COVID-19 Community Report Episode 36: A Visit With UC Davis Chancellor Gary May - Sep 22nd, 2020

Today''s guest is UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May, who happens to be the most-requested interview from a poll of community members asked to suggest future guests. Some 24,000 UC Davis students are expected to be living here for the fall quarter, which starts Sept. 28, with the vast majority living in apartments and single-family homes in Davis and surrounding cities. What impact will this have on our COVID-19 numbers? How is the university managing its approach to COVID? Chancellor May described the Healthy Davis Together initiative - a joint project between UC Davis and the City of Davis, involving all community members, students, and Yolo County designed to facilitate a gradual return to regular city activities with strong collaboration with public health information campaigns and wide-scale testing.  To assist this effort, May described the new  Aggie Public Health Ambassador  Program that has just hired 250 undergraduate students to provide information and community outreach.  May became UC Davis’ 7th chancellor in 2017. He leads the most comprehensive campus in the University of California system, with four colleges and six professional schools. UC Davis enrolls more than 39,000 students, brings in nearly $850 million annually in sponsored research, and contributes $8 billion annually to California’s economy. This week, UC Davis was once again rated among the top colleges in the country in the latest “Best Colleges” rankings by U.S. News & World Report, which ranked UC Davis the 11th-best public school in the United States, and the 39th-best school overall.