As interim director of UC Center Sacramento, UC Davis Professor Richard L. Kravitz led a review of the center’s mission and vision, oversaw the development of a strategic plan, and organized a scholarly competition addressing major public policy issues. Now, after serving in the interim role since 2013, he has been appointed to the position on a permanent basis.

 

SUMMER SPEAKER SERIES

UC Center Sacramento announced a full schedule of speakers through the summer. All talks are scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. in LL3 (lower level 3), 1130 K St. Free and open to the public, with lunch included. More information on each program is available here. If you’re planning to attend, please RSVP via the link provided for each event.

• Thursday, June 18 — “U.S.-Mexican Relations: Why So Complex?” Peter Smith, professor of political science, UC San Diego.
• Wednesday, July 8 — “The California Latino and Asian American Vote: Dramatic Underrepresentation in 2014 and Expected Impact in 2016,” Mindy Romero, director, California Civic Engagement Project, UC Davis Center for Regional Change.
• Thursday, July 9 — “Cancer Screening: Evidence, the USPSTF Guidelines Process and Health Policy,” Joy Melnikow, professor of family and community medicine, and director, Center for Health Policy and Research, UC Davis.
• Thursday, July 16 — “Public Universities and Regional Development,” Martin Kenney, professor of community and regional development, UC Davis.
• POSTPONED: Thursday, July 23 — “If We Want to Encourage Walking and Biking, We Need to Make it Safer,” UC Berkeley’s David R. Ragland, adjunct professor emeritus of epidemiology, School of Public Health; and director, Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC), a joint project of the Institute of Transportation Studies and School of Public Health.
• Thursday, July 30 — “Effects of Agricultural Policies on Nutrition and Obesity,” Julian Alston, distinguished professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Davis.
• Tuesday, Aug. 4 — “Senate Bill 128 Debates: Problems with Legalizing Physician Assisted Suicide,” UC Irvine’s Aaron Kheriaty, associate clinical professor of psychiatry, and director, Program in Medical Ethics, School of Medicine.
• Thursday, Aug. 6 — “When and How Should Cities Implement Inclusionary Housing Policies?” Ann Hollingshead, graduate student recipient, UCCS Emerging Scholars Award for Excellence in Public Policy Research. She recently completed her studies for a Master of Public Policy, UC Berkeley.
• Thursday, Aug. 13 — “Online Learning in Higher Education,” Cameron Sublett, graduate student recipient, UCCS Emerging Scholars Award for Excellence in Public Policy Research. He is a doctoral candidate in education policy, leadership and research methods, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, UC Santa Barbara.

Questions? Contact Dee Powell by phone, (916) 445-5100, or email. 

UC Center Sacramento is a systemwide program administered by UC Davis; Kravitz comes from faculty of the School of Medicine.

“Richard has crafted an exceptional vision for the center, and I am tremendously excited about the future of the center under Richard’s outstanding leadership,” UC Davis Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter said.

UC Vice Provost Susan Carlson added: “His energy is infectious, and his ambitions for the center are exciting to students, faculty, alumni and center supporters.”

The center’s 2014 strategic plan, developed in collaboration with the UCCS Advisory Committee and UC leadership, covers such topics as increasing the number of students enrolling in the program, enhancing the student experience and building an active alumni network.

Kravitz established the Bacon Public Lectureship and White Paper Competition in 2014, with support from alumni couple Kevin and Kim Bacon. Kevin's a 1972 graduate (bachelor's degree in political science), and Kim Peoples Bacon earned a teaching credential in 1979.

The winner of the competition presents his or her research at a public lecture at the center before a broad range of stakeholders, and the center disseminates the research broadly. See below for links to the inaugural year's lecture and research documents.

Researcher and communicator

Kravitz, who joined UC Davis in 1993, served as director of the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research from 1996 through 2006. Today he serves as co-vice chair for research in the Department of Internal Medicine.

In his own research, he studies patients’ acting as agents for improving their own quality of care; the causes and consequences of physician behavior; and the improvement of mental health care in primary care settings.

He has written extensively for health foundations and federal and state agencies, and serves as co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Last year he received the George Engel Award from the American Academy on Communication in Healthcare, for research contributing to the theory, practice and teaching of effective health care communication and related skills.

Kravitz is a graduate of Stanford University and the UCSF School of Medicine. He completed additional clinical and research training at UCLA, where he served on the faculty until coming to UC Davis.

He is a fellow in the American College of Physicians and AcademyHealth.

WINNING WHITE PAPER

The winning entry in the inaugural UCCS Bacon Public Lectureship and White Paper Competition, 2014:

“Improving School Readiness: Formal versus Informal Pre-Kindergarten and Children in Immigrant Families,” by Michael A. Gottfried, assistant professor, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, with Hui Yon Kim, UC Santa Barbara.

• Research brief
• Full report
• Lectureship video (UCTV)

More about the competition

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