University Engagement

By John Marx and Paul Hastings

In 2021, faculty and staff are looking ahead, planning two new UC Davis building projects that will shape the future of research at our university. Aggie Square in Sacramento and the Grand Challenges Building in Davis will be devoted to bringing faculty and students together from multiple colleges, schools, and departments to generate new knowledge, to address the most complex challenges facing our world at this time, and to educate the next generation of researchers. 

By John Marx

Sometime in the spring of 2020, School of Medicine Dean Allison Brashear started using the term “Virtual Aggie Square” to describe the teamwork between UC Davis faculty and staff involved in COVID-19 research. That pathbreaking, cross-causeway collaboration captured the spirit of Aggie Square, since one of the project’s fundamental goals is making it easier for all of us to work across the university’s disciplines, departments and schools.