October 15, 2020 | Issue 12

As autumn leaves hint at cooler weather to come, the slow transition from summer to fall stands in contrast to the flurry of activity in which it feels like we’re all immersed. A new academic year is underway and many are still adjusting to distance learning – be it with their students or their own children – while also undertaking new projects and initiatives.

Our office is beginning to plan for a Public Engagement Hub to be located in Sacramento, welcoming our first cohort of Public Scholarship Faculty Fellows and seeking applications for our second cohort of Community Engaged Learning Faculty Fellows. 

Our Student Learning and Community Engagement Advisory Committees are reconvening and we're reconnecting with the Engaged Scholarship and Engaged Learning Collaborative, a learning community of campus leaders committed to increasing visibility and support for public scholarship and community engagement at UC Davis.

Through all this activity, we remain focused on fostering a culture of engagement that enriches everyday lives, strengthens communities, helps shape sound public policy, and makes a difference. We look forward to continuing on this path together. 


In community, 

Michael Rios
Vice Provost, Public Scholarship and Engagement
PSE Program Spotlight

Public Scholarship and Engagement launches its inaugural Public Scholarship Faculty Fellows program with 10 faculty members from across disciplines whose project topics span environmental health disparities and green gentrification to criminal justice reform and Korean immigrant activism.

We are currently accepting applications for our Community Engaged Learning Faculty Fellows Program, which aims to support individuals working to fully integrate this learning approach into existing courses and new curricular experiences, including distance-learning classes. Application deadline is November 13, 2020

Bringing science, research, and student opportunities into community engaged restoration ecology. For Plant Sciences Professor Valerie Eviner, having students work in the nitty gritty of restoration ecology is all part of the UC Davis educational experience. Read her blog.
Professor Valerie Eviner (center) leads fieldwork during a restoration ecology course.

Professor and Founding Director of Human Rights Studies Keith David Watenpaugh explains the historical context of what has led to the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan and African American Studies Professor Dr. Milmon Harrison puts Gretchen Sorin's book "Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights" into the context of the black experience in California. Listen to the full show
Events and Opportunities

Part 2: From Land-grab to Land Acknowledgement and Beyond.
This two-part forum examines the 150,000 acres of Indigenous land that funded the University of California is intricately tied to California’s unique history of Native dispossession and genocide, and how UC continues to benefit from this wealth accumulation today. We will then explore current university initiatives with tribes and engage in a community dialogue on actions the University of California can take to address their responsibility to California Indigenous communities.

Event: October 23, 2020 | 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Community based research navigating the turbulent time and places of political and biological pandemics. We invite our growing network(s) of scholars, organizers, community leaders, funders, and students to join a series of virtual events that will provide time/space to deepen our conversations and support one another in our work to strengthen community and university responses to COVID and to racial justice movements.

Event: October 23, 2020 | 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Are you interested in pursuing ethical, critically-informed global engagement and service-learning opportunities in a world where travel is suddenly uncertain? This presentation explores problems and possibilities for using digital technology to support grassroots community partnerships, cohort-based learning and reflection, and student-led research and storytelling projects that work to raise consciousness and drive social change.

Event: October 27, 2020 | 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.

This session explores strategies to enable climate-resilient futures in agricultural and food systems. Speakers will highlight the future of farming, youth/civil society engagement, science-informed policymaking, social movements (including labor organizations, NGOs), commitments to socially sustainable benefits, long-term cultural and behavior change (including dietary), sustainable agriculture, food safety (health), food access/nutrition, environmental justice, etc.

Event: October 28, 2020 | 10 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.

Conversation and Book Launch: Hosted by Manetti Shrem Museum. Join museum Associate Curator Susie Kantor for a conversation with collector Bernard Lumpkin, writer Antwaun Sargent, and Matt Wycoff, curator of the Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection.

Event: October 29, 2020 | 4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m.

The GloCal Health Fellowship provides aspiring global health researchers with outstanding interdisciplinary education and training in innovative research designed to improve health for populations around the world. A career development fellowship sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center (FIC), this program supports a 12-month, mentored research fellowship for investigators interested in studying diseases and conditions in developing countries. 

Deadline: November 2, 2020

Rankine questions what it means to interrogate white privilege, liberal politics, the implications of blondness, white supremacy in the White House, and much more. Revelatory, funny and ingeniously written, Just Us is about intimacy and friendship, and brings us into a necessary conversation about what we don’t know. 

Event: November 4, 2020 | 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Public Engagement Champion

Statistically speaking, George Villa shouldn’t have been a college student. Villa studied community and regional development at UC Davis – after serving a cumulative 13-plus years in prison. He used his experience not only to serve as an example to his fellow students and professors, but to help connect UC Davis to marginalized youth in the region. Read his story.
In Case You Missed It
From mitigating food insecurity to coordinating COVID-19 treatment trials, UC Davis alumae Michelle Lee and Emily Fehrman are putting their degrees—and global learning experiences working alongside communities—to work during the pandemic.
In wildfire-beleaguered California, firefighters and emergency personnel race to help humans, livestock and neighborhoods across the state, year after year. Now, a new network is being created to help treat injured individuals from an overlooked population — wildlife.
Being a Davis resident means being involved. For newcomers or longtime locals looking for connections, there are plenty of adult organizations, clubs and political causes. For those who want to lend a hand or further a cause, there are lots of volunteer opportunities that make a difference.
Claudia Rankine, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship recipient, National Book Critics Circle Award winner and National Book Award finalist, will read from and discuss her new book, Just Us: An American Conversation, at the University of California, Davis, on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
It’s not always easy to find silver linings during the COVID-19 pandemic, but here’s one that food scientists at the University of California, Davis, have discovered: More people are exploring the ancient art of fermented foods.
Caltrans has approved a $32 million interagency agreement to continue the work of the Partnered Pavement Research Center project led by civil and environmental engineering professor John Harvey.
The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced the joint formation of the Wildlife Disaster Network (WDN). This group of veterinarians, wildlife biologists, ecologists, trained animal care volunteers, and rehabilitation centers was created to bring experts together to respond to injured wildlife and prevent suffering.
Partnering for the Public Good
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. 
About Public Scholarship and Engagement
Public Scholarship and Engagement is fostering a culture of engagement at UC Davis that increases the university’s impact through mutually-beneficial relationships that have local, regional, statewide and global reach. We envision UC Davis research, teaching and learning that serves society and makes a positive difference in the world.

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