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UC Davis College of Letters and Science graduate students will share their work with the public as the multidisciplinary “Arts & Humanities 2022 Graduate Exhibition” returns following two years of virtual exhibitions. It showcases 27 students from eight programs creating in many mediums, including sculpture, painting, experimental music and virtual reality, and often addressing pressing issues of our time.

Dear Graduate Students,

As was the case in fall 2021 and winter and spring 2022, the default mode of instruction for both summer sessions 2022 will be in-person, with an exception for hybrid and virtual courses previously approved by the Committee on Courses of Instruction (COCI).

Alumna and communication researcher Laura Lindenfeld Ph.D. ’03 will return to UC Davis as the keynote speaker for the 2022 Graduate Studies Commencement on Thursday, June 9, at the University Credit Union Center.

Lindenfeld is the Dean of the School of Communication and Journalism and a professor of journalism at Stony Brook University, where she oversees a team of dedicated faculty and staff, including Pulitzer Prize winners, to educate and train the next generation of multimedia journalists and communication professionals.

Graduate Studies and Graduate Council are pleased to present awards for outstanding mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. The Distinguished Graduate and Postdoctoral Mentorship Awards recognize the vital role mentoring plays in the academic and professional development of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars at UC Davis. A letter of recognition and $1,000 will be conferred to each awardee.  

Congratulations to the following recipients:

Dear All,

The recommendation for Qualifying Examinations scheduled for Summer 2022 will be the same as the current quarter: we encourage all graduate programs to hold QEs in person. However, we recognize that continued flexibility may be needed. Thus, the process for reviewing and approving Summer 2022 QEs will be the same as that for Spring 2022. 

Students may request any of the following formats for their Summer 2022 QE:

Public Scholarship and Engagement is proud to announce the inaugural cohort of UC Davis graduate students who were accepted into the competitive Public Scholars for the Future fellowship. This program, which launched in spring 2022 in partnership with UC Davis Graduate Studies, is designed to support doctoral students in developing community engaged research with non-university partners.

Third-year Biological Systems Engineering Ph.D. student Alice Dien won first place at the UC Davis Grad Slam Semi-Final round on Wednesday, April 6, 2022. Her winning presentation “Cooling Down with the New Hot Air: The Future of Drying in Agriculture” earned her a $2,500 first prize. 

Dien's award-winning presentation examined the role of drying in food processing and examined how to make drying systems cleaner and cheaper. 

In a nod to the crucial role of science and testing during the pandemic, Nam Tran, a professor of clinical pathology, has been named parade marshal for UC Davis’ 108th Picnic Day, being held in person on the Davis campus this Saturday, April 23.

On April 8, a crowd of dozens of UC Davis supporters—alumni, faculty, staff and graduate students—all seated under a tent outside Walker Hall excitedly yelled out in unison, “Five, four, three, two, one!” 

With that, the sound of melodic clanking filled the air as members of the UC Davis and Graduate Studies community rang ceremonial bells to commemorate the grand opening of the Graduate Center at Walker Hall. 

Growing up as the oldest of five children in a single-parent home, Britt Loofbourrow, Ph.D. ’22 remembers a difficult decision her family had to make every month. 

“There were questions of, OK, what’s going to be the most important thing? Hot water, electricity, or food?” she recalls.

Her personal experience with food insecurity has not only inspired her doctoral research and degree in nutritional biology, but also her volunteerism with the Graduate Student Association Pantry and her future career.

When United Way California Capital Region President and CEO Dawnté Early ’05, M.S. ’08, Ph.D. ’11 was an undergraduate at UC Davis, she had an unlikely classmate who inspired her studies beyond anyone else. It was her infant son.

Early, who is a City Council Member of West Sacramento in addition to being a leader in the Sacramento region, transferred to UC Davis from Alabama A&M after her sophomore year to be closer to her family to help with her son.

In graduate education, the faculty mentor plays the primary role in guiding a graduate student from recruitment through graduation—and often on to job placements—for several formative and demanding years. Faculty mentors also play an increasing role in responding to the mental health needs of graduate students, who face the stressors of the pandemic, ongoing racial injustice, climate change and political unrest. While this mentoring relationship is central for graduate students, it is one often fraught with challenges.

Bell ringing, shouts of joy and clapping in the Graduate Studies office celebrate the moment when a student completes all requirements and final paperwork for a master’s or doctoral degree.

• UC Davis Magazine has more about the bell-ringing tradition.

The tradition will sound, this time, for the grand opening ceremony of the Graduate Center at Walker Hall on Friday, April 8.

In the annual Grad Slam tournament, master’s and doctoral students are challenged to share their research stories, concisely and compellingly, in three minutes or less. The top 10 finalists will present their research to an audience and panel of external judges for a chance to win $2,500.