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Chancellor's Leadership and Development Speaker Series

Chancellor's Leadership and Development Speaker Series

The Chancellor’s Leadership Development Speaker Series (CLDS) is designed to:

  1. Create an avenue for students to interact with and familiarize themselves with the roles and responsibilities of individual members of the university’s leadership team.
  2. Offer information on university policies, structures, and resources to better support leadership and professional development among the student body.
  3. Familiarize students with the structure of university administration.
  4. Provide insight into the speaker's professional journey and vision for the future of their division, department, or program.
  5. Offer advice about how to foster growth and development in students’ own careers.

The speakers will focus on the steps they've taken to advance in their careers as well as share their vision for the future of their department or program. 

For more information, please contact the GSADC, Tamara Christiani, at gradassistant@ucdavis.edu.

Food provided. Space is limited. Register here!

Academic Year 2024-2025

The format for the series this year is Lunch with Leadership. 

Michael Sweeney: Chief Campus Counsel

Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 10:00 AM-11:00 AM 

Michael Sweeney was appointed Chief Campus Counsel for UC Davis in 2018. Prior to his appointment he served as Senior Campus Counsel starting in 2007. He provides legal services related to employment, First Amendment, contracts and grants, academic affairs, student affairs, athletics, research administration, compliance, governance and undocumented students. Before joining UC Davis, Sweeney was a civil rights attorney for the California Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. He litigated employment, housing, public accommodations, and hate violence civil rights cases.

 

Brandon Minto: Federal Government Relations Director

Wednesday, April 16, 2025 | 12:00 PM-1:00 PM

Brandon is the Director of Federal Government Relations at UC Davis, where he serves as the chief advocate, representative and spokesperson for the University on all federal matters.He is responsible for building understanding, awareness and support of UC Davis among federal elected officials, their staff and with the federal administration, while also developing and promoting opportunities to raise UC Davis’ profile and that of its leadership, faculty, students and staff among federal decision-makers.

Brandon joined the UC Davis team after having worked for seven years in the Congressional office of Congressman John Garamendi, CA-03, serving in the capacity as District Director upon his departure. Prior to that he worked as staff in the CA Lieutenant Governor’s office.Brandon holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from UC Davis and during his time as a student spent his summers as a whitewater rafting guide on the South and Middle Forks of the American River.

 

William Garrity: University Librarian & Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship 

Tuesday, April22, 2025 | 12:00 PM-1:00 PM 

William Garrity was selected as university librarian and vice provost of digital scholarship in May 2024. He is responsible for oversight of the UC Davis Library, one of the nation’s top academic research libraries and a major academic support unit serving the needs of the students, faculty, and researchers of UC Davis, the healthcare professionals of UC Davis Health, and the public.

Under his leadership, the library continues to build strong physical and digital collections,  responsive services for students and faculty, and new partnerships across campus. Garrity is passionate about the critical role of the library as a “third space” that supports users’ academic and research success and sense of belonging on campus.

Previously, as UC Davis’ deputy university librarian and the library’s chief operating officer, he helped reshape library operations and management to meet several waves of transformative change: greater integration of digital and traditional library services; renewed focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion; and a sea change in how people work, teach, and connect as a community in the “hybrid” post-pandemic world.

Prior to UC Davis, Garrity served as associate chief information officer at Dartmouth and held library leadership positions at Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago.

A graduate of Siena College in New York, Garrity served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica before earning his master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Chicago.

 

Mary S. Croughan: Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor

Thursday, May 15, 2025 | 12:00 PM-1:00 PM

Mary Croughan is an experienced administrator in higher education, serving for more than 30 years with the University of California and three years at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She joined UC Davis as its provost and executive vice chancellor in July 2020.

As the chief academic officer of UC Davis, Croughan oversees all aspects of the university’s mission of teaching, research and public service. Her top priorities include student success and equitable outcomes, maintaining and advancing educational excellence, augmenting the university’s capacity to perform critical transdisciplinary research, and furthering its culture of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Croughan arrived at UC Davis with many years of distinguished service as both an administrator and faculty member, including 30 years as a professor in the UC San Francisco School of Medicine. She served as chair of the systemwide Academic Senate in 2008-09 and as executive director of the Research Grants Program Office at the UC Office of the President. Most recently, she served as vice president for research and economic development at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

A lifelong Aggie, Croughan earned her Bachelor of Science degree in community health at UC Davis and her Ph.D. in epidemiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is an executive committee member for the Association for Public and Land Grant Universities’ Council on Academic Affairs.

 

Past Speakers

  • 2023 - 2024

  • • Pablo G. Reguerin, Ph.D.: Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs
    • Kevin Johnson: Former Dean of UC Davis School of Law 
    • Renetta Garrison Tull: Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

  • 2021 - 2022

  • • Pablo G. Reguerin, Ph.D.: Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs
    • Joanna Regulska, Ph.D.: Vice Provost and Dean, Global Affairs
    • Christine Lovely: Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Human Resources Officer

  • 2020-2021

  • • Erum Abbasi Syed, Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies
    • Dr. Prasant Mohapatra, Vice Chancellor for Research
    • Dr. Cory Vu, Associate Vice Chancellor for Health, Wellness, and Divisional Resources
    • Dr. Maisha T. Winn, Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Chancellor's Leadership Professor, and Co-Director of Transformative Justice in Education Center (TJE)
    • Dr. Lorena Oropeza, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity
    • Dr. Mary S. Croughan, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
  • 2019-2020
  • • Dr. Teresa Dillinger, Academic Administrator and Director
    • Ellen Hartigan-O'Connor, Associate Dean, Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars 
    • Elizabeth Sturdy, Director of Advising and Mentoring 
    • Renetta Garrison Tull, Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
    • Carolyn Thomas, Vice Provost & Dean of Undergraduate Education
    • Sheri Atkinson, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Life, Campus Community and Retention Services