Transformative Gifts

BY BECKY OSKIN

Endowed chairs play a vital role in advancing the College of Letters and Science’s mission, empowering rising faculty stars to pursue revolutionary ideas and students to dive into research opportunities and innovative teaching alongside them.

“Endowed chairs are transformative tools for bringing world-class faculty to UC Davis and enabling them to do amazing things,” said geomorphologist Nicholas Pinter, who holds the Roy J. Shlemon Chair in Applied Geosciences in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

The ecogeomorphology class, co-taught by Nicholas Pinter, rafted more than 100 miles down the Colorado River for firsthand lessons in hydrology, geology, and ecology.

Seventeen endowed chairs and three professorships are held in the College of Letters and Science, thanks to the generosity of donors such as Roy Shlemon, a consulting geologist based in southern California.

The most recent endowment — the Louise H. Kellogg Chair in Geophysics — was created in honor of Distinguished Professor Louise Kellogg, who died in 2019. The $2 million gift from Doug Neuhauser, Kellogg’s husband, recognizes her legacy as a leading geophysicist and mentor to early career and underrepresented scientists.

Both the Shlemon chair and the Kellogg chair encourage faculty to tackle real-world problems through the geosciences. Pinter’s research on natural hazards shows the profound impact these gifts can make.

Pinter listens as Edith Leoso, historian for the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe in Wisconsin, explains the area’s flood history.

Helping cities adapt to climate change

A nationally recognized expert in flood risks and management, Pinter joined UC Davis in 2015 from Southern Illinois University, assuming the Shlemon chair from Professor Emeritus Jeffrey Mount. He is particularly interested in managed retreat — moving entire communities to escape flooding and sea level rise. “Through the endowed chair, I have the freedom to explore new research areas and develop them to the point where we can seek National Science Foundation funding,” Pinter said.

Currently, Pinter is investigating the strategies Midwestern towns used to migrate away from severe flood zones. Through the Shlemon endowment, Pinter dispatched undergraduate James “Huck” Rees (B.A., geology, ’19) to research the challenges and costs, both financial and personal, of managed retreat. Rees recently received a Fulbright Award to continue his work in Fiji, where coastal communities are threatened by sea level rise.

The Shlemon chair also sponsors life-changing adventures for students in “Ecogeomorphology,” a course offered by the Center for Watershed Science. Each spring, undergraduates and graduate students travel to iconic locales such as the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and the Copper River in Alaska.

“Dr. Pinter displays an endowed professorship altruism far beyond what was expected,” Shlemon said. “This is truly remarkable; and hence I am delighted to continually learn from his experience, his joy of teaching, and his ongoing research activities.”