Student Life

Two UC Davis students—Abelina Jackson and Saarah Kuzay—are among those who have been selected as 2020 Borlaug Scholars by the National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB).

The Borlaug Scholars Program seeks to strengthen the plant breeding profession by helping support attendance of future leaders at the NAPB annual meeting. However, this year’s annual meeting will be held in a virtual format because of COVID-19 concerns. Each student will receive free registration for the conference and a membership in NAPB.

Congratulations to the class of 2020! The hard work and perseverance of these students, whether they joined us as freshmen or as transfer students, has been a wise investment in the future for them individually and collectively for society as a whole. Their UC Davis bachelor’s degrees will open the doors of opportunity throughout their lives, and we expect they will make the most of those opportunities because of the values and skills they cultivated here.

Each year we honor a handful of CA&ES undergraduate students who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in the areas of academic excellence, distinctive leadership and community or public service. Eight of these outstanding students are being honored as the academic year officially draws to a close with virtual commencement ceremonies on Friday, June 12.

The dedication and character of UC Davis students is clearly evident at the Goat Teaching and Research Facility these days.

“Operations need to continue at the goat facility because the goats need to be fed and milked—regardless of current events,” said Teresa Greenhut, a student resident at the goat barn and adjacent creamery.

by CA&ES Communications team

Quarantine time or not, the livestock and other animals at UC Davis need to be fed and tended to every day. Thanks to dedicated staff and students like Jackson Sawyer, they will be.

Sawyer is a senior in animal science and management. He lives and works at the UC Davis sheep barn, part of a program that gives students a place to live rent free in exchange for managing the animals.

A half dozen people wear orange plastic gloves and keep their distance from each other as they harvest lettuce, kale, beets and other crops at the UC Davis Student Farm. Their bounty will help feed the Davis community in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Like everyone else, we’re trying to respond as best we can in these uncertain times,” says Katharina Ullmann, Student Farm director, taking a break from the day’s harvest.  

Each quarter, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences invites students to take a break from the stresses of finals to stop in for coffee, hot chocolate and quick snacks like macaroni and cheese or oatmeal. With no in-person finals this quarter, it wasn’t going to happen, which gave the three staffers who organize the event an idea.

“I asked my team if we could use the budget we typically use and deliver supplies to some resources available on campus,” said Layne DeLorme, student engagement coordinator for Undergraduate Academic Programs.

Some 3,000 high school students from across California—many of them wearing their blue FFA (formally Future Farmers of America) jackets—will gather at UC Davis March 6 and 7 to participate in the 44thannual Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Field Day. 

“Field Day is a wonderful opportunity for students to come to campus and compete in some very interesting topics that are so important in agriculture today,” said Helene Dillard, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, which hosts the popular event.

By Tanya Perez

This Global Disease Biology major is driven deeply to help others, even among the most harrowing of circumstances. Joseph Laughlin is a Navy veteran who worked as a hospital corpsman, a military medical specialist. For more than two years of his enlistment, Laughlin was attached to a Marine unit in Afghanistan and helped provide primary care for 80 Marines, sometimes in the midst of combat situations.

Article courtesy of UC Davis Global Affairs