Adjunct professor Catherine VandeVoort says she is happy and humbled to be the first recipient of UC Davis' Charles P. Nash Prize, recognizing achievement in promoting shared governance and advocating for faculty interests and welfare.

After all, VandeVoort, a scientist and longtime chair of the Academic Federation, learned from Nash himself how to be an effective and respected faculty leader.

"She is an indefatigable advocate for equitable treatment of non-senate academic faculty, and through her stellar research record serves as a testament that Academic Federation members are an indispensable asset to the UC Davis mission," her nominators said.

VandeVoort, who holds an appointment in the School of Medicine and carries out research, primarily involving reproductive biology, at the California National Primate Research Center, said she was honored to receive the Nash prize, but said talking about it was difficult, "because the award's establishment acknowledges that Charlie is gone."

'Advocacy knew no bounds'

Nash, who died last year at the age of 75, was a chemistry professor and member of the Academic Senate, where he served two terms as chair. His advocacy knew no bounds, spanning the senate, Academic Federation and the Davis Faculty Association — which came together to establish the prize in his honor.

The federation represents nearly 1,000 adjunct professors like VandeVoort, plus researchers, lecturers and other academic appointees who are not members of the Academic Senate. The Davis Faculty Association is an independent organization for university faculty, and Nash became involved in it after stepping down as senate chair.

Faculty leaders like Nash and VandeVoort are no strangers to committee work. But committee work alone is not enough to win the $1,000 Nash prize.

"I think this award is about what goes on between the committee process," VandeVoort said. "And, by the way, Charlie was great at that."

Indeed, "in the spirit of Charlie Nash," as the prize committee said in the call for nominations, the winner's efforts on behalf of shared governance and faculty interests and welfare "must be above and beyond normal committee assignments or academic obligations, typically spanning a period of time or one's career."

VandeVoort described Nash as never being "stingy" with his time. If a colleague needed help in navigating the administrative bureaucracy or the Academic Policy Manual, Nash was there to help.

"That's one thing I have really tried to emulate," regardless of other demands on her time, VandeVoort said.

She explained that colleagues who call for help are more often than not dealing with potential career- and life-altering situations, "and I try to remember that."

She has been making herself available for most of her 20 years at UC Davis, on and off committees and in and out of the top post in the Academic Federation. VandeVoort served as federation chair in 1990-91, and became chair again in the fall of 2001.

"I try to keep everyone informed, try to keep everyone in the loop," said VandeVoort, who plans to step down as chair at the end of this academic year.

But she will not walk away. "When you serve as chair, and when you serve on committees, you become a part of the body of knowledge for your organization and constituency. You become knowledgeable, and you can't withhold that knowledge.

"It's about participating and educating yourself in the institution, and then being a resource."

Charlie Nash did it, "and he really influenced how I felt about Davis," said VandeVoort, describing "a sense of obligation to the university, something that's bigger than yourself."

"I really see myself as trying to make the university a better place. When we develop processes that are fair, we are helping everyone, including the institution."

Her efforts in this regard began shortly after she came to UC Davis in 1988, when, as Academic Federation vice chair, she successfully fought for federation members' rights in the personnel process.

She met with Nash so he could review her draft document on the issue.

Her nominators for the Nash prize stated: "She learned that Charlie would always be the most fully committed and fully informed person in the room, and that adopting that level of dedication and hard work would always prove essential to charting sound policy and reaching fair outcomes."

Her nominators cited her service on the Nash-Goldman Committee that successfully worked to establish a process of peer review for the majority of Academic Federation titles, for the first time.

VandeVoort's other successful efforts include a provision whereby established researchers, who are not senate members, can be named principal investigators — making them competitive for extramural funding. And she succeeded in making federation members eligible for travel awards.

She continues to push for a return to open-ended appointments for federation members. Today, they receive one-year appointments that she said can negatively affect how financial institutions view members' stability when they apply for mortgages, for example.

In summary, her nominators said VandeVoort "has been a tireless advocate for the most underrepresented group of faculty on campus, those without security of employment or mandated participation in shared governance but who contribute a significant portion of the teaching, research, administration and other scholarly activity that is central to delivering the academic mission of the campus."

A dinner and award ceremony for VandeVoort is scheduled for April 28 at the University Club Lounge.