Ushering in the academic year
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T.J Ushing/UC Davis photos; produced by Dave Jones and Susanne Rockwell

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Transcript of the chancellor's address, plus video.

UC Davis this week celebrated its newly stated “Vision of Excellence” and the people who are making it happen.

“We are changing the world,” Chancellor Linda Katehi said at the annual Fall Convocation, held Sept. 22, the day before the start of instruction. “Each and every one of us: more than 32,000 students, more than 2,500 faculty and more than 21,000 staff.”

The chancellor singled out representatives of each of those groups for recognition during the convocation, which carried the theme: "UC Davis: A Vision of Excellence." The event, Katehi’s second convocation since taking up the chancellor’s post in August 2009, drew an audience of about 1,200 to Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Michael Ziccardi, an associate professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine, gave one of the keynote addresses. He had returned only the night before from the Gulf Coast, where, since April 29, he has led the federal effort to rescue and rehabilitate sea turtles and marine mammals caught in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Over the past four months, Ziccardi said, he had been asked repeatedly why federal officials and the BP oil company called on UC Davis to lead this “monumental effort.”

“My answer is: UC Davis got the call that day because we have a tradition, an innate culture, of collaboration, professionalism and continued striving for excellence.”

“It is that culture that has built the Oiled Wildlife Care Network into the pre-eminent oiled wildlife program in the world — and why, when the oiled gulf animals needed saving, they called us.”

The world does not come to UC Davis’ door just for veterinary expertise, Ziccardi said. “Every day, all of us gathered here today get those calls.”

UC Davis answers, he said, with realistic and achievable solutions. For farmers and ranchers, for climate change, for health care, for malnourished children in Africa.

Katehi said Ziccardi succeeded in his gulf mission because he had vision — vision that carried him through the crisis.

New standards, new heights

The chancellor then turned to another crisis, the world’s financial downturn and, in particular, its effect on UC — on students who are struggling as never before to pay for their education, and on staff who have been buffeted by layoffs and furloughs, and yet remain fully committed to UC Davis.

Vision, Katehi said, will carry us to the growth and success “that absolutely will arise from this crisis.”

“I know that vision is what propels me forward today, when the naysayers claim that this economic downturn will slow us down, maybe even stop us … that UC Davis couldn’t possibly maintain its quality and reputation, much less set new standards and reach new heights.”

Yet, she said, over the last year, “We did exactly that.”

Katehi reeled off a list of accomplishments, including a No. 9 ranking by U.S. News and World Report in its annual listing of the nation’s top public research universities, and a top-10 ranking in research funds (nearly $679 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30).

“Our mission to teach, to awaken and inspire and guide is now stronger than ever,” Katehi said.

Faculty and student achievement

A top-notch faculty is at the heart of UC Davis’ success. Katehi cited two of them, physics professor Tony Tyson, who is leading the development of the world’s most powerful survey telescope, and English professor Yiyun Li, a noted young author.

Thanks to Tyson and his team, Katehi said, “We will have a new view of the universe and finally answer such age-old mysteries such as, ‘How did the Milky Way form?’”

Li, seated near the front of the hall, stood at the chancellor’s request. The New Yorker magazine recently named Li as one of the nation’s best and most promising fiction writers under the age of age 40.

Li’s newest book is Gold Boy, Emerald Girl, a collection of stories described by a reviewer for National Public Radio as “masterful.”

The chancellor also introduced “one of our outstanding students”: Tina Randolph Alexander, mother of 11 (seven of them adopted), who came to UC Davis to study adoption issues and social welfare. She earned her undergraduate degree this summer, and now begins a doctoral program in history, also at UC Davis.

Inspiration and sustainability

Louanne Horsfield, who graduated from UC Davis in 1969, has attended convocation for the last three years (since returning here as a retiree) and said she has drawn inspiration from each one.

“As a Davis alum, it’s heartwarming to know that your school makes a difference,” Horsfield said outside the Mondavi Center. “We have a sense that we were part of something much bigger.”

Johannes Grobbel, an exchange student from Aachen, Germany, said he was pleasantly surprised to hear the chancellor talk about UC Davis’ commitment to sustainability.

“Because in Europe, we think Americans waste everything,” said Grobbel, who is studying mechanical engineering. During his time here, he said, he hopes to take advantage of UC Davis’ strengths in sustainability.

Katehi noted the university’s vision to be “an economic engine that drives a clean-energy future.” In May, UC Davis took a big step forward on this front by hosting a roundtable dubbed E3, for Economic Prosperity, Energy and the Environment.

“We brought everyone together,” Katehi said. “The public sector. The private sector. Researchers. Investors and corporations.”

And Gov. Schwarzenegger, too, who “was so impressed with our energy and environmental credentials that he decided to move his annual Global Climate Summit to UC Davis this November.”

“Here at UC Davis,” Katehi said, “we are global citizens, working together to better the environmental, health, education, the human condition and so much more.”

‘The vision to get the job done’

Many of us do this kind of work on our own time. They include Henoch Munoz, a publications specialist in Repro Graphics, who for years has been traveling to Peru to help people in need.

After an earthquake last year left thousands of Peruvians homeless, Munoz organized fundraiser after fundraiser, then went to Peru and used the money to build homes.

“The devastation was overwhelming,” Katehi said. “But he had the vision and got the job done.”

Munoz stood to be recognized, as did Bob Ouzts, a project manager in Design and Construction Management (formerly Architects and Engineers), who, in his free time, repairs homes for disabled people, elderly people, single parents and widows — whoever needs a hand.

Katehi noted that Ouzts founded a nonprofit organization that has spread throughout California and to eight other states.

Heartbreak and hope

The chancellor recalled the challenges of the last year, mostly financial, and identified several incidents of hate and intolerance as particularly heartbreaking.

“Clearly, this campus is not beyond discrimination. Society at large may never be. But we can never stop working to change that,” said Katehi, noting how the university had responded and what is still in the works, in particular a yearlong “Reclaiming Civility” project that will focus on what people say and what people do not say.

And, Katehi said, UC Davis will persevere amid financial uncertainty, in part by pushing creative and innovative ideas from the lab bench and classroom whiteboard to the marketplace. She noted: “We are ready to begin serious talks about creating an innovation park to transfer our research into commercial technologies.

“We will be positioned to make the right investments to transform our vision into reality, and to take advantage of opportunities as the economy improves.”