TheUniversity of California, Davis (UC Davis,UCD, orDavis) is apublicland-grantresearch university inDavis, California, United States.^[12] It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of theUniversity of California system. The institution was first founded as anagricultural branch of the system in 1905 and became the sixth campus of the University of California in 1959.

University of California, Davis

Former names	University Farm (1905–1922) Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture (1922–1938) College of Agriculture at Davis (1938–1959)
Motto	Fiat lux (Latin)
Motto in English	"Let there be light"
Type	Publicland-grantresearch university
Established	March 18, 1905; 120 years ago (1905-03-18)[1] (1959 as a general UC campus)
Parent institution	University of California
Accreditation	WSCUC
Academic affiliations	AAU APRU U21 URA space-grant
Endowment	$678 million (FY2023) (UC Davis only)[2][3] $1.5 billion (FY2023) (Regents portion)[3][a]
Budget	$7.1 billion (FY2024)[4]
Chancellor	Gary S. May[5]
Provost	Mary Croughan[6]
Academic staff	2,175 (fall 2023)[7]
Students	40,848 (fall 2023)[8]
Undergraduates	31,797 (fall 2023)[7]
Postgraduates	7,912 (fall 2023)[7]
Location	Davis , California , United States 38°32′24″N121°45′0″W / 38.54000°N 121.75000°W /38.54000; -121.75000
Campus	Small suburb[10], 7,331 acres (2,967 ha)[9]
Other campuses	Sacramento San Ramon
Newspaper	The California Aggie
Colors	Aggie blue and gold[11]
Nickname	Aggies
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division IFCS –Big Sky Big West America East ECAC WWPA Big 12 Mountain West (2026)
Mascot	Gunrock the Mustang
Website	ucdavis.edu
ASN	6192

Founded as a primarily agricultural campus, the university has expanded over the past century to include graduate and professional programs inmedicine (which includes theUC Davis Medical Center),engineering,science,law,veterinary medicine,education,nursing, andbusiness management, in addition to 90 research programs offered by UC Davis Graduate Studies. TheUC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is the largest veterinary school in the United States. UC Davis also offers certificates and courses, including online classes, for adults and non-traditional learners through its Division of Continuing and Professional Education.^[13]

The university is considered aPublic Ivy.^[14] It isclassified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".^[15] TheUC Davis Aggies athletic teams compete inNCAA Division I, primarily as members of theBig West Conference with additional sports in theBig Sky Conference (football only) and theMountain Pacific Sports Federation. Athletes from UC Davis have won a total of10 Olympic medals. University faculty, alumni, and researchers have been the recipients of twoNobel Prizes, oneFields Medal, aPresidential Medal of Freedom, threePulitzer Prizes, threeMacArthur Fellowships, and aNational Medal of Science.^{[16][17][18][19][20]} Of the current faculty, 30 have been elected to theNational Academy of Sciences, 36 to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, and 13 to theNational Academy of Medicine.^[21][22][23]

In 1868, the University of California was established as aland-grant university, and immediately founded a College of Agriculture as its first college as required by theMorrill Land-Grant Acts and the university's ownOrganic Act.^[24][25] UC operated a small farm at theBerkeley campus for several years afterEzra S. Carr became professor of agriculture, but he managed to alienate both the university faculty and the state's farmers with his attempt to directly integrate practical training in farming with courses on the larger historical, social, and political dimensions of farming and got himself fired in 1874.^[26] The faculty could not understand why students should earn credit towards degrees for hoeing or plowing, and the farmers could not understand how learning the social history of farming could make their children into better farmers.^[26]

Eugene W. Hilgard, Carr's successor, recognized thatBerkeley's soil and climate were terrible for farming (the campus directly faces thenotoriously foggyGolden Gate) and switched from "practical" to what he called "rational" instruction in scientific principles of agriculture at Berkeley.^[27] He concentrated on things likesoil science andfermentation that could be researched and taught in a university laboratory, supplemented by limited data gathering and experiments (but not hands-on teaching) at agricultural experimental stations in the field.^[28] Hilgard was disdainful of the idea of a university farm.^[29] He felt that for such a farm to teach effectively, it would necessarily have to be a model farm with examples of the best of everything, without any reference to local profitability, climate, or circumstances, and such a thing was clearly infeasible.^[29]

Around the turn of the 20th century,Peter J. Shields, secretary of the California Agricultural Society, became aware that colleges of agriculture elsewhere had university farms which performed experiments and provided hands-on education in useful agricultural subjects, and that young people were leaving the state to study at such farms.^[30] Shields began to champion the cause of a university farm. He was later honored as the "founder" of UC Davis in 1962, when the Shields Oak Grove on campus was named after him, and again posthumously in 1972 when the campus library was named after him.^[31] However, local farmer and politician George Washington Pierce Jr. also fought aggressively in theCalifornia State Assembly for the creation of a university farm.^[31] Shields himself credited Pierce with ensuring that the site criteria in the University Farm Bill were so tightly formulated that they could be met only at theYolo County town of Davisville.^[31] Unlike Shields, Pierce did not live long enough to see the promotion of Davis to a general campus and is now largely forgotten.^[31]

On March 18, 1905, the University Farm Bill was enacted, which called for the establishment of a farm for the University of California.^[32][33] The bill provided that the University Farm would "be typical and representative of the best general agricultural conditions in California", and authorized an appropriation of $150,000 to cover the cost of purchasing land and constructing appropriate buildings.^[33] A committee appointed by theRegents of the University of California took a year to select a site for the University Farm, a 779-acre portion of the stock farm ofJerome C. Davis, near a tiny town then known as Davisville.^[32][34] The regents officially took control of the property in September 1906 and constructed four buildings in 1907.

Short courses were first offered in October and November 1908, and then the University Farm officially opened in 1909 as the University Farm School, offering a three-year non-degreevocational program.^[34] The vocational program was shortened from three to two years in 1923.^[35]

In 1916, the Farm's 314 students occupied the original 778 acres (315 ha) campus. The institution grew at a breakneck pace over the next four decades. By 1951, it had expanded to a size of 3,000 acres (1,200 ha).^[36] Along the way, it was renamed in 1922 to become the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture, and in 1938, it became the College of Agriculture at Davis.

Initially, no degrees were awarded at Davis.^[37] Students in the College of Agriculture at Berkeley often enrolled at Davis for a single semester to obtain practical training on an actual farm alongside the vocational students, but had to return to Berkeley to earn their degrees.^[32][37] Because the non-degree vocational program at Davis was so disconnected from the traditional degree programs on the main Berkeley campus, agricultural interests began to agitate to separate Davis and the entire College of Agriculture from the University of California.^[37] This forced the regents in 1922 to silence such proposals by initially authorizing a two-year undergraduate program at Davis.^[37] By sharing faculty members between Berkeley and Davis and hiring a few more faculty members, the university was able to provide almost all courses of a "complete undergraduate program" at Davis—that is, a four-year program leading to the bachelor's degree.^[37] The first class graduated from Davis in 1926.^[35]

UC regularly appointed faculty members to joint positions at both Berkeley and Davis.^[38] This was possible because the two campuses are separated by only 53 miles (85 km), and the opening ofa new bridge over theCarquinez Strait in 1927 greatly shortened the drive between them. Sharing faculty meant that the two campuses have always had an amicable relationship, in that Davis gradually developed its own strong identity while remaining proud of its older sibling.^[38] Thus, Davis did not suffer from the kind of "hang-ups" (i.e.,inferiority complexes)^[38] which atLos Angeles culminated in a systemwide decentralization process from 1957 to 1960 in which the regents and the UC president delegated most of their powers and responsibilities to chancellors at the campus level.^[39] Davis still retains a few traditions from its early era when its identity was much more intertwined with Berkeley, such as the Bossy Cow-Cow cheer, a parody of Berkeley'sOski Yell.

In 1941, the state legislature authorized the creation of a school of veterinary medicine at Davis, but the school's launch was severely delayed by theentrance of the United States into World War II and it did not open until 1948.^[40] In 1943, theU.S. Army Signal Corps took over Davis to use the campus as a training facility.^[37] The Davis campus was not returned to civilian use until the end of 1944.^[41]

From 1926 to 1947, all Davis students earning bachelor's degrees had to travel to Berkeley for graduation.^[42] In 1948, "the regents agreed to decentralize graduations".^[42] In a ceremony at Davis that year, UC PresidentRobert Gordon Sproul "awarded 101 bachelor of science degrees in agriculture", along with 195 certificates to graduates of the two-year vocational program.^[42]

In 1949, UC expanded the Davis campus to what is now West Campus by purchasing the 526-acre Straloch Farm to the west from its owner, Harry Hopkins.^[43][44] The farm came with an 86-acre private airport constructed by Hopkins in 1946.^[43][44] TheUniversity Airport was the first university airport in the United States and is still the only one in the UC system.^[43][44]

In 1958, the vocational program was discontinued.^[35]

For much of its early history, Davis was treated as an offsite department of the main campus in Berkeley, and its chief administrative officer was a director who reported to the dean of the College of Agriculture at Berkeley.^[45] In 1944, the title became assistant dean and in 1951, the title was upgraded toprovost. In May 1952, the university appointedHarry R. Wellman as its first vice-president—agricultural sciences in charge of a new Division of Agriculture, which included the existing statewide College of Agriculture at Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles, and Riverside; the agricultural extension field stations; and the county farm offices.^[46] The provosts at Davis and Riverside reported to the president through this new vice-president (rather than through the College of Agriculture).^[46]

Stanley B. Freeborn served as Davis's first provost from 1952 to 1958 and then as its first chancellor from 1958 to 1959 (in anticipation of its promotion to a general campus).^[47] However, Freeborn retired in 1959 after only one year as chancellor, then died the next year.

In October 1959, Davis was formally designated by the regents as a general campus and its chancellor was vested with the same autonomy as the chancellors at UC Berkeley and UCLA—meaning that like them, Davis's chancellor would now report directly to the university's president.^[48] The Board of Regents declared that Davis's College of Agriculture "will continue to be the University's major center of teaching and research in agriculture, which will remain a dominant emphasis".^[48] The board also suggested that the Davis campus should give "special attention" to "opportunities" to be of service to the state government due to its proximity to the state capital atSacramento.^[48] Finally, the board set an enrollment target of 6,000 students by 1970.^[48]

Most of Davis's initial development as a UC general campus was supervised by its second chancellor,Emil M. Mrak, who served from 1959 to 1969.^[49] Mrak fondly recalled his bicycle-riding days as a child among the orchards of theSanta Clara Valley, and during his chancellorship, he worked hard to make the Davis campus into abicycle-friendly place.^[49] When Mrak retired in 1969, the campus administration building was named Mrak Hall in his honor.^[50]

Davis's Graduate Division was established in 1961. This was followed by the creation of the College of Engineering in 1962.^[48] The School of Law opened for classes in fall 1966, and the School of Medicine began instruction in fall 1968.^[48] In a period of increasing activism, aNative American studies program was started in 1969, one of the first at a major university; it was later developed into a full department within the university.

During theOccupy movement against economic inequality, students at UC Davis organized the Occupy UC Davis protests in opposition to tuition hikes. On November 18, 2011, a campus police officer, Lieutenant John Pike, used pepper spray on a group of seated peaceful demonstrators when they refused to disperse, and another officer also pepper sprayed demonstrators at Pike's direction. The incident drew international attention and led to further demonstrations, a formal investigation, and Pike's departure in July 2012.^[51][52][53]

Documents released in 2016 through a public records request showed that the university had spent at least $175,000 to attempt to "scrub the Internet of negative postings" about the incident, in efforts that started in 2013.^[54] California newspaperThe Sacramento Bee obtained a document outlining thepublic relations strategy, which stated: "Nevins and Associates is prepared to create and execute an online branding campaign designed to clean up the negative attention the University of California, Davis, andChancellor Katehi have received related to the events that transpired in November 2011". The strategy included an "aggressive and comprehensive online campaign to eliminate the negative search results" intended to achieve the "eradication of references to the pepper spray incident in search results on Google for the university and the Chancellor".^[55] The university's strategic communications office, which has worked on the management of the reputation of the university and its chancellor, has had its budget substantially increased since the current chancellor took office – rising from $2.93 million in 2009 to $5.47 million in 2015. In August 2016 Katehi resigned as chancellor, and under the terms of her contract, will continue to be a full-time faculty member at UCD.^[56]

In February 2017,Gary S. May was named the seventh chancellor of UCD after a nationwide search. He officially began in the role on August 1. May, the former dean of the College of Engineering atGeorgia Tech, is the second African American to be named chancellor at any of the UC campuses (after formerUC Irvine chancellor,Ohio State president and currentUC system presidentMichael Drake) and one of only three currently serving African American chancellors/presidents of anAAU institution.^[57][58][59]

In fall quarter of 2022, theUnited Auto Workers (UAW) led teaching assistants at UC Davis and other UC campuses in a strike that lasted several weeks. On December 16, 2022, the UCs reached a tentative agreement with the UAW.^[60]

In 2023, three people were stabbed over the course of five days, two of whom died. On Thursday, May 4, 2023, Davis Police arrested a former UC Davis student, Carlos Reales Dominguez, as a suspect for the crimes.^[61]

Although named after the City of Davis, the campus is technically located adjacent to the City of Davis in an unincorporated part ofYolo andSolano counties. The main campus is located 15 miles (24.1 km) west ofSacramento in theSacramento Valley, part of California'sCentral Valley, and is adjacent toInterstate 80.

The city ofDavis is acollege town, with the ratio of students to long-term residents estimated at 1:4. Also contributing to the college-town environment is the close proximity of downtown Davis to the campus' main quad—a matter of a few blocks, and 5- to 10-minute walk or bike ride. Davis' 15-minute distance from Sacramento provides it with both the isolation critical to fostering a college-town environment while also providing a lively and large metropolitan area nearby. Although the campus itself is vast, the entire community of Davis is relatively small and is easily traversable on bike utilizing Davis' extensive bicycle trails.^[62] The campus is the largest Campus in the UC system.

Towards the northeast end of campus is the Quad, a large rectangular field, which was the historic geographic center of campus. The Quad remains the center of campus life, anchored to the north by the Memorial Union (student union), to the south by Shields Library and to the west and southeast by Wellman and Olson halls respectively.

The northeast side of campus holds more of the core buildings that were built earlier in UC Davis's history, such as Wellman Hall, Shields Library,Mrak Hall, and Hutchison Hall. Also notable in this northeastern corner is the labyrinthine Social Sciences and Humanities building designed byAntoine Predock, known to students as the "Death Star" for its angular, metallic design.^[63]

The majority ofEquestrian Center, and Animal Sciences buildings are located near the Arboretum Waterway, away from the core campus; the West Entry Parking Complex, the Silo Union, and the newly constructed Science Lecture Hall and the Science Laboratory Building are located nearer to the Tercero residence halls and the core of campus. TheMondavi Center, home of the University Symphony Orchestra and other cultural events, is also located near the Tercero complex.^[62][64]

For most of UC Davis' history, West Campus has served primarily as agricultural research land. Recently, portions were developed through a $300 million public-private partnership to form the largest zero net energy community in the United States, known as UC Davis West Village.^[65] West Village plans to provide housing for 3,000 students, faculty and staff.

The classes held in this area mainly involve plant sciences, but also includeentomology courses as well. Students in the plant sciences maintain gardens as part of the PLS 5 lab while Entomology 156L and 158 students embark on field trips to sample fish for parasites at Putah Creek and conduct projects in forensic entomology at the UC Davis ecosystem, respectively. West Campus is also home to the University Airport, Foundation Plant Services, the California National Primate Research Center, and the Contained Research Facility, a bio-safety level 3 facility.^[62]

To the south side of the campus core is the 100-acreUC Davis Arboretum, which includes 3.5 miles of paved paths, 4,000 tree specimens, Putah Creek and Lake Spafford.^[66] On March 10, 2017, a multi-year waterway enhancement project began. The first phase of the project was completed in 2018 and a second phase was completed a year ahead of schedule in November 2024.^[67]

There are seven public art statues found around campus, collectively calledThe Egghead Series, sculpted by the lateRobert Arneson, who also taught at Davis from 1962 to 1991.^[68]

Bookhead is located at the Shields Library plaza,Yin & Yang is located at the Fine Arts Complex,See No Evil/Hear No Evil is at the east lawn of King Hall (the main building forUC Davis' School of Law),Eye on Mrak (FatalLaff) is outside Mrak Hall (housing the registrar office and other administrative offices), andStargazer is located between North Hall and Young Hall. TheYin & Yang egg heads have been recast and duplicated for installation near the Port ofSan Francisco Ferry Building in San Francisco.^[69]

Museums on campus include theC.N. Gorman Museum, specializing in indigenous and Native American art;^[70] and theManetti Shrem Museum of Art, with a focus on local artists from theBay Area Figurative Movement,Pop art andFunk art movements.

UC Davis Student Housing operates 23 residence halls totaling 29 buildings which are organized into three areas: Segundo, Tercero, and Cuarto.^[71] UC Davis Student Housing accommodates over 11,000 students.

The entireUniversity of California system is governed by the regents, a 26-member board, as established under Article IX, Section 9 of theCalifornia Constitution.^[72] The board appoints the university's principal officers including the system-wide president and UC Davis Chancellor.

The UC Davis Chancellor has overall responsibility for the leadership, management, and administration of the campus and reports to the President of the University of California system, a position currently held by the former president ofOhio State University (and chancellor ofUC Irvine),Michael Drake, whose predecessor was former Secretary of Homeland Security and Arizona GovernorJanet Napolitano.

The Offices of the Chancellor and Provost is headed by the executive vice-chancellor and provost (EVCP). In their capacity as executive vice-chancellor, the EVCP shares with the chancellor in the overall leadership and management of campus administration and operations, whereas as provost, the EVCP is UC Davis' chief academic officer.

The senior staff provides executive support to the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost. The Council of Deans and Vice-Chancellor consists of the heads of the university's major academic and administrative units.^[73]

Students are most likely to interact with or be directly affected by the Office of Student Affairs, which is run by the vice chancellor of student affairs, currently Fred Wood, and by a variety of associate and assistant vice-chancellors. This office oversees many campus units including: Admissions, Athletics, Campus Recreation, Campus Unions, Counseling and Psychological Services, Financial Aid, Student Housing and others.^[74]

In 2014, Chancellor Katehi stated that UC Davis aimed to become aHispanic-Serving Institution by the 2018–2019 school year, with at least 25% of the undergraduate student body consisting of Latinos.^[76] As of Fall 2023, women comprised 58.4% of undergraduate students.^[77]

University of California-Davis was first listed as acensus designated place by theUnited States Census Bureau in the2010 U.S. census.^[80] The CDP is mostly contiguous with the campus but does include some adjacent private student housing that is not within the Davis city limits. Per the2020 census, the population was 8,525.^[81]

The university has 102 undergraduate majors and 101 graduate programs.^[99] It has aDepartment of Viticulture and Enology (concerning the scientific study of grape-growing and winemaking) that has been and continues to be responsible for significant advancements in winemaking utilized by many Californian wineries. The campus claims to be noted for its top-rated Agricultural and Resource Economics programs^[100] and the large Department of Animal Science through which students can study at the university's own on-campusdairy, meat-processing plant,equestrian facility, and experimental farm. Students of Environmental Horticulture and other botanical sciences have many acres of campus farmland and theUniversity of California, Davis, Arboretum at their disposal. TheDepartment of Applied Science was founded and formerly chaired by physicistEdward Teller. The arts are also studied extensively on campus with subjects such as studio art, design, music, theater and dance. The Design Department at UC Davis is the only comprehensive academic design unit of the University of California system.^[101] There is also theMondavi Center for the Performing Arts which features artists from all over the globe.

UC Davis undergraduate majors are divided into four colleges (with their founding in parentheses):

• UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (1922)
• UC Davis College of Biological Sciences (2005)
• UC Davis College of Engineering (1962)
• UC Davis College of Letters and Science (1951)

UC Davis is considered to be a "Public Ivy."^[112] In its 2023 edition,U.S. News & World Report ranked UC Davis tied for the 6th-best public university in the United States, tied for 28th nationally and tied for 73rd globally.^[113]Washington Monthly ranked UC Davis 13th in its 2020 National University ranking, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.^[114]Money magazine ranked UC Davis 10th in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 "Best Colleges for Your Money" edition^[115] and 4th in its list of the 50 best public schools in the U.S.^[116]Forbes in 2022 ranked UC Davis 23rd overall out of 650 colleges and universities in the U.S., 22nd among research universities, 4th among public university, and 11th for "Best Value".

The university has several distinguished graduate programs ranked in the top 10 in their fields by theUnited States National Research Council; most notable are its programs inagricultural economics,entomology,evolutionary biology,plant biology, andecology. Additionally, the NRC placed more than a third of UC Davis graduate programs in the top 25% of their respective fields.^[117] In 2016,U.S. News & World Report rated UC Davis 2nd globally in Agricultural Sciences, 1st in Plant and Animal Science, 4th in Environment/Ecology, and 1st nationally in Veterinary Medicine, 3rd in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 7th (tie) in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, 9th in U.S. Colonial History, 15th in Comparative Politics, 19th in Biological Sciences, 20th in Earth Sciences and 21st in Psychology.^[113] The Economics department of UC Davis was also ranked 6th among public universities and 20th nationally according to the RePec (Research Papers in Economics) Rankings in 2011.^[118] In 2013,The Economist placed UC Davis Graduate School of Management in the top 8% accredited MBA programs in the United States (ranked 37th nationally and 65th globally).^[119]

TheAcademic Ranking of World Universities placed UC Davis 40th nationally and 90th globally for 2019.^[120] In its 2019 rankings,Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranked it tied for 59th in the world.^[121] TheQS World University Rankings ranked it tied for 104th globally for its 2020 ratings, with Veterinary Science ranked 2nd in the world.^[122]

In 2016,Sierra Magazine ranked UC Davis 8th in its "Greenest Schools" in America list for campus sustainability and climate change efforts.^[123]

Admission to UC Davis is rated as "more selective" byU.S. News & World Report.^[131]

For Fall 2019, UC Davis received 78,093 freshmen applications; 30,358 were admitted (39.1%) and 5,957 enrolled.^[130] The average high school grade point average (GPA) of the enrolled freshmen was 4.13; the averageSAT scores were between 610 and 710 for reading and 630–790 for math, and 28–34 for theACT Composite score.^[130]

For 2021 incoming freshman class, UC Davis received a record of 105,850 applicants, an 11% increase from last year.^[132] The admission rate for incoming freshman for the class of 2021 was 37.5%.^[133]

UC Davis' libraries include thePeter J. Shields Library, the Physical Sciences & Engineering Library, the Carlson Health Sciences Library, and the Medical Center Library inSacramento,^[134] which collectively contain more than 3 million volumes^[135] and offer a number of special collections and services. The Peter J. Shields Library has three different architectural styles due to various construction and extensions being added; it is the main library where students study on-campus, with a 24-hour reading room, open computer labs, and unique furniture.

The university is host to an ArmyReserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, the Forged Gold Battalion, with more than 50 cadets. With more than 60 years in existence, it currently commissions roughly 10 graduating seniors as second lieutenants every year.^[136]

The University of California Davis Graduate Programs of Study consist of over 90 post-graduate programs, offering masters and doctoral degrees and post-doctoral courses.^[137] The programs educate over 4,000 students^[138] from around the world.

UC Davis has the following graduate and professional schools, offering the broadest range of professional programs^[139] of all campuses in the UC system (with their founding in parentheses):

• UC Davis Graduate Studies (1925)
• Graduate School of Management (1981)
• School of Education (2002)
• School of Law (1965)
• School of Medicine (1966)
• School of Veterinary Medicine (1948)
• Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing (2009)

Across the UC system, Los Angeles and Riverside are the next closest to Davis in terms of the breadth of their professional programs, but both campuses are missing a veterinary school, while Riverside is also missing a nursing school.

The University of California, Davis graduate division^[140] has a long history. Graduate education has been a major feature of the academic focus for over 80 years. This academic tradition began in the fall of 1925, when 12 students received graduate degrees from the College of Agriculture through a partnership with the graduate division of the University California at Berkeley.^[141][142] Over the years, the programs continued to grow, interact and collaborate. The first graduate degrees were awarded from the UC Davis campus in the fall of 1949.^[143]

In 1961, autonomous graduate divisions and graduate councils were established on all University of California campuses to provide focused oversight of their graduate programs.^[142]

A key feature of graduate education at UC Davis is the graduate group. The core elements of a graduate group include an emphasis on "shared research interests among faculty and students; flexibility to grow and quickly change to reflect emerging areas of interdisciplinary knowledge and technology; and an acceptance that many research questions transcend traditional academic departmental boundaries."^[144] UC Davis offers more graduate groups than any other campus in the UC system.^[145]

In 2016,U.S. News & World Report namedUC Davis School of Medicine as the 6th most competitive medical school in the United States with an acceptance rate of 2.8%.^[146]

UC Davis is one of 62 members in theAssociation of American Universities, an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. It consists of sixty universities in the United States (both public and private) and two universities in Canada.

Between 2017 and 2020,UC Davis was paid $1.4 million byNeuralink to use its facilities for experiments with brain implants in monkeys. Some monkeys were euthanized after developing infections. ThePhysicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has filed a public records lawsuit demanding access to the research.^[147][148] The university claims that it complied with the California Public Records act, and that research protocols were thoroughly reviewed and approved by the campus's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).^[149]

UC Davis spent $788.8 million on research and development in fiscal year 2018, ranking it 30th in the nation.^[150]

Its faculty includes 23 members of theNational Academy of Sciences, 14 members of theNational Academy of Engineering, 30 members of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, 17 members of theAmerican Law Institute, 5 members of theRoyal Society, 3Pulitzer Prize winners, 1Guggenheim Fellow, and 3MacArthur Fellows.^[16]

The campus supports a number of research centers and laboratories, including:

The Crocker Nuclear Laboratory on campus has had anuclear accelerator since 1966.^[152][153] The laboratory is used by scientists and engineers from private industry, universities and government to research topics includingnuclear physics, appliedsolid state physics,radiation effects,air quality,planetary geology and cosmogenics.^[154] UC Davis is the only UC campus, besides Berkeley, that has a nuclear laboratory.

Agilent Technologies will also work with the university in establishing a Davis Millimeter Wave Research Center to conduct research into millimeter wave and THz systems.^[155]

The undergraduate student government of UC Davis is the Associated Students of UC Davis (ASUCD), and has an annual operating budget of $11.1 million, making it one of the largest-funded student governments in the United States.^[156] ASUCD includes an Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branch. Other than representing the student body on campus, the task of ASUCD is to lobby student interests to local and state government. Also under the purview of ASUCD are the student-run Coffee House, an ASUCD unit, andUnitrans, the Davis public bus system. ASUCD employs thousands of students^[157] annually across its many units.

Picnic Day, UC Davis's annual Open House, is the largest student-run event in the United States. It attracts thousands of visitors each year with its many attractions. These include a parade, a dance competition by the university club dance groups called "Dance Dance Revolution", a magic show performed by the chemistry department, the Doxie Derby (dachshund races), film screenings, and aBattle of the Bands between theUC Davis Marching Band and other college bands including theCal Band, theStanford Band, and theHumboldt State University Marching Lumberjacks.

Another highlight of UC Davis is its student-runfreeform radio station,KDVS. The station began operations on February 1, 1964, from the laundry room of the all-male dormitory Beckett Hall. The station soon gained a reputation by airing interviews withAngela Davis and a live call-in show with thenCalifornia GovernorRonald Reagan in 1969. The station can now be heard on 90.3FM and online at its website.^[159]

UC Davis has over 800 registered student organizations, ranging from political clubs to professional societies to language clubs.^[160]

The academic Graduate Students and management students are represented by the Graduate Student Association (GSA). The Law Students are represented by Law Students Association.

Students are also encouraged to wear Aggie Blue on game days to show their Aggie Pride. If spotted wearing Aggie Blue by the Aggie Pack, students may have UC Davis paraphernalia thrown at them as a reward.

Students also participate in intramural sports such as basketball, ultimate frisbee, soccer and many more. The ARC contains a basketball gym, work out room, ping pong tables, squash courts, rock climbing wall, and other studio rooms for group exercise.

Other student activities and campus jobs:

• Unitrans, the student run (and driven) bus system.
• The Coffee House, also known as the CoHo, is a student run restaurant serving 7000 customers daily.
• The Bike Barn, a bicycle shop that sells and rents bicycles and cycling equipment, also a full-service repair shop.
• KDVS, student radio.^[161]
• The Entertainment Council,^[162] responsible for bringing famous musicians to campus and organizing student events.^[163]

Bicyclists are ubiquitous on campus and in the city. Both the university and municipality encourages this with bicycle-only infrastructure such as bike circles, large bike lanes, and traffic signals specifically for bikes. UC Davis has a road and mountain bike team which has won several national championship titles.^[164] The campus police department also has some of its officers patrol on bicycles and take bicycling under the influence ("BUI") and bicycling without a headlight at night very seriously. Students usually have their bicycles serviced on-campus at the ASUCD Bike Barn or at other bike shops around town.

UC Davis is also well known for its bus service,Unitrans, and its trademark Londondouble decker buses. It has been in operation since 1968 and is believed to be the only general purpose (non-sightseeing) transit system in the U.S. to operate vintage double deck buses in daily service. The system is operated and managed entirely by students and offers fixed-route transportation throughout the city. There is also an inter-campus bus service^[165] that ferries back and forth between UC Davis andUC Berkeley twice daily, from Monday to Friday. Davis is also one of the busiest stations of theCapitol Corridor intercity railroad service operated byAmtrak between the Bay Area and Sacramento.

The central campus is bounded by freeways on two sides (Highway 113 andInterstate 80). All other UC campuses are either somewhat distant from the closest freeway or are directly adjacent to only one freeway. Two freeway exits are entirely within UCD's boundaries. One, off Highway 113, is signed "UC Davis / Hutchison Drive" and the other, off Interstate 80, is signed exclusively as "UC Davis." Despite the university's extensive bicycle infrastructure and public transportation service, easy freeway access coupled with increasing housing costs in the city of Davis has led to increased numbers of students commuting via automobile. Some students choose to live in the neighboring communities ofSacramento,Dixon orWoodland, and use their own cars or the county-wideYolobus to get to UC Davis. In addition, a private charter bus that connected the Davis and Sacramento campuses was replaced in 2020 by the Causeway Connection bus service, in partnership with Yolobus andSacramento Regional Transit.^[166] Other students also commute by motorcycle, but are also subject to similar parking rates as their four-wheeled counterparts.

UC Davis publishes a weeklystudent newspaper,The California Aggie. TheAggie was first published in 1915 as theWeekly Agricola after its approval by the Associated Student Executive Committee. At this point, UC Davis was considered the University Farm, an extension ofUC Berkeley.^[167]

Initially, theWeekly Agricola was focused on both student news and farming-related topics. NovelistJack London was one of the first readers of theWeekly Agricola. In 1922, it was renamed to match the school's athletic name.^[167] Between March 2014 and October 2016, the Aggie was not in print but was still accessible online. The Aggie is in print and available on campus again as of October 2016^[update].^[168]

Social fraternities and sororities have been a part of the University of California at Davis since 1913. Approximately 8% of the university's undergraduate students are involved in the school's fraternities and sororities. One sorority,Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi, was featured during the first season of the MTV reality showSorority Life.

There are currently 13 social fraternities that are a part of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) in Davis.^[169] There are currently 11 sororities that are a part of the Panhellenic Council.^[170]

The Phi chapter ofAlpha Gamma Rho was locally established May 1, 1923, at UC Davis, making it the first continuously running national fraternity on campus. They started as the Kappa Tau fraternity, which was the first agricultural fraternity on campus. Many campus buildings are named after alumni of Alpha Gamma Rho such as Emil Mrak (Mrak Hall, Registrar's office), Orville Thompson (Thompson Hall, Segundo student housing), and Dean De Carli (the De Carli room, 2nd floor MU), Mel Olson Scoreboard (Aggie Stadium), and many more. The AGR Hall is an event space located inside the Buehler Alumni / Visitor Center and is commonly rented out as a conference room or banquet hall. There are both national and local fraternities and sororities at UCD with diverse backgrounds and histories.^[171]

TheUC Davis Aggies (also referred to as Cal Aggies or Ags) compete inNCAA Division I sports league in theBig West Conference. Forfootball, the Aggies compete in Division IFCS (formerly known as Division I-AA), and are members of theBig Sky Conference, granting UC Davis the distinction of being one of only three UC campuses to field a football team (Cal andUCLA being the other two). The Aggies are also members of thePAC-12 in lacrosse,Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in gymnastics, theAmerica East Conference in field hockey, theWestern Intercollegiate Rowing Association andDavis Men's Crew Club forrowing. Starting July 1, 2026, the Aggies will become members of theMountain West Conference.^[172] This will not include UC Davis Football which will remain part of the Big Sky Conference and will continue to compete in the FCS division.

The UCDavis Men's Crew Club is one of the successful clubs both on campus and in the West. In 2008 the JV boat won first in nationals at the ACRA Championships in Tennessee and in 2009 the Varsity boat got second place in nationals at the ACRA Championships. They consistently compete against teams such as Stanford, the University of Washington and UC Berkeley.

The Aggies finished first inNCAA Division II six times in 2003 and won theNACDA Directors' Cup 4 years in a row from 1999 to 2003. In 1998, the UC Davis men's basketball team won theNCAA Division II national championship despite being one of the few non-scholarship institutions in Division II at that time. They have also won NCAA Division II championships in Softball (2003), Men's Tennis (1992), and Women's Tennis (1990, 1993). These and other achievements motivated a decision (following a year of heavy discussion by campus administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni and the local community) in 2003 for the athletics program to re-classify to Division I.^[173][174]

The Aggie football team playsSacramento State in the annualCauseway Classic for theCauseway Carriage. The team also playsCal Poly San Luis Obispo in the annualBattle for the Golden Horseshoe. UC Davis students gather at sporting events to rally as the Aggie Pack, the largest student-run school spirit organization in the United States.^[175] The Aggie Pack cheers on the sports team along with the Spirit Squad to the music of the Cal Aggie Marching Band and its alumni band.Aggie Stadium is the home of the UC Davis football and lacrosse teams.

Because of budget pressure, wrestling was cut from the athletic department in April 2010. Other cuts included men's swimming, men's indoor track, and women's rowing. The athletics department had to cut $1.79 million out of the budget. 14 women's teams and 9 men's teams were funded for the 2010–2011 school year.^[176]

The official school colors are blue and gold. The blue is due to the UC's early connection to Yale^[177] and as a result is often referred to as "Yale Blue" (e.g., see).^[178] and^[179] UCD's official blue, usually called "Aggie Blue", is Pantone 295,^[180] which is distinct from Yale Blue (approximately Pantone 289).^[181]

The official school mascot is themustang.

UC Davis has implemented many environmentally sustainable features on campus. In the Fall of 2010, UCD opened a renovated Dining Commons in the Cuarto living area. The dining hall uses local produce and promotes sustainability. The university operates twentyLEED-certified buildings across three of the five overarching LEED categories.^[182] Examples include the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, the first brewery, winery or food-processing facility in the world to achieve Platinum-level certification and theTahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) atLake Tahoe, one of only five laboratories in the world to achieve Platinum-level certification.^[183] It developed UC Davis West Village as a "zero net energy" community.^[184]

The university received two Best Practice Awards at the 2009 annual Sustainability Conference, held by the University of California, California State University and the California Community Colleges, for the campus's lighting retrofit project and sustainable design in new construction.^[185]

UC Davis harvests olives from the old trees on campus to produce olive oil^[186] and table olives for use in campus dining rooms.^[187] It has designed landscaping with drought-tolerant trees and other plants.^[188] The campus operates its own landfill, where it converts landfill (methane) gas to energy.^[189] For its efforts in campus sustainability, UC Davis earned an A− on the 2011 College Sustainability Report Card, one of 27 universities to achieve this, the highest grade awarded.^[190]

In February 2014, UC Davis and Diamond Developers formed a joint venture to create asustainable city inDubai,United Arab Emirates.^[191] The draft design for the sustainable city in Dubai called for an "eco-village" on 120 acres with enough housing for 1,200 people. The plan called for K-12 education, apartments, single family homes, and retail shops.^[192] In May 2015, UC Davis and Diamond expanded the joint venture to include sustainability professional training program.^[191]

UC Davis became the first university to implement requiring payment of a fee for all single-use bags distributed on campus; it is working to become the first university campus to ban plastic bags entirely.^[193]

UC Davis is also home to the Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI),^[194] which is part of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES). ASI provides leadership for research, teaching, outreach, and extension efforts in agricultural and food systems sustainability at the Davis campus and throughout the UC system.

UC Davis hosted the Governors' Global Climate Summit 3 (GGCS3),^[195] an international climate forum for the top leaders of local, regional, national and international entities, as well as those from academia, business and nonprofits. The summit worked to broaden national partnerships in continuing to grow a clean, green economy. The summit included more than 1,500 attendees from more than 80 countries.

^[203]

UC Davis currently has over 260,000 living alumni.^[204] Notable alumni of UC Davis include two astronauts; scientistCharles Moen Rice, 2020Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate andKatherine Jungjohann; US TreasurerAnna Escobedo Cabral; Chevron CEOJohn S. Watson; entrepreneurJason Lucash; and actorMatthew Moy. Notable faculty include two-timePulitzer Prize-winning historianAlan Taylor and painterWayne Thiebaud.

• Notable UC Davis alumni include:
•  
  Charles M. Rice, 2020Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate
•  
  Anna Escobedo Cabral, US Treasurer
•  
  Tani Cantil-Sakauye,Chief Justice of California
•  
  Ann Veneman, formerUnited States Secretary of Agriculture
•  
  DeAnne Julius, American-British economist
•  
  Sir Chow Chung-kong, chairman ofHong Kong Exchanges and Clearing
•  
  John S. Watson, CEO ofChevron
•  
  Darrell Steinberg, mayor ofSacramento
•  
  London Breed,mayor of San Francisco
•  
  Kate Tsui, Hong Kong actress
•  
  Hasan Minhaj, actor and comedian
•  
  DJ Shadow, music producer and DJ
•  
  James F. Brooks, historian and professor
•  
  Doug Girod, chancellor of theUniversity of Kansas
•  
  Tracy Caldwell Dyson, chemist andNASA astronaut
•  
  Stephen Robinson,NASA astronaut
•  
  Daniel Descalso, infielder for theArizona Diamondbacks
•  
  Colton Schmidt, American footballpunter
•  
  Urijah Faber, mixed martial artist
•  
  Martin Yan, cooking show host and food writer
•  
  Christopher Markus andStephen McFeely, screenwriters and producers
•  
  Richard Whitten, visual artist

• C.N. Gorman Museum
• Justice Waits
• Manetti Shrem Museum of Art
• Mondavi Center
• The Pavilion (UC Davis)
• Jerry Hinsdale

• Official website 
• UC Davis Athletics website