Letter from the Chair

From Cairo’s Tahrir Square to Occupy Wall Street, expressions of solidarity are increasing around the globe. These and other citizen protests make evident that democracy is about the struggle to claim and defend public rights and requires action between people in response to local circumstance and the extra-local forces of a rapidly changing world. In many ways these historic events exemplify a core task of community development—the sharing of knowledge and skills to affect change toward democratic ends—in a particular time and place, and in social and material terms.

As the new chair of the Community Development Graduate Program at the University of California Davis, I want to share with you some information on recent developments in the program and ask for your help in sharing information about our program with potential graduate students and colleagues working in related fields. For over twenty years, this program has integrated social theory and scientific research with the acquisition of practitioner skills. Essential to this form of praxis is a recursive process centered on learning, action, and reflection. This model of community development education is relevant to social workers, urban planners, community designers, environmental activists, union leaders, and so many others who have sought to be more effective in their social change work.

We provide a 2-year Master's of Science (MS) Degree in Community Development. Our program is flexible and inter-disciplinary, with core courses in Community Development, affiliated courses across multiple departments, and opportunities for students to customize their own programs of studies. Particular strengths and recent developments in our program include the following:

• More than 40 affiliated world-class faculty in over 15 campus departments and programs, including Landscape Architecture, Sociology, Chicana/o Studies, American Studies, Education, Medicine, the Agricultural Sustainability Institute, Environmental Sciences and Policy, and UC Extension.
• Strong links with a range of public, non-profit and community organizations in the Sacramento Region and throughout the Central Valley of California. The region provides an invaluable living laboratory for addressing a range of community development challenges and opportunities. Recognized by Time Magazine as "America's Most Diverse City", Sacramento is simultaneously the Capitol of a state with the 7th largest economy in the world, a node in diverse trans-national diasporas reaching across the globe (students in the Sacramento school district speak more than 70 different languages at home), and the core of a dynamic metropolitan region striving to grow sustainably and equitably in the 21st century.
• Deep connections in the city of Davis itself. Known as the most bicycle friendly town in the country, Davis has a long-term commitment to sustainable community development, and includes some of the country's longest-standing initiatives related to co-housing, smart growth, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility.
• Close collaboration with the Center for Regional Change (CRC), which brings together faculty, students, & communities to collaborate on innovative research to create just, sustainable, & healthy regional change in California's Central Valley and Sierra Nevada. Students in our program have substantial opportunities for both paid work and internships in CRC related projects. Current projects include initiatives related to environmental justice, affordable housing, regional equity, population change, air quality, art and regional change, California labor studies, and youth development.
• A new collaboration with the Geography Graduate Group, which has involved creating a Community and Regional Development area of concentration with the Geography Ph.D. program. For Community Development students who are interested in pursuing academic careers, this provides an integrated path to a doctoral degree in a strongly allied field.
• Strong links with the Agricultural Sustainability Institute, a hub that links initiatives and education in sustainable agriculture and food systems across the University and with partners across the State of California. Students interested in community gardens, rural community development, healthy communities, local food and other aspects of sustainable agro-food systems have found this collaboration to be particularly valuable.

Please browse our web-site, and if you would like any additional information, please don't hesitate to contact Carrie Armstrong-Ruport, our Graduate Coordinator (530-752-4119, caruport@ucdavis.edu).

Thank you for your interest.

Sincerely,

Michael Rios, Ph.D.
Chair, Community Development Graduate Group
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Design, Landscape Architecture Program