Sam Arcement—Director of Graduate Academic Programs for the College of Biological Sciences, and the program coordinator for the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology (MCIP) Graduate Group—has been honored with the 2024 Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator Award from the Office of Graduate Studies. This year saw a record number of nominations. “Sam tirelessly ensures that our needs and concerns are heard and addressed,” said one MCIP student, who praised Arcement’s dedication to student advocacy.
Marie E. Burns, a professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, and Cell Biology and Human Anatomy in the School of Medicine, and a core faculty member at the Center for Neuroscience (CNS), has been appointed the CNS interim director, effective July 1, 2024.
Longtime UC Davis academic coordinator Carole Hom, who retires this year after a quietly influential career, is so beloved that she has two nametags: one bearing her official title, and another with alternates—“Spiritual Leader” and “Chief Guru”—made for her by colleague Rick Grosberg, a distinguished professor emeritus of Evolution and Ecology.
Faculty and staff in the college’s eight graduate groups were well-represented among this year’s recipients of mentorship and service awards by Graduate Studies, which presents awards annually to members of the graduate community who have made impactful and far-reaching differences in their programs, and in the experiences of their students.
Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator
Alyssa Parsons Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology graduate group coordinator
When first-generation student Nicole Rabaud was pursuing her Ph.D. in agricultural and environmental chemistry at UC Davis she felt “really lost.”
Rabaud was born and raised in Hong Kong to parents of French and French-Vietnamese descent whose education never progressed beyond high school. Despite her parents' lack of university education, Rabaud excelled at school from elementary school through college. When she got to graduate school at UC Davis, however, things changed.
After 20 years, Donna Olsson, executive assistant dean for finance and administration, is retiring. While not a scientist, Olsson’s approach is the kind of career-cumulative, data-driven inquiry that a biologist might become renowned for.
The College of Biological Sciences celebrated its annual Fall Welcome event last Friday, commemorating the start of a new academic year. Faculty, staff, students, friends and family gathered in the Life Sciences Courtyard for food, beverages and celebration.
Kimberley McAllister, a professor in the Departments of Neurology in the School of Medicine and Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences has been appointed permanent director of the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience.
