Before heading to Zoom for their commencement Saturday (May 15), School of Law graduates gathered at a safe distance the day before for photos outside King Hall.

Many posed in front of a UC Davis backdrop or with friends, and Dean Kevin Johnson even got in on the fun, posing for a photo with Samantha Blemker and her dog, Tate, then holding Tate while Blemker took some photos solo.

The next commencements on the schedule are the School of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Medicine this weekend.

Photos by Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis.

Last patient from North Complex Fire finds home after 6 months of care

More than six months after being severely burned in California’s North Complex Fire, a cat treated at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital has fully recovered — and, as wonderful as that is to hear, he has also found his forever home. In the fall of 2020, thousands of animals were affected by the fire, and Jam, an approximately 2-year-old male, suffered some of the most horrific injuries.

Last fall, the UC Davis Veterinary Emergency Response Team rescued, evaluated, triaged and/or treated approximately 1,200 animals in the fire zones around Northern California — including Jam, found in Berry Creek, a tiny community northeast of Oroville in the Sierra Nevada foothills. He was suffering from third-degree burns, many of his toes had been fused together (and would eventually be amputated) and his whiskers had been singed nearly completely off.

Jam was one of more than 60 animals brought to UC Davis for more advanced treatmen, and the last to be discharged. He arrived at UC Davis on Sept. 21 and was first received by critical care specialists Kate Hopper and Steven Epstein and the emergency room team, who treated dozens of injured animals from the fire.

— Rob Warren

Getting girls interested in firefighting

UC Davis fire engineer Corrie Beall was among the 50 instructors who spent last weekend teaching high school-aged girls some of the tools of the firefighting trade. The NorCal First Alarm Girls Fire Camp, held May 15-16 at the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department Training Center, taught participants about using fire hoses, chainsaws, ladder trucks and more. Watch the above and below videos to learn more about it.

Alum makes 2 appearances on ‘Jeopardy!’