It’s not an exaggeration to say that this fall has seen a great many things come to pass. Whether events on the national stage, or advances in the life sciences, you’ve no doubt had a lot to watch.

Here at UC Davis, the quarter has continued rolling along. Students are biking and studying, our faculty are in their labs, and staff and graduate students are hard at work. It’s a comforting rhythm. We are a community of biologists at UC Davis, and that’s what we do—we teach, we study, we support and encourage one another. It can be helpful to have one’s own corner of the proverbial sandbox, and that’s certainly what we have here: the life sciences footprint on campus.

Last month, our campus received prestigious recognition once again of our widespread excellence across disciplines, and in the way we positively affect the next generation of scientists. In case you missed it, I am referring to the most recent top 10 national and top 100 global rankings. We’re proud to be aggies, and especially proud after announcements like that.

We’re also proud of having closed out the University’s $2 billion philanthropic "Expect Greater" campaign by surpassing our goal of $75 million with gifts totaling over $84 million. In celebration of this achievement, I was pleased to host a number of donors, faculty and friends at my home last month.

Finally, as we move into the holiday season and the close of this calendar year, I want to reiterate our college’s commitment to the University’s mission of teaching, research and service. We are here to explore, mentor, discover and innovate—and that’s exactly what we’ll always do.

Go Ags!