A ONCE-IN-A-CENTURY OPPORTUNITY

A university committee is brainstorming for the UC Davis centennial celebration in 2008–09, and you are invited to participate.

Consider some of the many ideas already on the table: a showcase of 100 notable alumni; a book of 100 ways that UC Davis has changed the world; a centennial tree grove; a centennial sculpture; banners, posters and billboards posted around the region. And, in a nod to Davis’ affinity for bicycling: a centennial bike race and a new bike museum.

“We want the campus community to start thinking about the centennial,” said Lisa Lapin, assistant vice chancellor for University Communications who is working with the centennial advisory committee assembled by Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. “There’s the potential for a lot of good celebrations. We want people to get excited about the possibilities.”

Lapin said centennial events are likely to be clustered around two of the university’s signature events: fall convocation in 2008 and Picnic Day in spring 2009. But the committee anticipates a schedule of events covering the rest of the academic year, too, coinciding with the period 100 years earlier when the then-University Farm held its first classes.

For its 75th anniversary year, 1983–84, UC Davis built and dedicated a brick entryway to mark the site of the farm’s original entrance near First and A streets. The entrance symbolizes the gate where the university took possession of its newly acquired farmland just after midnight on Sept. 1, 1906. The first students arrived for classes in 1908–09.

To mark its 75th anniversary, UC Davis also launched a development program charged with fundraising efforts and, for the first time, began using a logo—the campus seal with an anniversary element included—that provided a consistent visual identity. Also, the Cal Aggie Alumni Association became more firmly established, and it partnered with the university on a new publication, UC Davis Magazine.

Chancellor Vanderhoef described the centennial as “an opportunity for UC Davis to celebrate its past accomplishments, highlight its future direction and focus attention on the entire scope and breadth of the institution.”

Know where a time capsule might be buried from 100 years ago or 75 years ago or 25 years ago? Have ideas for the centennial celebration? E-mail centennial@ucdavis.edu.

— Dave Jones

RACEHORSE Rx

Photo: Sabina Louise Pierce/University of Pennsylvania

Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner that shattered his right rear leg in the Preakness Stakes last May, got some assists in his rescue and recovery from equipment developed by UC Davis veterinarians. The ambulance and splint used to transport and stabilize the colt after his injury were developed by Gregory Ferraro, director of the Center for Equine Health within the School of Veterinary Medicine. After surgeries to repair the fractures and treat laminitis, a painful hoof disease, Barbaro rested in a sling developed at UC Davis by John Madigan, an expert in emergency equine veterinary medicine, in conjunction with welder Charles Anderson and Rich Morgan, then a large-animal clinic supervisor. “The sling has saved many horses that could not rise on their own or needed to be comfortably supported in the upright position while they recovered from an injury,” Madigan said.

TOO MANY FISHERMEN, TOO FEW FISH

Photo: John Stumbos

In coastal communities around the United States, commercial fishermen are struggling with a painful imbalance that threatens a centuries-old way of life. Too many people are trying to catch too few fish.

New England and the West Coast have suffered sharp declines of groundfish in the last decade—most notably cod in the East and some species of rockfish along the Pacific Coast. Management strategies relying on permits, seasons and fleet-wide quotas sometimes lead fishing fleets to race for fish as soon as a season opens, resulting in glutted markets, depressed prices and lives lost at sea.

UC Davis Marine Fisheries Specialist Christopher Dewees recently took 20 U.S. fishing industry leaders on a tour in New Zealand to learn about another solution—quotas that allocate a percentage of total catch to individuals or groups. Dewees has been studying quota management systems for most of his career and led the tour during a third sabbatical to New Zealand.

New Zealand has been using individual fishing quotas for two decades, and a similar system has been in place for Alaska halibut since 1995. Commercial seafood harvesters and government regulators are exploring the use of quotas for other fisheries.

From an environmental perspective, the “New Zealand experiment” appears successful for many fish stocks. Some 80 percent of 492 fish stocks (92 species) in the country have been rebuilt to sustainable levels.

That success has come at a price, though. The New Zealand quota system essentially privatized the right to harvest its commercial marine species. “Quota share immediately became a valuable, tradable commodity that over time has consolidated under the control of large seafood processors,” Dewees said. “Because there are few aggregation limits, the five biggest companies now own about 85 percent of the quota.” In some ports, small fishing operations have virtually disappeared.

That consolidation left many on the tour troubled with how a quota system might affect seaside cities and towns back in the states. “I’m not sure how we could adapt this system,” said Jan Margeson, a fisherman from Brewster, Mass. “New England is all small, independent owners.”

Consolidation can be managed, believes Dewees, by setting and enforcing limits on the amount of quota that an individual, company or group may own. Those amounts can be low, as they are for Alaskan halibut, or higher in areas, like New Zealand, that are looking for economic efficiency and maximized export earnings.

There can be other benefits to quotas, as well, including returning some fishing rights to native peoples. New Zealand’s 57 indigenous Maori tribes are now faring well under the system. They own more than 50 percent of the country’s entire quota, though it was something they had to fight for in a protracted legal battle.

The tour was made possible by funding from the California Sea Grant program, with which Dewees is affiliated, and three foundations with an interest in sustainable fisheries: the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Sand County Foundation and the Alex C. Walker Foundation. Tour participants wasted no time in sharing what they learned in New Zealand upon returning to their respective fishing communities.

Some like Larry Collins of San Francisco encouraged fellow crab and salmon fishermen to document catch history because quota is usually allocated to participants based on what they caught in the past. Some bristled for philosophical reasons alone at the thought of privatizing a public resource.

Tommy Ancona, president of the Fishermen’s Marketing Association in Fort Bragg and a participant in the design of a similar system for the Pacific Coast trawl fleet, thinks a quota system would be beneficial. “When we have healthy fisheries, the local economy is making money and is healthy,” he said. “We’ve got to have property rights to resources, just like farmers and foresters.”

— John Stumbos

IN MEMORIAM

Ted Bradshaw, a professor of community development who helped California communities grapple with base closures, energy issues and creating healthy social systems, died in August while jogging near his home in Oakland. He was 63. A faculty member since 1995, he led efforts to establish the new Center for the Study of Regional Change and was appointed last year as director of the Gifford Center for Population Studies, which focuses on Central Valley growth. More. . .

Robert Brazelton ’50, a retired farm safety specialist and licensed engineer, died in June in Davis from complications of Parkinson's disease. He was 87 years old. As a Cooperative Extension specialist from 1965 to 1986, he worked with county farm advisors and 4-H organizers to promote safe practices with farm equipment and pesticide handling. More. . .

Jim Doan, who served as the campus’s first full-time sports information director from 1963 to 1993, died in June at his Davis home at age 66. After retiring, he refereed high school and club tennis matches for 12 years as a certified official of the U.S. Tennis Association. He was secretary-treasurer of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the National Football Foundation–College Hall of Fame. More. . .

Ernest Gifford, professor emeritus of plant biology, died in June from complications of Alzheimer's disease at age 86. A World War II Bronze Star recipient, he joined the faculty in 1950. He authored more than 100 publications over 50 years, including a textbook, Morphology and Evolution of Vascular Plants, and entries in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and served as 1975–79 editor in chief of the American Journal of Botany. He pioneered the use of radioactive labels to detect DNA synthesis in shoots and, with Ralph Stocking, demonstrated for the first time the presence of DNA in chloroplasts, the structures within plant cells that carry out photosynthesis. More. . .

S. Louis Hakimi, chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1986–96, died in June following a long illness. He was 73. He was an internationally recognized expert in graph theory, which uses mathematics in the analysis of electronic circuits and networks. His work is now widely used in designing microchips. He retired from the faculty in 2001. More. . .

Peter Kennedy, a professor emeritus of veterinary pathology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, died in August from cancer. He was 83. An Army P-38 fighter pilot during World War II, he joined UC Davis in 1953 and co-founded the veterinary school’s renowned Department of Pathology. He was an authority on reproductive and fetal diseases, writing more than 90 research articles and several book chapters. A textbook he wrote with a colleague in 1963, Pathology of Domestic Animals, is now in its fifth revision and still in wide use. More. . .

Eva King Killam, professor emeritus of pharmacology and a founding faculty member of the School of Medicine, died in July in Pasadena. She was 84 years old. She and her husband, the late Keith Killam Jr., joined the new medical school in 1968. An expert on anesthetic, sedative and anti-convulsive drugs, she became first woman president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in 1988, president of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 1989–90 and editor in chief of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 1978-1991. She retired from UC Davis in 1991. More. . .

Robert Matthews, senior lecturer emeritus in the Department of Geology, died in June of prostate cancer at age 79. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at age 16 and became one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation's first black military airmen. He joined UC Davis in 1972, established the environmental geology program and served for several years as associate dean of environmental studies in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Studies. In 2000 one of the five courts of The Colleges at LaRue, a student residential complex, was named in his honor.
More. . .

Harold Olmo, a professor emeritus of viticulture and enology who played a key role in the development of the California wine industry starting in the 1930s, died in June of complications from a hip fracture. He was 96. He was a world-renowned grape geneticist, who developed some 30 grape varieties—perlette, his first table grape, as well as the ruby cabernet and emerald Riesling—and improved or authenticated many more. Thanks to his work, the chardonnay grape became California's most important wine grape variety, now grown on nearly 100,000 acres throughout the state. He retired in 1977 but maintained an office on campus and continued his research until shortly before his death. More. . .

Robert Price, a Cooperative Extension specialist in seafood products from 1974 to 2003, died in June in Maryland of lung cancer. He was 64. He taught Extension courses and provided technical assistance to commercial fishermen, seafood processors, distributors, retail establishments and restaurants on seafood quality and safety. He published more than 220 scientific and popular articles.

Peter Rock, professor of chemistry and the founding dean of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, died in June at age 66. A faculty member since 1964, he served in 1980–85 as chair of the Department of Chemistry and in 1995–2003 as acting dean and dean of the new College of Letters and Science division that includes the departments of chemistry, physics, mathematics, statistics and geology. In his research, he measured the energy flows that accompany chemical reactions and used his findings to advance physical chemistry theory, study the chemistry of the Earth and design treatments for medical disorders. He also wrote textbooks for students at all levels of chemistry and geochemistry, averaging a book every five years. His first book, Chemical Thermodynamics: Principles and Applications, written in 1969, is still used as a text in engineering and geosciences. More. . .

Herb Schmalenberger, whose tenure as a UC Davis coach, administrator and lecturer spanned five decades, died in June of prostrate cancer at age 81. A Navy submarine radio operator during World War II and a member of UC Berkeley’s 1948 and 1949 Rose Bowl football teams, he joined UC Davis in 1956 and taught physical education courses, served as master adviser to PE majors, coached football, men’s swimming, men’s basketball and track and field, and twice served as acting athletic director before retiring in 1991. More. . .

Calvin Schwabe, professor emeritus of population health and reproduction in the School of Veterinary Medicine, died in June at age 79 from complications of post-polio syndrome. Considered the founder of veterinary epidemiology, he was a global authority on animal diseases that can be transmitted to humans and was an advocate for the concept of “one medicine,” which seeks to integrate the fields of human and veterinary medicine. He wrote several veterinary books, as well as Unmentionable Cuisine, a cookbook of unusual foods, ranging from bugs to turkey testicles. He joined the faculty in 1966 and established the world’s first epidemiology department and graduate program to be housed within a school of veterinary medicine. More. . .

Ralph Stocking, professor emeritus of plant biology, died in May in the north coast town of Trinidad at age 93. He joined the Davis campus in 1940 as an associate in botany, served several terms as chair of the botany department and retired in 1980. His research interests were in water relations of plants, photosynthesis and chloroplasts, including the landmark finding of DNA in chloroplasts in a study with Dr. Gifford. He was the co-author of nine editions of a classic botany textbook, now called Plant Biology, which has been in print under different titles since 1924. More. . .

— Kathleen Holder