Last year, the CA&ES Dean’s Office established the 2020 Academic and Strategic Planning (ASP) committee to review and update the 2015 Academic and Strategic Plan at the request of campus leadership. For the past five years, our college strategic plan has served as the foundational guide for how we continue to uphold our land grant mission to serve the public through research, academics and public service. 2020 marked the five-year anniversary of the initial plan, and we were due for an update.

Department of Animal Science Professor Jim Fadel has been awarded a certificate of merit from The Global Community for Academic Advising (NACADA).

Fadel is the former master advisor for the animal science and management major. He was selected in the region 9 excellence in advising category for a faculty advisor and will be honored during the organization’s virtual regional conference March 23-24.

From encouraging increased diversity to an innovative leadership program that employs interdisciplinary training in soil and plant health, two professors are spearheading projects that advance graduate and postgraduate training in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis.

Charlie Brummer, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, will lead a program that seeks to recruit two doctoral and two master’s students in plant breeding from underrepresented groups.

A new fellowship in memory of UC Davis alumnus and Napa Valley winemaker Richard A. Ward has been established in the Department of Viticulture and Enology by his widow, Linda Reiff, to help in the development of a new generation of winemakers.

Javier Fernandez-Salvador has been appointed director of the UC Davis Olive Center by Helene Dillard, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Tributes poured in this week from across the nation for agricultural icon Richard Rominger, who died of a heart attack Sunday near his home in Winters. Rominger, a UC Davis supporter and alum, was a fourth-generation farmer who played pivotal roles in local, state and national agriculture.

Rominger, 93, collapsed at a restaurant as he was arranging to buy meals to donate to families in need, something he did each week.

As we prepare to say goodbye to 2020, we want to share with you a few bright spots—images of our faculty, staff, students and friends of the college who have continued to support our efforts in spite of the challenges we’ve faced during the pandemic. Every day, we are privileged to work and learn with a remarkable and inspiring group of individuals who balance learning, research, teaching and service to the community, even in the face of extreme adversity.

Eleven UC Davis professors have been elected in this year’s class of fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, the world’s largest general scientific society.

The association elevates members to the rank of fellow in recognition of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. 

We are entering the holiday season—a time that has always been about coming together to share a meal and spend time with family, and this is probably the most unusual Thanksgiving any of us will ever experience. We’re being advised not to do what is our natural tendency—to gather with the people we care about the most. This is a hard request after nine months of sheltering in place.

Eleven UC Davis researchers have been named in the annual Highly Cited Researchers 2020 list released by the Web of Science Group, which compiles statistics on scientific publishing. The list identifies scientists and social scientists who have published multiple papers ranking in the top 1 percent by citations in a particular field and year, over a 10-year period.

Citation counts represent how often a particular paper has been cited in other scientific publications.