DEs there will be a Nomination Committee, and “you” refers to the Committee member(s) performing each action. Typically the Committee Chair leads the communication with the Group/DE, but it may be another member or a staff affiliate.

    If your Group/DE’s Executive Committee is elected, the Executive Committee may serve as the Nomination Committee.

    If the Executive Committee is appointed, the Executive Committee must appoint the Nomination Committee. The latter should include at least three faculty members from the Group/DE, no more than one of whom can be a member of the Executive Committee. 

    Broadly-speaking the above will cover your circumstance, but four other points to consider:

    If a student is a member of the Executive Committee, they must be excused from participating in the nomination process.

    If a member of the Nomination Committee is nominated to serve as Chair and is willing to do so, the Executive Committee should appoint a faculty member to replace that individual on the Nominating Committee. 

    If the current Chair is willing to serve an additional term, they must notify the Nomination Committee and excuse themself from participating in all aspects of the nomination process. When the nomination call is sent out (see below), it must include a notice that the current Chair will be considered as a nominee.

    If the Nomination Committee is unable to undertake the process, the Chair should notify the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs (AD-GP).

  • Summarize the Process for Me

  • Working with Graduate Studies, you’ll send out a call for nominations to your faculty, students, and staff. Each nominee who is willing to serve will be asked to provide a CV and a one page statement describing their experience and vision for the group.  Your faculty, students, and staff will be able to view and provide comments on each nominee. Finally, you provide a letter to Graduate Studies summarizing the process and describing the fitness of each nominee for the position. In the letter, you may also provide a recommendation indicating your preferred candidate and specifying the reasons for that preference. More information on your duties, as well as templates for each stage and a checklist, may be found in this guide.

    Graduate Studies will review each nominee and conduct a brief compliance check to ensure that they meet the criteria for appointment and are caught up with all required training. The Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Chair of Graduate Council typically interview each candidate, and work with the Vice Provost and Dean to prepare a formal recommendation for appointment.

    For Graduate Groups, this recommendation (alongside the documents you provide) will be provided to either the Office of the Provost or the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Human Health Services (VC-HHS), depending on your Group’s Lead Dean. The Provost or VC-HHS will make the formal appointment. 

    For DEs, the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies will confirm the appointment based on the recommendation of the AD-GP & Chair of Graduate Council and the documents you provide. 

  • What Does the Nomination Committee Need to Do? 
  • There are four milestones which are important for the prompt handling of your nomination:

    First, let the Associate Dean (dtemplelang@ucdavis.edu) and Graduate Program Analyst (woangel@ucdavis.edu) know the names of your Nomination Committee members. These individuals will be the folks with whom Graduate Studies will communicate regarding the nomination.

    Second, send out a call for nominations. This call should reach all faculty, students and staff members associated with your Group/DE. You’re able to handle the call as you see fit (e.g. you may prefer email, Qualtrics, etc.), but the key point is that all parties should be able to nominate (and, for faculty, self-nominate). It is typical to allow one week for responses.

    Third, verify that nominees are willing to serve and request that they provide a one-page statement describing: (1) their experience in graduate education (administrative committee service, membership in graduate groups, service as major professor, graduate teaching) and (2) the issues that they consider important for the incoming chair to address.
    • At this time, the names of each willing nominee should also be provided to the Associate Dean (dtemplelang@ucdavis.edu) and Graduate Program Analyst (rbal@ucdavis.edu).
    • All willing nominees should be requested to visit the Learning Management System to ensure they are up-to-date with required training material (e.g. Cyber Security Awareness or Ethics or the UC Ethics and Compliance Briefing for Researchers). 
    • Willing nominees should also be provided information relating to their appointment (available appended to our templates).

    Fourth, you will then provide the names of the candidates and their statements/CVs from the prior step to all faculty, affiliated staff, and students with a request for confidential comments on the candidates’ suitability as Chair. The comments may be collected through whatever means you deem most appropriate (email, Qualtrics, etc.), but it should be made clear to the recipients that (a) they may also send confidential comments directly to the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, and (b) that all parties involved in handling the nomination will hold submitted comments in confidence. At this stage, too, it is typical to allow one week for responses.

    Finally, you send to Graduate Studies the statement and CV for each candidate, all confidential comments received, and a letter which contains:
    • the names of each candidate, 
    • confirmation that they are willing to serve, 
    • confirmation that the solicitation of nominations and comment call included all faculty, students, and affiliated staff, and 
    • an evaluation by the Nomination Committee of the suitability of each candidate.

    The letter can include the comments, if it is easier for you. The only information Graduate Studies needs is each comment and the affiliation (staff, student, or faculty) of the individual who provided it (e.g. “‘Prof. Davies is very supportive of students, and has been a dedicated mentor.’ - Student”).

    Pending any follow-up questions from Graduate Studies, you’re all set!
  • What Will Graduate Studies Do?

  • On this end, our first step is to provide the names of all your nominees to Academic Affairs (AA) for a Compliance Check, in which AA verifies that the candidates have no outstanding training requirements or current investigations of violation of academic conduct. We do this immediately upon receipt of their names, so as to minimize delay later-on in the process. 

    For Graduate Groups: After you have sent in the final nomination packet, the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and the Chair of Graduate Council will interview each candidate. After doing so, a recommendation will be made to the Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies, who in turn will make a recommendation to the Provost or VC-HHS as appropriate. 

    Once campus leadership finalizes the appointment, they will let Graduate Studies know. We will announce the appointment for the successful candidate to relevant parties after communicating with nominees who were not selected for appointment. 

    For Designated Emphases: After you have sent in the final nomination packet, the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs will typically interview each candidate. After doing so, a recommendation will be made to the Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies, who will finalize the appointment. We will announce the appointment for the successful candidate after communicating with nominees who were not selected for appointment. 

    Lastly, Graduate Studies staff will ensure that the new Chair has been appropriately entered in our web applications such that they appear on your program page hosted by Graduate Studies, appear on the gradchairs@ucdavis.edu mailing list, etc. The appointed Chair will be invited to the New Chair Orientation held by Graduate Studies leadership and staff, to ensure they’re getting a direct line to the support and resources our office provides.

Upcoming Chair Nominations

Not sure when your term as Chair is up, or are you a staff administrator hoping to plan ahead? Here's the year in which your Group or DE will be needing a new Chair. Bear in mind that Chair terms generally end on June 30th of the year given below, and the process to nominate a new one should begin during the preceding Winter Quarter. 

  • Graduate Groups
  • Group NameNew Chair Year
    Agricultural And Environmental Chemistry2025
    Animal Behavior2024
    Animal Biology2026
    Applied Mathematics2025
    Atmospheric Science2026
    Avian Sciences2024
    Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular And Developmental Biology2024
    Biomedical Engineering2026
    Biophysics2024
    Biostatistics2025
    Child Development2025
    Clinical Research2024
    Community Development2024
    Computer Science2025
    Cultural Studies2024
    Ecology2025
    Ecology (Joint Program With San Diego State University)2025
    Education (Ph.D.)2026
    Energy Systems2025
    Environmental Policy And Management2026
    Epidemiology2026
    Food Science2024
    Forensic Science2026
    Geography2024
    Health Informatics2025
    Horticulture And Agronomy2025
    Human Development2025
    Hydrologic Sciences2025
    Immunology2026
    Integrative Genetics And Genomics2025
    Integrative Pathobiology2025
    International Agricultural Development2025
    Microbiology2024
    Molecular, Cellular And Integrative Physiology2026
    Neuroscience2026
    Nursing (Master's Entry Program In Nursing)2024
    Nursing Science And Health Care Leadership Family Nurse Practitioner2024
    Nursing Science And Health Care Leadership Doctor Of Nursing Practice2024
    Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership (M.S.)2024
    Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership (Ph.D.)2024
    Nutritional Biology2024
    Performance Studies2025
    Pharmacology And Toxicology2025
    Physician Assistant Studies2024
    Plant Biology2024
    Population Biology2026
    Preventive Veterinary Medicine2024
    Public Health (MPH)2026
    Public Health Sciences (Ph.D.)2026
    Soils And Biogeochemistry2026
    Transportation Technology And Policy2024
    Viticulture And Enology2024
  • Designated Emphases
  • Designated Emphasis NameNew Chair Year
    African American And African Studies2026
    Biology Of Vector Borne Diseases2026
    Biophotonics and Bioimaging2024
    Biotechnology2024
    Classics & Classical Reception2025
    Computational Social Science2025
    Critical Theory2024
    Environmental Humanities2026
    Feminist Theory And Research2026
    Host Microbe Interactions2026
    Human Rights2026
    International And Community Nutrition2026
    Native American Studies2024
    Neuroengineering2026
    Nuclear Science2024
    Reproductive Biology2024
    Science & Technology Studies2026
    Second Language Acquisition2024
    Studies In Performance And Practice2026
    Study Of Religion2024
    Translational Research2026
    Writing, Rhetoric, And Composition Studies2026

Who Appoints Graduate Group Chairs?

It's a common misconception that Graduate Studies appoints Group Chairs. These appointments are (and can only be) made by the Vice Chancellor of Human Health Sciences (VC-HHS) for Groups housed within the Schools of Medicine and Nursing, and the Provost for all other Groups. Under certain circumstances, the two leadership offices work together to appoint Chairs. 

Graduate Group Lead DeanNominee's Home Dept. Lead DeanAppointment Conferred By...
Schools of Medicine or NursingSchools of Medicine or NursingVC-HHS, after consultation with the Provost
Schools of Medicine or NursingOther CollegesVC-HHS, after consultation with the Provost
Other CollegesSchools of Medicine or NursingProvost, after consultation with VC-HHS
Other CollegesOther CollegesProvost

Graduate Studies does, however, appoint the Chairs of Designated Emphases.