Every year, the University Honors Program invites students to nominate UC Davis and UHP faculty for Outstanding Teaching and Faculty Mentorship awards. These are our 2023 winners.

Outstanding Mentorship Award: Dr. Erik Peregrine, Music Department faculty member. 

Fourth year students Sara Clarkson and Harjeet Mann both created Honors Contracts with Dr. Naomi Janowitz, Professor of Religious Studies, after taking her Honors class RST 110: Life, Meaning, and Identity. We interviewed them to learn more about their projects and experience working on an Honors Contract with Dr. Janowitz.

At the end of September 2021, Dave Furlow, Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior stepped down as the Director of the University Honors Program, Director of the First Year Seminars program, and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education.

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In early 2016, Dr. Ruiz joined UC Davis as the inaugural Associate Director of both the newly created University Honors Program and a rapidly expanding First Year Seminars Program. Dr. Ruiz has been a tremendous partner in all aspects related to the long-term vision, daily operations, growth, and overall success of UHP and FYS.

The UC Davis Washington Program has long been a highly valued partner of the University Honors Program, serving as an option for our students to fulfill their Year 3 project requirement.

The University Honors Program is excited to be partnering with the Science, Humanities and Arts: Process and Engagement (SHAPE) program to offer a very special course in Fall 2020! The course is titled Transforming Exclusion to Expression: Gender and Race in Climate Science and is co-taught by Professors Margaret Kemp and Dawn Sumner.

By Eric Thai '20

The novel COVID-19 virus has disrupted the functioning of everyday operations worldwide. However, for higher education institutions like the University of California, Davis, the learning continues. While many professors face the challenge of rapidly learning new technologies to adapt to a remote learning experience, Dr. Cristina Moya, an Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and a first-time UHP instructor for Human Evolutionary Biology course, was prepared.

By Danielle Baza '21

Up the stairs of the South Silo, tucked away in the Craft Center, lies the Textiles studio. A seemingly unusual spot for a class, the Craft Center is teeming with creativity and eccentric ideas and, as it turns out, is just the right spot for a course that thrives on unconventionalism: UC Davis’s Beta Lab.

First joining in May 2015, Heidi entered the new position of Assistant Director to act as an advocate for students in the program. She mainly worked with Year 3 and 4 students, including honors transfer students, helping these students to find a home at UC Davis and to make the most of their time here. 

The new SHAPE program – Science, Humanities and Arts: Process and Engagement – will offer interdisciplinary courses co-taught by faculty from the arts, humanities and science, and the curriculum will be augmented with the work of visiting performance artists.