Excellence in Leadership

Spring 2019 speaker: UC Davis Chancellor Gary May

“Leading by Example: Strengthening Our Social Equity and Social Outcomes through Diversity”
April 10, 3:10 p.m.    CUB Auditorium
Watch livestream

Every individual has value to contribute. By fully embracing diversity in all of its forms, access, opportunity, and advancement for everyone becomes possible.

Learn how UC Davis Chancellor Gary May applies that philosophy to leading the third-largest university in the UC system. More important, learn how to apply his approach to your own life.

May is known as a dynamic leader with a passion for helping others succeed. He believes success is best judged by how we enhance the lives of others.

Nurturing diversity and leadership

The Excellence in Leadership Lecture Series was inaugurated in 2017 to help strengthen the culture of diversity and leadership throughout the WSU system.

The series brings national speakers known for their leadership skills and ability to inspire others to the Pullman campus. Speakers present a keynote address that is livestreamed system-wide and meet with students, faculty, and administrators.

Meet Gary May

Chancellor of the third-largest university in the UC system, Gary May has championed diversity in both higher education and the workplace throughout his career.

Prior to beginning his UC Davis presidency in August 2017, May spent nearly three decades at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he served in roles ranging from dean of the institute’s College of Engineering to chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and executive assistant to Georgia Tech’s president.

An accomplished scholar and engineer, May has developed and led programs to attract, mentor, and retain underrepresented women and ethnic minorities in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

In 2015, President Obama honored him with the Presidential Award for Excellence in STEM Mentoring.

In February 2018, May was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering—one of the highest honors in the field—for his innovations in educational programs for underrepresented groups in engineering and his contributions to semiconductor manufacturing research.

In 2010, he was named “outstanding engineering alumnus” of UC Berkeley, where he earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science.