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2008 Annual Report

Photo: Santana family

Karen Santana (left, in family photo), a Pomo tribal member and 2005 graduate of the Native American Studies department, worked with Professor Martha Macri to mine the archives of the late anthropologist J. P. Harrington for information on the Pomo language.
Photo courtesy Santana family.

Native American studies

UC Davis remains one of the preeminent universities in North America where graduate students can obtain their doctoral degrees in Native American Studies. Created 40 years ago as a program, today’s Native American Studies department was the first of its kind in the nation. Students can study at the undergraduate, master’s and Ph.D. levels, and may focus their expertise in the areas of Native American history, religion, philosophy, music, art, literature, women, or politics and society.

Since 2000, UC Davis scholars and volunteers have been working to revive more than 100 indigenous Native American languages by transcribing 500,000 pages of notes left behind by linguist and anthropologist J.P. Harrington, who interviewed the last surviving speakers of many native tongues.

In addition, for more than 35 years, the C.N. Gorman Museum on campus has been dedicated to the creative expression of Native American artists and artists of diverse cultures and histories. Established in honor of faculty emeritus Carl Nelson Gorman—artist, World War II code talker, cultural historian and advocate for native peoples—the museum hosts a permanent collection and also exhibits contemporary art in a wide range of media, including sculpture, painting, photography and prints.

Photo illustration of professor Stanley Sue, Native American bronze sculpture, woman at podium and Graduate School of Management dean Nicole Biggart.

Additional impacts

Asian American Mental Health

UC Davis psychologists like Stanley Sue (above, left) are gaining increased understanding of mental health problems facing Asian Americans. The Asian American Center on Disparities Research supports and coordinates the efforts of a network of researchers. Already, their research has found a higher rate of diagnosed psychological disorders among biracial Asian Americans compared with other Asian Americans.

Historical Insight

UC Davis historians provide a comprehensive look into past lives and cultures across the globe. Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar Alan Taylor, Louis Warren, the W. Turrentine Jackson Chair in Western U.S. History, and Eric Rauchway, director of the Center for History, Society and Culture, provide exceptional leadership in the study of American history. The General Library houses one of the finest Western Americana history collections for use by students, researchers and visiting scholars from around the world.

Economic advice

Presidents, governors and other policymakers rely on the advice of economists in the UC Davis departments of Economics and Agricultural and Resource Economics in matters of tax policy, labor, international trade issues, impacts of war on the nation’s economy and the farm subsidy debate. UC Davis also provides a reserve of knowledge for scholars worldwide through its Center for International Data, which is home to the world’s biggest repository of information on global trade.

The next 100 years: Women leaders

The fourth annual UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders revealed that half of California’s 400 largest public companies have no women in top executive offices, and almost half do not have a woman in the boardroom, despite evidence that companies with more female decision makers thrive. These results raise awareness of the problem and point the way for firms to attract and retain more experienced female leaders.