Welcome to fall quarter! It is always a joy to witness the campus come alive when the students come back to Davis. The quiet productivity of summer is replaced with the busy hum of bikes and scooters, colleagues catching up and the quick upswell of our community. Dorm move-in weekend was busy, and our college gave its usual warm welcome to thousands of incoming first-year and transfer students during College Welcome and at our ice cream social.

Congratulations to the class of 2023! We are so happy to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of our students. This year, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is graduating approximately 1,850 undergraduates and 176 graduate students. Undergraduate commencement will be held June 16-18 at the Golden 1 Center. Our graduating class always inspires me and it is a joy to watch them grow from first-year and transfer students into future leaders ready to move forward onto new paths of opportunity. Our graduates embody dedication, commitment and so much potential.

There is no way around the fact that May has been a difficult month for our community. The violent attacks on three of our community members have left us shocked and horrified. We are still grappling with the heartache we feel over the loss of UC Davis student Karim Abou Najm and Davis resident Henry Breaux whose mission in life was to define compassion. We also hold space for the third victim, Kimberlee Guillory, and hope that she is recovering well. Karim was a beloved and exceptionally bright student and he is missed dearly.

After a cold and rainy winter, it’s heartwarming to see beautiful flowers blooming and hear birds chirping. Spring is a seasonal celebration of the natural beauty around us, especially on campus where rainbow chard is being harvested at the Student Farm, ducklings are waddling around the Arboretum and new foals are getting their footing at the Horse Barn.

We are two months into the new year, and our college is thriving and alive with activity. This month has been busy for our college and the entire campus! As the days slowly lengthen, the number of prospective students coming to visit us grows. I love seeing groups of families on tours, threading their way through the Arboretum, past the Eye on Mrak, and along the bike path towards the Coffee House while listening to the guides give bits of information about why they love UC Davis. 

On behalf of Dean Helene Dillard, who is taking much deserved time away from campus, happy new year to all our students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners who tirelessly work to make the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences a unique place of excellence for learning, research and community engagement.

We start this year with the promise of a fortified snowpack and welcome rain that we hope recharges groundwater and brings some relief to the prolonged drought. The new year also brings positivity and progress to campus.

At the end of the year, I like to reflect on all our college has accomplished and give thanks for the dedication and hard work of our faculty, students, staff, alumni and friends who keep the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences a place of excellence. Please scroll down to enjoy our year in review video and photographs of some of the college’s highlights from this past year. I wish you and yours a joyous holiday season and a wonderful year ahead.

The fall colors are incredibly vibrant this year with their red, orange and yellow leaves glowing against a backdrop of bright blue sky. We have so much to be grateful for this November, and I want to express my gratitude for all of our dedicated faculty, staff and students who remain focused on the mission of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The fall temperatures are finally dropping and the campus is busy! The bike paths are packed with students heading to and from classes, the Arboretum is teeming with wildlife and people taking time to relax in the beautiful weather, and everyone is settling into the new school year.

Welcome to the start of the fall 2022 school year! Here in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, we are excited to usher in a new class of freshmen and transfer students. Last week, Student Housing and several volunteers moved in 6,500 new and returning students into the resident halls. While COVID-19 continues to move through our communities, we’ve learned to adapt, grow and accept this shift in our world, and it is heartening to see our campus humming with activity and our students and colleagues settling into comfortable routines.