IN THIS COLUMN

• Anita Oberbauer, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
• Jason Bond, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
• Ron Tjeerdema, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
• Dawn Sumner, Feminist Research Institute
• Colleen Clancy, Feminist Research Institute
• Allison Brashear, School of Medicine
• Susan Catron, Continuing and Professional Education
• Dean Simonton, Department of Psychology

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Dean Helene Dillard of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences announced two changes in her leadership team:

• Animal science professor Anita Oberbauer moves up to executive associate dean, succeeding Ron Tjeerdema, professor of environmental toxicology, who stepped down.
• Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, Department of Entomology and Nematology, succeeds Oberbauer as associate dean for agricultural sciences.

Oberbauer earned a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology at UC Davis, graduating with highest honors in 1980. She earned a Ph.D. in animal science from Cornell University and then completed postdoctoral fellowships in perinatal biology at Loma Linda University and biological chemistry at UCLA prior to joining the UC Davis faculty in 1989. Her research program comprises two areas of emphasis: growth and development focusing on the skeleton in driving the relationship between skeletal size and body composition, and the genetic basis for health disorders and other traits in dogs and cattle. She received the 2018-19 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.

Bond holds a B.S. degree in biology from Western Carolina University and a Ph.D. in evolutionary systematics and genetics from Virginia Tech. He joined the UC Davis faculty in 2018. “The primary focus of my research program is the discovery, conservation, and investigation of the pattern and processes responsible for the diversity of life,” he says on his faculty webpage. 

On a related note, Bond recently was named co-editor-in-chief of the journal Insect Systematics and Diversity, published by the Entomological Society of America. He and co-editor-in-chief Hojun Song, associate professor of entomology at Texas A&M University, will serve four-year terms beginning Jan. 1. Read more in Entomology and Nematology News.

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The Feminist Research Institute announced the appointment of interim co-directors: Dawn Sumner and Colleen Clancy, members of the institute’s faculty advisory board. They step in for Kalindi Vora, the director since 2017, who is serving as a visiting professor of ethnicity, race and migration, and women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Yale University.

Clancy is associate vice chancellor for Academic Personnel at UC Davis Health and a professor in the departments of Physiology and Membrane Biology, and Pharmacology, School of Medicine. Additionally, she chairs the Compensation Advisory Committee for the UC Davis School of Medicine, and previously chaired a UC committee on affirmative action and diversity.

Sumner is a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, where she is a leader in antiracism work. She is also a member of the Strength Through Equity and Diversity, or STEAD, committee, which provides workshops for faculty search committees to help them implement equitable hiring practices.

“Their commitment to values-based research and teaching have inspired us and others, and we feel confident that they will contribute to our research, research development and training initiatives,” said Sarah McCullough, associate director.

Clancy and Sumner will work with the institute to continue developing "Asking Different Questions," the institute’s flagship research training program, and to open up opportunities for feminist research at UC Davis. "As we navigate a busy set of federal grants priorities in addition to our normal programming, Sumner and Clancy will help us continue to deepen our relationships with STEM researchers, as well as co-create with us more opportunities for STEM researchers to be exposed to feminist pedagogy," McCullough wrote in an announcement. "They will also continue to support FRI as it plans for a permanent faculty director."

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Allison Brashear, dean of the School of Medicine since July 2019, has accepted a position as the vice president for Health Sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, New York.

Her last day at UC Davis Health will be Nov. 12. Dean Brashear indicated she took the position to be closer to her children, who are both on the East Coast.

While at UC Davis, Dean Brashear has raised the School of Medicine’s national recognition as a research powerhouse, and worked to advance health equity, diversity and inclusion across all the school’s missions.

During Dean Brashear’s tenure, U.S. News & World Report recognized the School of Medicine as the fourth most diverse medical school in the nation and as a national leader in primary care, family medicine and research. As a champion of transdisciplinary research collaboration, she led the school to a record total of $368 million in research awards, with more than $98 million in clinical trials in fiscal year 2020-21.

She oversaw the implementation of a new curriculum and the development of the school’s strategic plan, placing the school in a strong position heading into February’s reaccreditation review by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. She also engaged in collaborations with student chapters of White Coats for Black Lives and the Student National Medical Association to address important issues such as clerkship grade inequities and creating a learning environment where everyone can excel.

“Over these next several weeks, please join me in thanking Dean Brashear for her many contributions and wishing her all the best in her new role,” said David Lubarsky, vice chancellor of Human Health Sciences and CEO of UC Davis Health. “We will undertake a nationwide search for Dean Brashear’s successor, and in the meantime, I anticipate naming an interim dean for the School of Medicine in the coming weeks.”

— Steve Telliano, assistant vice chancellor, Strategic Communications, UC Davis Health

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Susan Catron, dean of Continuing and Professional Education, has been named to the editorial review board for an upcoming book, New Models of Higher Education: Unbundled, Customized, DIY.

She joins other higher education leaders, including Sally Johnstone, president of the National Center For Higher Education Management Systems; Debra Humphreys, vice president of Strategic Engagement, Lumina Foundation; and Rovy Branon, vice provost, University of Washington Continuum College.

New Models of Higher Education brings together leading voices who are committed to a student-centered vision of how higher education has evolved. Students are already engaging in this way, and they’re doing it despite how higher education is currently structured. The book showcases what is already being done and what still needs to happen, with the goal of pushing higher education toward fully embracing this approach to lifelong educational engagement

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Professor Emeritus Dean Simonton has been elected to the presidency of the Society for the History of Psychology, a division of the American Psychological Association, or APA, though he will not take office until 2023 after serving as president-elect in 2022. Simonton, who retired in 2016 after 40 years on the faculty, taught a popular undergraduate course and graduate seminar on the history of psychology, examining the field via the psychology of science, especially the psychology of eminent scientists.

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Dateline UC Davis welcomes news of appointments of various kinds for faculty and staff, for publication in Org Chart (formerly titled Transitions). Send information to dateline@ucdavis.edu.