University Awards

Each year, the college’s top graduating seniors are recognized for their outstanding achievements at an awards ceremony attended by friends, family, mentors and donors. This year’s graduating senior and university award recipients were honored for their academic excellence, commitment to fostering community, service to campus and their peers and for exceptional research efforts. 

The 2024 winners of the library’s Lang Prize were announced on Thursday, May 30. Now in its eighth year, the Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Information Research recognizes students who make exceptional use of library resources and services — such as primary source materials and special collections, online databases and journal articles, interlibrary loan services, or consulting with a librarian.

Joel Ledford, an associate professor of teaching in the Department of Plant Biology, has received the 2024 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Associated Students, University of California, Davis (ASUCD). The annual award celebrates teaching faculty for their dedication to students and undergraduate education. 

“Getting an award like this from students means a lot to me,” Ledford said. “It’s an inspiring thing, and it makes you want to be a better teacher.”

Distinguished Professor Walter Leal has made history as the first UC Davis faculty member to be honored by the Academic Senate with all three of its awards, which celebrate outstanding teaching, public service and research.

In 2020, the Academic Senate awarded Leal the Distinguished Teaching Award for undergraduate teaching, and in 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award. Known internationally for his groundbreaking work in insect olfaction and chemical ecology, Leal's achievements have now earned him the 2024 Faculty Distinguished Research Award.

Celina Juliano, an associate professor of molecular and cellular biology who studies the regenerative capabilities of Hydra vulgaris, a small, freshwater relative of the jellyfish, has been named a UC Davis Chancellor's Fellow. This year's fellows are experts in everything from linguistics to law, from the economics of climate change to the reliability of software. These nine faculty members — eight associate professors and one professor — are UC Davis’ newest class of Chancellor’s Fellows, a title given to early career academics doing exemplary work.

When Professor Jay Stachowicz heard that UC Davis’ chancellor needed to speak to him urgently, he worried he had done something wrong.

Chancellor Gary S. May and the Academic Senate’s Committee on Affirmative Action and Diversity recently announced their selections for the 2023 Chancellor’s Fellowships for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Four are members of the Academic Senate:

The college’s top graduating seniors were honored for their achievements at an award ceremony on Saturday, June 3. The event included both college and campus awards.

With promising futures ahead for each, the students took to the mic upon receiving their awards to share their post-graduation plans, including remaining at UC Davis for graduate school, attending medical school and continued volunteer and community service efforts.

Earlier this month, the UC Davis Library announced the 2023 winners of the library’s Lang Prize! Now in its seventh year, the Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Information Research recognizes students who make exceptional use of library resources and services — such as primary source materials and special collections, online databases and journal articles, interlibrary loan services, or consulting with a librarian.

The final round of the UC Davis Grad Slam had a flurry of PowerPoint slides, a giant deck of cards and a stuffed monkey, but in the end the top prize went to someone talking about genetic “ghosts.”