Olga Novoa Cipriani Honored among Poets&Quants' 2026 MBAs To Watch
Full-Time MBA Olga Novoa Cipriani champions human-centered leadership and community impact as she prepares to join Salesforce as an employee success business partner lead.
Awards
Gina Dokko Appointed Michael and Renée Child Professor in Business
Five-year appointment recognizes Dokko’s excellence in research, teaching and service
Professor Gina Dokko has been appointed the Michael and Renée Child Professor in Business at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, effective July 1, 2026. Her five-year appointment extends through June 30, 2031.
The endowed professorship
Celebrating Our 2026 Student and Teacher Award Honorees
Recognition for outstanding achievements at Evening of Excellence
Each year our community recognizes outstanding teachers, students and graduates who embrace the School’s core values of passionate and energetic leadership, and who demonstrate a commitment to team building and service. Learn more about this year's honorees.
Shubhi Gupta Named to Poets&Quants 100 Best & Brightest MBAs of 2026
Congratulations to UC Davis MBA student Shubhi Gupta, who has been named among Poets&Quants' 12th annual Best & Brightest MBAs, which honors 100 of the most accomplished full-time MBAs globally from the Class of 2026.
Turning IRS Data Into Real Decisions for Nonprofits
How a UC Davis MSBA team uncovered financial risk and took first place at Aggie Hacks 2026
MSBA students Shruthi Khurana, Vedika Shetty and Priyanka Nayyar turned messy nonprofit data into a winning strategy at Aggie Hacks 2026, combining analytics, storytelling and teamwork under intense time pressure.
Marketing Professor Prasad Naik Honored with Humboldt Research Award
Prestigious German honor recognizes internationally leading scholars for their lifetime achievements
Conferred by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Professor Naik's award is among Germany’s most distinguished academic honors. Established in 1972, it is granted to no more than 100 researchers worldwide each year across all fields, and Naik is the first GSM professor so honored.
Poets&Quants Honors Dean H. Rao Unnava with Lifetime Achievement Award
Award for leadership recognizes his enduring humanity
During his decade of leadership, Unnava has transformed UC Davis from a quietly ambitious regional business school into a nationally distinctive player that punches far above its weight in innovation, inclusion, and impact.
Minhua Zhu Honored among Poets&Quants' 2025 MBAs To Watch
“At UC Davis, AI isn’t just theory—it’s integrated into coursework, which sharpened my problem-solving and prepared me to make smarter, data-driven business decisions," says Minhua Zhu, named one of Poets&Quants' 2025 MBAs To Watch.
How a Part-Time MBA Turns Working Parents into Leaders
Finding my ROI through flexibility, community and purpose
You, too, can do it! Juggling fatherhood, work and school, Sacramento Part-Time MBA grad Anirudh Arora found support, purpose and leadership through real-world projects and the tight-knit community.
Daniel Martinez Honored among Poets&Quants' 2025 Best & Brightest Online MBAs
"I chose the UC Davis Online MBA because it offered the academic rigor of a top-tier program with the flexibility to balance full-time work in aerospace operations," says Daniel Martinez, named one of Poets&Quants' 2025 Best & Brightest Online MBAs.
Celebrating Our 2025 Student, Alumni and Teacher Award Honorees
Recognition for outstanding achievements
Every year our community recognizes outstanding teachers, students and graduates who embrace the School’s core values of passionate and energetic leadership, and who demonstrate a commitment to team building and service.
We Built an AI to Outsmart Disasters — And It Actually Worked
Engineering the future of emergency response in 48 hours
UC Davis MSBA students April Yang, Wenjun Song, and Stephanie Liu won Aggie Hacks 2025 by transforming data into disaster response solutions—showing how analytics can save lives. See how caffeine, code, and collaboration led to a life-saving prototype.
Our Winning Strategy for a Data Ecosystem for California
MSBA students Angel Mary Oviya and Katrin Maliatski led their all-female team to victory in the Gartner Case Competition by developing an innovative hybrid data ecosystem for the California Department of Public Health.
Jack Schaufler Honored among Poets&Quants' 2025 Best & Brightest MBAs
Full-Time MBA Jack Schaufler has been recognized among Poets&Quants' 2025 Best & Brightest MBAs. Now in its 11th year, the Best & Brightest honors the top full-time MBA graduates at elite business schools across the globe.
MSBA Students Build AI Tools to Save Cities in Hackathon
Virtual 48-hour Aggie Hacks pushes students’ skills to the limit
Their hackathon challenge was daunting: Build a next-generation AI-Powered Crisis Intelligence System that becomes the thinking brain of a smart city during a multi-disaster scenario.
Our Strategy to Make AWS the Leader in the Hybrid Cloud Market
A global stage for innovation
MSBA student Kyle Ayisi breaks down his team’s second-place finish at the Case Competition World Cup and how the UC Davis MSBA program fosters hands-on learning and networking with industry leaders.
A Conversation With Poets&Quants 2024 Dean of the Year
Watch video: In a conversation with John A. Byrne, H. Rao Unnava, Dean of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management and Poets&Quants 2024 Dean Of The Year, reflects on the impactful innovations at UC Davis during his tenure
INFORMS ISS Honors Assistant Professor Helen Zeng for Best Ph.D. Dissertation
Award recognizes outstanding research in information systems
Assistant Professor Helen Zeng has been honored with the best 2024 Ph.D. dissertation award from the INFORMS Information Systems Society for her paper on child sexual abuse materials and human trafficking (especially the trafficking of minors) on digital platforms.
Our 2024 Dean of the Year: Poets&Quants Interview with H. Rao Unnava
Listen to Poets&Quants’ CEO and founder John Byrne interview Dean H. Rao Unnuva of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management on the future of business education. Poets&Quants recently honored Unnava their “Dean of the Year.”
Poets&Quants Honors Dean H. Rao Unnava as 2024 Dean Of The Year
Selfless. Humble. Generous. Kind. Those are words commonly used to describe the dean who has led an innovation revolution at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. Poets&Quants recognizes Unnava with its 14th annual global honor.