Alumni Achievers Content

UC Davis Alum Wins Milken Educator Award for Excellence in Teaching

Jocelyn C Anderson — May 26, 2026 - 2:08pm

Harry Shontz ’12, a high school social studies teacher, is a stickler for dress-down Fridays. His colleagues at the The Leffell School in Hartsdale, New York, know this about him, and so does the school principal.

When he grudgingly agreed to wear a button-down shirt and tie to work on a Friday in April, he never imagined that a cheering crowd of students, colleagues, honored guests and reporters would be there and that he would be called to the stage for a special announcement.

Ph.D. Alum Named 2026 Stockholm Water Prize Recipient

Jocelyn C Anderson — May 18, 2026 - 9:07am

Kaveh Madani, Ph.D. ’09, noted the irony of the day he found out he had won the 2026 Stockholm Water Prize, the world’s highest water research honor.

“It was a big surprise,” he told UC Davis Magazine. “And then I said, ‘How ironic, because eight years ago at this time, I was under arrest.’”

Based in Toronto, Madani is now director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and research professor at City College of New York CREST Institute.

Thriving Aggie Entrepreneurship

Jocelyn C Anderson — May 18, 2026 - 9:01am

Innovation and entrepreneurship are thriving amongst UC Davis students and alumni. Here, we check in with three Aggies who have an entrepreneurial spirit.

UC Davis Alum Leads Safety Efforts for Roblox’s Global Community

Jocelyn C Anderson — January 28, 2026 - 12:31pm

When Matt Kaufman ’94 thinks about childhood meetups with friends, he remembers bike rides, trips to the beach, going to the movies and afternoons spent at the park.

Today’s children? They meet up in virtual worlds, and Kaufman is helping to make sure their online playgrounds are safe.

Alum Named 2026 American Psychological Association President

Jocelyn C Anderson — January 07, 2026 - 12:50pm

Wendi S. Williams ’99 brings a powerful blend of scholarship, leadership, and lived experience to her new role as American Psychological Association president. A psychology major at UC Davis, she is driven by curiosity, empathy, and a deep commitment to social change and found her calling in psychology through storytelling, connection and advocacy.

Ph.D. Alum Wins ‘Genius’ MacArthur Grant

Jocelyn C Anderson — November 17, 2025 - 10:40am

For evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers, Ph.D. ’05, winning a 2025 MacArthur fellowship — “genius grant” — came as a total shock.

“I was stunned,” said Kiers, a professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. “I think it’s the mystery of the process that makes winning the fellowship so exciting because there’s no application, no forms, you have no idea who nominated you. It’s magic.”

At Napa’s Matthiasson Winery, UC Davis Connections Age Well

Jocelyn C Anderson — November 17, 2025 - 9:33am

It’s an autumn day at Matthiasson Winery, and the place is humming. Steve and Jill Klein Matthiasson are coordinating the delivery of freshly harvested grapes, crews are prepping the gear needed to crush, destem and begin fermentation, and guests are arriving to taste already bottled vintages while seated at outdoor tables overlooking the Napa Valley.

UC Regents Bring More Aggies on Board

Jocelyn C Anderson — September 30, 2025 - 3:05pm

The UC Davis contingent on the UC Board of Regents grew larger this summer with the swearing in of two additional Aggies.

Four Aggies — an alum, a grad student, a faculty member and a staffer — hold official roles with the UC Board of Regents, which oversees all 10 UC campuses; other Aggies address the regents at each meeting but don’t hold formal roles on the board.

Aggies at the Helm

Russell L Thebaud — June 25, 2025 - 3:58pm

What begins at UC Davis doesn’t stop at graduation. For these three alumni, it led all the way to the president’s office — shaping the future of higher education at universities across the country.

Meet Ellen Granberg ’84, president of George Washington University (GW); Doug Girod ’81, chancellor of the University of Kansas (KU); and Carol Folt Ph.D. ’82, president of the University of Southern California (USC).

A Supportive Network

Jocelyn C Anderson — May 19, 2025 - 9:00am

Shane Snyder ’89 can relate to the challenges his clients face at the Society for the Blind in Sacramento.

As the director of programs, Snyder helps connect people to resources they need to build independent living skills when they lose their sight. But personally, he also has confronted vision loss due to Usher syndrome, a congenital degenerative condition that affects both eyes and ears.

“I had to learn some new ways to do the things I already knew how to do,” said Snyder, who wears aids to help with hearing.