AT A GLANCE
WHAT: Fifth annual Charles P. Nash Prize celebration dinner
WHEN: Tuesday, April 17; reception at 6 p.m., dinner at 6:30
WHERE: Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center
COST AND RESERVATIONS: $35 per person, paid in advance, no later than 5 p.m. Friday, March 30. Deliver checks (payable to “ϲϿ Regents”) to the Academic Senate Office, attention Edwin Arevalo, 402 Mrak Hall.
MORE INFORMATION is available from Edwin Arevalo, associate director, Academic Senate Office, emarevalo@ucdavis.edu; or Aliki Dragona, chair of the Charles P. Nash Prize Committee, apdragona@ucdavis.edu.
PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS
- 2008 — Catherine VandeVoort, professor, School of Medicine and California National Primate Research Center
- 2009 — Dan Simmons, professor, School of Law
- 2010 — Ian Kennedy, professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- 2011 — Howard Day, professor, Department of Geology
THE AWARD
The Charles P. Nash Prize is funded by the campus community and Nash's family and friends, and awarded by the Davis Faculty Association, the Academic Federation and the Davis Division of the Academic Senate.
An announcement from the 2011-12 prize committee states that donations are welcome from people who “would like to invest in Charlie's principles and community.” Checks should be made payable to the ϲϿ Davis Foundation and marked with the notation, “For the Charles P. Nash Prize.” The mailing address:
ϲϿ Davis Foundation
Charles P. Nash Prize
1460 Drew Ave.
Davis 95618
Attention: Melissa Ivanusich
The 2011-12 committee:
- Chair Aliki Dragona, continuing lecturer, University Writing Program, representing the Academic Federation
- Ian Kennedy, professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, representing the Davis Division of the Academic Senate
- Krishnan Nambiar, associate professor, Department of Chemistry, representing the Nash Family
- Robert Rucker, professor emeritus, Department of Nutrition, representing the Davis Faculty Association
Joe Kiskis learned more than science from Charlie Nash.
Nash, who taught Kiskis as an undergraduate at ϲϿ Davis, was a widely respected faculty leader. Eventually, Kiskis became a professor, too, and a faculty leader — as exemplified by his selection as the recipient of the 2012 Charles P. Nash Prize.
The award recognizes a member of the Davis Faculty Association, the Academic Federation or the Davis Division of the Academic Senate whose achievements remind of Nash in the way he promoted shared governance and advocated for faculty interests and welfare.
“Considering the many accomplishments of Charlie Nash and the previous recipients of the prize, it’s both an honor and quite humbling to be included in that company,” Kiskis said.
A dinner in his honor is scheduled for April 17; see box for details.
“I have benefitted greatly from ϲϿ Davis both as a student and a faculty member,” said Kiskis, who earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1969 (he took honors chemistry from Nash as a freshman) and returned as a faculty member in the Department of Physics in 1987.
“I know the value of a top quality public university to students and to California. Thus, I'm motivated to help in promoting the mission and principles of ϲϿ Davis as a great public university. These are interests shared by the whole community.”
Filling Nash's shoes
English professor Scott Shershow recalled something Kiskis said at Nash’s memorial service in 2007: “Joe said that we would all have to do more to replace Charlie.”
Kiskis has certainly done his part, said Shershow, who nominated Kiskis for the Nash Prize. Most notably, as a board member of the Davis Faculty Association (since 2005), he succeeded Nash as the vice president of External Affairs for the Council of ϲϿ Faculty Associations — a role in which Kiskis annually reviews hundreds of state legislative proposals for their potential impacts on faculty and the university.
When Nash died, Shershow said, the Davis Faculty Association sought someone with the same dedication to faculty rights and privileges to fill his extremely large shoes.
“Joe Kiskis, a former student of Charlie’s, was that person.”
Eric Hays, the council’s executive director, described the External Affairs post as “extremely demanding.” He said the association takes stands on about a dozen bills each year — and Kiskis expresses those stands in letters.
Faculty voice in Sacramento
“In addition, Joe has attended and often spoken at legislative committee hearings where those bills were being considered,” said Hays, who also nominated Kiskis for the Nash Prize.
Hays and Shershow cited Kiskis’ efforts in defeating Senate and Assembly constitutional amendments “that would have damaged ϲϿ autonomy, and the protection such autonomy provides faculty’s academic freedom from political interference”; and legislation that would have allowed ϲϿ police to engage in electronic recording of conversations without a person’s consent and without a warrant.
In addition, Kiskis supported a legislative resolution — ultimately approved — calling on ϲϿ to give faculty and staff representatives a voice in the governance of the ϲϿ Retirement Plan.
On a related topic, Kiskis joined others in 2008 in defeating a proposal under which the Office of the President would have outsourced the retirement plan’s benefits administration.
In 2009, he took part in a successful effort to add more representatives of the teaching faculty to the Commission for the Future of ϲϿ.
Hays and Shershow both noted how Kiskis follows the state budget debate every year, and advocates frequently on behalf of the university and the faculty.
'Extraordinary' service in the senate
Shershow noted Kiskis’ “extraordinary” service in the Davis Division of the Academic Senate, as vice chair and as a member of the Executive Council and the Representative Assembly, and as a divisional representative to the assembly of the systemwide Academic Senate.
Kiskis has served on many senate panels at the divisional level or as a senate representative to other ϲϿ Davis panels, often as chair or vice chair. These panels include the Undergraduate Council, General Education Task Force, Campus Council for Information Technology, ϲϿ Davis Future Task Force, the reaccreditation steering committee for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and, at the present time, the Executive Council’s special committee on athletics.
He has similarly served on a number of systemwide panels, including the University Committee on Educational Policy, Instructional Activity Implementation Task Force, Academic Planning Council, and the Science and Mathematics Initiative Task Force.
“Faculty are a fortunate group who are uniquely positioned within the university to speak in support of its mission on a day-to-day basis,” Kiskis said. “Faculty who contribute to policy formulation are especially able to advocate for policies that provide the link between principles and action.
“We have a responsibility to keep the focus on student learning and the creation of new knowledge.”
Media Resources
Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu