Busrider holiday: Unitrans annual ridership reached 2 million this year. To celebrate, the student-run service bestowed prizes on the 2 millionth passenger of the 199697 year at a ceremony in May. Ridership has increased dramatically since Unitrans began allowing UC Davis undergraduates to ride free in 1990.
Speedier superhighway: The White House announced in May that a consortium of California universities that includes UC Davis was awarded a $3.8 million National Science Foundation grant to develop a computer network far faster than today's Internet.
Mother of invention: UC and its affiliated national laboratories produce more research leading to patented inventions than any other public or private research university or laboratory, according to a study for the National Science Foundation released in May. UC research published in scientific journals was cited as a basis for a U.S. invention in 3,125 instances during the four years in which patents were examined by the NSF study.
Notables: Commencement speakers this year included former California gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Brown, now executive vice president and managing director of sales and business development for Bank of America's Wealth Management Group, who spoke for the Graduate School of Management; U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson for the law school; and Ann Veneman '70, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Quake brake: Throughout the summer, crews worked to seismically strengthen the three water tanks on the Davis campus through the addition of "friction dampers." Friction dampers work much as friction brakes in automobiles, dissipating the energy from a quake rather than letting it build until the structure breaks or bends. The work is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Bigger digs: Increased enrollment in the UC Davis Graduate School of Management MBA Program for Working Professionals prompted the program to relocate to new, larger quarters at the One Capitol Mall building in Sacramento in June. The program, launched in 1994 to give working professionals an opportunity to earn their MBAs through evening and weekend classes located in the capital, had an initial enrollment of 117; enrollment has now grown to 280.
Extended families: Student Family Housing was renamed Orchard and Solano Park Apartments in July to more accurately reflect its tenants, many of whom are not families with children. In recent years, more postdoctoral students, graduate students, teaching assistants, university affiliates and unrelated adults have been living in the apartments.
Policy rejection: A new admission guideline that would have given preference to high school graduates from Yolo, Solano and Sacramento counties was withdrawn by the campus in July following a number of complaints from other parts of California. The geographic preference was one of several criteria proposed by the Academic Senate Committee on Admissions and Enrollment as a way to ensure a diverse student enrollment following the UC regents' ban of affirmative action based on race, ethnicity or gender.
Diversity drop: The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights launched an investigation in July into admission policies at three UC law schools in response to a complaint filed by several California civil rights groups alleging that the UC ban on affirmative action violates federal civil rights statues. The investigation was initiated shortly after Berkeley's Boalt Law School announced that none of the 14 African American students offered admission had accepted. The law schools have modified their enrollment criteria to take into consideration such factors as economic background, ability to overcome obstacles and outstanding achievement, but minority enrollment has declined--though the UC Davis drop has not been as severe as that at Boalt or UCLA. This fall five African American, six Chicano/Latino and three Native American students were expected to enroll at Davis' law school, compared to four, 16 and one, respectively, last year.
Home-grown docs:A report released by the American Association of Medical Colleges in July indicated that the UC Davis School of Medicine is first among the nation's 125 medical schools in the percentage of graduates who plan to practice in the state. The report showed that 94 percent of those who graduated from the UC Davis medical school in 1996 are planning to practice in California.
Partner benefits: During their meeting in July, UC regents discussed extending health and other benefits to employees' domestic partners. The regents remained divided on the issue but did vote to refer the matter to UC President Richard Atkinson for further review. Gay and lesbian staff and faculty members have long sought health and other benefits for their partners, and the Academic Council recommended in 1997 that health, pension and other benefits be extended to domestic partners.
Kids camp: Some 300 local low-income youths ages 10 to 16 spent five weeks on campus this summer learning sports, academic and life skills as part of the National Youth Sports Program. UC Davis received $66,000 from the National Collegiate Athletic Association to operate the camp.
UC-Mexico exchange: A delegation headed by UC President Richard Atkinson that included three UC Davis representatives traveled to Mexico City in July to sign an agreement intended to increase faculty and student exchanges and joint research between UC campuses and Mexico. Under the five-year agreement, UC will help cover the costs for Mexican students who stay at least two years and finish their graduate degree at UC.
Ethnic home: This summer, African Diaspora House--a cooperative housing facility for students interested in the social, political and cultural concerns of the African diaspora--was readied for fall occupancy. The facility, which will accommodate 28 students, is located in a former fraternity house in the Orchard Park area and is the result of the efforts of the Young Black Scholars Organizing Committee.
Creek cleanup: About a mile of the 1 1/2-mile Arboretum Waterway was drained in August and the creek bed dredged to improve campus flood control. As a side benefit, the removal of the nutrient-rich sediment is also expected to reduce the growth of algae and improve the water's appearance.
Dorm debut: Construction on a new student apartment complex was begun on the former Primero Hall site in August. The four-building complex will house 300 students in studio and one- to four-bedroom apartments. Primero, a student housing facility with 800 beds that served the campus for 40 years, was demolished in 1992 because of the high cost of upgrading the facility to meet California's newer building standards.
