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Class Acts

Our faculty helps students flourish by developing courses that explore learning in creative ways. You will understand engineering through making coffee, social problems by designing a juvenile hall mural, and lighting design in a competition with your peers.

Our professors’ dedication to teaching is valued. In fact, each year, UC Davis honors a faculty member for being an exceptional teacher and scholar with a $45,000 prize.

Explore how this year’s winner, biochemistry professor Judy Callis, and so many others are enriching our undergraduate’s education:

Helping Students Make Connections

Students say Judy Callis, an expert in plant biochemistry, is an exemplary, dedicated instructor who creates a respectful, engaging classroom climate.

Space From an Astronaut’s Viewpoint

Who better to teach you about atmospheric flight and spaceflight than Aggie alumnus Steve Robinson — an astronaut with four space shuttle missions to his name?

Critical Thinking About Climate Change

In Tessa Hill’s general education class, you’ll learn to think scientifically about the complex subject of climate change by looking at our oceans.

Turning on Bright Minds at UC Davis

Design Class Challenges Students

Painting Their Hopes

In Maceo Montoya’s mural class, you’ll “create beauty where it did not once exist” in juvenile halls, informed by hardships experienced by incarcerated youth. 

Evolution and Family Conflict

Great questions in science as well as “bad” ones that seemed smart at the time keep students on their toes, thanks to ’10 teaching-prize winner Rick Grosberg.

Rock-to-Renaissance Musicologist

You can pursue any major and learn music from ’13 teaching-prize winner Chris Reynolds, known for enthusiasm that embraceS Jimi Hendrix and Beethoven.

Animal Scientist Milks Knowledge

Ed DePeters, the ’09 prize winner, can tell you exactly how a cud-chewing cow turns grass and grain into a glass of milk. He’s known for making animal science — and bovines — fun.

Soil Scientist Honored as UC Davis' 2012 Best

Teaching Passion Pulls Students in

A New Read on the World

Go through Dante’s nine circles of hell with ’08 prize winner Brenda Schildgen, using comparative literature to discover new ways of seeing the world.

Engineering Through Coffee

“From green bean to cup, the process of making coffee is all engineering,” says engineering prof Tonya Kuhl who teaches this course with colleague Bill Ristenpart.

Historian of Jewish Culture

Love for Jewish history and culture comes from the heart for ’11 prize winner David Biale, who asks students profound questions about human nature.

Liberal Arts Majors Say ‘Data on!’

A new Data Studies Program aimed at liberal arts major helps them think about and work with data, with the goal of giving them a boost for their careers.

Academics

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