Dr. Tessa Hill has been named Associate Vice Provost of Academic Programs for Public Scholarship and Engagement, effective July 1, 2020. As Associate Vice Provost, her primary responsibility will be promoting, facilitating, and providing leadership for UC Davis faculty to pursue and expand publicly-engaged research, teaching and learning, programs and initiatives. 

Hill is a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and affiliated with the Bodega Marine Laboratory. She is also Associate Director of Public Engagement for the Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute (CMSI), and previously served as the Associate Director of Academic Programs for CMSI.

Hill is a faculty member in the Bodega Ocean Acidification Research Group, where she and colleagues study the response of marine species to environmental disturbances, including the impacts of ocean acidification. This work has involved collaborations with sustainable shellfish farmers and state and federal management agencies. Hill also led an NSF-supported program with future (pre-service) K-12 science teachers to infuse their classrooms with climate change science. 

Along with her demonstrated scientific leadership, Hill brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the complex academic aspects of community-based teaching and learning; in 2019, she was awarded the UC Davis Academic Senate Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award.

Hill is a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, an American Association for the Advancement of Science Leshner Public Engagement Fellow, and a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor given by the government to science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

As an enthusiastic leader with a deep commitment to community outreach, Hill is ready to lead our Academic Programs within Public Scholarship and Engagement. Her collaborative spirit makes her well-suited for engaging faculty across disciplines, fostering non-university partnerships, and infusing valuable community dimensions into UC Davis’ research, teaching, and learning.

About Public Scholarship and Engagement

Public Scholarship and Engagement (PSE) is building and supporting meaningful relationships between communities and UC Davis scholars that work together to solve today’s problems and tomorrow’s challenges.

We envision a university unbound that seeks to serve the public, equitably and inclusively, resulting in reciprocal and mutual benefit to California’s communities and beyond.