March 18, 2021 | Issue 17 |
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A Message from the Vice Provost
Collectively enduring one of the most difficult periods in recent memory sidelined most of the projects many of us had planned. For Public Scholarship and Engagement, it presented a unique opportunity to reflect on our values and commitments to community engagement.
(I encourage you to visit our website for a full description of our vision, mission and values.)
In the late 1990s, the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities called for higher education reform — they wanted to reinvigorate the student experience, improve student access, and address the role of public universities in a learning society. Their final report recommended a renewal of the partnership between the public university and the society it serves.
More than two decades later, as we grapple with the social and economic effects of a pandemic that lays bare community inequities, a renewal of this partnership feels more necessary than ever. Universities are a work in progress with great potential for societal impact. Many also have a legacy that includes dispossession of indigenous lands and tensions over which publics are served, how relationships with those publics are built and maintained, and what priorities and values are advanced. We believe it is vital to continuously examine our allegiances to the past and present while striving toward the idea of the university as a public good.
To achieve this goal, we are actively supporting a community partnership model in which knowledge is co-creative, flows multi-directionally, is based on inclusion and collaboration, and done in partnership with communities. We believe knowledge and power are inextricably linked to one another and determine what is relevant to society and who benefits. We value diverse ways of knowing, being, and doing that draw attention to our interrelatedness and interdependence. We envision a university unbound that seeks to serve the public, equitably and inclusively, resulting in reciprocal and mutual benefit to California’s communities and beyond. Towards this vision, our office is dedicated to building and supporting meaningful relationships between communities and UC Davis scholars that work together to solve today’s problems and tomorrow’s challenges.
You’ll notice this theme throughout our newsletter — for instance, Professor Kate Scow’s work with Ugandan farmers illustrates the power of participatory design and Assistant Professor Katherine Kim’s youth-driven research with the Karuk tribe could benefit populations across the globe. To the many faculty, staff and students at UC Davis committed to the type of public engagement we envision, we will continue to support and uplift your work in every way we can. To the many more who have yet to embark on this journey, we invite you to take the first step.
In community,
Michael Rios
Vice Provost, Public Scholarship and Engagement
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Public Scholarship and Engagement is proud to co-sponsor the TEDxUCDavis 2021 Conference. This TED-based nonprofit and student-run organization promotes a community of diverse thought; speakers and panelists this year come from myriad backgrounds and will focus on the theme of eXploration — embracing uncertainty and exploring the unknown.
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Congratulations to the UC Davis Grad Slam finalists who will present their research to a panel of external judges and an external audience for a chance to win $2,500! Public Scholarship and Engagement is proud to co-sponsor Grad Slam and will be offering an award for public engagement at the Final Round on Thursday, April 8 from 1 - 3 p.m. RSVP to reserve your spot!
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With support from a Public Impact Research Initiative grant, Laura Kair and E. Bimla Schwarz from the School of Medicine are partnering with Sacramento-based nonprofit Golden Journey Empowerment to develop culturally-appropriate interventions to improve breastfeeding rates among African-American women who receive care at UC Davis and throughout the region.
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Recognitions and Celebrations |
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Congratulations to PIRI grantee and Associate Professor Katherine Kim from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing for earning the Sarah Mazelis 2020 Paper of the Year from the Society for Public Health Education. The paper, “Native American Youth Citizen Scientists Uncovering Community Health and Food Security Priorities", will be recognized at the SOPHE 2021 digital awards ceremony on April 8th.
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We're excited to have our Graduate Student Researcher — Larissa Saco — welcomed into the newest cohort of Mellon Public Scholars. She will be working in partnership with the City of Davis Arts & Cultural Affairs Program focused on engaging the Davis community with the city’s new centennial seal. Congratulations, Larissa, we can't wait to see what comes from this partnership.
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Congratulations to Ga Young Chung, an assistant professor of Asian American studies in the College of Letters and Science (a Public Scholarship Faculty Fellow), E. Charles Brummer, a professor of plant sciences and director of the Center for Plant Breeding in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (a 2020 PIRI Grantee) and Katharina Ullmann, director of the Student Farm in the Agricultural Sustainability Institute (an ESEL Collaborative member), on receiving an SDG grant for their project — Culturally Diverse Participatory Public Plant Breeding: Supporting Farmers of the Asian Diaspora.
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Public Engagement Champion |
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According to Professor Kate Scow, Soils are a lot like people: diverse, complex, and hard to understand at times. And both depend on their communities. Her deep interest in communities — both microbial and human — has also enabled Scow and UC Davis students to advance soil science in partnership with farmers and other stakeholders from California to Uganda, Africa.
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The Conversation is a public online event series that puts UC scholars in dialogue with one another, the community, and students on topics ranging from the removal of confederate monuments to debates about eating right. The hope is that bringing faculty together across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM to examine issues of common interest through their own lenses will generate new questions we may not have thought to ask ourselves.
Event: March 18, 2021 | 5:10 – 6:30 p.m.
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Being able to effectively explain complex research outside academia is incredibly important–for networking, collaborating, teaching, and leading. This five-part 30-min webinar series explores how data visualization can help graduate students and postdoctoral researchers better communicate with public audiences–using virtual reality.
Event: April 1 - 7, 2021 | 2 – 2:30 p.m.
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Join the UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute for a virtual seminar and workshop series to explore how scientists can leverage their training and expertise to support the climate justice movement. This month's seminar features renowned thought leader, international speaker, policymaker, community liaison, trainer, and facilitator, Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali.
Event: April 5, 2021 | 1 – 2 p.m.
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This internship is an opportunity for students to practice Human Rights advocacy and make a real difference in the lives of more than three million refugee and displaced university students worldwide. Interns will be assigned to focus on one or more of the following projects: Digital/Social Media Promotion Strategy; Backpack Guide Educational Materials Development; Backpack Digital and UX support.
Deadline: March 29, 2021
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The 2021-22 University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) Podcast Support Grant is an 18-month award that supports UC faculty in developing podcasting skills and producing a public-facing podcast series on an issue of pressing contemporary concern.
Deadline: April 5, 2021
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Living Through Upheaval is a new 18-month research and public programming initiative developed by UCHRI and the UC Humanities Collaborative to foster the systemwide engagement of humanities faculty and students around important and transformative issues related to moments of upheaval — past, present, and future. The Initiative invites faculty to apply for new thematic-specific grants on the following topics: Social Leadership, Racial Infrastructures, Conjuring Future(s), or Unexpected Collaborations Beyond the Humanities. Proposals for UCHRI grants must be multi-campus, collaborative, and interdisciplinary.
Deadline: April 5, 2021
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Professors Leveraging A Community of Engagement (PLACE) will host a small group (4-6 faculty) to engage in a week-long writing retreat. This writing retreat in the early summer (mid-to-late June 2021, pending public health safety requirements) is geared toward faculty working to complete a big task (e.g. writing an introduction, a book proposal, or a chapter in a book project) who would benefit from uninterrupted, concentrated writing time, and structured feedback within a setting where their meals and lodging are provided. All Senate faculty are eligible to apply, with preference given for faculty who are CAMPSSAH Scholars or CAMPSSAH Affiliates. Scholar applicants must be engaged in work that centers a critical, intersectional lens — particularly on race, gender, sexuality and class inequalities.
Deadline: April 15, 2021
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A new study, co-authored by University of California, Davis, and Sacramento State University researchers, shows how a campaign built on community-driven solutions, grassroots leadership and targeted resources has improved the health and lives of Black children, pushing back against the effects of longstanding racial inequities.
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With her team in the Diversity and Disparities Lab, Oanh Meyer engages in community outreach efforts to better understand and fight health disparities.
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As climate change accelerates, low-income districts in the Southwestern United States are 4 to 7 degrees hotter in Fahrenheit — on average — than wealthy neighborhoods in the same metro regions, University of California, Davis, researchers have found in a new analysis.
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While the pandemic has disrupted in-person schooling nationwide, Tacoma Public Schools is piloting a new Explore the Salish Sea science curriculum district-wide that adventurous fifth-grade teachers at two Tacoma schools implemented last year.
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Could teenagers and their iPods make a community healthier? Youth from the Karuk Tribe and a professor from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis teamed up to find out. What they discovered could benefit populations across the globe.
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Their ability to hold on to their job should not depend on the same people they challenge in court (written by UC Davis Law Professor and Public Scholarship Faculty Fellow Irene Joe).
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Partnering for the Public Good |
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At a time when our planet and its people face unprecedented challenges, UC Davis is reimagining the vital links that connect university, community and society. Philanthropic support plays a vital role in advancing UC Davis research, education and collaborations that make the world a better place. We invite the partnership of university friends who share our vision of discovery, learning and engagement for the public good. |
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About Public Scholarship and Engagement |
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Public Scholarship and Engagement is building and supporting meaningful relationships between communities and UC Davis scholars that work together to solve today’s problems and tomorrow’s challenges. We envision a university unbound that seeks to serve the public, equitably and inclusively, resulting in reciprocal and mutual benefit to California’s communities and beyond.
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