On July 1,  Graduate Studies announced 34 recipients of the Graduate Program Advising and Mentoring Awards. Faculty were nominated by their graduate programs for outstanding excellence in advising and mentoring of graduate students. Graduate programs highlighted faculty for their service to the program, commitment to advising and mentoring, and positive impact on graduate students and colleagues.  

Devin Horton, Ph.D, the Graduate Diversity Officer for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines at the University of California, Davis, is among the scientists and leaders recognized in a list of 100 inspiring Black scientists in America, published last month.

Graduate Studies at the University of California, Davis, has appointed Erum Abbasi Syed as the division’s new assistant dean. She began her new role on Monday, June 15.

As assistant dean, Abbasi Syed will manage the operation of Graduate Studies and serve as the chief of staff to Vice Provost and Dean Jean-Pierre Delplanque. Graduate Studies’ 50-member team serves over 6,000 graduate students, 1,000 postdoctoral scholars, and the faculty and staff in nearly 100 distinct academic graduate programs.

Dear graduate students and postdoctoral scholars,

The Arts & Humanities 2020 Graduate Exhibition, usually on view at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, has moved to the museum website from May 28-June 14. The virtual exhibition will feature individual galleries for 29 students in seven disciplines — art, design, art history, music, Native American studies, creative writing and cultural studies. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 and remote planning, the same number of departments are participating as in years past, with the Department of Native American Studies joining for the first time.

Dear graduate students,

We recognize the rapidly shifting challenge that COVID-19 represents and how it affects your roles as students, researchers, scholars, and educators. For many, the situation has introduced or heightened feelings of uncertainty about how best to pursue your graduate education.

Here are some new and ongoing efforts that Graduate Studies has undertaken with Graduate Council to address graduate student concerns:

Through our various honors and awards programs, Graduate Studies has recognized and celebrated the talent and dedication of dozens of exceptional graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and professors who have a huge impact on the UC Davis campus community through their research, teaching and mentorship.

Fifteen graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from the University of California, Davis, have been named the 2020-2021 fellows in the Professors for the Future (PFTF) program. Established in 1992, Professors for the Future is a year-long competitive fellowship program designed to develop the leadership skills of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who have demonstrated their commitment to professionalism, integrity, and academic service.

On May 1, Graduate Studies announced that it will be hosting its Virtual Celebration on June 11.  All eligible graduate students were sent a personalized email with directions describing how to register for the virtual celebration.  Graduates will have the opportunity to create a personalized slide and their names will also be pre-recorded by a professional name reader. The Virtual Celebrations will be available on the Graduate Studies Commencement webpage on June 11 at 10:00 a.m.

Recognizing the exceptional and stressful times that we are in, Graduate Studies and the Academic Senate engaged in discussions to determine ways to increase grading and course flexibilities that we know are needed to support graduate students.

Vice Provost and Dean Jean-Pierre Delplanque addresses National Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week and some of the challenges that graduate students face in the current environment. 

Due to the shelter-in-place order and the ongoing Coronavirus situation, UC Davis Graduate Studies has decided to cancel the 2020 UC Davis Grad Slam final round event on April 7. 

“We’re truly saddened by the event’s cancellation,” said Jean-Pierre Deplanque, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies. “This year’s participants have worked tirelessly to develop and refine their research presentations, but the rapidly changing situation made it impossible to proceed with an in-person event.” 

Second-year mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. student Leslie Allyn Simms was selected to attend the 70th annual Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting from June 27 – July 2, 2021 in Lindau, Germany.

We know the recent news and uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) may require you to assess current plans for Spring Quarter research and instruction in conjunction with your PIs, advisors, chairs, and instructors of record. As such, we would like to draw your attention to some recent campus guidance that is of particular importance to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

Once again, UC Davis graduate programs ranked among the nation’s best in the 2021 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools (March 17).

The list reveals new rankings for business, law, education, engineering, medical and nursing programs. The annual Best Graduate Schools rankings are based on different types of data: survey results relating to academic excellence and statistical indicators that assess the achievements of a program or school’s students and faculty.