- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The 11th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, initially scheduled for Feb. 20 during Presidents' Day weekend, has been changed to Sunday, March 6, due to concerns about the Omicron COVID-19 surge.
It will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the UC Davis Conference Center, 550 Alumni Lane. UC Davis undergraduates will be the focus of this year's free, science-focused event, said Biodiversity Museum Day coordinator Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology. "We're focusing on undergraduate attendance. The undergrads haven't been able to experience campus life much, due to COVID pandemic policies."
COVID pandemic precautions kept the 2021 event virtual but this year it will be in person, but COVID campus safety policies will be implemented.
In the past, participants enjoyed visiting these collections in person:
- Anthropology Museum
- Arboretum and Public Garden
- Bohart Museum of Entomology
- Botanical Conservatory
- California Raptor Center
- Center for Plant Diversity
- Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
- Nematode Collection
- Marine Invertebrate Collection
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
- Paleontology Collection
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection
- Viticulture and Enology Collection
The committee is working out the details at its Zoom meetings. For up-to-date information, visit the the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day and follow on Twitter and Facebook.
Meanwhile, the 108th annual UC Davis Picnic Day is scheduled Saturday, April 23.
- Author: Wendy Powers
I spoke with a UC ANR academic last week who was struggling to find time to work on a manuscript. I'm faced with the same challenge and have the same 2 manuscripts in my backpack that were there last week. I need a transcontinental flight (roundtrip) to work through them. These short Southwest flights don't seem to translate to getting any work done. In order to make progress on the manuscript I need to write, I first need time to think. Know the feeling? But it continues to amaze me how those across UC ANR do find time to publish their work. I received a new letter from the Journal of Extension congratulating the UC ANR authors published in the current issue. I say ‘new letter' because it seems we have authors in just about every issue – quite impressive!
When I arrived at the office this morning, I found a Western SARE newsletter. In it was a welcome to Jeff Stackhouse and Sonja Brodt, the new co-coordinators for the California SARE Professional Development Program, replacing Morgan Doran. Congratulations to both Sonja and Jeff and thanks to Morgan for all of his efforts in the role! The issue also contained a list of grants that were approved back in February. California received 6 of the 34 grants awarded, 2 of which went to UC Davis for a nice portion of the $2 million total award. Professional Development, Professional + Producer, and Farmer/Rancher grant programs are open if you have an idea that would fit the Western SARE program. Given the range of topics in the recent newsletter (medusahead, birds as pests on dairy farms, soil health, ag biodiversity, technical skill development of academics) many of our programs could be a good fit.
Today really seemed to focus on academic excellence. I spent much of the day in a workshop attended by administrators throughout the UC system (mostly Vice Chancellors for Research) to talk about how best to achieve collective excellence in undergraduate research. President Napolitano laid out the goal which is to engage every undergraduate student in the UC system in research. One of the quick themes to emerge was finite capacity to do this on the campuses because of student to faculty ratios. That's where UC ANR and other research units within UC but external to campuses can play a large role. Undergraduate students represent the future academics of UC ANR not to mention recipients of and advocates for our programs. It would be nice to see a greater portion of the UC undergraduate students familiar with what UC ANR does in their communities and there was strong interest at the meeting to develop some sort of formalized program across UC whereby UC ANR is involved in providing applied research experiences to undergraduate students. A summer internship program at my former institution proved a successful method of providing summer research support to projects around the state, for-credit research experiences for students needing those credits, paid employment for the students in their home areas and a cadre of Extension supporters, most of whom had never heard of it previously. A few even continued on to earn Master's degrees for future employment in Extension. I'd be curious to learn if there was interest in UC ANR in mentoring undergraduate students engaged in our research efforts.
Now it's off to San Diego for the first of the 5 information sessions. I believe this one has checked in full. I am looking forward to the conversations and meeting more of the people that make UC ANR all that it is.
The report, "In the Shadows of the Ivory Tower: Undocumented Undergraduates and the Liminal State of Immigration Reform," is based on a yearlong survey of 909 undergraduate students from 55 countries. Participants attended a range of two- and four-year public and private colleges.
Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, dean of UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and Robert T. Teranishi, a professor of education there, were two of the principal investigators on the study. Mr. Suárez-Orozco said the survey was significant because such students are often stigmatized, making it "very difficult to get good-quality research" on the challenges they face. The amount of data collected through the study makes it the first and largest of its kind, he said.
The researchers tracked such factors as age upon arrival in the United States, household income, and areas of study. Eighty-eight percent of participants were under 12 before they immigrated to the United States with their families. Sixty-one percent said they had come from families living on annual household incomes of below $30,000.
Financial barriers leave these students constantly thinking about paying for college. A significant share of participants in UCLA's study—56 percent—said they were "extremely concerned" about financing their education (such students are ineligible to receive federal aid). Of the respondents who "stopped out" of college, more than 70 percent cited money concerns as the reason.
But the sources of anxiety don't end there. In addition to feeling weighed down by financial burdens, respondents also spoke about a lack of acceptance on their respective campuses. Almost half of respondents reported being treated unfairly by financial-aid officers. Fifty-five percent reported being mistreated by fellow students.
Temporary Reprieve
A 2012 executive action known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, granted a temporary reprieve from deportation to students who had been brought to the United States illegally as children. That action also made it easier for those students to get scholarships, internships, and work permits. Eighty-five percent of survey respondents who qualified for deferred action said the program had had a positive impact on their education, but concerns about its limitations remain.
For one, a large portion of deferred-action students—nearly 90 percent—reported anxiety over the possible deportation of their friends and families. Only 70 percent of non-DACA students reported the same.
"Once they themselves feel some of the protections that are afforded by DACA," said Mr. Suárez-Orozco, "there is a skyrocketing awareness of the threat of deportation to those around them."
Mr. Suárez-Orozco called it "college survival guilt." Once the students realize they're protected, they wonder about the future of their family members.
On paper, deferred-action students seem to be reaping the benefits of being spared deportation. But beneath the hard work is a constant mental strain that the researchers think educators should combat by being more involved. Those results should challenge how college educators, employers, and policy makers help these "Americans in waiting" by first informing them of the obstacles immigrant students face.
"There are efforts that can exist to better support these students," said Mr. Teranishi. "If these institutions are going to admit these students, then they should find ways to support them and help them succeed."
Source: Originally published on The Chronicle of Higher Educations as Undergraduates in the U.S. Illegally Face a Wide Array of Challenges, by Maddy Berner, January 26, 2015.