Thirteen proved to be a lucky number for the 13 faculty members appointed to endowed chairs and professorships in the last year.

UC Davis now has 91 endowed chairs and professorships. Each year, the university puts on a dinner to recognize all of the appointees; this year's event took place April 5 at Freeborn Hall. The hosts were Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw, and Michael Chapman, chair of the board of trustees of the UC Davis Foundation.

Here is a list of the last year's appointments to endowed chairs and professorships. Brief descriptions of the honorees' work is taken from the program handed out at the Endowed Chairs and Professorships dinner:

• Judy Callis, Paul K. and Ruth R. Stumpf Professorship in Plant Biochemistry — She is widely known for her research on the cellular control of protein degradation in the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, which is central to a multitude of processes related to cell growth, development and death.
• Nipavan Chiamvimonvat, Roger Tatarian Professorship in Cardiovascular Medicine — Her research goal is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms contributing to cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in patients with cardiac hypertrophy and failure.
• Allison Coudert, Paul and Marie Castelfranco Chair in History of Christianity — In funding this chair, the Castlefrancos aimed to support a historian of Christianity with a proven interest and disposition toward inter-religious dialogue and comparative religion. Coudert's other focuses are religion and science, Jewish-Christian relations, women and religion, and comparative mysticisms.
• Floyd Feeney, Homer G. and Ann Berryhill Angelo Professorship — He has been a law professor at UC Davis since 1968 and served as executive director of the Center on Administration of Criminal Justice until 1986. Now he is director of the LL.M. Program, referring to master of laws.
• David Fyhrie, David Linn Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery — His research interests include bone biomechanics, bone remodeling, cartilage mechanical properties, bone cell mechano-biology, fracture mechanics and finite element modeling.
• Randi Hagerman, MIND Institute Chair in Fragile X Research — She is committed to management and expansion of research on fragile X, the most common inherited cause of mental retardation, as well as overseeing the fragile X clinic, teaching medical students, and bringing national and international recognition to the MIND Institute for its leadership in understanding, treating and ultimately finding a cure for fragile X.
• Robert Hendren, Tsakopoulos-Vismara Endowed Chair — He specializes in the neurodevelopment of serious emotional disorders, including autism spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder and psychotic disorder. He has clinical interests in the psychopharmacologic treatment of children and adolescents.
• Louise Jackson, John B. Orr Endowed Chair in Environmental Plant Sciences — She is committed to using and conserving biodiversity within agricultural ecosystems, reducing the impacts on wildland ecosystems, and developing policies for sustaining biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.
• Carl Keen, Mars Inc. Endowed Chair in Developmental Nutrition — His research group's main areas of study are the influence of diet on embryonic and fetal development; gene-nutrient interactions; how diet influences oxidant defense; and the influence of dietary flavonoids on vascular health.
• Biswanath Mukherjee, Child Family Professorship — His expertise is in computer networks, particularly optical networking — important research in a world with dramatically increasing demands for telecommunications capacity, and a good fit for a professorship that advances the relationship between engineering and entrepreneurship.
• Sally Ozonoff, Endowed Professorship in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences — Her clinical interests are the diagnosis, assessment and treatment of people with autism spectrum disorders; she specializes in Asperger syndrome and adult diagnosis. Her research at the MIND Institute focuses on very young children with autism.
• Dennis M. Styne, Rumsey Endowed Chair in Pediatric Endocrinology — With this endowment from the Rumsey Community Fund, Styne has established a clinic and research program to evaluate and treat children with severe problems controlling their weight.
• Chih-Ling Tsai, Robert W. Glock Chair in Management — With an expertise in the practical application of statistics in business, he has developed groundbreaking models based upon regression and time series analysis. Also, he collaborated on a new approach to analyze advertising effectiveness, and his methods also have been used to examine long-term investment strategies.

The evening also included recognition of new endowments established in the last year:

• C. Bryan Cameron Distinguished Chair in International Economics — The namesake donor is an alumnus.
• Mars Inc. Endowed Chair in Developmental Nutrition — Filled by Keen, the position honors the company's long-standing collaboration with UC Davis, and to support the critical teaching, research and outreach being done in the area of developmental nutrition.
• James G. Boswell Endowed Chair in Soil Science — From the James G. Boswell Foundation in recognition of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences' critical role in maintaining the viability of California's agricultural economy.
• F. G. Novy Jr. Professorship of Dermatology — An endowment for the UC Davis School of Medicine with special emphasis on the Department of Dermatology to provide support to its students.

Recognition also was given to two chairs that were endowed previously:

• Robert W. Glock Endowed Chair in Management — Established by Miriam Glock in honor of her late husband, who served as associate vice chancellor of planning and budget and who helped establish the Graduate School of Management.
• Rumsey Endowed Chair in Pediatric Endocrinology — Created in recognition of the UC Davis Health System's contributions to the treatment and diagnosis of children with severe obesity, and the system's overall quality of health care provided to patients and their families.