In her 2014 convocation speech, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi highlighted the importance of research and academic advising in the undergraduate experience.

“All students should find their passion, discover their own sense of purpose, and end up in careers they find fulfilling and that help make our world a better place for everyone. This is why we are dramatically enhancing advising, adding fifteen new advising positions across campus and creating new technology systems—all to make sure students find not the major that they can do, but the major they should do, the one that speaks to them and reflects the best of who they can be. This is why we have an Undergraduate Research Center in the middle of our student community center, where young men and women cross the threshold from student to scholar, working side by side our faculty to address the pressing concerns of the 21st Century and beyond.”

The Undergraduate Research Center coordinated a poster session featuring the research of students from throughout campus at the Student Research Expo following the Convocation ceremony. “You'll see student projects on everything from work to find a cheaper, easier way to recycle plastic to a new approach to tissue preparation that makes heart valve replacements more successful. We are proud of our students and know that with the education and research experience they receive at UC Davis, they are the best hope for a 21st Century that is healthy, prosperous and just!” said Katehi.

Read the full text of Chancellor Katehi's convocation address here.