Alumni and Friends

Stephanie Fallas — Graduate Program Coordinator for the Department of Communication and Department of Linguistics — has been honored with the 2026 Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator Award from the Office of Graduate Studies. “Stephanie has been an invaluable advocate for graduate students, consistently going above and beyond her formal duties,” said Skyler Jove Reese, Ph.D. ’25 in linguistics, who praised Fallas’ “unwavering” support of students, both professionally and personally.

On June 5, 2026, Walker Hall was transformed into a comprehensive exhibition of graduate student art, research and scholarship to culminate a yearlong celebration of 100 years of graduate education in Davis. 

UC Davis Graduate Studies is celebrating 100 years of graduate education in Davis this academic year!

Seongmin Yoo identifies as an “Aggie” in every sense of the word. Though she grew up in South Korea, she says Davis is “home.”

Yoo has been working with the Davis Mural Team for the last three years and has helped paint five different murals downtown. She is passionate about helping the local art scene thrive.

In the 2025-2026 academic year, UC Davis Graduate Studies will celebrate 100 years of graduate education in Davis!

Victoria Watson-Zink, Ph.D. ’22, a postdoctoral evolutionary marine biologist, received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Hanna H. Gray Fellowship last month. This year’s fellowship supports the transition of 25 early-career scientists to leading labs and becoming tenured faculty.

In many ways, Jessi Jarrin’s story at UC Davis is just beginning to be written. A first-year MFA in poetry student, Jarrin was awarded a prestigious Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, providing her with full tuition and fees plus a stipend for two years to support her graduate education.

After Javier Garcia, Ph.D. ’21 obtained his doctorate, walking into a room was different.

Having grown up in a farm-working community, Garcia said he was accustomed to being with people who had little more than a second or third-grade education, including his own parents.

“I would walk into spaces, knowing I’m the only person in this entire community who has a Ph.D. and being in that space made me think, ‘if I can do it, other people can also succeed on this education path.’” He said. “I felt hope.” 

UC Davis Graduate Studies alumna Laura Lindenfeld, Ph.D. ’03 has dedicated her career to helping the public through science communication.

Lindenfeld is Dean of the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University, and Executive Director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science—a center that is dedicated to helping scientists improve their communication skills using techniques from improvisational theater. She also was the commencement speaker for the Graduate Studies graduation ceremony on June 9, 2022.

Jonathan Minnick, Ph.D. ’22 was never one to step out in front of the crowd. 

“As an undergraduate student, I grappled with self-confidence,” Minnick said.

This all changed when he came to UC Davis for graduate school in 2016 and saw a way he could help others.