Since UC Davis first opened its gate to students as the
University Farm in 1908, the campus has been making history.
Now a new book, "Abundant Harvest: The History of the
University of California, Davis," describes the evolution of
the campus from its modest roots to its status as an
internationally renowned research and teaching institution.


Nearly five years in the making, the book was written by
Capay Valley resident Ann Foley Scheuring, a former UC Davis
employee and alumna. The project was sponsored by the UC
Davis emeriti and retirees associations, which raised more
than $300,000 to underwrite research and publishing.


"The story of the University of California at Davis is not
only the story of an important University of California
campus, it is in many ways the story of California itself,"
says Kevin Starr, California state librarian, in the book's
foreword.


He points out that UC Davis has always faced the challenge of
the state itself: meeting the needs of population and
economic growth, harnessing science and technology, and
dealing with the deepest mysteries of human experience
through the arts and humanities.


Among the historical nuggets in the book:


* During World War I, UC Davis almost became a training camp
for 450 U.S. Army cavalry soldiers. After the war, the Army
stationed one of its thoroughbred stallions at Davis for 10
years to improve local horse breeding.


* During the 1930s, the young John Kenneth Galbraith -- later
to become famous as a Harvard professor and diplomat --
taught accounting, economics and farm management on the Davis
campus while completing his dissertation at UC Berkeley.


* Members of UC Davis' fledgling chemistry department played
an early role in the Manhattan Project that eventually
developed the atomic bomb during World War II.


* UC Davis researchers revolutionized the sugar beet, tomato
and strawberry industries by developing mechanical harvesters
and improved varieties.


* UC Davis faculty and administrators dealt with the Vietnam
War and student protests by instituting teach-ins on the Quad
that have continued as a tradition to this day.


In addition to covering the campus's early beginnings and its
growth, the book describes the evolving character of the
faculty, staff and student body, as well as the academic
enterprise itself and the founding of new schools and
colleges.


"Abundant Harvest" is available in paperback at the UC Davis
Bookstore, (530) 752-6846, bookstore@ucdavis.edu. Hardcover
copies will be available later in the month.


Editor's note: Book editors can obtain a review copy from
"Abundant Harvest" committee chair and political science
professor emeritus Richard Gable, (530) 756-0662.



Media contacts:


-- Ann Scheuring, author, (530) 796-2166, acorn@mother.com


-- Richard Gable, book committee chair, (530) 756-0662, rwgable@ucdavis.edu

-- Susanne Rockwell, News Service, (530) 752-9842,
sgrockwell@ucdavis.edu