Dean Ken Burtis
Ken Burtis, Dean of the College of Biological Sciences
Geneticist Ken Burtis was appointed dean of the College of Biological Sciences on July 1, 2006.
Burtis earned his bachelor's degree in biochemistry from UC Davis in 1976 and worked for Professor Roy Doi as a research associate. He earned a doctorate in biochemistry from Stanford University Medical School in 1985 and conducted postdoctoral research in molecular genetics at Stanford before returning to UC Davis as an assistant professor of genetics in 1988.
He has served as chair of the Genetics Graduate Group, vice chair of the Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology and associate director of the UC Davis Genome Center. Before he was appointed dean of the new college, he was associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the Division of Biological Sciences*.
Burtis is committed to the development of innovative approaches to teaching in the biological sciences. He authored a $1.8 million grant to UC Davis from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which includes support for undergraduate teaching initiatives and has twice participated in the HHMI-sponsored National Academy of Sciences' Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology.
Many of the college's research and teaching programs extend across campus. Burtis is committed to supporting and strengthening research collaborations between college faculty and those from the other schools and colleges, through initiatives such as the Genome Center and the neuroscience campus in south Davis.
Burtis' research involves development, sex determination and DNA repair in the Drosophila fly, a model organism central to the study of genetics. He was a participant in the Drosophila genome project.
"I've been a student, staff member, a member of the faculty and an administrator at this university," he said, "and I think I have a broad view of the campus."
*The College of Biological Sciences was created in July 2005 from the 35-year-old Division of Biological Sciences, making UC Davis one of the few universities in the country to organize research and teaching in basic biology into a single college. The college currently has 139 faculty, 400 staff, approximately 5,000 undergraduate and 450 graduate students, and more than 24,000 alumni. It has an annual budget of approximately $68 million. College researchers currently hold about $110 million in grant awards, including multiyear grants.