AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Fall Convocation

WHEN: 10-11 a.m. Wednesday (Sept. 25)

WHERE: Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

WHO: Everyone in the campus community; release time is appropriate with supervisory approval

WEBCAST: Live; look for the link on the UC Davis home page

PROGRAM

• Linda P.B. Katehi, chancellor
• Karen Ross, secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture
• Ulfat Shaikh, associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, and director, Healthcare Quality Integration, whose recent projects have focused on nutrition, obesity, asthma and preventable readmissions, as well as patient satisfaction
• Jorge Dubcovsky, professor, Department of Plant Sciences, internationally acclaimed wheat geneticist, recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Brian Chiang, a senior in biological sciences, will sing the national anthem and the alma mater, Hail to California, backed by the UC Davis Saxophone Quartet, the lineup of which has changed since tfirst being announced. The new lineup: Jacob Hendrix, senior, alto saxophone; Christine Richers, junior, tenor saxophone; Kevin Stewart, faculty affiliate, baritone saxophone; and Mike McMullen, soprano saxophone, former Jazz Band director.

•••

WHAT: Health and food fair, with participants from the Davis and Sacramento campuses — more than 20 booths in all, including the World Food Center and Agricultural Sustainability Institute, Children’s Hospital and Living Fit Forever, WorkLife and Wellness, the Western Health Nutrition Research Center and the Institute for Population Health Improvement.

WHEN: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 25)

WHERE: Vanderhoef Quad, outside the Mondavi Center

Fall Convocation tomorrow (Sept. 25) celebrates UC Davis’ contributions to sustainable food systems and healthier living around the world.

Karen Ross, the state secretary of food and agriculture, will join Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi and two other faculty members — a pediatrician and a plant scientist — in addressing the convocation theme: “Innovating Together to Advance Food and Health.”

Then, Katehi said in her invitation to the campus community, “we will begin our year well by living our theme” — at a health and food fair on the Vanderhoef Quad. As you make your way around, you're invited to nibble on samples from the Student Farm, and locally sourced apples, almonds and Asian pears from the Davis Farmers Market.

Other food and health fair participants include SPE Certified, which will showcase its new partnership with Dining Services.

"UC Davis students who are settling into residence halls this week have begun experiencing a new take on healthy eating," Dining Services declared in a news release this week.

Recipes have been adjusted, following SPE Certified’s "scientifically grounded culinary, nutrition and sustainability philosophies," and these dishes are being featured at one service platform in each of the campus's three dining commons.

"The dishes do not focus on any particular diet; they are not exclusively vegan or vegetarian but inclusive of many different foods," the news release states. "The focus is a balanced plate composed of whole foods paired in combinations that enhance the entire meal."
 
Linda Adams, registered dietitian, director of sustainability and nutirition, Dining Services, explained: “Demonstrating that both nutrition and taste can be preserved is critical in changing the way people eat.”

More on the menu

If all this food news has you hungering for more, you’ll have plenty to choose from in the coming year, including:

• “How to Use All Those Veggies You Get at the Farmers Market” — Presented by Linda Adams, registered dietitian with Dining Services. WorkLife and Wellness Brown Bag Series. Noon-1 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 26), multipurpose room, Student Community Center. Free; no preregistration.

• UC Davis Farmers Market — The fall season begins Wednesday, Oct. 2. The market is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Wednesday (weather permitting) through Nov. 13 on the Silo Patio.

• “Food and You: An Introduction” — The first installment in a new brown bag series, Developing a Healthy Relationship With Food, presented by the Academic and Staff Assistance Program.

“Join us for this four-part series to discuss the pitfalls of dieting, the healing properties of natural food and the benefits of mindful eating,” said the presenter, Kaile Brake, doctoral intern and employee assistance program counselor at ASAP. “Together we’ll explore the way we currently view food and consider new possibilities.”

The first meeting is scheduled at noon Wednesday, Oct. 2, in 126 Voorhies Hall (large conference room). Future dates have not yet been announced.

• Food Day — The UC system — participating again in this national celebration, encouraging the movement for healthy, affordable and sustainable food — asks the university community to take the Food Day Pledge: "I pledge to 'Eat Real' (foods that are healthy, minimally processed, and prepared in a sustainable and humane way) for at least a day, or even better, for a week or more." On this year's Food Day, Thursday, Oct. 24, UC Davis programs will include "Food Preservation is Fun" (WorkLife and Wellness Brown Bag Series); and the biannual Farm-to-College Dinner (public invited to the Dining Commons), showcasing Dining Services' commitment to shopping local, sustainable production methods and the humane treatment of animals.

• Farm-to-Fork Festival — The UC Davis World Food Center will have a booth at Sacramento’s first celebration of the region’s self-proclaimed status as "America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital." The festival is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 28) on the Capitol Mall between Third and Seventh streets.

• UC Global Health Day — UC Davis will host the fourth annual Global Health Day, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, April 26.

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