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UC Davis Academic and Campus Updates
Undergraduates learn about plant sciences in one of campus's many greenhouse labs

Stay informed of UC Davis changes on campus and within our four colleges, including updates to our majors and minors.

Academic News

  • College of Engineering Name Changes. In the College of Engineering, the Aeronautical Science and Engineering major, B.S., is now Aerospace Science and Engineering, B.S., and the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering is now the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

  • Second Baccalaureate Degree Candidates. Effective fall 2010, second baccalaureate degree applicants will be considered by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences only in Biotechnology, (pre-) Landscape Architecture, and Viticulture and Enology majors. Second baccalaureate degree applicants are considered by the College of Engineering only if the student's first degree was not in engineering, the student has completed the lower-division preparatory work and the student transfers from a California community college.

  • Suspended Majors. In 2008, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences elected to suspend the Individual Major program, and new proposals will not be accepted until further notice. Computational Applied Science, B.S., College of Engineering, remains suspended indefinitely. Nature and Culture, A.B., College of Letters and Science, has been suspended (effective for new applicants fall 2010). Statistics, A.B., College of Letters and Science, is in the process of being discontinued. Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees in Statistics will remain available with options in Applied Statistics and Computational Statistics.

  • Revised Preparatory Coursework Expectations for Transfer Students.
    • The English major within the College of Letters and Science revised its transfer student curriculum in 2008-09, removing from preparatory subject matter its requirement for English 30A, 30B, 46A, 46B and 46C. New English 10A, 10B and 10C courses that span a broader chronological and geographical range—including America, Britain, Ireland, Scotland and India as important sites of English literary production and consumption—were introduced to the preparatory subject matter. Community colleges that have not yet submitted course outlines for review with the new series are encouraged to contact Cindy Bevc, Articulation Officer, (530) 754-7649

    • Transfer students applying to the following non-selective majors within the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are strongly encouraged to complete the chemistry and/or organic chemistry series prior to enrolling at UC Davis to shorten time to degree: Animal Science, Animal Science and Management, Clinical Nutrition and Nutrition Science.

    • Preparatory course requirements for Biomedical Engineering and Psychology have changed for transfer students applying to fall quarter 2010 and beyond. Applicants to the Biomedical Engineering major are no longer required to complete Engineering 35 or Physics 9D, and cannot take Engineering Computer Science 30 in lieu of Engineering 6. Psychology applicants must now complete the group of courses required for the major Psychology, A.B., with a 2.90 GPA or higher. To be a competitive applicant for the Psychology major, students must have an overall GPA of at least a 2.80; an overall GPA of 2.90 or higher is required to qualify for a TAG. Students are advised that graduation requirements for this major may vary from admission requirements, based upon emphasis and degree option, and they are encouraged to view coursework for the A.B. and B.S. degrees with emphases available in Biology and Mathematics.

  • Three New Minors. As of fall 2009, the Department of Spanish began offering a minor in Luso-Brazilian (Portuguese) Studies, and our University Writing Program launched a minor in writing. These new offerings join the oceanography minor offered through the Department of Geology since fall 2008.

  • New Emphasis Offered in Applied Chemistry. The Department of Chemistry's newest area of emphasis for applied chemistry is forensic chemistry, with a focus on identification and quantitative analysis of scientific evidence, both in the environment and in urban settings.

  • Sustainable Agriculture Classes Offered Through College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. A growing student interest in sustainable food and farming systems that are good for people and the environment has led to new classes at UC Davis. Since fall 2008, new freshman-level courses in food systems and sustainable agriculture and an upper-division course in agroecology, the study of the ecology of the entire food system, have been offered through the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

  • Introductory Biology Course Series for Transfer Applicants. In 2008, the College of Biological Sciences (CBS) introduced a new Introduction to Biology course series: Biological Sciences 2A (Essentials of Life on Earth), Biological Sciences 2B (Principles of Ecology and Evolution) and Biological Sciences 2C (Biodiversity and the Tree of Life).

    The college continues to review courses comparable to this series, which replaces the Biological Sciences 1 series formerly taught on campus. To provide a transitional period for community college students, UC Davis will continue to articulate Biological Sciences 1A, 1B and 1C on ASSIST through 2009-10. Once the new series is articulated for your campus, students who have not begun Biological Sciences 1A, 1B or 1C should begin the new series. Students whose major requires completion of the entire biological sciences series are strongly advised to complete the series prior to matriculation, as it significantly reduces time to degree. Community colleges that have not yet submitted course outlines for review with the new series are encouraged to contact Cindy Bevc, UC Davis Articulation Officer, at (530) 754-7649.

  • Chemical Engineering and Biochemical Engineering Honors Program. UC Davis offers a new invitational honors program to students majoring within the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Unlike other departmental honors programs that consist of just a senior thesis, this honors program is designed to be a four-year experience, ranging from seminars on current topics to a year-long honors project.

  • Davis Honors Challenge Transfer Program. Incoming transfer students with a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher are encouraged to apply to the Davis Honors Challenge Transfer program (DHC). The DHC is an innovative, open-application, campuswide honors program for highly motivated students that provides an enhanced education through special courses, closer contact with faculty, and dynamic interactions with academically-motivated peers. Entering transfer students are encouraged to apply to DHC. Admitted DHC transfer students must begin the program in the fall and follow the requirements of either the second- or third-year program, depending on their class standing.

Campus News

  • Linda Katehi Selected to Lead UC Davis. UC President Mark G. Yudof will recommend Linda Katehi to become the next chancellor of UC Davis. If approved by the Board of Regents, Katehi took office on August 17, 2009.

    Katehi, 55, served since 2006 as provost of the 41,000-student University of Illinois campus — a public land-grant institution like UC Davis. A dual-degree holder from UCLA, she spent 18 years as a faculty member and academic administrator at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, before becoming dean of engineering at Purdue University in 2002. Throughout her career she has focused on expanding undergraduate research opportunities and improving the education and professional experience of graduate students, with a focus on underrepresented groups.

  • UC Regents Approve Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. The University of California regents have officially approved the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. The vision for the school is to transform health care through nursing education and research. Graduates will lead the nation in assuring patient safety, improving quality of care and health outcomes, guiding policy decisions, and discovering and sharing knowledge to advance health. The school anticipates accepting its first class for the Master of Science and the Doctor of Philosophy degree programs in the fall of 2010. Additional students and programs will be phased in over the next decade. Visit the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing Web site for more information.

  • Teaching Winery Plus Brewery and Food Science Laboratory Enhance Robert Mondavi Institute. Construction of the new Research and Teaching Winery and the August A. Busch III Brewing and Food Science Laboratory at UC Davis began in June 2009. The facilities will be used for scientific research, student training and industry collaboration when it opens in 2010.

  • Multimedia from Underserved Communities. The Art of Regional Change is giving voice to ranchers and teenagers in remote stretches of the Sierra, as well as kids in West Sacramento. UC Davis scholars coach communities on multi-media storytelling, with a goal of empowering underserved communities.

  • Campus Community Book Project Searches for Happiness. The Campus Community Book Project's selection for 2009-10 is The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World, written by NPR journalist and self-professed grump, Eric Weiner. The book was chosen in light of events occurring around the world, in part because of its optimism, accessibility and cultural context. Complementing this, the topic for this year's activities will be emotional and psychological health and well being.