Catching up on our reporting of faculty members who received the 2021-22 Chancellor’s Fellowships for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, awarded in collaboration with academic leadership; and faculty named as UC Davis’ 2021-22 Public Scholarship Faculty Fellows by the Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement.

Chancellor’s Fellowships for DEI

In the second year of this program, Chancellor Gary S. May and academic leadership selected five fellows, four from the Academic Senate and one from the Academic Federation. Each fellow has received $5,000 in academic enrichment funds.

Eligibility extends to any Academic Senate or Academic Federation member from any UC Davis school or college, across all disciplines, at all levels, who have demonstrated a significant track record of abiding commitment to reducing opportunity gaps for underrepresented students and/or students from underserved communities. Eligible faculty will have spent substantial time in recruitment, academic progress and/or retention efforts.

“I congratulate the recipients on their recognition and thank them for their exceptional efforts,” said Richard Tucker, chair of the Academic Senate. “They have made, and continue to make, UC Davis a more inclusive learning environment.”

Here are the fellows for 2021-22, with citations prepared by academic leadership:

• Clare E.B. Cannon, assistant professor, Department of Human Ecology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (Academic Senate) — She has shown exceptional commitment to promoting justice, equity, diversity and inclusion efforts in her department, her college and throughout the university. Her social justice work extends beyond working for institutional change to her teaching, mentoring and service; she also directs research on environmental exposures and their consequences for health in minority communities. Moreover, Professor Cannon serves on committees that are instrumental in increasing equity, diversity and inclusion of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff. She is a leader in promoting the principles of justice and belonging and has demonstrated a deep commitment to serve a diverse student body through her mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students.
• Elva Diaz, professor, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine (Academic Senate) — She has an outstanding track record of reducing opportunity gaps for underrepresented minority (URM) students by working on recruitment, academic progress and retention. She has implemented several initiatives aimed at fostering a diverse, inclusive and equitable community for faculty and students. She is the chair of the Department of Pharmacology I-DARE (Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism and Equity) Task Force. Professor Diaz has a long-standing commitment to increase the number of students from diverse backgrounds who pursue careers in biomedical research. She has been actively involved in programs that help URM undergraduate and graduate students develop skills for successful careers in biomedical research.
• Aldrin V. Gomes, professor, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences; and Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, School of Medicine (Academic Senate) — He has demonstrated a major commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. He has created a wealth of knowledge about best practices for enhancing the undergraduate and graduate training of students from underrepresented, disabled and low socioeconomic status. He is the principal investigator of the Maximizing Access to Research Careers program to increase the number of talented underrepresented, disadvantaged and disabled undergraduate students who become leaders in biomedical and behavioral research. He also serves as principal investigator for the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development program, which identifies and trains underrepresented graduate students to become part of the next generation of research leaders and innovators in biomedical and behavioral sciences.
• Candice Price, assistant adjunct professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine (Academic Federation) — She has made major contributions to address the diversity, equity and inclusion deficiencies that have chronically persisted in biomedical research. Her research on consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages has demonstrated differences in risk factors associated with insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. She helped discover the mechanisms of cardiometabolic disease development and has addressed the health disparities linked to added sugar consumption and psychosocial factors in African American women. Professor Price has also been dedicated in increasing the recruitment and retention of individuals from underrepresented minorities and disadvantaged backgrounds in biomedical careers by providing mentorship and research opportunities.
• Cindy Rubio González, associate professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering (Academic Senate) — She is well known for her work in finding defects in software relating to error handling and has made major contributions to the software quality research community. Her research work has had impressive scholarly and practical impact and she has received accolades for outstanding research and contributions to diversity. She has provided exceptional service to UC Davis in terms of scholarly community service, intramural service, and promoting diversity. She has also represented UC Davis before the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus and is an active and dedicated promoter of women and URM in STEM. She is also the faculty assistant to the dean for diversity and inclusion in the College of Engineering.

This is the second annual cohort of the Public Scholarship Faculty Fellows program, established last year by the Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement. Each of the nine fellows received $1,000 in academic enrichment funds.

The program supports faculty members in their development of new, publicly engaged research or scholarship, including, but not limited to developing relationships with community partners, identifying ways to integrate scholarship with policy, applying for extramural funding or awards, and writing or presenting on their research for broad audiences.

“I am really excited to see that this cohort-based program is reaching new audiences of faculty,” said Michael Rios, vice provost, Public Scholarship and Engagement. “From engineering, humanities and medicine to the environmental, health and social sciences, on the Davis and Sacramento campuses, it is clear that public scholarship is transdisciplinary in focus when integrating knowledge across disciplines and fields with community knowledge.”

The Public Scholarship Faculty Fellows for 2021-22 are listed here. Learn more about them on the Public Scholarship and Engagement website.

• C. Titus Brown, associate professor, Department of Population Health, School of Veterinary Medicine; Genome Center; and the College of Biological Sciences
• Angel Desai, assistant clinical professor, Department of Internal Medicine, UC Davis Health
• Ian Faloona, professor, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences 
• Simona Ghetti, professor, Department of Psychology, College of Letters and Science, and Center for Mind and Brain
• Naomi Elizabeth Hauser, assistant clinical professor, Department of Internal Medicine, UC Davis Health
• Misty Humphries, associate professor, Department of Surgery, UC Davis Health
• Miguel Jaller Martelo, associate professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
• Richard Kim, professor, Department of Asian American Studies, College of Letters and Science
• Grace Wang, associate professor, Department of American Studies, College of Letters and Science

Tessa Hill, associate vice provost for academic programs, Public Scholarship and Engagement, said this year’s fellows together with last year's inaugural cohort “are creating the future of engaged scholarship at UC Davis.” Hill is a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and at the Bodega Marinbe Laboratory.

The Public Scholarship Faculty Fellows program, in addition to helping the fellows develop their engaged scholarship, also supports them in identifying challenges and benefits of engaging in work with external partners, avenues for publishing public scholarship, strategies for communicating scholarship with audiences beyond academia, representing public scholarship in tenure files, and envisioning futures of public scholarship at UC Davis.