Comments by UC Davis community members and references to the campus regularly appear in a wide variety of media outlets around the country. Among the recent citings in prominent venues:

Education professor Patricia Gandara contributed to articles about the influence of socio-economic status on education in the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News on April 7. Gandara said that wealthier students are likely to come out ahead because of access to better schools. In particular, she noted that Chinese students tend to learn English more successfully than Spanish-speaking students. "We know that the Mandarin and Cantonese students tend to be in suburban schools (with greater resources), surrounded by high-achieving students," she said. ...

Nutrition professor Judith Stern contributed to two articles on obesity in The Sacramento Bee, on April 2 and April 6. Stern, vice president of the American Obesity Association, said, "We have a mega-obesity problem in the United States, and the food industry is partially to blame. This makes me frustrated and angry." Stern suggested that the government could do more to combat weight-gain, including extending the school day to teach children about nutrition. ...

Susan Steinbach of the Intensive English Program appeared on Voice of America on April 6, comparing conversational styles around the world to sports. She referred to "basketball," "rugby" and "bowling" styles of conversing. Steinbach said that in the rugby style, common in Russia and Greece, "you are expected to interrupt other people, and you expect to be interrupted. There's a rapid change of topic, a rapid change of speakers and a concept called overlapping, where one person starts speaking and another speaker speaks on top of that." …

Mathematics lecturer Bradley Ballinger was quoted about rising textbook costs in the April 8 Boston Globe. Ballinger recently wrote a letter of protest to a publishing company over the cost of a calculus textbook. "Publishers, I thought, were victimizing students to a large extent, thinking of them as an extension of their parents' wallets," Ballinger said. "If you price things so that only parents can afford them, you put them out of reach of students who don't have wealthy parents."…

Agricultural economist Daniel Sumner was mentioned in an April 3 San Francisco Chronicle article on the widespread effects of rising oil prices. Sumner said that many businesses — especially growers — could be pushed out of business because of increasing fuel costs. "Could this be the tipping point for somebody? It surely will be," he said. "Most growers make it through. But it is the final tipping point for somebody every time."…

Wildlife, fish and conservation biology professor Peter Klimley was quoted in a story about a great white shark's release from the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the April 1 San Francisco Chronicle. Klimley, a shark expert, applauded the aquarium for its efforts to break shark stereotypes. "There are all these Midwesterners who have never seen a shark; all they've seen is the movie 'Jaws,'" he said. "But then they go to Monterey Aquarium and see this shark swimming in this very beautiful, sensuous way, and it changes their minds about sharks."…

A study co-authored by wildlife veterinarian Joseph Gaydos was mentioned in the March 29 Vancouver Sun and the Times Colonist of Victoria, British Colombia. Gaydos and his colleague found that 63 species in the Puget Sound-Georgia Strait area are at risk because of over-harvesting, habitat loss and pollution. The study also concluded that federal and local governments cannot reach a consensus on how much danger the animals are in. …

The Hartford Courant cited psychology professor Greg Herek in an April 6 story on gay marriage. Herek, who has studied public opinion toward gays and lesbians, expects attitudes to change soon as the public becomes more familiar with homosexuality. "Gay people will come to be seen more as members of a minority group, almost like an ethnic group. ... Not just as a group of people having sex all the time, but as part of a couple," he says. "All of this will make gay people more three-dimensional in the mind of the public." …

Ishwarlal Jialal of the medical center was quoted in a Copley News Service story on April 4 about the benefits of vitamin E. Jialal, a cardiologist who has studied the supplement for decades, refuted recent claims that vitamin E could have negative side effects. "It's important not to miss the big picture — what has been documented in clinical trials for years," he said. "Studies show benefits up front — fewer heart attacks, cancers, and that people who take vitamins are healthier."