The university's human resources department doesn't keep track of them, but any old-timer on campus can name dozens: married couples or lifelong partners who both work at UC Davis.
Slightly more unusual are couples who work alongside one another on campus, either in the same department, or in similar positions.
These partners, in many senses, bring their work home every night.
Occasionally, they must strive not to let their job life interfere with family down time. But ultimately, their relationships and professional lives are thriving because of their close work and family ties, several campus couples say.
"I think it benefits the university," says Eileen O'Farrell, who works as an editor for Chancellor Emeritus James Meyer. Her office is down the hall from husband Reid Borgwardt, an animal science department researcher. Says O'Far-rell: "It makes for more loyal workers."
And understanding marriage partners, adds Nicole Glaser. She and her husband, Nate Kuppermann, are both pediatric faculty members at UC Davis Medical Center. "We can really relate to the things each other goes through at work," she said. "Sometimes it's hard for the non-medical person to understand the stresses. We know exactly what it's like."
- Reid Borgwardt & Eileen O'Farrell
It took just briefly meeting UC Davis graduate student and researcher Reid Borgwardt at a scuba diving conference for Eileen O'Farrell to leave her editorial job at UC San Diego and head north.
"I came up for our first date, and while I was here I got a job at Davis," O'Farrell said. "It was the right time and place."
The rest is family and campus history.
The couple were married in 1975, a year after meeting.
For years O'Farrell, 58, and Borgwardt, 55, worked in different departments on campus. They came home at night to work together on their Davis-area farm where they keep horses and raise sheep and cattle. They have two daughters: Erica, 24, and Erin, 21.
Since 1992, the couple has been working close to each other on campus as well as at home. In Meyer Hall, O'Farrell helps Chancellor Emeritus James Meyer with his writings on land-grant colleges of agriculture. She also edits the animal science newsletter. Borgwardt researches animal behavior under Professor Ed Price.
Though their positions are quite different, their paths frequently cross, O'Farrell said.
"Reid's always doing library research. He looks out for topics that Dr. Meyer might be interested in," O'Farrell said. "It benefits us both."
O'Farrell also enjoys volunteering with cattle and sheep during her husband's research trips to Sierra and Hopland field stations.
O'Farrell and Borgwardt are one of several campus couples working within the animal science department.
Tom Adams is a professor. His wife, Betty, is a staff research associate. Mary Delany is an assistant professor of animal science. Her husband, Bernie May, is an adjunct professor.
"It's convenient," Borgwardt said. "If you are both going to work, you might as well commute to the same place."
- Bill Beck & Yu-Hui Chang
As newcomers to California and UC Davis, Department of Music lecturers Bill Beck and Yu-Hui Chang say they are glad for each other's ready support on campus.
"For other couples it might be an issue-'I need my space,'" said Beck, who teaches electronic music and also serves as the department's Webmaster. "For us it's kind of welcome."
The couple arrived on campus in the fall of 1999, shortly after getting married. They met while both studying for their master's degrees at Boston University.
Chang and Beck moved to Davis after Chang received a lecturer appointment in music theory. They feel very lucky that Beck was also able to find work on campus, although his lecturer role is only temporary. Academic positions in musical composition, in which the couple both specialize in, are difficult to find, Chang explained.
"It's very odd that as composers you work in the same department," she said. "Some composers don't work in the same city. This time is a lucky thing."
Right now Beck is looking for a more permanent teaching position.
Though they often eat lunch together on campus and share a love for classical music, the couple also make a point to be independent. At home, they work separately on their teaching and studies. And in their free time, Chang and Beck both admit to enjoying their own guilty music pleasures.
"He likes some classic rock, which I don't like," Chang said. "I listen to some cheesy pop, which he doesn't like."
- Nicole Glaser & Nate Kuppermann
One of the best things about being research collaborators and marriage partners, say UCDMC physicians Nicole Glaser and Nate Kuppermann, is that inspiration can strike one person anytime, anywhere. And their closest associate is usually right there.
Kuppermann and Glaser had their biggest professional brainstorm in 1997 while strolling along the American River near Sacramento. The two, who both work in pediatrics, decided to embark on a study combining Glaser's expertise in endocrinology and Kuppermann's knowledge of emergency medicine.
The result? A study published Jan. 25 in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Glaser, 36, and Kuppermann, 42, were the lead authors in the look at risk factors for potentially life-threatening brain swelling in juvenile diabetes patients.
The study was the first of what the couple hopes are several joint research projects.
"Your most important asset in research is a collaborator whom you can trust implicitly," Kuppermann said. "We know how each other thinks."
The couple's close ties also helped keep the long-term study going when other researchers have run into roadblocks.
"It's in a sense easier because one could carry the project forward when the other was swamped with work or concentrating on home care," Kuppermann said.
The couple, who met while both were working at Children's Hospital in Boston, have two girls: Eliana, 5, and Maya, 2.
They've devised a schedule where Kuppermann works on his research early in the morning, and Glaser works on hers late at night. "One way or another, we manage to keep an OK balance," Glaser said.
The couple's patients can also benefit from Glaser and Kuppermann's marriage of home and work life.
When he sees diabetic children in the emergency room, Kuppermann can easily pass on medical information to his wife. Glaser also refers patients to Kuppermann.
"I get continuity of care," Glaser said. "Nothing gets lost in the shuffle."
- Sue Franck & Lisa Papagni
When Student Housing employees Sue Franck and Lisa Papagni graduated from a master's program at Virginia's George Mason University in 1993, they made the job market for higher education jobs a little tighter than it already was.
The partners both wanted to work in the specialty of student housing but decided that they wouldn't compete for the same jobs. They did, however, want to work near one another.
"We looked at jobs in a particular area and decided who would apply for them," said Papagni, who is Student Housing's media and technical coordinator.
When the couple saw an opening for a resident director position at UC Davis, they decided to let Papagni apply for it. Eventually, Franck also got a similar job in Student Housing.
Their professional proximity has occasionally been a challenge, say Papagni, 33, and Franck, 34. But mostly it's been an asset for the couple and their 3-year-old son, Noah.
Since coming to Davis, the couple have held several different positions in Student Housing. Papagni now supervises a position -learning resource coordinator-Franck used to hold. She now works in the position of complex coordinator in which Papagni formerly served.
"It's helpful to have someone who knows the culture and the personalities," Franck said. "If something comes up you can say, 'What do you think about this?'"
Noah also benefits from his parents' close ties on campus. He attends pre-school on campus in the morning, and in the afternoon accompanies Franck to her office. Papagni works a flex schedule so she can see Noah during the daytime.
Because the couple live in the Solano Park apartment complex Franck also supervises, the family's free time has occasionally been interrupted by resident concerns.
For the most part, however, Papagni and Franck say they do not talk about work when they are at home relaxing.
"As Sue says, 'Work is work, and lunch is lunch,' Papagni said.