After two decades of volunteer work with cancer charities, Will Ellis (B.A., communication and Italian, ’04) wasn’t about to let the cascading crises of 2020 derail him. Despite pandemic restrictions on in-person events, Ellis raised more than $103,000 in 10 weeks for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) Greater Bay Area Chapter to win its “Man of the Year” title.
Tom Turrentine (M.A. ’91, Ph.D. ’94, anthropology), the founding director of the UC Davis Plug-in Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center and a longtime researcher in the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), died unexpectedly on June 2.
Whether writing scientific articles or screenplays, UC Davis College of Letters and Science alumna Laura Marsh sees a common core in her work: storytelling. Now, the wildlife ecologist is reimagining her own life story. She hopes to become a published novelist after winning the college’s 2020 Maurice Prize for Fiction for her manuscript "SAV•AGE(S)."
Deborah Nichols Poulos (B.A., English, ’67; Cred., ’68), a retired elementary school teacher, wrote The Conscious Teacher (Page Publishing, 2019). Part memoir and part how-to, the book tells her story of not being able to read until she was in junior high school and offers effective classroom strategies for educators and parents. She taught for many years in the Davis Joint Unified School District.
Political analyst Bradford Kane (B.A., international relations, ’81) wrote "Pitchfork Populism: Ten Political Forces That Shaped an Election and Continue to Change America" (Prometheus Books, October 2019). Since the book’s release, he has been interviewed on C-SPAN programs. Kane is the founding director of the Bipartisan Bridge, an initiative to advance cooperation across political parties.
Rob Lea has had a big year: summiting Mount Everest, swimming the English Channel and biking across the United States. The idea came to him after ankle problems prompted a doctor to tell him not to run anymore.
UC Davis alumnus Anthony Williams, as legislative affairs secretary to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, leads a team that is responsible for analyzing and negotiating all the various pieces of legislation working their way through the State Legislature.
The irony in columnist Bob Dunning’s nearly 50-year career at The Davis Enterprise is that when he applied for a job at the newspaper, he thought he might get hired as a night janitor.
John Morrison. Johnny Nitro. Johnny Mundo. John Hennigan (B.A., individual major, '02) has been known by many names as a pro wrestler and actor.
A standout wrestler in high school, Hennigan was on the wrestling and track teams at UC Davis, as well as a member of the gymnastics and kung fu clubs. He majored in film studies. It all combined to create a multi-faceted career.