Volume 24 · Number 2 · Winter 2007
Alumni
Six Who Serve
CAAA honors six who are making the world a better place.
On Jan. 27, the Cal Aggie Alumni Association will host the 2007 Alumni Awards ceremony at Freeborn Hall, honoring six alumni who have made extraordinary contributions to society, to the university, to their fields of study or to their local and regional communities.
These awards recognize a truly outstanding group of Aggies, notes Jennifer Barber, CAAA’s interim executive director. A common trait among this year’s winners is their willingness to volunteer their time and efforts—whether to the university directly in the form of board member service or to a broader cause, such as the protection of a threatened ecosystem. Some of these Aggies give back financially, while others donate knowledge and expertise. “All of this year’s award winners have benefited the university greatly by showing their Aggie pride,” says Barber.
Jerry W. Fielder Memorial Award
Rex Hime ’69, J.D. ’72
The Jerry W. Fielder Memorial Award honors a UC Davis graduate who has provided extraordinary service to CAAA, the UC Davis Foundation and the university.
Rex Hime is a donor in the broadest sense of the word. He gives back to his alma mater not just financially, but in passion, time and energy.
For over 16 years Hime, a Cal Aggie Alumni Association life member, has held an official volunteer position with the university. He has sat on both the UC Davis Foundation board and the CAAA board, and has served the alumni association as vice president and president.
While chairing the CAAA Legislative Relations Committee, Hime laid the groundwork for the creation of AggieAdvocates, a volunteer organization that lobbies on behalf of UC Davis. Hime is also a founding member of the Sac Aggies Club and helped to create the current format for the Causeway Classic Lunch. He has donated to the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center Capital Campaign, the Law School Annual Fund and the CAAA Scholarship Endowment, to name only three.
Currently, he is the president and chief executive officer of the California Business Properties Association—a position that has given him considerable expertise in California politics, which he has used to advantage for the university.
Distinguished Achievement Award
John Patrick Jordan ’55, Ph.D. ’63
The Distinguished Achievement Award recognizes an alumnus or alumna whose life since graduation reflects exemplary conduct and achievement.
John Patrick Jordan, one of the nation’s foremost agricultural researchers, has risen to the top of his every endeavor.
Over the years, he has served as the associate dean of natural sciences at Colorado State University, an Army paratrooper and a researcher for NASA-funded bioenergetics studies. In the mid-1980s Jordan was appointed to lead the Cooperative State Research Service (CSRS), a branch of the USDA that provides funding to land-grant universities and other institutions conducting agricultural research. During his tenure with CSRS he doubled the agency’s budget.
In 1994, when CSRS merged with another branch of the USDA, Jordan was promoted to director of the Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC), a prominent USDA agricultural laboratory located in New Orleans. AT SRRC, Jordan was honored as Federal Director of the Year by the Federal Laboratory Consortium in 2001.
Emil M. Mrak International Award
Sarah Otterstrom, Ph.D. ’04
The Emil M. Mrak International Award honors an alum who is distinguished in his or her career field, or in service outside of the United States.
Sarah Otterstrom has devoted her life to raising awareness of the value of Central America’s dry forest ecosystem. Working mainly in Nicaragua, Otterstrom has identified myriad problems—from poaching to deforestation—that threaten this unique and vital environment.
In response to these threats, Otterstrom has developed strategies to reduce ecological damages brought on by development. She hopes to increase the sustainability of the region by encouraging healthy ecological practices and smart development.
In tackling the challenge of biodiversity conservation in one of the world’s poorest nations, Otterstrom has shown unflagging determination and optimism, and has taken on the role of conservation educator with landowners and farmers.
Otterstrom has also carried out in-depth research on the effects of fire on tropical dry forest vegetation and the traditional burning practices of rural Nicaraguan peoples.
Outstanding Alumnus Award
Francisco Rodriguez ’85, M.S. ’97
The Outstanding Alumnus(a) Award recognizes an alum who is in the mid-point of his or her career and who has displayed outstanding achievement, promoted innovative change and made professional contributions to the community and to UC Davis.
Francisco Rodriguez has devoted his life to higher education and community service. He joined the university staff following his graduation from UC Davis and spent more than a decade serving the campus, including a stint as the first director of the Cross Cultural Center. In the nine years since Rodriguez left UC Davis, he has followed an unusually steep career arc. After two years as associate dean at Woodland Community College, he was promoted to executive dean—the campus’s top post—where he served for four years.
In 2003, Rodriguez was appointed president of Sacramento’s rapidly expanding Consumnes River College of the Los Rios Community College District, and he currently teaches in the graduate program in higher education leadership at California State University, Sacramento. Rodriguez’s community service includes leadership and volunteerism with the UC Davis School of Education Advisory Committee, the California Community College Commission on Athletics and the Elk Grove Rotary Club, among other organizations.
Rodriguez is the former president of the Chicano/Latino Alumni Chapter, as well as the former president of CAAA. He has also served on the board of trustees for the UC Davis Foundation.
Young Alumnus Award
Ernesto Sandoval ’96
The Young Alumnus(a) Award honors a graduate who has received his or her first degree within the past 10 years and has made outstanding professional contributions to the community or to UC Davis.
Plants have held a fascination for Ernesto Sandoval since childhood. At UC Davis he took on research projects and assistantships, mentored disadvantaged students and served as president of the Botany Club. When Sandoval graduated he won a Departmental Citation and was appointed curator of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, where he had worked as a student assistant for five years.
Much of Sandoval’s professional career has been devoted to furthering understanding of plant biology. Sandoval tends the assorted potted plants that are used for research purposes or in university courses, and leads conservatory tours for university students, staff and faculty, and for the general public. He has mentored more than 100 conservatory interns over the past decade. His community service includes outreach work with Explorit, a science museum, and César Chávez School.
His contributions extend outside of the greenhouse as well: In 2005 he designed and oversaw the creation of the Ernest Gifford Cycad Garden outside of Storer Hall.
Aggie Service Award
Douglas Muhleman ’77, M.S. ’79
The Aggie Service Award recognizes an alum who, during the previous year, demonstrated exemplary Aggie pride and dedication to UC Davis through personal commitment of time and energy, volunteerism and leadership, in support of CAAA and UC Davis.
Through a tireless commitment to his alma mater, Douglas Muhleman has ensured that UC Davis will be a leader in food and brewing sciences in the coming decades.
As the vice chair of the leadership board of the Department of Food Science and Technology, Muhleman takes every opportunity to promote UC Davis, including with his employer: Anheuser-Busch, the nation’s largest brewing company.
Muhleman, who is group vice president of brewing operations and technology with Anheuser-Busch, worked to secure his company’s help in creating the pilot brewery—a research facility that opened this past April—in Cruess Hall. He also helped arrange a $5 million matching pledge from Anheuser-Busch to establish a brewing and food laboratory within the Robert Mondavi Institute for Food and Wine Science, which is currently under construction.
Muhleman has also made many personal contributions to the university and is a member of the Davis Chancellor’s Club, a group of donors who give UC Davis $1,000 or more in unrestricted gifts each year.