:: Sources
|
|
 print-friendly
format
Management
Mathematics
Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering
Medicine
Medieval Studies
Microbiology
Military Science
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Molecular Biosciences
Music
to
top
Mathematics
Instruction in mathematics at Davis dates
from the early days of the University Farm School. The first courses
were of a service nature and directed toward practical application
in agriculture. In addition, the staff gave instruction in surveying
through the Division of Irrigation Investigations and Practice.
Instruction in physics, first offered in 1927, was also assigned
to the mathematics staff. In 1933 Edward B. Roessler was sent to
Davis from Berkeley to develop the Division of Mathematics and Physics
and to create statistical services for agriculture. This combined
division grew until 1953, when two separate departments were created.
During the 1960s the Department of Mathematics
dramatically increased in size, from 12 faculty members (with only
two full professors) in 1958 to 33 by 1970. At the end of the 1960s,
Robert W. Stringall, with some input from Sherman K. Stein, started
the federally funded SEED program, which involved the innovative
teaching of advanced mathematics (e.g., calculus) to elementary
school students, especially minorities. The Master of Arts in Teaching
(M.A.T.) program was launched in the early 1970s to produce mathematics
teachers with strong pedagogical backgrounds.
By 1978 there were 41 faculty members whose expertise,
activities, and interests were no longer bound by the single word
"mathematics." The department split into those who remained
in the Department of Mathematics and those who went into other units,
including the Division of Statistics (formed in 1979), the Division
of Engineering Computer Science (formed in 1983), Zoology, Environmental
Sciences, and Agronomy and Range Science. Although the separation
of the mathematical biologists was a setback from which the department
is still recovering, momentum grew in different fields such as mathematical
physics and topology. In the 1980s the department formed a strong
research group in applied mathematics. At the same time, several
campus research scientists joined applied mathematicians to initiate
a graduate group and an organized research unit. The Graduate Group
in Applied Mathematics (GGAM), formed in 1984, offers an interdisciplinary
master's and doctoral degree program.
Economic woes in the 1990s brought strict budget
controls, a hiring freeze, and academic salary reductions, which
hit the mathematics department hard. The department lost a large
number of faculty. As it struggled for survival, the department
set higher standards for promotion, tenure, and recruitment. As
a consequence, it evolved into a respected research center in many
modern areas of mathematics by the end of the 1990s. Several faculty
from prestigious national and international universities joined
the department and contributed to the spread of its international
reputation, including William P. Thurston, winner of the Fields
Medal, the most prestigious award in mathematics. Research grants
and contracts continue to increase.
During the 1990s department faculty received several
prestigious awards. Joel Hass, Abigail Thompson, Jeremy Quastel,
and Greg Kuperberg received Sloan Foundation fellowships. J. Blake
Temple was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, and Roger J. B. Wets
won the George B. Dantzig Prize of the Society for Industrial and
Applied Mathematics. Angela Cheer and Abigail Thompson also earned
NSF Career Advancement Awards. source
to
top
Mechanical and Aeronautical
Engineering
There is no history currently available
for this department. See College
of Engineering.
to
top
to
top
Medieval Studies
There is no history currently available
for this department.
to
top
Microbiology
In 1922 Courtland S. Mudge became the first
bacteriologist to be appointed in the Department of Dairy Industry
(later called Dairy Science, then Food Science and Technology).
For some years he alone offered all the instruction in microbiology
at Davis: one course in general bacteriology taken by generations
of students. After World War II, Mudge was joined by Mortimer P.
Starr, whose interest was plant disease bacteria, and Donald M.
Reynolds, who assisted Selman Waksman in the discovery of streptomycin.
This faculty of three constituted the Section of Bacteriology in
the Department of Dairy Science.
Graduate instruction in microbiology began in
the 1940s. The Graduate Group in Microbiology included faculty from
various units at Davis and also from the Berkeley and San Francisco
campuses. Food scientists Emil Mrak and Herman Phaff at Davis and
H.A. Barker, Roger Stanier, and Michael Doudoroff of Berkeley were
influential in guiding the development of Davis graduate students.
In 1952, after the College of Letters and Science
was established, bacteriology became a department in the new college.
Allen G. Mary joined the faculty in 1952 and together with Mudge,
Starr, and Reynolds developed the courses and curriculum that constituted
the undergraduate major in bacteriology. Graduate instruction, however,
remained the province of the Graduate Group.
With Mudge's retirement, Robert E. Hungate, distinguished
by his pioneering studies on cultivation of strict anaerobes and
rumen microbiology, joined the Department of Bacteriology as its
chair in 1956. His presence materially strengthened the department's
growing reputation as a leader in microbial physiology and diversity.
Recognizing the increasing importance of the emerging field of microbial
genetics, the department recruited Monica M. Riley, a student of
Arthur Pardee, in 1960. In 1962 Hungate stepped down as chair, to
be replaced by John L. Ingraham, who transferred into the department
from the Department of Viticulture and Enology.
With the growth of enrollments at Davis, faculty
recruitment proceeded rapidly. Donald Kessler, a microbial geneticist,
joined the department in 1967; Mark Wheelis, microbial physiologist,
in 1970; David Pratt, a virologist, in 1970; Sydney Kustu, microbial
physiologist, in 1973; Paul Baumann, general microbiologist, in
1973; JaRue S. Manning, virologist, in 1974; Stanley W. Artz, microbial
physiologist, in 1976; and John C. Meeks, a microbial physiologist,
in 1977. More recent additions include Martin Privalsky, transcriptional
regulation, in 1984; Douglas Nelson, microbial ecology, in 1985;
Daniel Klionsky, yeast cell biology, in 1990; Michele Igo, microbial
genetics, in 1990; Stephen Kowalczykowski, microbial molecular genetics,
in 1991; Merna Villarejo, microbial physiology, in 1993; Mitchell
Singer, microbial genetics, in 1995; Wolf-Dietrich Heyer, DNA repair
and recombination, in 1998; Kazuhiro Shiozaki, signal transduction
in yeast, in 1998; and Valley Stewart, microbial genetics, in 1998.
The term "bacteriology," the department's
name and the one used almost universally by similar departments,
began to sound too restrictive and old-fashioned by the 1970s and
80s, and a wave of name changes ensued. In 1988 the unit became
the Department of Microbiology. With the reorganization of the Division
of Biological Sciences, the department became the Section of Microbiology
in 1992. source
See also Division
of Biological Sciences.
to
top
Military Science
The Department of Military Science and Tactics,
University of California, Berkeley, began teaching ROTC at Davis
in January 1923 under the direction of Colonel J. T. Nance. One
officer came to Davis once a week and instructed 70 students. Students
progressing to the advanced course transferred to UC Berkeley. The
University paid the travel expense of one officer and provided a
clerk for support. Active duty military personnel were assigned
to the Davis campus in 1925.
In December 1942 the ROTC department was closed,
and the Western Signal Corps School used campus facilities until
the fall of 1945. UC Berkeley then detailed First Lieutenant David
T. Butts Jr. to command the Davis unit. Enrollment during this first
quarter numbered 45 students.
In December 1948 Colonel William L. Ritter, professor
of military science training, Berkeley, and UC President Robert
G. Sproul proposed the establishment of a permanent unit at Davis.
The proposal was approved and implemented effective August 1, 1949.
The unit was designated as the Area Service Unit 6849, Reserve Officers'
Training Corps at University of California, College of Agriculture,
Davis, California. The unit was designated as Infantry Branch ROTC.
The first commander of this unit was Lieutenant Colonel William
E. Ball, Infantry. The unit was redesignated as a General Military
Science program starting in fall 1953.
In 1985 UC Davis was nominated as an Ordnance
Corps Affiliation Unit in July, and in December became an Ordnance
Corps Affiliation University. The following year, the UC Davis ROTC
Battalion adopted the name "Forged Gold Battalion" and
the motto "Hi-Speed," which is intended to reflect the
corps' dedication to excellence in leadership and professionalism
in training.
UC Davis cadets have distinguished themselves
on numerous occasions. In 1956 and again in 1958 they won the coveted
Warrior of the Pacific trophy, the only stateside unit to win the
award twice. In 1988 UC Davis was named the best-trained school
in the nation at Advanced Camp 88. In 1997 UC Davis was recognized
as the Top Medium School, a Department of Army Award, in the nation.
In 1990 three Forged Gold Battalion cadets were selected for the
Army fellowship program, allowing them to pursue advanced degrees
in their chosen academic fields of study.
An average of 150 cadets are enrolled annually
in military science, and the department commissions about 20 cadets
a year. Currently, California State University, Sacramento, is a
cross-enrolled program of UC Davis. source
to
top
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Established in 1993, the Section of Molecular
and Cellular Biology within the Division of Biological Sciences
originated in part out of the Department of Biochemistry, created
on the Davis campus in 1958. Mark G. McNamee, a biochemistry and
biophysics faculty member since 1975, was chair of that department
when in 1993 the Division of Biological Sciences, originally established
in 1970, underwent a major reorganization. When Division faculty
members chose their new affiliations, 35 faculty members from the
Departments of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Genetics, and Zoology
formed the nascent Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology. McNamee
was named interim dean of the Division of Biological Sciences in
1993, and Carl Schmid became the first chair of the new section.
Michael Dahmus succeeded Schmid in 1998.
The Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology
has a distinguished reputation. Members of the section and its forerunner
have received numerous recognitions of their accomplishments from
national and international organizations as well as the Davis campus.
Paul Stumpf, Eric Conn, and Melvin Green were elected to the National
Academy of Sciences in 1978, 1980, and 1988, respectively. Paul
Stumpf is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science as are four other members of the section (James Clegg,
John Crowe, Roy Doi, and Richard Nuccitelli).
In 1998 the section collaborated with the Department
of Chemistry to spearhead a campus initiative in structural biology,
an area of research that promises to be a key part of biological
studies in the 21st century. A core group of three structural biologists
was recruited for this initiative, further strengthening the campus's
molecular biology programs. Recognizing the potential of the proposed
structural biology program at UC Davis, the Keck Foundation in 1999
awarded the campus a large grant to establish the W. M. Keck Center
for Structural Biology. The center includes a protein expression
facility and X-ray crystallography suites.
In addition to fostering excellent research programs,
the Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology is committed to providing
undergraduates with an exceptional education. Through both the College
of Letters and Science and the College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, the section currently administers three undergraduate
majors, which enroll more than 1,000 students: (1) biochemistry,
(2) cell biology, and (3) genetics. Also, most of the section's
faculty members offer undergraduates an opportunity to participate
in their research.
Campus awards to Eric Conn and R. Scott Hawley
manifest the section's commitment to undergraduate education. In
1989 Conn received the UC Davis Prize for Teaching and Scholarly
Achievement, an award conferred by the UC Davis Foundation. Hawley,
professor of genetics, in 1997 received the Chancellor's Award for
Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research. source
See also Department
of Biochemistry and Division
of Biological Sciences.
to
top
Molecular Biosciences
There is no history currently available
for this department. See College
of Veterinary Medicine.
to
top
Music
The Department of Music was formally established
on July 1, 1958. The founding member of the department was composer
Jerome Rosen, appointed in 1952 to the Department of Philosophy
and Fine Arts in the new College of Letters and Science. He was
joined by music historian Richard Irwin in 1953, composer Richard
Swift in 1956, and composer/theorist George Perle, later winner
of the Pulitzer Prize, in 1957. "Five O'Clock Concerts,"
forerunner of the Thursday Noon Concerts, began in October 1954
with chamber music played by Irwin, violin; Rosen, clarinet; Herman
Phaff, professor of Food Science and Technology, cello; Forrest
Honnold, music teacher at Davis High School, flute; and Ida Mae
Harter, beloved local piano teacher. A chamber orchestra assembled
from time to time became in due course the UCD Symphony Orchestra,
formally established under Richard Swift and offering its inaugural
concert on February 26, 1959. On Rosen's recommendation the Davis
campus commissioned the celebrated French composer Darius Milhaud
to compose a musical work for the opening of Freeborn Hall in February
1962.
Under the leadership of Richard Swift, chair 1963-71,
the faculty grew to seven, established an M.A. program in 1964,
presented the first Faculty Research Concert, and launched the Artist-in-Residence
program in 1966-67. The first artist-in-residence (complementing
a visit of the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen) was the avant-garde
pianist David Tudor, beginning a distinguished succession that has
included Paul Badura-Skoda, piano; Bethany Beardslee, soprano; Gerard
Souzay, baritone; Martin Neary, organ; Davitt Moroney, harpsichord;
and the Hilliard Ensemble. Swift and others, including the percussionist
Stanley Lunetta, formed an improvisatory New Music Ensemble that
drew international attention, as did a journal, Source, edited
by Larry Austin and Arthur Woodbury.
The department moved from its original quarters
in temporary buildings to the eighth floor of the new Sproul Hall
to await completion of the Music-Art-Drama complex in the fall of
1966. Swift oversaw the start of studio instruction in applied music
in 1969-70. Musicologist Theodore Karp secured funding for a collection
of historical musical instruments that led to the mutation of the
madrigal singers group into the Early Music Ensemble in 1973. In
1969-70 Albert J. McNeil, director of the Los Angeles Jubilee Singers,
began his 20-year tenure as UCD's immensely popular director of
choruses.
Subsequent chairs of the department were Theodore
Karp, 1971-72; Swift, 1972-73 (acting); Rosen, 1973-77; Sydney Robinson
Charles, 1977-79; D. Kern Holoman,1979-88; David Nutter, 1988-92;
Christopher Reynolds, 1992-96; and A. Wayne Slawson,1996-present.
Ph.D. study in composition and musicology was offered in 1989, with
the first Ph.D. awarded in 1994. Composer Ross Bauer, appointed
in 1988, established a new professional musical group, now called
the Empyrean Ensemble, that has helped assure UCD's prestige in
composition and contemporary music. Editorial offices of the journals
19th Century Music and Beethoven Forum were established at UC Davis
in 1978 and 1991, respectively.
Music faculty have won dozens of major awards
and prizes, among them a UC Davis Prize; a Faculty Research Lectureship;
two Distinguished Teaching Awards; four Guggenheim fellowships;
two American Council of Learned Societies fellowships; a Humboldt
fellowship; some half dozen NEH and NEA awards; 12 national and
international composition prizes; two national publication awards;
and a knighthood. The Department of Music currently comprises 10
faculty members, 23 lecturers and instructors, 11 staff, 16 graduate
students, 60 undergraduates, and an annual student enrollment of
about 3,000. Its mission remains much as its founders imagined it:
advanced research and creative work in the fields of composition
and music theory, music history and criticism, and music performance,
and a firm commitment to excellence in teaching. source
to
top
|
