Unique new graduate programs in Native American studies and medical infomatics are attracting prospective students from around the globe to UC Davis. The Native American studies department has been receiving queries for months from artists, writers, teachers, museum curators and others throughout the Western Hemisphere interested in its new master's and doctoral program. "Just about every day, we get a phone call from somebody who's heard about it," said department chair Martha Macri. The medical infomatics master's program has drawn inquiries from doctors, veterinarians and other health-care professionals worldwide who want to put computers to better use in their practices. "We are receiving inquiries from other states in the United States, China, India, Europe, and the interest appears to be growing," said Dick Walters, a computer science professor helping to launch the interdisciplinary program. Both programs recently received approval from the UC Office of the President, the systemwide Coordinating Committee on Graduate Affairs and the California Postsecondary Education Commission. The Native American studies department is accepting applications, and expects to enroll its first six graduate students next fall. The medical infomatics program also expects an official start-up in fall 1999, although Walters said as many as 10 students are already taking classes this academic year. UC Davis' doctoral program in Native American studies is only the second in the nation, and the first in the country to be offered by a Native American studies department. The University of Arizona last year started an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program taught by faculty members in different academic departments. The UC Davis Native American studies department is also unique in its focus on indigenous peoples throughout the Western Hemisphere, rather than just those of North America. Macri said students who earn a master's degree could apply their training to teach at tribal or community colleges or work for public agencies or tribal governments. The doctoral program is aimed at developing future professors, further establishing a discipline that has come into its own just over the past three decades. The UC Davis undergraduate program was one of the first of its kind in the country when it was created as an interdisciplinary program in 1969. In fall 1993, it became the first in California and one of only a handful nationwide to be elevated from program to departmental status. Even with the addition of its own graduate degrees next fall, the department will continue to offer a designated emphasis in Native American studies for students pursuing doctoral degrees in anthropology, comparative literature, education, geography, history, psychology, Spanish and sociology. Graduate-level courses will be taught by its existing eight faculty members. In contrast to the scarcity of Native American graduate programs, a number of other universities -- including Stanford, Columbia and Duke universities, University of Minnesota, University of Pittsburgh and Oregon Health Sciences University -- offer master's degrees in medical infomatics. "For the most part, however, these are aimed at training people to become academics in the field or full-time informaticians who will serve the health industry in non-clinical jobs," Walters said. The UC Davis program, on the other hand, will train doctors, veterinarians and other health professionals to use computers to do such things as manage medical records, better run clinics and hospitals, and monitor the spread of animal diseases nationwide, he said. Computers are used in virtually every field of medicine, but few medical and veterinary students get training in handling computer-based information, according to backers of the new degree program. "Hospitals now facing a critical demand for computerization of clinical, rather than just administrative data, are anxious to hire specialists who not only know medical infomatics but understand the complexity of medical information," they wrote in proposing the degree. The one-year program will draw on at least a dozen faculty members from the medical and veterinary schools and the College of Engineering. The new programs bring to 81 the number of graduate programs offered by UC Davis. More could be on the way. Three other proposed graduate programs have been submitted to the campus Graduate Council, a first step in the 1 1/2- to two-year process in getting approval. A fourth proposed degree program is currently under review by the systemwide graduate affairs coordinating committee. Two would offer both master's and doctoral degrees-one in cultural studies and the other in health-care ethics. The other two would be master's programs-forensic science and international commercial law. In addition, UC Davis faculty have submitted proposals for grants from the Office of the President to plan new master's degrees for working professionals in computer science, maternal and child nutrition, and infant development. Those proposed degrees would be part of the new "master of advanced study" or MAS program announced last July by UC President Richard Atkinson.