This column offers a sampling of honors recently awarded to UC Davis faculty, staff and units:

Chris van Kessel, chair of the Department of Plant Sciences, was recently elected a fellow of the Crop Science Society of America. Van Kessel, whose research program focuses on the management of rice cropping systems, and the impact of climate change on crop production and nutrient cycling, was one of 10 society members selected this year as fellows, based on their professional achievements and service.

Joseph Cech, emeritus professor of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, was recognized by the California Fly Fishers Unlimited on Nov. 18 for his timely and enthusiastic support in the coordination of the CFFU Bob Bittner Memorial Scholarship Award Program. The scholarship goes to UC Davis graduate students to recognize research interest and general excellence in the academic pursuit of fisheries biology and/or aquatic ecology benefiting recreational fisheries in California.

Carl Winter, Cooperative Extension food toxicologist and director of the FoodSafe Program in the Department of Food Science and Technology, has been selected as the inaugural Keiser Distinguished Lecturer in Life Sciences at Ohio Northern University. During a three-day March visit to the university, Winter will present talks on food safety to students, faculty and the general public. The lectureship, created to bring in nationally prominent scholars in the life sciences, honors longtime biological sciences professor Terry D. Keiser of Ohio Northern University.

The California Dairy Quality Assurance Program, directed by UC Davis veterinarian Michael Payne, recently received California's highest and most prestigious environmental honor: the Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award in the category of Environmental and Economic Partnerships. The dairy program, which offers classroom and on-farm assistance to help dairy producers meet regional, state and federal environmental regulations, is a partnership between 17 regulatory agencies, dairy organizations, environmental advocacy groups and UC. Payne said the achievement would not have been possible without the University of California Cooperative Extension, particularly the leadership provided by Cooperative Extension Specialist Deanne Meyer of the UC Davis Department of Animal Science.

The UC Davis Arboretum was recently selected as one of the 10 best botanic gardens in the U.S. by the Hotel Club Travel Blog. Ranked sixth among other gardens such as Denver Botanic Gardens (1) and the Missouri Botanical Garden (10), the arboreum is described as "the premiere garden of its type in California." See blog.hotelclub.com/the-10-best-botanic-gardens-in-the-us.

Barry Tharp, professor of pediatric neurology, has been selected to receive an annual award from the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society to recognize Tharp's lifetime of outstanding contributions to the field of clinical neurophysiology. Tharp will receive the 2008 Herbert H. Jasper Award at the society's annual meeting on Feb. 16, 2008, in Savannah, Georgia.

Graduate student Cristobal Uauy was awarded the national Distinguished Dissertation Award by the Council of Graduate Schools and University Microfilms International. Uauy's dissertation on the positional cloning of Gpc-B1 was chosen as the winner in the biological and life sciences category. The award was presented to Uauy at the council's annual meeting Dec. 6 in Seattle.