From alligators and sea turtles in the Florida Keys to penguins in Antarctica, UC Davis veterinary medicine alum Dr. Doug Mader ’79, M.S. ’82, DVM ’86, Residency ’88 has spent nearly four decades caring for exotic animals and wildlife around the world.
In his debut novel, author Jared Poon, Ph.D. ’14, imagines a Singapore where civil servants manage supernatural disturbances alongside the everyday work of government. City of Others is set in a modern metropolis populated by humans, spirits and creatures drawn from Southeast Asian folklore.
Supporting public education and opening doors for the next generation of students are top priorities for retired cardiologist Bob Blumberg ’67, a double UC alum who earned his bachelor’s degree from UC Davis and his medical degree from UC San Francisco in 1971.
Thanks to a charitable gift annuity (CGA), he can do exactly that. While receiving income from his gift, Blumberg has established a fund to provide undergraduate scholarships for first-generation students in the College of Biological Sciences.
Five years, dozens of wineries and countless toasts later, UC Davis’ Aggies Uncorked Alumni Wine Club is preparing to celebrate a major milestone this fall.
When Michelle “Grace” Nichols ’80 unwrapped a holiday gift from a friend—a UC Davis sweatshirt—she didn’t expect it to inspire plans for her retirement.
“Something just clicked,” Nichols recalled. “I received a full-tuition scholarship when I was a student, and I always meant to pay it back. That sweatshirt made me realize it was time.”
That impulse turned into action, thanks to what she calls her “$60,000 sweatshirt”—a playful nod to the modern-day cost of a UC Davis education and the gift she’s committed to paying forward.
At UC Davis, Kealani Kitaura ’12 found community and discovered the power of using art to honor heritage and history. Now she’s producing and starring in independent films that spotlight untold stories and spark meaningful conversations, one multiverse twist at a time.
Charles Melton, a University of California, Davis, alum and public policy leader, has been appointed to serve on the UC Board of Regents, representing more than 2 million graduates worldwide.
Melton, who graduated in 2008 with a degree in political science, will serve a two-year term as a University of California alumni regent beginning today (July 1).
What begins at UC Davis doesn’t stop at graduation. For these three alumni, it led all the way to the president’s office — shaping the future of higher education at universities across the country.
Deborah Thompson Austin of UC Davis’ alumni association will instruct hundreds of undergraduates to move the tassel on their graduation cap from left to right at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center Saturday morning.
For her husband, Ron Austin of Fairfield, California, it will be a moment — and degree — more than 47 years in the making.
The 66-year-old is proud he has finally completed the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts in political science, but he sees his life as a cautionary tale that he shares with first-year students.
The University of California, Davis, Cal Aggie Alumni Association has announced the recipients of its 2025 Alumni Awards, celebrating extraordinary alumni and friends who have made a lasting impact on their communities and the university.
