Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef on the UC Davis Quad’s busy new Centennial Walk. Made of concrete and granite, the walk was dedicated by the chancellor and others in October 2008 during the Centennial Fall Festival.
Photo illustration by Karin Higgins and Jay Leek
Introduction: A message from Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef
As I prepare to step down after 15 years as chancellor, I am privileged to join the UC Davis community in celebrating our centennial.
One hundred years ago, the university welcomed its first students to Davis. That first class numbered just 18; this year’s Centennial Class numbers close to 5,000. What a difference a century makes!
Today, UC Davis touches and transforms everything that matters to us as human beings. Whether it’s health, the economy, what we eat and drink, the way we live and work together, how we find meaning through art, music and literature, how we steward the Earth and think environmentally—everything that matters, UC Davis touches and transforms.
Our presence has expanded from Davis to Sacramento and far beyond. Our centers stretch from Bodega Bay to Tulare and Tahoe and up and down the coast and on to Washington, D.C. Our health system serves 6 million people throughout Northern California. In fact, our reach is global, with nearly half our faculty involved in international activities. And our alumni, now up to 186,000, further spread UC Davis’ impact to every corner of the globe.
This annual report highlights just a few of the many contributions generated through UC Davis, both in the past century and in the 2007–08 fiscal year.
Although 100 years have passed since UC Davis was founded, it’s clear that one thing hasn’t changed: that unique spirit of Aggie Pride that has always characterized this campus.
The late Clark Kerr—a revered former president of the University of California and a preeminent higher education statesman—described that special spirit this way: “The Davis campus had always had more community spirit than any other. . . . It was, above all other campuses, an integrated human and intellectual community . . . a friendly, pragmatic place, and very resourceful in working out problems.”
He confessed years later that Davis was his favorite UC campus, and he sent his own children here to be educated.
It is that special, caring spirit that has made us who we are. It has gotten us through the toughest times, and it has made us shine when times were good. And it all springs from such a simple premise. We have, for 100 years now, held to a simple principle—we do what matters. It’s our calling and nobody—nobody—does it better.
That was our premise when we were founded, and it’s our promise as we begin our second century.
Larry N. Vanderhoef
Chancellor