By Allison Larson
California News Service
Roughly 80 Davis alumni, students, and prospective students attended the event hosted by the Washington Chapter of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, led by Charles Melton (’08) and Veronica Cummings (’08.)
Katehi used the opportunity to showcase the university’s accomplishments and highlights.
“I thought for a university that is so young, to be able to be what it is today, it does say a lot about the quality of the people, the quality of the students,’’ she said.
Katehi also noted the school’s high rankings. She pointed to UC Davis’ high marks for sustainability and its No. 8 ranking in U.S. and World Reports among the nation’s public research universities. Sierra Magazine ranked UC Davis as “America’s coolest school’’ last summer.
Katehi said she believes that UC Davis is becoming one of the most pronounced institutions in the state, describing Davis as “the university of the 21st century.’’
One family member of a prospective student asked what kinds of multi-cultural resources are available to the diverse students on the Davis campus.
Katehi recalled her experience as a Greek immigrant starting her first week as a student at UCLA in the 1970s. She recalled being nervous about coming to America for school.
“But my first week on campus, I was walking around and I saw all of these signs saying ‘Come to the Greek dinner!’ and ‘Greek sign-ups!’ I called my mom and told her ‘Mom! You will not believe there are so many Greeks here!’”
She later realized that these were advertisements for campus sororities and fraternities.
Katehi told the laughing crowd: “We have many cultural centers and events on campus but, my advice is to you is to learn from those who are different from you.”
The night concluded with a forum for UCDC participants to network with former Aggies now based in the Washington, D.C.
The California News Service is a journalism project of the University of California Washington Center