Whatever your recreational bent—horseback riding, outdoor activities, music, arts and crafts, or sports—there's a place or program on the Davis campus for you to enjoy your favorite activities.
Social, physical, creative, intellectual and cultural activities and programs provide many healthy activities to offset the stresses associated with a rigorous academic environment. These programs complement the academic mission of the university and enhance the quality of life for the campus.
In addition, the City of Davis has 31 parks with various facilities, including tennis courts, playgrounds, swimming pools, playing fields, and a skateboard facility. The city has several movie theaters, art galleries, the Davis Art Center, Davis Comic Opera Company, and Davis Musical Theatre.
Information:
Memorial Union Programs and Campus Recreation
Memorial Union, Room 460
530-752-1730; campusrecreation.ucdavis.edu
The following programs are available through Memorial Union Programs and Campus Recreation. A catalog of recreational activities is published quarterly, mailed to all residences in Davis and distributed throughout campus.
Outdoor Adventures
The Barn (on the corner of California and Hutchison)
530-752-1995/1730
Outdoor Adventures will help you develop your outdoor skills and plan your outdoor excursions. You can rent equipment of professional quality and arrange for custom-designed trips and group rates. An up-to-date library contains topographic maps, trail guides and other materials. Classes, excursions and clinics in backpacking, rock-climbing techniques, whitewater rafting, kayaking, sea kayaking, mountaineering, cross-country skiing and other sports are offered throughout the year. Outdoor experts conduct many special activities, such as wilderness emergency-care clinics, whitewater river guide training, slide presentations and programs.
Equestrian Center
Garrod Dr. (southwest of Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital)
530-752-2372/1730
The Equestrian Center is open year round, offering trail rides, practice sessions and instruction in both English and Western riding. Group and private lessons are available for beginning through advanced levels, along with training in horse care and stable management. The Equestrian Center sponsors clinics, horse shows, summer equestrian camps and special events, and coordinates the Equestrian Club.
Craft Center
South Silo
530-752-1475/1730
The Craft Center is an ideal place to channel your creative energy. Facilities are available on a drop-in basis, or purchase a pass for more frequent use of the equipment and work space. Workshops and classes are offered each quarter in woodworking, weaving, jewelry-making, art and graphics, computer imaging, ceramics, photography, silkscreen printing, welding, leatherworking, stained glass and other crafts.
Recreation Swimming Pool
Corner of La Rue Road and Hutchison Drive
530-752-2695 or 530-752-1995/1730
The Rec Pool is a large free-form pool with a separate wading pool, a bathhouse, shuffleboard courts and a large grass area for sunbathing. The staff offers swimming lessons to all age groups and arranges for special events, such as family nights. The pool opens for the season in April and closes in October.
The Games Area
Games Area (located below the UCD Bookstore)
530-752-2580/1730
The Games Area features bowling lanes, billiards room, video arcade, lounge and storage lockers. The Games Area conducts bowling leagues, classes, clinics and tournaments for all ages from beginning through advanced skill levels. The facility is fully accessible to those with disabilities.
MU Campus Information Center
530-752-2222; infocenter@ucdavis.edu
The MU complex serves as the community center for the campus. The MU Campus Information Center's student staff can refer you to people, places, programs and services on and off campus, maintains an up-to-date database of 1,200 organizations, and takes reservations for the use of tables and display boards in and around the MU.
The complex houses the UCD Bookstore, Corral gift shop, Coffee House, MU II Conference Center, Campus Box Office (where you can purchase tickets for campus events and cash checks), Campus Events and Visitors Services (CEVS) and the MU Business Office.
King Lounge, on the second floor, provides a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere popular for studying, leisure reading and listening to music. The adjacent Music and Periodicals Center (752-2885) contains current popular periodicals and a large library of music.
Freeborn Hall, a 1,250-seat assembly hall in the MU complex, is used for performing arts, dances, banquets, lectures and conferences.
The Memorial Union operates several facilities that can be rented for group gatherings. With its rustic wood-paneled interior and ceiling-high windows, Rec Pool Lodge is an ideal location for meetings, lectures or dances. The covered patio surrounding the lodge offers a lovely, shaded environment for outside dining during the warm weather months. Putah Creek Lodge, secluded in the Arboretum, provides a relaxing atmosphere for lectures, banquets, weddings or dances. The spacious lawn surrounding the lodge is suitable for volleyball and games, receptions and picnics. The lodge has kitchens and outdoor barbecues.
The Silo Union houses food services, meeting/conference facilities, lounges and the campus pub. In the South Silo are the ASUCD Experimental College (752-2568), Student Special Services (752-2007), Graduate Student Association (752-6108) and a branch of the Bookstore serving the School of Law (752-2961). To reserve space in the Silo for a meeting, social event or conference, call Campus Events and Information at 752-2813.
Information:
Entrance 1B
530-752-6074
Recreation Hall is a multi-use facility for intramural and informal recreation play, intercollegiate athletic basketball and women's gymnastics, physical education classes and sports clubs. Numerous special events sponsored each year by the campus and community are held in the 8,400-seat arena. The tri-level facility has locker rooms; a flat running track; an equipment room; racquetball, wallyball and squash courts; two weight rooms with free weights, universals, Nautilus weight training circuit, stair machines, rowing machines, treadmills, cross-training machines and bicycles; court areas for basketball, volleyball and badminton; and areas for martial arts, table tennis, gymnastics and dance. Aerobics classes are offered daily on a walk-in basis. A state-of-the-art artificial rockclimbing wall is available for climbers of all skill levels under the supervision of Outdoor Adventures.
Undergraduate students can use Rec Hall facilities by showing their current valid photo ID card. Graduate students pay a $5.00 per quarter activity fee. Students may also purchase a $6.00 guest pass valid for three people. Non-students may purchase a daily, monthly, quarterly or yearly privilege card at Rec Hall to use lockers, equipment and facilities. Prices are available at the Recreation Hall Equipment Room.
Surrounding Recreation Hall are an outdoor fitness cluster, the in-line skate facility, volleyball and basketball courts, the Community Baseball Field, soccer field, and intramural playing fields.
Information:
IM Sports/Sports Clubs
140 Recreation Hall
530-752-3500
Intercollegiate Athletics
264 Hickey Gymnasium
530-752-1111
Intramural Sports, Sports Clubs and Intercollegiate Athletics programs provide a coordinated program of organized sports competition and physical recreational activities to meet student needs at every level of skill and interest.
Intramural Sports is a structured, competitive program involving 36 men's, women's and coed activities with over 13,000 participants. Complementing this highly popular activity is the sports club program. Twenty-six recreational and competitive offerings for men and women attract roughly 1,000 athletes in activities ranging from archery, badminton, crew, horse polo, water and snow skiing to the traditional volleyball, lacrosse, rugby and equestrian events.
Although Intercollegiate Athletics at Davis benefits the campus by fostering school spirit, its primary role is to provide personal development opportunities for as many non-scholarship student-athlete participants as facilities and resources permit. Currently, the program consists of varsity teams in 11 men's sports and 12 women's sports. Membership affiliation is with the Northern California Athletic Conference and Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Approximately 650 students compete on varsity teams each year.
Whether you want to participate, be entertained or be inspired, an abundance of musical, theater, art, design and dance offerings are happening on campus all year long.
Information:
200 B Street, Suite A
530-757-3199; ucdpresents.ucdavis.edu
UC Davis Presents brings a wide variety of world-class performing artists to UC Davis to serve the campus and surrounding communities. During the academic year, UC Davis Presents offers concerts and recitals by classical, jazz and folk music artists; drama; classical, modern and ethnic dance; and lectures by eminent public figures. Tickets for UC Davis Presents events may be purchased at the Campus Box Office (Freeborn Hall, 530-752-1915) or any BASS/TM outlet.
Information:
Department of Music
530-752-0888; musdra.ucdavis.edu
The Department of Music sponsors the UCD Symphony Orchestra, Chorus, Chamber Singers, Early Music Ensemble, Gospel Choir, Concert Band, Jazz Band and small ensemble groups. Music majors and other interested students can receive credit for participating in these groups, which perform at concerts and recitals open to the university community. The department sponsors artists-in-residence who give concerts, recitals and lectures. Free noon concerts featuring individual performers and ensembles—both professional musicians and music students—are a favorite weekly event during the school year. The Empyrean Ensemble and the UCD Wind Quintet are in residence on campus. The Department of Music sponsors nearly 100 public concerts each year.
Information:
Department of Dramatic Art
530-752-0888; musdra.ucdavis.edu
The Department of Dramatic Art has one of the finest theater facilities in California, with an unusually good stock of scenery, props, costumes and state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment. Facilities are complemented by an excellent faculty, the Granada Artists-in-Residence program (which brings a major British director to the department each quarter), and graduate students working on Master of Fine Arts degrees in acting and Ph.D. degrees in 20th Century Performance and Culture, all of whom contribute to the fine quality of UC Davis drama and dance productions.
Each year's schedule includes University Theatre Season (five major productions of established plays); Dance Concert (student and faculty choreographed dance numbers); and Studio Season (four to six productions). Studio Season features premiere performances of new plays written at UC Davis, productions of established plays, and performance projects conceived and produced for the first time at UC Davis. The final production each year is the Undergraduate Playwright's Festival, a collection of three or four one-act plays written by undergraduates and produced for the first time. These productions are part of the academic program of the department and serve an important purpose in the study of dramatic art. Participation is open to all students.
The MU Art Gallery (second floor of the MU; 530-752-2885) features a changing series of contemporary and historical art exhibits throughout the school year. Works by professional artists as well as students are on display for periods of six weeks. The gallery sponsors print sales, special programs and lectures, and offers internships for those interested in career work in an art gallery or museum.
The Design Gallery (first floor of Walker Hall; 530-752-4139) explores diverse topics and media with an emphasis on ethnographic arts and consumer cultures. The gallery is internationally known, with innovative exhibitions based on design from a global perspective. Historical cultural artifacts, contemporary functional objects and creative installations are presented in changing spaces designed specifically for each exhibit.
The Richard L. Nelson Gallery (first floor of the Art Building; 530-752-8500), named in honor of the first chair of the Department of Art, organizes regularly changing exhibitions of historical and contemporary works of art. The gallery's program reflects and complements the teaching program of the Department of Art and brings art to the university community and the Northern California area at large.
The Fine Arts Collection (Art Building, adjacent to the Nelson Gallery; 530-752-8500), representing various historical periods and cultures, is the Davis campus's major collection of art.
The Basement Gallery (Art Building basement) is a student-directed gallery that exhibits the artwork of advanced UC Davis art majors. The exhibitions change biweekly throughout the academic year.
The Carl N. Gorman Museum (first floor of Hart Hall; 530-752-6567, Native American Studies) was established in honor of Carl N. Gorman, an artist, advocate and former faculty member of Native American Studies. The museum features changing exhibitions of works by Native American and diverse artists. Selections from the permanent collection of art are also exhibited on a rotating basis throughout the year.
UC Davis 1998-99 Online General Catalog. Posted July 31, 1998.
catalog-comment@ucdavis.edu
Keitha Hunter and Barbara Anderson, Editors
We welcome your comments.