UC Davis Global Affairs extends its sincere thoughts and deepest sympathies to those affected by recent disasters and crises in Afghanistan and Haiti. In addition to the difficulty of COVID-19 this last year and a half, some members of our international community, many of whom are separated from loved ones, now face additional grief, uncertainty, and fear.
On behalf of Global Affairs, we would like to congratulate Lovell “Tu” Jarvis, professor emeritus in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, who is retiring from his role as the executive director of our UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center (UC Davis Chile), and welcome Dario Cantù, professor of systems biology and Louis P. Martini Endowed chair in viticulture, as the center’s new executive director, effective July 1, 2021.
On behalf of Global Affairs, I would like to congratulate and bid farewell to Associate Vice Provost of Global Education and Services Fadi Fathallah, who has been named Chair of the UC Davis Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, effective July 1, 2021.
As UC Davis continues to expand its global reach and we all increase our global connections, we want to ensure your work is plugged into campus initiatives and programs. We also want to ensure members of our university community are recognized for the global impact of their work. One campus initiative underway involves building partnerships around the world that advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To that end, we are pleased to share that UC Davis is pursuing a Voluntary University Review to assess how our university is contributing to the UN SDGs, bring together campus strengths, and inform strategies moving forward. We hope you will join us in this process.
From Atlanta to the Bay Area and around the world, the escalation of anti-Asian attacks and rhetoric is deeply disturbing. We extend our deepest condolences to our students, scholars, faculty, staff, partners, and all those affected by the recent tragedies. UC Davis Global Affairs stands in solidarity with the Asian and Pacific Islander community and we join Chancellor Gary S. May and colleagues in condemning abhorrent violence, threats, and discrimination. The diversity of our campus is one of our greatest strengths. We all benefit tremendously from welcoming the brightest students, faculty, and staff from all over the world to our UC Davis community.
We are following the news of the recent coup d’état in Myanmar (Burma), and are thinking of our students, scholars, faculty, staff, partners, and all those affected. We are committed to supporting our UC Davis Myanmar (Burma) community during this difficult time.
From all of us in Global Affairs at the University of California, Davis, we are sending our warmest wishes to you this holiday season. In times like these, we are reminded of how interconnected our world is and how we grow together from every challenge. We hope you’ll read our UC Davis Global Affairs 2019-20 Annual Report, which this year focuses on global leadership in a dynamic and interconnected world, featuring UC Davis global learning, research, service, and partnerships in a time of COVID-19.
We regret to inform you that unfortunately, we are unable to host the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program in the 2020-21 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to comply with local county and state regulations as well as UC Davis guidelines, all international programs involving visitors from abroad are postponed. The health and wellbeing of our fellows, members of our campus, and local community is our top priority.
We are saddened by the recent deadly attacks in Afghanistan, including at Kabul University, and we extend our deepest sympathies to our students, scholars, faculty, staff, partners, and all those affected. We join you with heavy hearts in mourning for the victims and for everyone affected by this tragedy.
