Welcome to fall quarter! The season is changing, and a hint of fall is in the morning air, even if the afternoon sun and heat try to tell us otherwise. I enjoy watching the campus swell to capacity as students head back to town. The influx of students brings an abundance of energy that is both invigorating and inspiring. 

Students are the heart and soul of our campus, and the start of the school year is a great reminder of our educational mission. Last Friday we celebrated incoming first year and transfer students at our College Welcome, an event that always feels warm and engaging thanks to the efforts of our Undergraduate Academic Programs team and the many staff and faculty from various units and departments who come to help make our students feel at home as brand-new Aggies. 

This week the campus celebrated the close of the fundraising campaign, Expect Greater: From UC Davis, for the World, which brought in $2.25 billion to support students, research, innovation and other academic efforts. 

More than $415 million in private support from 9,328 alumni, friends, foundations and industry partners was invested in CA&ES during the campaign. This tremendous support will create lasting change, empowering CA&ES to tackle some of the biggest challenges in the environment, agriculture and human and social sciences, from California to communities worldwide. The investments have been allocated to student scholarships, cutting-edge research, experiential learning and more, ensuring the college expands its educational programs and inspires innovation.

I am extremely proud of the efforts of our development team, staff and faculty who contributed to this massive endeavor over the past eight years. We hope you will join us for an evening of celebration as we toast to the success of our Expect Greater campaign and express our gratitude to the donors who contributed to CA&ES. Experience our college's mission in motion through interactive research showcases on October 17, from 6-8 p.m. in the Good Life Garden at the Robert Mondavi Institute. RSVP by Friday, October 11. 

In addition to the college’s campaign event, on October 18, the campus will celebrate the Expect Greater campaign with a family-friendly event featuring carnival games, interactive displays and awe-inspiring discoveries highlighting the power of philanthropy. The Grand Exposition will be from 2 to 5 p.m. at Hutchinson Field and The Greatest Show will run from 5 to 6 p.m. at the University Credit Union Center. RSVP here. 

We have several stories to highlight in our September newsletter that have culminated throughout the summer. Many of our faculty were featured prominently in the news on a number of topics, including avocado oil, climate change, wine, efforts to reduce cow methane, wildfires and the impact of historic river restoration on salmon. Our researchers were awarded several million in research funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study topics such as the health and wellbeing of agricultural workers, improve the nutritional quality of bread wheat and develop a toolkit to assess climate impact. And once again, U.S. News & World Report gave the top spot to the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering!

I also want to take a moment to acknowledge Distinguished Professor Venkatesan Sundaresan who was awarded a 2024 Wolf Prize in Agriculture for key discoveries in on plant developmental biology in relation to crop improvement. The Wolf Prize is considered by many as the Nobel Prize for agriculture and we celebrate his dedication to pushing the boundaries of science to benefit humanity.  

I hope everyone has a great start to the school year, and go Ags!