Education

Professors Johan Leveau and Jorge Mazza Rodrigues will take over as chairs of the Department of Plant Pathology and Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, respectively, Dean Ashley M. Stokes from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences announced. 

The appointments took effect July 1, 2026.

Leveau, who is a microbial ecologist and professor, has served as interim chair since January, replacing Dave Rizzo. 

As the school year wraps up, some students at the University of California, Davis, are celebrating more than their own accomplishments. They’re cheering on the budding scientists they’ve spent months mentoring through UC Davis EnvironMentors.

For 50 years, the landscape architecture program at UC Davis has helped communities imagine better streets, bike paths, gardens, parks and public spaces. One course takes that imagination a step further, letting students design and build structures that have brought a fun energy to campus. Now, their latest project will soon find a home in the City of Davis.

Under a canopy of trees, young kids dig for worms in a compost bin on campus. Their little dirt-covered fingertips gently pluck out one they think will be speedy enough to win a “worm race.” Led by UC Davis students, this hands-on activity shows kids how worms play an important role in healthy soil and plant growth. It's just one of many fun lessons in the Kids in the Garden program.

Editor's note: A spokesperson is available for Zoom or phone interviews in English or Spanish on Monday, Oct. 28, or Tuesday, Oct. 29.

The University of California, Davis, is now eligible to be one of the nation’s few research-intensive universities designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, or HSI, after fall enrollment numbers crossed the threshold for HSI status for the first time.

One in five students in the United States will not earn a high school diploma — and young adolescents who fall behind in school risk never catching up, leading to unemployment, poor health and poverty, research has shown.

But a new University of California, Davis, study of intermediate school students in urban California and New York shows promise for underachievers. Researchers found that early intervention with teachers, training students that intelligence is malleable and achievable, caused struggling students to flourish and improve their grades.

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is pleased to announce that Ryan Galt, professor in the Department of Human Ecology, has been appointed as faculty director for the Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) at UC Davis.

The COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders and other limitations could offer researchers the chance to use technology to decrease the digital divide and disparities in academic research, suggests a University of California, Davis, professor in a new commentary.

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences engages students in innovative, practical and integrated learning. We want our Aggies to leave campus with essential life skills and hands-on experience that will help them succeed. To do this, we continually review our curriculum to make sure our students have access to coursework that exposes them to opportunities and challenges they may experience after graduation. Below is a sampling of some of the new and newly revised courses we’re offering across a variety of disciplines within the college. 

Problem-solving skills may improve, too

Editor’s note: As the school year begins, this story is one in a series on UC Davis’ role in researching K-12 education.

Early adolescents’ grades were higher when they socialized with peers from other ethnicities, according to the findings of a University of California, Davis, study that looked at the lunching habits of more than 800 sixth-graders in three states.