UC Spotlight: August 2025
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Our UC Spotlight celebrates how we’re making a difference for Californians and the world beyond our state. Meet the staff and teams who are bringing UC’s values to life. Fiat Lux!
Serving communities throughout California
UC staff meet Californians where they are, providing expert guidance on agricultural practices, environmental matters and other critical topics.

With only a little over a month remaining in the Southwest Regional Food Business Center’s operational funding, Program Manager Tracy B. Celio shared the team’s exceptional achievements on behalf of small businesses nationwide.

The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute team created a dashboard that provides county-specific fact sheets on how California Latinos face heightened air pollution risks. They’re also partnering with community leaders to advocate for improvements.

UC San Diego is opening its Wildfire Science & Technology Commons to the public to promote collaboration in training, decision-making, and public communication amongst wildfire and land management scientists and organizations.

The UC Santa Barbara admissions team is hosting UC application workshops for local high school students.

Emily Jane Freed, UC Cooperative Extension director for Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties, shared how her team’s advisors are serving growers throughout the three counties.

San Diego’s ALERTCalifornia program — which provides real-time data to help communities track their risk of wildfire — was awarded a Special Achievement in Global Information Systems award from Esri for innovation in the field of GIS software and technology, geospatial analytics and mapping.

UC Cooperative Extension staff — as part of UC’s CalFresh Healthy Living partnerships — are delivering nutrition and wellness classes that significantly improve quality of life for people who live in underresourced California communities.

UC ANR leadership joined local community members and leaders in celebrating the 100th anniversary of Edna 4-H in San Luis Obispo.

UC Community Extension educator Max Fairbee builds strong friendships with older adults while providing nutrition advice, gardening tips and motivation to spend time outdoors.

UC San Diego opened the Brian & Nancy Malk Sunset Overlook, a deck where people of all ages and abilities can enjoy a magnificent view. Planted with native vegetation, the overlook acknowledges the Kumeyaay Nation.
Providing health care leadership and improving access
From hands-on connections and impactful programs to ratings that raise the bar on what quality patient care means, UC’s six academic health campuses are leading the field — and staff play a major role in this success.

UC Santa Cruz is partnering with UC Davis to launch the UC Programs in Medical Education (UC PRIME) Central Coast medical program, which aims to cultivate a physician workforce that is from the Central Coast, trained in the Central Coast and remains in the Central Coast to address regional health disparities.

UC Davis Health Respiratory Therapist Krystal Craddock received the 2025 Mallinckrodt Literary Award for her research on a groundbreaking care model.

The UCLA Health Homeless Healthcare Collaborative team delivers critical health services to people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County — and saves lives in the process.

UC San Diego Health Chief Administrative Officer Lisa Rhodes shared how the McGrath Outpatient Pavilion will positively impact patient care.

The Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health at UC San Diego celebrated its fifth anniversary and 1,851 graduates.

Anna Dermenchyan, interim chief quality officer for UCLA Health’s Department of Medicine, was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. This distinction is one of the highest honors of the nursing profession.

The Sanford Compassionate Communication Academy Fellowship at UC San Diego Health addresses the compassion crisis in health care through the arts, helping clinicians build trust and reduce burnout.

The UC Davis Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department partnered with Baykids Studios to celebrate child patients’ accomplishments as artists, musicians and filmmakers at the fifth annual Creative Arts Festival.

The UC Davis Hemostasis and Thrombosis Center recently launched a hemostasis gynecology clinic to address menstrual-related or contraceptive concerns for patients with bleeding or thrombotic disorders.

UC Davis Health opened a specialty skin clinic to care for patients with hidradenitis suppurativa, a common painful skin condition.

The UC Riverside School of Medicine held its annual White Coat Ceremony for incoming students. In the class of 2029, 51% are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, 40% are first-gen college students, 32% speak English as a second language, 60% grew up in a medically underserved region, 90% have ties to the Inland Empire and 40% are underrepresented in medicine.

UC Riverside celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Division of Biomedical Sciences, highlighting the high-impact research it has promoted on medically relevant topics and its focus on serving underserved populations.

UCLA Medical Center and UCSF Medical Center were among only four California hospitals to be recognized in US News’ Best Hospitals 2025-26 Honor Roll and Top Hospitals by State list.

Newsweek recognized UC Davis Health and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in their list of America’s Greatest Workplaces 2025.

Newsweek also included UC Davis Health in America’s Greatest Workplaces for Mental Well-Being 2025.

UC Davis Medical Center was honored with the American Heart Association’s Commitment to Quality award, recognizing exceptional performance across multiple clinical areas in the Get With The Guidelines program.

Four UC Irvine Health hospitals were recognized with the 2025 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With the Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and the Association’s Stroke and Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Awards.

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center achieved its fifth consecutive Magnet® designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center — the gold standard for nursing excellence.

The emergency department at UC Irvine Health — Orange was one of only 100 hospitals in the country to receive the 2025 Emergency Nurses Association Lantern Award.

Becker’s Hospital Review named Randolph Siwabessy, chief financial officer and senior vice president at UCI Health, as one of its 2025 hospital and health system CFOs to know.
Advancing and championing the university’s mission
These staff members and teams are embodying and promoting UC’s mission of teaching, research and public service while providing new avenues of thought leadership.

In July, six UC campuses and the Office of the President were honored with 2025 CASE Circle of Excellence Awards. The creative, inspiring projects highlight UC’s incredible impact and raise awareness of the university around the globe.

Comic-Con veteran Brian MacDonald, executive director of communications and organizational development for UCLA Student Affairs, shared how comics, movies and geek culture can make college more inclusive, inspiring and fruitful.

Sean Peisert, lead of cybersecurity and privacy research and development at Berkeley Lab, participated in a podcast to share how Berkeley Lab advances research that protects performance computing, the power grid and more.

The UC Berkeley Disabled Students’ Program and Disability Cultural Community Center partnered to host the National Disability Cultural Centers Symposium and Justice Tour. The event explored how colleges and universities can move beyond compliance to build disability-affirming cultural spaces.

Chrissy Huhn, head of Digitization Services at the UC Berkeley Library, uses her award-winning photography projects to document the impact of climate change.

The UC Riverside Office of Research and Economic Development welcomed dignitaries from more than 21 countries to campus, showcasing its growing role in global research, innovation and economic development.

Led by the Innovation and Economic Development Office and its UC Davis Health Ventures team, colleagues throughout UC Davis impressively filed 191 records of invention this past fiscal year.

UC Davis raised nearly $318 million in FY2024-25, its second-greatest year of fundraising ever.

UC Riverside’s School of Business has been accepted into the Graduate Management Admission Council, a prestigious global association of leading graduate business schools.
Supporting students and campus communities

UC Irvine received Insight Into Academia’s 2025 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award in recognition of its programs and initiatives that significantly advance the core values of inclusion and belonging.

Senior Planner and Landscape Architect Joy Glasier shared how she guides the design of UCSF’s open spaces, with a goal of creating beautiful and thriving open spaces for the community.

The mighty three-person UC Davis Summer Sessions team is making it easy and fun for students to access campus resources, enjoy social activities and build community.

Senior Video Producer/Director Isaac Conway-Stenzel, of UCSF Educational Technology Services, shared how he serves the UCSF community by supporting classroom spaces and producing high-profile in-person, hybrid, and virtual events.

The UC Merced Recreation and Athletics team launched the Bobcat Club, a network of alumni, families and fans committed to the holistic development of scholar-athletes.

The UC Riverside Office of Planning, Development and Construction partnered with Facilities Services to display a historic bronze bust of Robert Sproul, the first UC president, by famed sculptor Emil Seletz.

The UC Santa Cruz Division of Finance, Operations and Administration significantly updated its procurement platform to improve efficiency and reduce administrative burden on campus departments.
Submit your achievements!
UC Spotlight honors workplaces, teams and individual staff members that make UC a great place to work. To send a recognition or achievement for consideration, email the relevant URL and information to the UCnetwork editorial team or complete this form. Your story may also be featured on our new @ucnet_work Instagram page!
Please note that UC Spotlight is intended to reflect staff-specific achievements; to that end, we do not accept recognitions that are student, faculty or alumni-focused. Submissions are chosen for publication at the editor’s discretion. Funding and promotion/hiring announcements are not appropriate for this feature.