Irene Ezran (B.A., international relations and Spanish, ’18) has had a lifelong fascination with international politics. With her sights set on a career as a foreign service officer, and with financial support from the Richard and Carolyn Palmer Scholarship, Ezran took her first summer internship at the United Nations.
Some children grow up playing in parks,” said Maisha T. (Fisher) Winn. “Colleges and universities were our playground.” Winn (B.A., English, ’94), the daughter of James Fisher, an African American studies scholar who taught at UC Davis from 1969 to 1974, fondly remembers trips she and her brother took as children to the UC Davis Arboretum and library.
When Peter Ng heard about a new group for young alumni living in the San Francisco Bay Area, he immediately called his old campus friend Chris Backer, who he knew had great networking skills.
The two have taken leading roles in the College of Letters and Science Young Alumni Program, San Francisco Bay Area, serving on the group’s seven-member advisory board, chaired by Lauren Levin (B.A., communication, ’11).
A student startup is on track to solve parking problems on campus and elsewhere. The venture, Japa, provides real-time parking information through an app and website.
For Mike Bezemek (B.A., geology, ’03), outdoor adventure was as important as academics to his college experience. That’s why UC Davis was his first choice.
Tene Goodwin, who graduated from the UC Davis College of Letters and Science this spring with a degree in economics and minor in professional writing, started immediately using her educational and international background by documenting the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders visit to UC Davis.
Picnic Day 2018 Chair Grace Gaither (B.A., English, '18) has been part of Picnic Day since her freshmen year, starting as a Lead Assistant Director for Entertainment. She shares her perspective on Picnic Day, Give Day and what was most exciting about this year’s event. Read her full interview.
UC Davis opened up a world of international relations for Liliana Ferrer ’87, helping to lead her career as the consul general of Mexico in Sacramento. She has been a career foreign service officer for the Mexican government since 1993.
“The environment at UC Davis strengthened my ability to become aware of what problems exist in the planet as a whole, not just locally,” said Ferrer, a CAAA member, and this year’s recipient of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s Emil M. Mark International Award. “UC Davis truly makes you feel that you can make a difference and bring about change in the world.”
As a volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and now scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, Mike Poland (B.S. '97, Geology) is on the front line during hazardous volcanic events. Poland credits his "amazing professors" at UC Davis for teaching him how to communicate science clearly and vividly - an essential part of a career with the USGS.
Isabella Romero’s early induction into political life occurred right here in Davis; she and her mother lived in town while her mother completed her undergraduate degree in political science and sociology, and eventually her Ph.D. Today the two are both Aggies.
