Spotlight: Who inspires you?

Alumni Meg and Tom Stallard are long-time campus boosters.

Meg Stallard, '68, chair, UC Davis Foundation board of trustees

My husband, Tom … because I think he pushed me to do things I might not have done on my own and try things I might not have tried, like public speaking and running for public office.

(Meg Stallard is former president of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association and a former trusteefor the Woodland Joint Unified School District.)

Tom Stallard, '68 and '75 (law), president, School of Law Alumni Association

This quote (in box at right of page), from the back of UC Davis' 1964–65 general catalog) inspires me. … Chancellor Mrak had a way of drawing the best out of people in terms of leadership, and he really did that for me.

(Tom Stallard is a former member of the UC Davis Foundation board of trustees.)

Ryan Deering, GATEways horticulturist, UC Davis Arboretum

I work at the arboretum because of a love of plants I developed growing up in (Sandusky) Ohio. My high school biology teacher, John Blakeman, was just crazy about the natural world and horticulture. … That was really contagious for me.

Manbar Singh, Humphrey Fellow, microbiologist

My father inspired me. He was a diabetic from early adulthood. … I planned a lot of foods for him that would be safe for his health. … He lived for a very long time, to the age of 82. He inspired me to be a food scientist.

(Singh heads the food science and technology department, Khalsa College, Amritsar, Punjab, India.)

Martha Dickman, singer and voice teacher for 50 years, resident of Davis

My father (Wesley Clark, a professor at the University of Montana). He taught me French while he washed the dishes. And my voice teacher (John Lester) when I majored in voice at the University of Montana. As a teacher myself, I realize I inspire a lot of people, and that is the reason we teach, to inspire people to go on and do other things.

(Dickman's son and his wife, Charles Gasser and Judy Callis, are professors of biochemistry at UC Davis.)

Jackelyn "Jack" Smith, sophomore, from Pennsylvania

The band has become my family — they are a huge inspiration, they're amazing.

(Smith, an undeclared major, plays the clarinet in the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh.)

Kamal Yackzan, visiting faculty and researcher, College of Biological Sciences

I think the inspiration has been learning and textbooks, and, of course, my father (Salman Yackzan), who pioneered the interest in education in my hometown (Beit Mery, Lebanon).

Odessa Johnson, UC regent and convocation emcee

My mother (Silvere Peterson) and New York University Professor Jeanne Noble. (Johnson and Noble met at Tennessee State University's Delta Sigma Theta, when Noble was the sorority's national president and sorority member Johnson was a senior business major. Noble asked Johnson what she planned to do after graduation, and she replied, 'Maybe be a secretary.' Noble had another idea.) She asked me, 'How would you like to come to New York to work on your master's degree?' (Johnson did so, receiving Noble's help with admission, housing, job and sorority scholarship). That hand-up changed the course of my life.

(Johnson retired as dean of community and economic development for Modesto Junior College.)

Ashley Tang, 18, incoming freshman, from Los Angeles, English major

I know it’s very cliché, but I would say my mom (Julie Tang, Los Angeles). She's an immigrant from China, and she came here when she was 19, and she didn't speak any English, and she got bachelor's and master's degrees in business.

Vince Stewart, '91, assistant secretary, higher education, California State Office of the Secretary of Education

I was most inspired by my father (Lindsey Stewart), because he came from very humble beginnings with little opportunity for education, and did all he could to better himself and to give his children the things that he didn't have.

(Stewart is the former director of federal government relations, UC Davis Office of Government and Community Relations.)

Janice Corner, '77, program representative, Department of Plant Sciences

My inspiration was a woman by the name of Kathleen Wishnick. She was the unit director of business and management (at University Extension). She was such an amazing communicator, very compassionate and caring. She inspired me to do my best and give 100 percent.

Ken Burtis, left, chats with his inspiration, retired teacher Michael Bakis from Yuba City.

Ken Burtis, dean, College of Biological Sciences

This is my seventh-grade science teacher (Michael Bakis) from Yuba City. Before that, he worked with my father, and he got me started in all kinds of science projects. I was teaching him English at the same time.

Michael Bakis, walnut farmer and retired teacher, from Yuba City

The inspiration for me was my mother and my father. … You (Dean Burtis) taught me how to approach and develop my style as a teacher.