Cristina Gonzalez, chair of the Spanish and Portuguese department and faculty leader at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been selected as the dean of graduate studies for the University of California, Davis. She will take office on Sept. 1, assuming responsibility for the overall management, quality and direction of the graduate programs at UC Davis and assisting faculty members who have primary responsibilities in the area of graduate education. "First and foremost, Cristina Gonzalez is an accomplished scholar. That, added to her breadth of experience as department chair and faculty senate leader, make her an excellent fit for UC Davis," said Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef, who made the announcement today. "We have lots of work to do in graduate studies, and she adds the catalyst and perspective we need in our leadership team." Gonzalez, 46, said that she is very much looking forward to her arrival at Davis and addressing the challenges ahead. "UC Davis is a highly dynamic and forward-looking university, whose graduate programs increasingly are ranked among the very best in the nation," Gonzalez said. "The quality of the faculty and students is superb." Noting the campus's recent admission to the prestigious Association of American Universities, Gonzalez said UC Davis "is poised to assume a leadership position in that group." Gonzalez has published extensively in the field of medieval Spanish literature. Born and raised in Spain, she came to the United States in 1976 for graduate studies in Spanish literature at Indiana University, where she received both her master's and her doctorate. She taught from 1981 to 1986 at Purdue University before leaving for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Gonzalez has held several leadership positions while at the University of Massachusetts, including chair of the faculty senate research council, chair of the faculty senate graduate council, director of the department's graduate program, chair of the humanities and fine arts college's personnel committee, member of a university task force on research and graduate education, and member of a university task force on general education. The most recent dean of graduate studies for the campus, M.R.C. Greenwood, left the position last year to take the chancellorship at UC Santa Cruz.