The publication Washington Monthly ranks UC Davis 10th in the nation, up from 17th last year, among "national universities," in the magazine's second annual college rankings that use a new methodology: Universities should be engines of social mobility, they should produce the academic minds and scientific research that advance knowledge and drive economic growth, and they should inculcate and encourage an ethic of service. MIT was first, UC Berkeley second, UCLA fourth and UC San Diego fifth. ...

Carol Robinson, senior associate director of Patient Care Services, was a member of a Sacramento-based rowing team that won three gold medals earlier this month at the U.S. Masters National Rowing Championships in Seattle. In addition to its gold medals, which represent national championships, the Sacramento State Masters Rowing Club won four bronze medals after competing in a total of nine races. Robinson rowed in four of the club's boats. Of those, the team won a gold medal (national championship) in the Women's Eight (ages 50-54), and three bronze medals in the Women's Open Eight (ages 50-54), Women's Open Eight (ages 55-59) and the Women's Four (ages 50-54). ...

A September opening is planned for an exhibit by Robin Hill, associate professor of art, at the University Gallery at California State University, Stanislaus, in Turlock. The show, titled New Works: Multiplying the Variations, will feature sculptures, installations and cyanotypes, and will reflect the artist's engagement with elements that flow, divide, accumulate and dissipate. ...

Karen Roth, the coordinator of diversity education in the Office of Campus Community Relations, left the university in June for a position as an adjunct faculty member at Oregon State University in Cascade. She had worked in the Office of Campus Community Relations for eight years with 19 total years on campus. Roth was instrumental in developing the Campus Community Book Project, now in its fifth year. ...

After driving alone to and from her job at UC Davis for 20 years, Candi Stafford is now a self-described "van fanatic," riding with the Placer County vanpool to and from the main campus. Stafford, who lives in Citrus Heights, is a radiology technician in the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital's Small-Animal Clinic. "I love it," she said of vanpooling. "I don't know why I didn't do this years ago." She acknowledged that she is saving money, but more important to her, she said, "I'm not driving every day, and I'm getting to work faster and getting home faster," because the van uses the carpool lane on Interstate 80. Stafford is among a growing number of employees signing up for vans. A seventh vanpool is in the works for the main campus, and would be the first to serve Capay Valley, Esparto and Woodland. And a vanpool for Yuba County is being discussed. Existing vanpools serve North Natomas, Elk Grove and the East Bay, as well as Placer County. …

Upon presenting the 2006 Herbert A. Young Award for academic achievement, Dean Winston Ko took note of the Young award winner from 30 years earlier -- who sat not too far away on the commencement stage in the ARC Pavilion. The 1976 winner was Ken Burtis, a biochemistry undergraduate who went on to become a professor at UC Davis and who this year presided as dean at the first commencement of the College of Biological Sciences. From his front-row seat he saw Ko present the Young award to Sarah Elizabeth Albritton, a bachelor of science graduate in cell biology. Ko is dean of the College of Letters and Science; he made the presentation because the Young award goes to a graduating senior in L&S. Technically, Albritton graduated from L&S, which included the biological sciences through 2005-06, even though the College of Biological Sciences was up and running. But it will not have any students officially until the fall of 2006. So, for 2005-06, biological sciences degrees continued to come from L&S or the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. …

Doreen Barcellona Strnad, who recently moved from the UC Davis School of Education to the campus's new Retiree Center, says she liked her previous job just fine, "but I missed working with retirees." Before joining the university staff five years ago, she worked in sales and marketing for three Davis residential facilities: Courtyard Health Care, skilled nursing; Covell Gardens, independent and assisted living; and University Retirement Community, which offers continuing care. She began her university career as a part-time employee in Campus Events and Visitor Services. She became a full-time employee three years ago, joining the School of Education, where she served as a program representative the last two years. She saw Dateline's Feb. 3 article about the forthcoming Retiree Center, and "a lightbulb went on in my mind." She applied for the coordinator's job, and she started her new job on June 12. Barcellona Strnad received a bachelor of arts degree in communications from Mundelein College in Chicago; Mundelein is now part of Loyola University. And, about her name: Barcellona (with two l's) is her maiden name, of Sicilian extract; and Strnad (pronounced Struh-nad, as in dad) is the last name of her husband, Dan. "It's Czech," she said, and apparently, in the Czech Republic, as common as Smith.