Patricia Williams, a Columbia University law professor who has published widely on race, gender and the law, will speak at the School of Law commencement at the University of California, Davis, on Saturday, May 19. The law school will award 13 Master of Laws degrees and 164 Juris Doctor degrees, and its ceremony is the first of 11 commencements at which the university will confer a total of about 6,000 degrees through June 17. Williams is the author of "The Alchemy of Race and Rights: A Diary of a Law Professor" (1991), "The Rooster's Egg: On the Persistence of Prejudice" (1995) and "Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race" (1997). Last year, she received a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship, one of the nation's most prestigious awards for professors and commonly known as a "genius" award. Michelle Samonek of Citrus Heights, who attained the highest academic standing among Juris Doctor candidates, will be presented with the School of Law Medal. In addition to Williams, speaking at the ceremony will be student Timothy Watson of Burlingame, who will graduate with at Juris Doctor degree, and Joel Dobris, a UC Davis professor of law who specializes in trusts and estate planning and property law. The law school commencement will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Recreation Hall. Other commencement ceremonies will be held as follows: * School of Medicine -- 6 p.m. on Friday, June 8, Health Sciences Quadrangle * Graduate Studies -- 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 14, Recreation Hall * School of Veterinary Medicine -- noon on Friday, June 15, Recreation Hall * College of Engineering -- 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 15, Recreation Hall * College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences -- 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 16, Recreation Hall * Graduate School of Management -- 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 16, Freeborn Hall * Division of Biological Sciences -- 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 16, Recreation Hall * College of Letters and Science -- 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 17, Recreation Hall