Inaugural summit explores community engagement between Davis, Sacramento campuses

On June 8, more than 60 UC Davis and UC Davis Health faculty and staff participated in the inaugural Community Engagement Summit – a two-part series. The second part of the summit will take place in Davis in the fall.

The overarching goal of the summit is to seek input and feedback from faculty and staff about how to strengthen and enhance our campuses’ collective understanding of community engagement, identify more opportunities to reduce health inequities, improve community partnerships, and reimagine our role as a land-grant university. 

By the end of the day, dozens of flip chart papers covered the walls at Betty Irene Moore Hall with comments and illustrations in various colorful markers provided by summit participants.

Hendry Ton, associate vice chancellor for Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at UC Davis Health, was one of the keynote speakers and stayed throughout the event.

Ton said, “This gathering was made possible by the work of many, including those in the Offices of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Public Scholarship and Engagement, Strategy and Growth, the Clinical and Translational Science Center’s Health Equity Resources and Outreach Program, and the Center for Regional Change.” 

Michael Rios, vice provost of public scholarship and engagement at UC Davis, was also a keynote speaker at the June 8 event, sharing his hopes for creating a culture that prioritizes community engagement and recognizes it as a central part of the UC Davis mission.

Rios emphasized, “UC Davis has embraced a broad definition of community engagement that centers around reciprocity and mutual benefit. The summit's outcomes will ensure that our community engagement efforts guide a common purpose and commitment to foster positive change with our various community partners.”

UC Davis and UC Davis Health employees who integrate community engagement principles into their work are invited to join the second event at Davis in the fall. Details will be announced on The Insider and InsideOut in August.   

Questions about the summit? Contact Ceasor Dennis at cdennis@ucdavis.edu or Stacey Muse at smuse@ucdavis.edu. Or, click here to sign up for the PSE newsletter to receive updates about the next summit.