The first endowed brewer will be Joe Williams

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. owners Ken Grossman and Katie Gonser gave $2 million to support UC Davis’ brewing science program. The brewing programs at UC Davis are the only North American programs accredited by the Institute of Brewing & Distilling in London.

The individual selected as Sierra Nevada’s endowed brewer will be assisting in course instruction, maintaining the campus brewery and its equipment and mentoring and leading students and teaching assistants.

The first endowed brewer will be Joe Williams, who currently serves as a staff researcher for UC Davis. He will serve as a liaison to the brewing industry for UC Davis and a host for visitors to the campus brewery.

Charlie Bamforth, a professor of food science and an Anheuser-Busch endowed professor of malting and brewing sciences, spoke highly of the Sierra Nevada position.

“We are thrilled to have received this wonderful gift from Ken Grossman and his wife Katie Gonser,” Bamforth said via email. “The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company endowed brewer is at the heart of our mission. Joe Williams, the campus brewer, plays a critical role in ensuring that the students emerging through the program have a thorough understanding of the complex practicalities of making beer.”

UC Davis and Sierra Nevada Brewing have a history with one another. Grossman lectures three times each year in the Introduction to Beer and Brewing course and often hosts Bamforth and his students for tours of the Sierra Nevada brewery in Chico. Bamforth is a frequent guest speaker at Sierra Nevada brewery and a close friend of Grossman.

“[The gift] reflects the close rapport that we enjoy with the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, which is the epitome of quality in the brewing industry,” Bamforth said via email. “Ken and Katie recognize that we are striving to deliver the very best people eager and ready to get into the industry.”

Grossman expressed similar sentiments regarding the relationship between UC Davis and Sierra Nevada Brewing.

“I have a long relationship with UC Davis, going back to the days of starting Sierra Nevada when I’d haunt the library to read material I couldn’t afford to subscribe to or was out of print,” Grossman said via email. “The goal [of the endowed brewer position] is to allow the program to continue its excellent work in educating brewers who are passionate, dedicated to quality and skilled at their craft.”

Serena Uppal, a third-year economics and mathematics double major, has recently become more interested in taking brewing classes due to the gift from Sierra Nevada Brewing.

“I would definitely be interested in taking a beer brewing class with this new funding,” Uppal said. “I won’t be just getting theoretical knowledge but also firsthand experience [in] the industry itself.”

Written by: Yvonne Leong — campus@theaggie.org

250 institutions ask new administration to address challenges of climate change

Last month, Interim Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter and other University of California (UC) leaders signed a letter urging President-elect Donald Trump and Congress to take action against climate change.

The letter, compiled by Boston-based nonprofit Second Nature, focuses on three main proposals. The first proposal asks for participation in the Paris Agreement on climate change, the second proposal asks for support for research in academic institutions and federal agencies and the third proposal asks for investments in the low carbon economy to help adapt to changing climate hazards.

The letter also emphasizes the importance of the government’s actions to influence current and future generations. It has been signed by 250 institutions and was sent to the incoming presidential administration on Jan. 13.

Timothy Carter, the president of Second Nature, explained that the group worked with a group of approximately 30 schools to craft and refine the letter in November. Several other institutions’ presidents and chancellors voluntarily submitted additional statements of support.

“The intention of the letter was to provide a strong signal from the higher education sector that the sector values the Paris Agreement, thinks continued climate research is critical for informed decision-making and recognizes the importance of investments in a clean energy economy,” Carter said via e-mail.

Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, climate programs director for Second Nature, added that the higher education climate community voices its support for the three proposals as well as introduce the new administration and Congress to ongoing efforts.

“We have worked with the previous administration, so it’s important to introduce this […] during a time of transition,” Cohen-Rosenthal said via e-mail.

Carter and Cohen-Rosenthal expressed the importance of having a reference point for future policy conversations at all levels of government — local, state and federal — as well as providing the higher education community opportunities to partner with governments both nationally and internationally.

At UC Davis, students and faculty have been supportive of efforts to protect the environment and improve sustainability through education, research and initiatives. Professor Arnold Bloom, from the Department of Plant Sciences, expressed his approval of the effort to help influence policies of the new administration.

“Climate change is likely to become one of the most disruptive issues in the coming decades, and the steps outlined in the letter are critical for mitigating or adapting to such change,” Bloom said via e-mail.

According to Bloom, the campus offers courses about climate change, such as introductory course SAS 25. Bloom teaches a free online course as well. The environmental policy analysis and planning major recently initiated a climate change policy track where students can learn about climate policy, environmental economics and climate science.

Michael Bancroft, a fourth-year environmental science and management major, supports the UC leaders signing the letter.

“It is very important that the UC system supports government action on climate change not only as representatives of leading environmental research institutions, but also partially as representatives of California, the state with the most legislative action on climate change in the U.S.,” Bancroft said via e-mail.

Similarly, Mayra Pelagio, a fourth-year environmental science and management major, said that it was important for the UC system to show support for the letter considering many of its campuses were leaders in research in green energy.

Pelagio and Bancroft feel that UC Davis offers many opportunities for its students to get involved in research and in environmental science more generally. There are on-campus clubs, the Green Initiative Fund and several professors who conduct research on climate change.

Both Pelagio and Bancroft also think that there is room for improvement, especially with regard to increasing environmental awareness. Bancroft believes that, while classes can provide a holistic view, it may be necessary to engage with the general population more frequently concerning current events and environmental policy.

“There are some students, for instance, that graduate without having an understanding of concepts such as climate change,” Pelagio said. “These issues should be taught to everyone, for us to be aware of our impact in the environment.”

Written by: Jayashri Padmanabhan — campus@theaggie.org

UC Student Workers Union hosts walkout, teach-ins protesting Trump, University of California

The UC Student Workers Union – Davis participated in a UC-wide walkout on Jan. 20 and hosted on campus teach-ins to protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump. The teach-ins provided an outlet for UC Davis professors and guest scholars to explore President Trump’s potential impact on civil, political, racial and sexual rights. The union also included a list of demands to the University of California (UC) which included denouncing Trump’s presidency and democratizing the UC Regents administration.   

On its Facebook page and website, the union highlights discrimination that its members believe the new president has helped perpetuate.

“We must take action as students, workers, faculty, and staff against the racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and ableism that Trump has normalized in this country, both structurally and rhetorical,” the organization said. “All UCD students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to participate in the walkout and express resistance to the incoming Trump regime in whatever manner they find most appropriate, be it protest, teach-ins, or simply staying at home with a good book.”

The United Automobile Workers (UAW), which houses the UC Student Workers Union – Davis, is comprised of 600 nationwide chapters. UAW 2865 represents the 16,000 University of California student-faculty from every UC campus.

Connor Gorman, a UAW 2865 organizer in the Davis chapter, described this inauguration day as an opportunity to protest both the new presidential administration and UC Davis administration.

“We called for a walkout in order to protest the Trump administration, but also to protest the larger structural issues that he’s just the latest manifestation of,” Gorman said. “All of these systems of oppression and the various inequalities created have been around since the formation of the U.S. and in other countries prior to that, so these aren’t new things. It’s a larger structural issue.”

The UAW 2865 also has 11 demands listened on its website and Facebook page. The union describes its demands as advocating for the marginalized, such as undocumented immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, along with restoring a democratic higher education.

“We are also making demands of the UC because there are many things that relate to Trump but also relate to the UC,” Gorman said. “For instance, we are demanding that the UC formally make all of the campuses sanctuaries. We also want to democratize the regents. Right now, the structure of the UC is very undemocratic, it’s very corporate, they don’t listen to students or workers or community members, and we want more say in that.”

The demands include denouncing Donald Trump’s presidency, fully demilitarizing UC campuses and implementing free education and healthcare. The demand of democratizing the Regents’ administration relates back to last year’s Democratize UC movement.  

Tobias Warner, a faculty member in the Department of French and Italian who attended a teach-in, views education as an important and challenging factor amidst the new political climate.

“I think our primary job as faculty is teaching,” Warner said. “At a time when many of the missions of the University are thrown into question by incoming administration and some of its declared policies, the faculty should continue to teach. That’s why I’m here.”

Iris Bloomfield, a fourth-year English major who attended the teach-ins, is worried about the new White House administration but expressed a commitment to maintaining a reparative dialogue.  

“If anyone has been paying attention to the kind of conflicts that have come to the light of day as Trump has campaigned and won, whether we want to contest that title of president or not, I’m concerned,” Bloomfield said. “I know that plenty of other folks are concerned and I think one of the most important things we can do right now is get together and have conversations about where we need to be organizing and what people are most concerned about.”

Bloomfield and other concerned students will continue to bolster disenfranchised community members around them and assist in the anti-Trump movement.

“I’m certainly [interested] in showing up, listening and helping out where I can in order to work to make sure that we have resources and are making an effort to protect the most vulnerable around us right now,” Bloomfield said.

Written by: Aaron Liss — campus@theaggie.org