New faculty members at UC Davis are a wildly diverse bunch–they study microscopic bugs, map inherited diseases in dogs, design movie sets, write prize-winning fiction, unravel mysteries of pediatric neurology and examine transnational feminism.
But a host of common factors brings 108 new Academic Senate and Cooperative Extension members to UC Davis this year : a multidisciplinary approach to teaching and research, unique programs and a prime locale.
Vice Provost for Academic Personnel Barry Klein describes UC Davis as a beautiful Midwestern college town with a California climate.
"Davis has everything going for it that a small town does. A comparatively low crime rate, relatively affordable housing and a top-ranked school system make this a community especially attractive to families. In addition, we’re a very strong campus academically," he says.
"Why would anyone want to go someplace else?"
UC Davis has a strong academic plan for recruiting excellence in growing fields such as genomics, computational science and engineering, and hemispheric studies. That has created a big intellectual buzz on campus in getting these new areas started and coordinating more interdisciplinary research, Klein says.
The new Center for the Arts also has been a strong pull in bringing top-notch faculty members to UC Davis. Klein says any time a prospective faculty member visits his office, he or she brings up the arts complex. Without exception, people get excited when they hear about it., he says.
"The Center for the Arts sends a message to everybody that UC Davis isn’t just an industrial park, it’s an environment that nurtures the whole soul," Klein says. "You can spend 10 hours a day in the laboratory and go hear Mozart in the evening without having to drive a half hour or more."
Quality of life in a smaller community attracted Professor John Iacovelli of the Department of Theater and Dance.
"The thing that tipped the scales for me about Davis was being able to live in Aggie Village, to be immersed in a city that is truly a college community," he says. "The idyllic town of Davis is a far cry from the hectic studio world of Los Angeles, where I do most of my research work."
Replenishing the ranks
This latest group of new Academic Senate hires, including faculty in the regular professorial series, the Professor of Clinical Medicine series and the Professor in Residence series, is part of an ongoing effort to fill the gaps in the ranks once held by many of the university’s most senior scholars.
Early retirement programs in the 1990s aimed at balancing the university’s budget left departments and colleges short-handed. Over the past four years, UC Davis has added 369 new faculty and Cooperative Extension members. Over the next decade, some 800 positions are expected to be filled; many of those will be additions created through student growth.
Although recruitment figures show the percentage of female hires in ladder-rank positions is still below the 40 percent hired at UC Davis between November 1993 and October 1996, Klein says the university is improving recruitment practices to attract more women and people of color. This year, 28.4 percent of new ladder-rank hires are women, an increase from the past three years when females represented about 24 percent of new ladder-rank faculty members.
In all, of the new 108 Academic Senate hires this year, 32.4 percent are women.
Klein credits the hard work of a faculty recruitment task force put together by Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef and Provost Robert Grey this past academic year in finding new avenues to attract women and applicants of color.
"I believe we have made significant progress in hiring for excellence and diversity. But continued success represents both a priority and a challenge," Klein says.
He says UC Davis’ emergence as a university that values interdisciplinary research helps draw not only senior recruits who bring national and international renown with them, but fresh Ph.D.s eager to make their mark. And many of those new doctorate recipients are products of UC Davis who value the research opportunities that exist at this institution.
Quality counts
Bruce Lampinen, assistant specialist in Cooperative Extension of the Department of Pomology, received his bachelor’s, master‘s and doctoral degrees at UC Davis. After working for two years at the University of Massachusetts, he says a number of reasons lured him back: his passion for walnut and almond crops, their dynamic growing industries, family and close friends. While away from California, he was also able to put his experiences at UC Davis into perspective.
"Without fail, people I met on the East Coast thought that UC Davis had first-rate programs in plant biology, entomology, plant pathology, etc. So, of course, the chance to return was another big motivating factor since I had many good memories of my time here. I really didn’t appreciate what a good university it was until I moved away."
Some alumni were eager to return in order to give back to the university.
"I was an undergraduate here at Davis, so returning as a member of the faculty meant coming home," says Milmon Harrison, assistant professor of African American and African studies. "I now have the chance to nurture my students in the same way that I was nurtured by my own faculty mentors, who are now my colleagues."
A multidisciplinary approach
Other individuals are drawn to UC Davis because of unique programs and the chance to overlap their teaching and research interests in different fields. As evidenced by this year’s new hires, more and more faculty members hold joint appointments. Accomplished novelist Louis Owens accepted a joint professorship in the departments of English and Native American studies because of the exciting things he sees happening here.
"The English department’s interest in environmental writing as well as Native American literature combined with the fact that UC Davis has one of the few Ph.D. programs in Native American studies in the nation make the campus extraordinarily attractive," he says. "UC Davis has impressed me as a place where people are excited about ideas, open to change and proud of what they’re doing. All in all, the campus has a great feel to it."
POP pays off
In addition to the research opportunities and a small-town atmosphere, UC Davis offers life partners the chance to pursue academic interests at the same university through POP, or Partner Opportunities Program. Since its inception in 1996, this program has assisted the partners of faculty hired here in finding either an academic appointment or a job opening in the community.
"I believe the campus and the local community have benefited greatly because the Partner Opportunities Program has helped to bring talented and creative individuals to our area individuals who might not have otherwise considered living and working here," says Lorraine Beaman, the program’s coordinator.
This year, nearly half of the new Academic Senate hires with partners and spouses used the services of the program, including Professors Peter Cranston and Penelope Gullan, both entomologists from Australia. Cranston also fills the new Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
"The Partner Opportunities Program was important in recruiting Peter Cranston and me because we would not have moved to UCD unless we both had good positions," Gullan says. "At UCD there are excellent research opportunities, and the Bohart Museum of Entomology has the second largest collection of my study insects in the United States. Peter and I have been able to equip our new laboratory with facilities to allow state-of-the-art systematic research."
Embracing the community
For partners with varied interests, finding a suitable university for both poses an even larger challenge. Newly appointed Associate Professor Margherita Heyer-Caput specializes in Italian literature from her homeland, while her husband, Associate Professor Wolf-Dietrich Heyer, teaches microbiology.
"It’s not at all easy to be able to pursue two academic careers, particularly if they are in very different fields," she says.
"But we decided to come to UC Davis because it is an outstanding university and research institution that also has tremendous growth potential in the humanities. Because we have two young children, other factors made Davis attractive: excellent public schools, a safe and clean environment and civic awareness and participation."