A little more than a year away from its centennial, UC Davis is closing in on establishing its 100th endowed chair or professorship. The count is now 95, including four established in the last year.

The university put on a dinner last week to recognize the newest chairs and their donors, and to honor the 10 faculty members appointed in the last year to endowed chairs and professorships.

Just before heading off to the dinner, Vice Provost Barbara Horwitz offered this comment: "We're delighted at the progress that the campus has made in establishing endowed chairs and endowed professorships, and anticipate reaching 100 by our centennial year.

"These endowments are often a critical factor in our ability to attract outstanding faculty, and we greatly appreciate those who have supported the campus with such gifts — they truly are gifts that keep on giving."

Hosts for the dinner were Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, Provost Virginia Hinshaw and Jerome Suran of the UC Davis Foundation board of trustees.

Among the 10 chair and professorship appointees this year are three UC Davis alumni.

Here is a look at all of the new appointees and brief descriptions of their work, and information on the newest chairs and professorships, all taken from the dinner program:

Leopoldo Bernucci, Russell F. and Jean H. Fiddyment Chair in Latin American Studies — Bernucci specializes in Brazilian and Spanish-American literatures with an emphasis on the colonial period. He plans to create a section for undergraduate and graduate Luso-Brazilian studies.

Simeon Boyd, Children's Miracle Network Chair in Pediatric Genetics — Boyd is a medical geneticist and pediatrician whose research is focused on non-Mendelian (multifactorial) birth defects with the ultimate goal of identifying genes and environmental factors contributing to the risk of these defects.

Cameron Carter, Endowed Professorship in Schizophrenia Research — Carter is a board certified psychiatrist and a translational researcher in the field of cognitive neuroscience, investigating the neural basis of impaired thinking in schizophrenia as well as in people at genetic risk for the illness.

Roland Faller, Joe and Essie Smith Endowed Chair — Faller's research focus is on the computer simulation of soft-condensed matter, which includes polymers, glasses and especially biomembranes mimicking the wall of a living cell. Studies on artificial membranes could lead to new insights about the behavior of cells in living systems.

Robert Feenstra, C. Bryan Cameron Distinguished Chair in International Economics — Feenstra, inaugural holder of the Cameron chair, is director of the UC Davis Center for International Data, and the Pacific Rim Business and Development Program. Also, he directs the International Trade and Investment program at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass.

Carl Keen '75, Ph.D '79, Mars Inc. Endowed Chair in Developmental Nutrition — Keen is known internationally for connecting basic science with applied industry needs. A major theme in his laboratory is that a significant proportion of birth defects are the consequence of embryonic and-or fetal malnutrition.

Nancy Lane '76, Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging and Geriatrics — Her main fields of research are the epidemiology and genetics of osteoarthritis of the hip, and inquiry into agents to reverse osteoporosis. Her investigations have led to new therapies to reverse glucocorticoid-induced bone loss.

Ben Rich, School of Medicine Alumni Association Endowed Chair in Bioethics — Prior to becoming a full-time faculty member at UC Davis, he was a practicing attorney, specializing in civil litigation, health care and higher education law. His teaching at UC Davis includes the Doctoring 1-3 curricula, fourth-year special studies modules, and electives in law, medicine and bioethics.

Tom Tomich '79, W.K. Kellogg Chair in Food Systems Sustainability — Tomich is the founding director of UC Davis' Agricultural Sustainability Institute, and he serves as director of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' statewide Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. His research focuses on agricultural sustainability with the goal of establishing the scientific foundations for sustainable food systems.

Sarah Yuan, Pearl Stamps Stewart Professor in Surgery — Yuan is recognized as a national leader in microvascular biology, and her work today emphasizes translational research, with a focus on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate cardiovascular function in inflammation, trauma and diabetes.

UC Davis' four new chairs and endowed professorships established in the last year:

Dolly and David Fiddyment Chair in Teacher Education — The chair, one of few in the nation devoted to teacher education, comes from Roseville's David and Dolly Fiddyment, who have a long and rich history in education: David's great-grandmother built and taught at one of the first schools in the Roseville area in the 1880s, both their mothers taught in the early 1900s, and Dolly was an elementary school teacher in the San Juan Unified School District for 25 years.

The Golden 1 Endowed Professorship for Physicians Training — Formerly an endowed fund, converted to a professorship with gifts from The Golden 1 Credit Union and others. The chair holder will teach physicians in the UC Davis Health System, and provide education in cross-cultural medicine to fellow faculty in areas ranging from new fellowship programs to community outreach.

W.K. Kellogg Chair in Food Systems Sustainability — The holder of this chair, made possible by a gift from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, established in 1930 by cereal manufacturer Will Keith Kellogg, will be charged with fostering a safe, healthy and accessible food supply for Californians, and building a national collaborative network of leaders in the field of sustainability.

Endowed Professorship in Schizophrenia Research — Established with funds from the UC Davis Health System.