UC Davis is pleased to announce plans for convening on our campus on Friday, April 3rd for a Second Annual Pan-UC Religious Studies Conference. This one-day conference will be a chance to connect with your fellow student and faculty colleagues from other UC-system campuses to discuss what’s happening in our various communities of Religious Studies affiliates, present and/or listen to formal paper presentations, participate in roundtables on selected themes, offer poster presentations, workshop professionalization and survival strategies, identify shared resources for building compassion and care-work for one another, our loved ones, allies and communities, and shore up solidarities.
Help spread the word! Kindly forward this email and flyer (attached below) to all UC faculty and students (graduate and undergraduate) who may wish to participate!
Call for Participation Information
In order to structure our activities, we need to know how you’d like to participate! By Friday, February 13th, please send an email to both:
- Flagg Miller (fmiller@ucdavis.edu), chair of the Department of Religion, Culture and Society at UC Davis
- Brent Horning (bshorning@ucdavis.edu), graduate student in the Study of Religion at UC Davis
In your email, please:
- Tell us if you plan to attend; this RSVP will help us ensure that we’ve made the right choices with respect to space needs, food, and so forth.
- Include any of the following:
A paper abstract (200-250 words, with a title; papers should aim to be roughly 15 minutes). Your abstract will be reviewed by a conference committee after the submission deadline. Depending on submission numbers, the committee may have to make difficult choices; they will aim to get back in touch with you in the final week of February about whether your abstract has been selected.
- A request for, or offer to share insights about, particular professionalization strategies – challenges, solutions, opportunities, resources, etc.
- A request for, or offer to share insights about, particular pedagogies – challenges, solutions, opportunities, resources, etc.
- A comment or note about any needs or accommodation requests, including those relating to accessibility and/or dietary restrictions.
- A comment or note about other ways you’d like to contribute.
In light of what you tell us, an updated draft of the conference program will be sent out in early March so that you will know what to expect and can make plans approximately one month before the conference day.
In keeping with the first iteration of this conference, held on the UC-Riverside campus last year, we would like our event at UC Davis to be energizing, inclusive, and collaborative, in whatever ways you’d like it to be. A proposed conference format is enclosed with this email; it is modeled on the 2025 Spring conference at UC-Riverside, and can certainly still be adjusted, as we see fit. Faculty and graduate-student co-organizers have been given a link to a Google doc to help plan activities for the day; if you don’t have the link, kindly register your thoughts by email; we’ll certainly read whatever you send us and will do our best to respond
We also include preliminary notes on logistics (e.g. travel and lodging), further below.
We look forward to your reaching out! Let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We are thrilled to be able to continue the conversation that UC-Riverside started last year and look forward to connecting with you in Davis.
Proposed Conference Format – a working draft, to be updated regularly:
8:15-9am: Breakfast (catered by Olive and Vine [classic Continental: assorted muffins and pastries, and chia [chocolate, vegan] pudding; coffee and tea]; will buy supplementary beverages.)
9-9:30: Welcome / Open Floor
9:30-10:45: Session 1
10:45-11:00: Break
11:00-12:15: Session 2
12:15-1:10: Lunch (catered by Olive and Vine [Yucatan Buffet, which is a fajita meal-plan friendly to vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters; coffee and tea, etc.])
1:10-2:10: State of RST in the UCs (invited chairs/directors in a roundtable; possible grad-student presider)
2:15-2:30: Break (coffee, tea, etc. available)
2:30-3:30pm: Solidarity and Organization Sessions: Graduate-student-only and faculty-only
3:30-4:15: Wrap-up Conversation / Plans for the Future
Participants leave for home.
On Travel:
By Car: For people driving from the Bay Area, take I-80 towards Sacramento. From Southern California, you’ll likely take I-5 to the I-80 West toward Sacramento/Davis. We’re probably about 6 hours from Pasadena.
By Train: Amtrak can also be a good way to reach us. The Capitol Corridor service stops at the Davis Train Station,about 6 blocks from Sproul Hall. The Gold Runner service links Davis up with Fresno, Stockton and the Central Valley, in most cases with a transfer along the way.
By Plane: The Sacramento International Airport (SMF) is about 25–30 minutes by car to Davis. Round-trip fares on California hops can run roughly $250–$450, depending… Once at SMF, you can take a shuttle, rideshare (about $60–$90), or taxi straight to Davis. A popular alternative is to take a quick ride to Sacramento Valley Station and then Amtrak to Davis, which is reliably comfortable and lets you avoid traffic.
On Parking Near Sproul Hall (UC Davis)
UC Davis parking requires permits Monday–Friday, 7 a.m.–10 p.m., and you’ll need to pay to use visitor lots. Visitor parking areas like Lot 1, Lot 2, and Visitor Lot 5 are among the closer options to central campus and Sproul Hall (check the campus map or apps). Use apps like HONK or AMP Park to buy a one-day pass from your phone; rates vary but daily visitor permits are generally reasonable for a full day.
On Lodging: Davis has a range of places to stay. E.g.:
- Prodigy Hotel, a Days Inn by Wyndham – roughly $69–$80/night for basic clean rooms; budget traveler favorite.
- La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Davis – around $75–$95/night, typically good value with free Wi-Fi.
- Best Western University Lodge – about $98–$110/night, closer to downtown.
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites Davis – roughly $105–$130/night for a slightly nicer experience near campus.
And there’s all the apps: Vrbo, Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, or Hotels.com, and so forth…
Campus Map: Check out campusmap.ucdavis.edu for locating Sproul Hall and any other nearby buildings, parking areas, our nearest food court (called Memorial Union), etc.