The UC Davis community Monday evening celebrated the accomplishments of nine faculty members newly seated in endowed chairs and the donors who will support them.

Endowment gifts - from major U.S. corporations, local citizens and retired faculty - will support diverse faculty scholarship in the physical sciences, agriculture, humanities and medicine.

"(The chairs) are outstanding citizens, they are outstanding scientists, and often our best teachers," said Provost Robert Grey, speaking at the Freeborn Hall endowment banquet. It was only 23 years ago that UC Davis received its first endowed chair, the Sesnon Chair in animal science, now held by Professor Ransom Baldwin. Since then the pace has quickly accelerated, Grey said.

Last spring, six faculty members were honored with new endowed chairs and professorships. Two professors were handed the reins of existing chairs.

Today, UC Davis manages endowment assets of $62 million for 60 faculty chairs. Recipients of the endowments receive a percentage of their interest earnings.

"It's an exciting time to be alive and kicking at UC Davis," agreed music professor Kern Holoman, the new Barbara K. Jackson Chair in Orchestral Conducting.

The chair endowment provides permanent support to the conductor of the orchestra and allows the study of orchestral music to occupy an even more prominent role on campus, said humanities, arts and cultural studies Dean Elizabeth Langland of Holoman's chair. The chair is a gift of Davis arts supporter Barbara Jackson. She also recently donated $5 million to the campus Center for the Arts.

"People are recognizing this is one thing they can do to be associated with the university forever," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. "An endowed chair goes on and on and on."

The faculty members appointed to endowed chairs this year are:

•Jason Eiserich, Paul F. Gulyassy Professorship

Eiserich joined the Department of Internal Medicine's Division of Nephrology last year after previously serving as an assistant research professor at the University of Alabama.

Eiserich focuses his research on chronic and acute inflammation and the cell dysfunction associated with inflammatory diseases of the vascular system.

Eiserich's chair is named for Paul Gulyassy, the first full-time chief of nephrology at the UC Davis School of Medicine. The professorship is a gift from Dialysis Clinic Inc., a nonprofit group that provides dialysis machines for the medical school's patients.

• Kern Holoman, Barbara Jackson Chair in Orchestral Conducting

Holoman, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 1973, is an international authority on the life and music of French composer Hector Berlioz. He has received the university's Distinguished Teaching Award and the Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement and has conducted the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra since 1981.

"Being in music is just as dependent on munificent patronage as it was in the days of the King of Prussia and the Brandenburg Concerto," Holoman said.

• Marjorie Longo, Joe and Essie Smith Endowed Professorship

Longo joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in 1996 after three years as a National Institutes of Health fellow at Cornell University. Longo's research focuses on cell membrane properties, which are important in the study of medical technology and health sciences.

The Smith Professorship is a gift of Professor Emeritus J.W. Smith and his wife. Its purpose is to provide support to a young College of Engineering faculty member who has already demonstrated scholarly potential.

Longo thanked the university for its support of women faculty in the sciences and her family for its support of her career goals.

• Alexandra Navrotsky, Edward Roessler Chair in Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Navrotsky, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 1997, is the first professor to hold appointments in four departments in the three university colleges. She serves as the interdisciplinary professor in ceramic, Earth and environmental material chemistry.

Navrotsky's latest venture is the UC Davis Nanomaterials in the Environment, Agriculture and Technology Initiative. The study of the tiny particles has implications for the better production of ceramics, storage of nuclear waste and retention of water in soil.

"The best is yet to come," Navrostsky said.

The Roessler Chair is funded by the chancellor's discretionary funds. It honors Edward B. Roessler, a mathematics professor and academic leader for almost 60 years.

• Susan Shaheen, Honda Distinguished Scholar of Transportation

Shaheen is the co-director of the New Mobility Center at UC Davis' Institute of Transportation Studies and a researcher for the UC system's Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways.

She was the lead researcher behind the institute's carsharing pilot project, CarLink II, and an expert in longitudinal survey methods, social marking theory, business model testing and technology assessment.

Shaheen's chair was endowed by the American Honda Motor Co., which has also established the Honda Endowment for New Mobility Studies at the institute.

• Andrew Walker, Louis P. Martini Endowed Chair in Viticulture

Walker is an internationally known grape geneticist who has been breeding grapes on campus since 1989. His research involves the development of rootstocks and studying the genetic basis of resistance to soil-borne pests. Walker is helping breed new grape varieties with resistance to Pierce's disease, which can devastate harvests of the fruit.

The Martini chair honors the memory of Louis Peter Martini, the pioneer winemaker who studied at UC Davis.

• James Wolpert, Marvin Sands Endowed Chair in Viticulture and Enology

Wolpert is the department chair in viticulture and enology. During his tenure, he has completed a strategic plan for the department, initiated a board of visitors and begun a fund-raising campaign. Additionally, Wolpert is the only wine grape Cooperative Extension specialist in the state.

The endowed department chair honors the late Marvin Sands, founder of beverage industry leader Canandaigua, now known as Constellation Brands. The endowment will be passed on to the next chair of the viticulture and enology department.