National & International Faculty Honors

UC Davis is home to globally renowned visionaries in the arts and education, law and letters, engineering, and the physical and life sciences, assuring its place as one of the top public universities in the country. Click through the categories on the right to view a sampling of the many premier faculty honors received. For more faculty distinctions by discipline and related stories, visit the colleges and schools linked here.

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Mary Ziegler, Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law, has been elected a Member of the American Law Institute, and has received the 2026 John Lewis Prize for History and Social Justice from the American Historical Association. (Photo: UC Davis School of Law).

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Mairaj Syed, Assoc. Prof. of Religious Studies, has received a Fulbright Scholarship to Egypt. (Photo: Dept. of Religious Studies).

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Wheat Geneticist, HHMI Investigator and Distinguished Professor of Plant Sciences Jorge Dubcovsky was named recipient of the 2026 GCHERA World Agriculture Prize, in the category of Developing Economies. (Photo: Dept. of Plant Sciences).

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Beenash Jafri, an associate professor of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, has received a First-Book Award from the Cultural Studies Association. (Photo: Dept Gender and Women's Studies).

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Daniel A. Starr, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, has been elected a Fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology. (Photo: UC Davis)

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Distinguished Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology Walter Leal received the 2026 Applied Chemical Ecology Award from the International Society of Chemical Ecology. (Photo credit: Sasha Bakhter)

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Sandra J. Carlson, Prof. Emerita of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has been named the 2026 recipient of the American Geophysics Institute William B. Heroy Jr. Award for Distinguished Service to AGI. (Photo: UC Davis)

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Prof. of Physics and Astronomy Andrew Wetzel has been appointed to the newest class of the US Defense Science Study Group (DSSG) of the Institute for Defense Analyses. (Photo: Dept of Physics and Astronomy).

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Christina Harvey, Asst. Prof. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has received an NSF CAREER Award. (Photo Credit: Mario Rodriguez)

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Arthur Charles-Orszag, Asst. Prof. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, received a Hypothesis Fund Scout Award for seed work in archaeal cell biology. (Photo: UC Davis)

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Neal Williams, Prof. of Entomology and Nematology, has been elected a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America. (Photo by Jeremy Hemberger)

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Valerie Williamson, Professor of Plant Pathology, was named an Honorary Member of the Society of Nematologists. (Photo: UC Davis).

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Shahid Siddique, Associate Professor of Entomology and Nematology, received the 2026 Outstanding Educator Excellence in Teaching Award from the Society of Nematologists. (Photo: UC Davis).

Christine McBeth, DO, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, has received a Fulbright US Scholar Program Award for 2026-27. (Photo: UC Davis).

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André Naffis-Sahely, Asst. Professor of English, French and Italian, has received a Society of Authors Cholmondeley Award For Poets, one of the highest honors presented in poetry. (Photo: UC Davis).

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Simon Cherry, Distinguished Prof. Emeritus of the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, UK. (Photo: UC Davis).