Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef's Fall Convocation celebrated "A Century of Doing What Matters," and he predicted a second century of similar achievement, "anticipating and responding to society's needs."

In declaring 2008-09 as the UC Davis Centennial Year of Service, Vanderhoef expressed confidence that staff, faculty, students, alumni and university friends would continue working on behalf of their communities, the state, nation and world.

"This is not an option for us. It's in our genes. It's in our culture," he told an audience of an estimated 1,650 people in the Mondavi Center's Jackson Hall on Sept. 24.

Five other speakers from the campus community proved his point: a student advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing; an American Red Cross volunteer, a veteran of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort; a UC Davis Foundation board member, the chairman of the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians; a professor who runs the Veterinary Emergency Response Team; and California's 2008 Physician of the Year, who brings much-needed medical care and equipment to Africa.

"Seeing all those people makes you want to be a part of it, to do things for the community," Angelica Torrez, a first-year student from Temecula, said during an outdoor reception after the convocation.

The audience entered Jackson Hall to the sounds of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, and emerged to hear the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh playing in front of the Mondavi Center.

Vanderhoef made an early reference to his final year as chancellor -- he announced last June that he would be step down in June 2009.

"Frankly, I didn't know exactly how I'd feel about coming out here today. It's my 15th and last year as chancellor, my last convocation. I'm a little sad, but mostly, in fact, I'm happy, not because I'm leaving -- but because of you. All of you, in your unique, special way, are the remarkable university that is UC Davis."

It is a university that has come a long way. The first class numbered 18, in 1908-09, enough to fill Jackson Hall's first row and maybe a few more seats, Vanderhoef said. This year's Centennial Class numbers nearly 5,000.

Vanderhoef recalled George Pierce Jr. and Peter Shields and Jacob La Rue, among the people who successfully lobbied for a state farm school in what was then called Davisville.

"They taught us to dream big and to work hard and to never give up. But I suspect, I just bet, that even they would be amazed to see the transformation of the 1908 University Farm to what UC Davis is today," Vanderhoef said.

He spoke of Celeste Turner Wright, the university's first female tenured faculty member. "She was only 22 when she arrived on campus to found the English department amid a few stucco buildings, two wooden dormitories and lots of sheds and barns."

Wright and many others along the way "helped transform a modest farm school into one of the nation's premier research universities," Vanderhoef said.

"Everything that matters to us as human beings, UC Davis touches and transforms," he said. "Everything. Whether it's health, the economy, what we eat and drink, the way we live and work together, how we find meaning through art, music and literature, how we steward the Earth and think environmentally -- everything that matters, UC Davis touches and transforms."

Vanderhoef continued: "Frankly, I'm amazed at how far we've come -- particularly because it was just 50 years ago, in 1959, that UC Davis became a comprehensive University of California campus."

He noted that he had been at UC Davis for half of those 50 years, first as provost and executive vice chancellor, then as chancellor.

And while he ended his speech by focusing on "you" -- the people of UC Davis, doing what matters on the job, in the classroom or on your own time -- the audience responded by turning the spotlight on Vanderhoef, giving him a standing ovation.

"Doing What Matters": After the convocation, Dateline asked a sampling of people what they were doing or had done to make the world a better place. Read their comments.