The UC Davis contingent on the UC Board of Regents grew larger this summer with the swearing in of two additional Aggies.
Four Aggies — an alum, a grad student, a faculty member and a staffer — hold official roles with the UC Board of Regents, which oversees all 10 UC campuses; other Aggies address the regents at each meeting but don’t hold formal roles on the board.
Charles Melton ’08 will serve as alumni-regent-designate in the 2025-26 year, and full alumni regent in 2026-27.
“As an alum, I care deeply about making sure alumni voices help shape the future of the University of California,” Melton said by email after his first regents meeting in July. “I aim to strengthen connections across all 10 campuses and invite more alumni to participate in the conversation — whether through mentorship, advocacy or support. Alumni know firsthand what UC can do, and our experiences can help ensure that future students have access to the same life-changing opportunities we did."
He called it “powerful” to have so many UC Davis voices represented at regents meetings.
Miguel Craven, who is pursuing a master’s degree at UC Davis in energy systems, is starting his own one-year term as student-regent-designate. He will serve as full student regent in 2026-27.
Craven is the latest guest on Face to Face With Chancellor May. He shared that his leadership philosophy centers on empathy, listening and inclusion. He acknowledged that many students still feel unheard or disconnected from UC decision-making processes — and he wants to change that.
“I think housing is where I provide a lot of input and support, but at the same time, there's times that you kind of have to be flexible and you have to be willing to prioritize other efforts,” he said.
September meeting spotlighted Aggies
The September meeting for the regents marked the debut of UC Davis Professor of Chemical Engineering Ahmet Palazoglu as chair of the systemwide Academic Senate, after serving for a year as vice chair. The position also makes Palazoglu the primary systemwide faculty representative to the regents.
He called it the “ultimate responsibility” of his career to advocate for thousands of faculty members across the UC system.
During the meeting, Palazoglu praised the university as being an agent of positive change and acknowledged that the system now faces new challenges driven by internal and external pressures.
“Collectively, collaboratively, purposefully, we at UC will drive the change because that’s what we are known for. We have certainly done that before; we can do it again,” he told the regents. “While the dark clouds obscure the path forward, I choose to believe that we have the means to keep us true to the path — the path toward the UC that prioritizes quality, champions access and affordability.”
Another advisor to the regents is Mayté Frías, who shares her perspective as a UC Davis staffer. She works as a senior research associate in Student Affairs Assessment, measuring the effectiveness of programs like tutoring or resource centers that are meant to help students be successful.
In the 2024-25 academic year, Frías served as staff advisor-designate. She now is in her one-year term as the full staff advisor, including time on committees related to public engagement, academic and student affairs, and more.
The September regents meeting was also the first of the 2025-26 term for Aditi Hariharan, who is returning for another term as president of the UC Student Association. Hariharan is a fifth-year double majoring in political science and nutrition science at UC Davis. At the meeting, she urged the regents to work toward protecting the UC’s “values, its commitment to access and affordability.”
As president of the UC Student Association, Hariharan is given a few minutes to address the board at each regularly scheduled meeting.
Also at the September meeting of the regents, UC Davis student Walid Jailani spoke as part of a discussion item highlighting student-run charities. He founded the School of Freedom, a virtual school that provides education to girls in Afghanistan who have outgrown the approved offerings there.
Jailani told the regents about the origin of his organization during his freshman year at UC Davis, spurred on by news of the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan that led to a ban on secondary and higher education for girls and women.
“We were sitting with a group of friends and just discussing this whole issue, and we all just decided to do something about it and start teaching,” Jailani said.
At first, 10 times more students signed up to take virtual English classes than Jailani and his fellow UC Davis students could accommodate. Now the organization teaches 1,200 students at a time, with a goal to “empower students academically while also nurturing them as future leaders in their communities,” Jailani told the regents.
Jailani is a former guest on Face to Face With Chancellor May, and UC Davis’ chancellor introduced him to the regents last week, calling Jailani “a student who embodies the very best values at the University of California.”
Chancellor Gary S. May told the regents: “He is a powerful example of how one's personal experience can catalyze a movement. We are incredibly proud to call him an Aggie.”