Andrea Gaytan (’92) became the founding director of the AB 540 and Undocumented Student Center in 2014. She currently serves as dean at the Sacramento City College Davis Center.
Linda P.B. Katehi is the first female chancellor, and sixth chancellor, of UC Davis (2009-2016)
Jodi Nunnari was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (2017) and studies mitochondria, tiny structures that provide energy to living cells and which are implicated in a wide range of diseases, including heart disease, stroke and inherited conditions. She discovered that mitochondria form a dynamic network with the cell which led to fundamental insights into how mitochondria grow, divide and function.
London Breed (‘97) is the 45th Mayor of San Francisco and the first African-American woman Mayor in the City’s history and second woman to be elected as mayor of San Francisco.
Jackie Speier (’72) was elected to Congress and represents California’s 14th congressional district. Before her election to the US House of Representatives, she served for 18 years in the California State Legislature.
Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie serves as the Director of the C.N. Gorman Museum. Her work uses photography as a means to re-appropriate the Native American as subject.
Alexandra Navrotsky was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1993) for her work in geoscience and materials science. A newly discovered mineral, navrotskyite, has been named after her, for her significant contributions to uranium thermochemistry.
Martha Marsh is the first female appointed CEO of UC Davis Medical Center in 1999.
Deborah Frincke (‘85,‘89,’92) is the first science advisor, innovation champion, and one of the six original members of the first Board of Directors (two female) at the National Security Agency.
Lois O’Grady is the first woman on the School of Medicine’s faculty and became the first female Chief of Medical Staff (1989)
Ruth Risdon Storer is the first female physician to come to the UC Davis Campus in 1913 and first female pediatrician in Yolo County.
Claire Pomeroy is the first female Dean and Vice Chancellor of the School of Medicine (2005-2013). She currently serves as president of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation (2013-present).
Susan Hrdy was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1990) and is revered as a pioneer in modernizing current understanding of the evolutionary basis of female behavior in nonhuman and human primates.
Sydney Kustu was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1993) and is best known for her work on how bacterial genes are regulated by the availability of nitrogen-containing compounds in the environment.
Renetta Garrison Tull is the university's first vice chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (2019-present). She is a passionate advocate, global mentor, education policy strategist, and champion for equity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Michal Kurlaender is the first UC Davis faculty member elected to the National Academy of Education (2020). She investigates students’ educational pathways and access to and success in postsecondary schooling, and studies the impact of racial and ethnic diversity on student outcomes.
Julie Sze is the founding director of the Environmental Justice Project for UC Davis’ John Muir Institute for the Environment (2006-present).
Jennifer Sinclair Curtis is an accomplished chemical engineer and administrator who became the first woman dean of the College of Engineering, in 2015.
Susan Harrison (’83,’86) was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (2018) and is known for her research on plant species diversity, focusing recently on how climatic drying is affecting the biological diversity of California grassland communities.
Heather M. Young served as the inaugural dean of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing (2008-2018) and led the establishment of the school, the development of five new graduate programs in Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership, the design and construction of the 70,000-square-foot Betty Irene Moore Hall and the formation of a nursing science research program focused on healthy systems and healthy people.
Sarah Hutchison was the only woman to co-found D-Q University in 1971, the only indigenous-controlled institution of higher learning located outside a reservation.
"Nicole Woolsey Biggart is the first female Dean of the Graduate School of Management (2004-2009) . She was influential in shaping the School’s community, values and learning environment through her teaching and leadership. "
Anna Escobedo Cabral (‘87) became the 42nd U.S. Treasurer and previously served as Director of the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Latino Initiatives.
Beth Rose Middleton (‘01) researches Native environmental policy and Native activism for site protection using conservation tools. She collaborates with Indigenous peoples in California and beyond on climate adaptation and environmental health-related projects.
May Ngai Seeman ('89) became President and CEO of MEAG New York Corporation, the first woman overseeing the asset management business and managing investments exceeding $40 billion (2001-2017).
Pat Turner, a folklorist, became vice provost for Undergraduate Studies in 1990. She now serves as UCLA senior dean and vice provost of Undergraduate Education.
Leah Krubitzer is Director of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Neurobiology at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience. She was named to the 1998 class of MacArthur Fellows, commonly known as MacArthur “genius” grants, for her research on the development of complex brains from their simple origins.
Halifu Osumare helped establish California’s multicultural arts movement. She founded the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts and was the Founder and Executive Producer of Black Choreographers Moving Toward the 21st Century (1989-1995).
Helene Dillard ('84) is an accomplished plant pathologist and dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis (2014-present).
Susan Catron is the first female dean of UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education (formerly University Extension) in the near-60-year history of the division (2019-present).
Tani Cantil-Sakauye (‘80, ‘84) is the 28th chief justice of California. She is the first Filipino American and the second woman to serve as California’s chief justice.
Robyn M. Rodriguez is the founding director of the first and only research center (Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies) focused on the Filipino American and diasporic experience in the U.S.
Jacque Bartholomew (‘64) is the first woman to serve as president of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association (1978-1981) and UC Davis Chancellor’s Club, and has chaired the UC Davis Library Associates.
Patricia Cowings (‘73), first American woman to be trained as a scientist astronaut in 1978. She invented the Autogenic-Feedback Training (AFTE) systems and methods, which was patented by NASA in 1997.
Margrit Mondavi and her husband, Robert Mondavi, donated $37 million to the university for the Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.
Katherine Esau (‘31) is a world-renowned botanist, and recipient of the President’s National Medal of Science, known for setting standards of excellence for the investigation of anatomical problems in plant sciences.
Marguerite Pappaioanou (’77,’82) is the first female Executive Director of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, appointed in 2007.
Delaine Eastin (‘69) is the first woman to date to be elected California State Superintendent of Public Instruction (1995–2003), serving two terms as Superintendent following eight years as a legislator in the California State Assembly.
Tracy Caldwell Dyson (’97) became a NASA astronaut in 1998. She is a veteran of two space flights and designed, constructed and implemented electronics and hardware related to atmospheric gas phase chemistry. She also developed methods of chemical ionization for the spectral interpretation of trace compounds.
Barbara Schneeman became the dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Science and the first female dean of agriculture in the U.S., in 1993.
Celeste Turner Wright is the first woman with a Ph.D. to become a faculty member in 1928, and the first woman to be tenured. She was the first teacher of Latin, German, and public speaking, the first drama instructor, the first humanities professor to be honored as Faculty Research Lecturer, and the only woman to have an academic building named after her.
Jennifer Gross (‘97) is the head coach of the UC Davis Women’s Basketball team (2010-present). She is now a four-time Big West Conference Coach of the Year (even though the 2019-20 season ended prematurely, the awards were handed out before it was cancelled), making her the first women’s basketball coach in the history of the Big West Conference to win the award in four consecutive seasons. She also ranks second all time to UC Santa Barbara’s Mark French in the total number of Coach of the Year awards. French won seven in a decorated career with UCSB, while Coach Gross has won four.
Marya Welch developed the women’s athletics program in 1947. She established and coached competitive teams in volleyball, archery, tennis, basketball, swimming, track and field, and softball.
Kelly Ratliff ('86,'93) is the Vice Chancellor of Finance, Operations and Administration and manages the university's capital and operating budget totaling over $5 billion annually. She is a longtime Aggie and has been at UC Davis since 1982 (B.S. Zoology '86, MBA '93, and started employment in 1987).
Sarah T. Stewart was named to the 2018 class of MacArthur Fellows, commonly known as MacArthur “genius” grants. Using shock wave experiments and other techniques, her group’s research led to the discovery that the Moon was formed by the Earth’s rock vapors.
Ann Veneman ('70) is the former executive director of UNICEF from 2005 to 2010. Her appointment was announced on January 18, 2005 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Previously, Veneman was the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the first, and as of 2018 the only, woman to hold that position.
Jonna Mazet is an American epidemiologist and Executive Director of the UC Davis One Health Institute who is recognized for her innovative and holistic approach to emerging environmental and global health threats. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Pamela Ronald was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (2019). She researches genes that control disease resistance and tolerance to environmental stress in rice, one of the world’s most important crops, and is known for her engineering of flood tolerant rice.
Diana Farmer is the first female fetal surgeon in the world and is known for her skilled surgical treatment of congenital anomalies and for her expertise in cancer, airway and intestinal surgeries in newborns.
Deborah Ward is the first faculty member recruited to the School of Nursing, in 2008. She served in a number of leadership positions and played a critical role in the development of the school’s graduate degree programs.
Elizabeth Arnold Stone (’76) is the first woman dean of an accredited veterinary college in the United States and Canada.
Inés Hernandéz-Avila is a founding member of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and served as Co-Director of the UC Davis Social Justice Initiative (2013-2016).
Virginia Hinshaw is the first female provost and executive vice chancellor at UC Davis, appointed in 2001, and served as chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Manoa (2007-2012).
MRC Greenwood served as dean of graduate studies and later as vice provost of academic outreach (1995), then as provost and senior vice president, academic affairs for the UC system (2004). She was the first woman president of the University of Hawaii.
Celebrating 55 Alumni, Staff, Faculty and Friend
