As UC Davis grows, both in student population and diverse fields of study, the campus continues to attract top-notch researchers and clinicians from around the globe.

While different research goals attracted each of the 115 new Academic Senate and Cooperative Extension hires introduced through the faculty insert this year, as a whole they chose a university community that values a common objective of academic excellence.

"The deans and I agree — these new faculty recruits are exceptionally accomplished," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. "They are destined to enrich the campus, and we are most fortunate they've chosen to join us."

To view the New Faculty insert in Adobe PDF form, click here (512 kb, Acrobat Reader required).

Diverse experts

From the study of medieval Japanese poetry and ethnographic filmmaking to theoretical high-energy physics and neuroscience, these new faculty members span a wide range of fields. Their varied cultural backgrounds are sure to enrich the learning experiences of students, staff and faculty alike, said Vice Provost for Academic Personnel Barbara Horwitz.

Last year, more than 40 percent of the new Academic Senate and Cooperative Extension members came from outside the United States.

That percentage continues to remain high again this year with incoming faculty arriving from Germany, Canada, Taiwan, India, China, England, Japan, France and Italy, to name just a few locations.

"As we fill positions in new waves of biology such as proteomics and some cutting-edge areas of social science, we're seeing a mix of new hires and that's really exciting," Horwitz said.

She added, "These people have the opportunity to change the nature of the institution — they're the future of the university."

According to Horwitz, the campus experienced a huge influx of positions several years ago, and has been recruiting for those positions ever since. The university has brought in 455 ladder-rank faculty in the past five years and more than 500 Academic Senate faculty.

The senate hires include faculty in the professorial series (tenure-track positions), the clinical professor series (e.g. medicine), and the professor-in-residence series.

Horwitz anticipates that as these growth positions are filled, the campus will slow down or level off in hiring to replace those individuals that retire or move on.

This year's new faculty insert (see hard copy version of Dateline) includes115 new hires; 19 of them were approved in 2004 and so are not included in this year's statistics.

Of the 96 new faculty hired in 2005, approximately 34 percent are women and about 28 percent are faculty of color.

While the percentage of women hires remains nearly the same as last year, Horwitz noted that the College of Engineering, the School of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Medicine have done particularly well in the past five years in hiring female faculty members.