The University of California, Davis, commonly abbreviated to UC Davis or UCD is one of the ten University of California campuses. It is located in Davis, California, about fifteen miles (24 km) west of Sacramento in California's Central Valley. As of Fall 2003, it had a total student enrollment of 30,229 with over 147,000 degreed alumni.

History

What was to become the seventh UC Campus opened its doors to 40 degree students (all male) from UC Berkeley in January 1909 as the University Farm. (The farm began accepting non-degree farmers' short courses in October of 1908; there were initially around 115 such attendees.) The establishment of the Farm was largely the result of the vision and perseverance of Peter J. Shields, secretary of the State Agricultural Society, and the eponym of UC Davis' Peter J. Shields Library. He began to champion the cause of a University Farm to teach agriculture in a more applied fashion after hearing about Californian students who chose to go to out-of-state universities due to the lack of such a program in the University of California at that time. He later stated:

"There was a College of Agriculture at Berkeley in connection with the University of California, but it was purely academic. It was largely confined to the study of botany and chemistry; it had no farm and little prestige; it was apt to be thought of as a snap curriculum, attracting students who wanted to go to college but wanted to avoid its more difficult work."

After two failed bills, a law authorizing the creation of a University Farm was passed in 1905, and Yolo County, home to some of California's prime farmland, was chosen as the site. The Farm accepted its first female students in 1914 from Berkeley. Renamed in 1922 the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture, it continued growing at a breakneck pace: in 1916 the Farm's 314 students occupied the original 778 acre (3 km²) campus, but by 1951 it had already expanded to a size of 3,000 acres (12 km²). In 1959, the campus was declared by the Regents of the University of California as the seventh general campus in the University of California system. It has since grown into a vibrant and politically active campus, with noted protests during the Vietnam War years.

Organization

Chancellors

The office of Chancellor was begun in 1958 when Provost Stanley B. Freeborn was promoted to Chancellor as part of a major reorganization of the UC system by UC President Robert Gordon Sproul:

• Stanley B. Freeborn (1958-1959)
• Emil M. Mrak (1959-1969)
• James H. Meyer (1969-1987)
• Theodore L. Hullar (1987-1994)
• Larry N. Vanderhoef (1994-)

Colleges and Professional Schools

• UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
• UC Davis College of Engineering
• UC Davis College of Letters and Science
• UC Davis Graduate School of Management
• UC Davis School of Education
• UC Davis School of Law
• UC Davis School of Medicine
• UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine

Academics

UC Davis is a research university, ranked 16th among public universities nationwide by the National Research Council and 10th among public universities nationwide by U.S. News & World Report. It is a member of the Association of American Universities.

According to the National Science Foundation, UC Davis spent $456,653,000 on research and development in the fiscal year 2002-2003, ranking it 14th in the nation. Specifically, UC Davis's expenditures nationally ranked first in agricultural research ($25,683,000), seventh in biological research ($45,283,000), and 13th in the life sciences ($336,796,000).

Its faculty includes 18 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 6 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 7 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 2 MacArthur Fellows.

The university is known for its highly selective veterinary medicine program as well as for its Department of Applied Science, founded and formerly chaired by physicist Edward Teller. The well-known Department of Viticulture and Enology (i.e., concerning the scientific study of grape-growing and winemaking) is responsible for significant advancements in winemaking utilized by many Californian wineries.

Sports, clubs, traditions, and student activities

The "See No Evil/Hear No Evil" sculpture on the east lawn of King Hall is one of five "eggheads" found around campus.

After finishing first in NCAA Division II six times in 2003 and winning the NACDA Director's Cup 4 years in a row from 1999 to 2003, the UC Davis Aggies (or Ags) are currently in the four-year process of transitioning to NCAA Division I. (The Aggies will be members of the Great West Football Conference for football and the Big West Conference for other sports.)

The official school colors are yale blue and gold, and the official mascot is a mustang. Students at UC Davis are referred to as Cal Aggies. This is in reference to their origin as UC Berkeley's agricultural school. Unlike most colleges, there is a distinction between the name for students and the mascot. Many people will call the mustang mascot of UC Davis an aggie, but this is incorrect. There was a movement to change to school's mascot from the mustang to the cow, but despite student support, this was turned down after refusal from the alumni. The mustang mascot dates to 1921 when the US Army brought a horse to UC Davis to supply stock for cavalry horses. The mustang was selected as a mustang to honor the cavalry horse, and was named Gunrock like the horse.

Another attraction of UC Davis is its student-run radio station, KDVS. The station began operations on February 1, 1964 from the laundry room of the all-male dormitory Beckett Hall. The station soon gained a reputation by airing interviews with Angela Davis and a live call-in show with then California Governor Ronald Reagan in 1969. The station can now be heard on 90.3 FM.

UC Davis also has a fairly active fraternity and sorority community. National fraternities in UC Davis include Tau Kappa Epsilon, Sigma Chi, Chi Phi, Theta Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Sigma Phi Epislon, and Alpha Gamma Rho. One of UC Davis' sororities was even featured on the first season of the MTV reality show "Sorority Life."

Transportation

UC Davis is well known for its many forms of transportation. This is partly because cars are expensive to run in Northern California due to high gas prices, and because freshman students aren't allowed to purchase on-campus parking permits. As a result, students are provided many different forms of transportation to suit their needs.

UC Davis is famous for its large number of bicyclists. The city of Davis boasts over two bikes per capita, the most of any U.S. city. Bicyclists are ubiquitous around campus, and thus a lot of bike-only infrastructure exists, such as bike circles, large bike lanes, and traffic signals exclusively for bikes. Davis also has a bike police, which among other things, gives tickets for bicycling under the influence (BUI). All bikes on the UC Davis campus must also be registered with a California Bicycle license, available for $8 from various bike stores; the license is good for up to three years, with a $4 renewal also good for three years.

UC Davis is also well known for its bus service, Unitrans, and their trademark London double decker buses. It is believed to be the only general purpose (non-sightseeing) transit system in the U.S. to operate vintage double decks in daily service and has been in operation since 1968. The system is operated and managed entirely by students and offers fixed-route transportation throughout the city.

UC Davis is the only UC campus to have excellent freeway access in that it is bounded by freeways on two sides (Highway 113 and Interstate 80). All other UC campuses are either somewhat distant from the closest freeway or are directly adjacent to only one freeway.

This freeway access, coupled with higher housing costs, has led to increased numbers of students commuting via automobile. Some students choose to live in the neighboring communities of Dixon or Woodland, and use their own cars or the Yolobus to get to UC Davis. Most student commuters move away from their homes and stay their first year in the dorms of UC Davis and move to surrounding areas after that. Most commuter students in the Sacramento area attend California State University, Sacramento.

Notable faculty

• Matthew Augustine, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Packard Foundation Fellowship
• Charles R. Goldman, Professor of Limnology, Albert Einstein World Award of Science
• Leah Krubitzer, Assistant Professor of Psychology, MacArthur Fellowship
• Gary Snyder, Professor Emeritus of English, Bolligen Prize, Pulitzer Prize
• Alan Taylor, Professor of History, Pulitzer Prize
• Wayne Thiebaud, Professor Emeritus of Art, National Medal of Arts
• Geerat Vermeij, Professor of Geology, MacArthur Fellowship
• Henry McHenry, Professor of Anthroplogy, UC Davis Prize, California Academy of Sciences, Fellow
• Charles W. Woodworth, Professor Emeritus of Entomology (1891-1930), founder UCB Entomology Division, credited with founding the Dept. of Entomology at the Agricultural Experiment Station

Notable alumni

• Mike Belotti, Head Football Coach, University of Oregon
• Rolf Benirschke, Kicker, San Diego Chargers, NFL Man of the year 1983
• Kevin Daft, Quarterback, Indiana Firebirds, Scottish Claymores, Tennessee Titans
• Josh Davis also known as DJ Shadow, DJ, musician, producer
• Cal Dooley, United States Congressman, also President and CEO of National Food Processors Association
• Carol Flint, TV Producer, ER (TV series)
• Mark Grieb, Quarterback, San Jose Sabercats
• Steven Guggenheimer, V.P. of Worldwide Small Business and Business Operations at Microsoft
• Gus Lee, Author, China Boy, Tiger's Tale
• Kerry Mazzoni, California Secretary of Education
• Xavier Mosely, DJ, Blackalicious
• Ken O'Brien, Quarterback, New York Jets
• Stephen K. Robinson, Astronaut, MS-3. STS-85, Payload Commander. STS-95, MS-2. STS-114
• Ann Veneman, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, 2001-Present
• Martin Yan, Chef, host of popular television show Yan Can Cook
• Robert Clark Young, novelist.

External links

• University of California, Davis (http://www.ucdavis.edu/) - Official Web site
• Davis Wiki (http://daviswiki.org) - The Wiki for Davis
• The California Aggie (http://www.californiaaggie.com/) - Primary Newspaper of UC Davis
• Davis Coeds (http://www.daviscoeds.com/) - Online Community for UCD Students
• SisCast (http://www.siscast.com/) - Class Planner for UCD Students