Announcements

During the months of November, December, and January, Graduate Studies and the Graduate Center will have modified hours to account for holidays, events and limited staff coverage. Please note the changes to our schedules and dates that we will need to close the building to the public.

Effective Sept. 15, 2025, Graduate Studies has eliminated the student candidacy fee.

Both master’s and doctoral students were previously charged the candidacy fee as part of their advancement to candidacy. The candidacy fee has now been eliminated as part of recent modifications to the advancement process. This adjustment reflects Graduate Studies’ ongoing efforts to evolve our processes in conjunction with our university’s and community’s needs.

Graduate Studies established the GradPathways Institute for Professional Development (GPI) in 2004 to support an enhanced professional development ecosystem at UC Davis for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

The University of California Board of Regents today (Wednesday, July 16) appointed UC Davis graduate student Miguel Craven as the 2026-27 student regent. Craven will serve from July 1, 2025-June 30, 2026 as student regent-designate. He will have voting privileges when his one-year term as student regent begins on July 1, 2026.

Graduate Studies is pleased to announce and recognize the dedicated and talented individuals who have earned awards and recognition for their outstanding achievements in the 2024-25 academic year, as well as acknowledge incoming fellows.

The following graduate students and postdoctoral students are recognized for their exceptional contributions in research and teaching. The incoming cohorts for the President's Postdoctoral Fellowships / Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowships and Professors for the Future program are also listed.

Graduate Studies and Graduate Council are thrilled to honor two extraordinary faculty members with this year's Distinguished Graduate and Postdoctoral Mentorship Awards. These awards shine a light on the power of mentorship in shaping the academic and professional journeys of UC Davis graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

Yara Khatib, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Pharmacology and Toxicology Graduate Group, won second place in the UC Grad Slam competition held on April 29 at the UC Student and Policy Center in Sacramento. This is the first year the University of California hosted its systemwide competition in the state’s capital after moving it from the LinkedIn Center in San Francisco. Khatib competed against nine other graduate students representing each of the other universities in the University of California system.

The School of Veterinary Medicine brought home the campus’s top placement in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent rankings of professional and graduate programs, published Monday (April 7).

UC Davis again ranked first in the nation for veterinary medicine, consistent with its placement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, released in March.

The University of California, Davis, has launched a website and video series titled, “From Labs to Lives,” to highlight federally funded research, describe how the research benefits the public, and share the consequences to the public if funding is reduced or eliminated.

Sam Arcement—Director of Graduate Academic Programs for the College of Biological Sciences, and the program coordinator for the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology (MCIP) Graduate Group—has been honored with the 2024 Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator Award from the Office of Graduate Studies. This year saw a record number of nominations. “Sam tirelessly ensures that our needs and concerns are heard and addressed,” said one MCIP student, who praised Arcement’s dedication to student advocacy.