Thomas W. O’Donnell
twodonnell@ucdavis.edu
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. History University of California, Davis 2018
“Resisting Reform: San Francisco Vice in the Progressive Era”
Advisors: Drs. Lisa G. Materson, Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor, Kathryn Olmsted
Minor in Cross Cultural Women and Gender History
M.A. History California State University, Sacramento 2009
“The Strength and Vigor of the Race: California Labor Law
and Race Preservation in the Progressive Era”
Advisor: Dr. Rebecca M. Kluchin
B.A. History University of California, Berkeley 1999
magna cum laude
Transfer Credits City College of San Francisco 1997
EXPERIENCE:
University of California, Davis
DIRECTOR OF ACADEMIC INITIATIVES, Inclusive Excellence 2024 - present
PRINCIPAL ANALYST, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 2021 - 2024
ANALYST, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 2018 - 2021
Support: associate vice chancellor (faculty with administrative appointment), two faculty center directors (CAMPOS and CAMPSSAH), and HSI director
Programming: research, recommendations, and implementation that is responsive to complex and changing political circumstances to advance the mission of my office and division
Grant writing and management: co-developed, co-wrote, and co-manage several faculty retention initiatives funded by UCOP including Faculty of California United in Scholarship, a 3-year, $250,000 effort that sponsors manuscript and grant-writing workshops for early-career faculty
Impact Reports: analysis, writing, and editing for unit impact reports such as our HSI Taskforce Report: “Investing in Rising Scholars and Serving the State of California: What It Means for UC Davis to be a Hispanic Serving Institution” and several separate annual impact reports
Events: conceive and help manage small and intimate to large and ceremonial, in person or virtual; ADVANCE Scholar Award and Symposium, Induction Ceremony, writing communities, research colloquiums, César Chávez Youth Leadership Conference
Communications: website, email campaigns, presentations, to faculty, campus leadership, and community
Tools utilized: include Airtable, SiteFarm, MailChimp, ConstantContact, Canva, Sympa, AggieTravel/Expense
Details of examples cited above and more available on excellence.ucdavis.edu/impact-report/2024-25/faculty-advancement
ASSOCIATE INSTRUCTOR
US 1865 to Present (17B) Summer 2016
California History (189) Summer 2015
GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCHER, Student Affairs and Campus Diversity 2015-2018
Provide historical perspective and analysis and project management
TA CONSULTANT, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning 2014-2015
Peer consultant to campus TAs and Associate Instructors; organize campus TA orientation; develop, present workshops on innovative teaching topics
Sierra College, Rocklin
ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR
US to 1877 (17A) Summer 2019
History of American Women (27); US to 1877 (17A) Fall 2018
History of American Women (27); US 1865 to Present (17B) Spring 2019
California State University, Sacramento
ADJUNCT FACILITATOR, U.S. History 1607-1865 Spring 2009
Independent discussion section leader, students enroll for one-credit course; grade writing assignments and exams
ASSOCIATE EDITOR, Clio. Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society 2008-2009
Student Journal, Volume 18-19
Second prize in the 2008 Gerald D. Nash History Journal competition
SERVICE:
GRADUATE ANTI-RACISM SYMPOSIUM, Planning Committee 2022
MARCHAND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVE, Steering Committee 2022
RECRUITMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEES 2021-22
Office of Academic Diversity, Analyst; Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Communications Manager
CAMPUS COMMUNITY BOOK PROJECT 2021-22
Selection Committee; Moderator, film screening, Race: Power of an Illusion
TEACHING ASSISTANT COORDINATOR, UC Davis History Department 2014-15
Elected by peers to teach a class for new graduate students, “How to be a TA”; Organize department workshops; advise new TAs
RESEARCH ASSISTANT, Women and Gender in the World 2013-15
Assisted Drs. Materson and Hartigan-O’Connor with project management including workshops, a conference hosting forty renowned historians, and online presence in conjunction with their editorship of a new Oxford History Handbook
GRADUATE PROGRAM COMMITTEE, Student Representative 2013-14
Elected by peers to represent graduate students within department; conceived and organized academic and professional development workshops
GRADUATE STUDENT COORDINATOR, Cross-Cultural Women’s and gender History Program 2011-13
Coordinated events and helped manage research cluster with faculty advisor
MENTORSHIP PROGRAM, UC Davis Undergraduate Research Center 2012-13
Worked with undergraduates with an interest in graduate study
CERTIFICATES AND TRAININGS:
Sierra College, “Equity and Inclusion Retreat,” Auburn, California (January 15-17, 2019).
Association of American Colleges & Universities, “Teaching Techniques to Improve Learning and Ensure Classroom Success,” (June 19, 2018).
UC Davis, AB540 and Undocumented Student Center, “UndocuAlly Educator, ” (May 10, 2018).
UC Davis, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, “Seminar on College Teaching, ” (Spring 2015).
UC Davis, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Winter Workshop Series “Student, Classroom, Instructor: Strategies for Aligning Teaching with Learning,” (Winter 2015).
PUBLICATIONS, CONFERENCES, INVITED LECTURES,AND PANELS:
“Trauma as Inclusion,” Raquel E. Aldana, Patrick Marius Koga, Thomas O’Donnell, Alea Skwara, and Caroline Perris, Tennessee Law Review (Winter, 2022).
“UC Davis HSItory: An Introduction to the Chicana/o Student Movement at UC Davis,” lecture, Professor Oropeza, “Mexican American History since 1900” and Professor Deeb-Sossa, “Community Based Participatory Research & Chicana/o Health,” (Feb 15, Apr 5).
“Trauma as Exclusion: Trauma as Inclusion,” Latina & Latino Critical Legal Theory “LatCrit” 21, Biennial Conference, (October 8-9, 2021, online).
“Bridging the Legal-Scientific Divide in Immigration Forensic Assessments,” UC Davis Global Migration Center (April 29, 2021, webinar)
“A Look Back at the Warren Court’s Due Process Revolution Thru the Lens of Immigrants,” with Raquel Aldana, The University of the Pacific Law Review (v.51, n.4, 2020).
“In the Library, the League of Women Voters Collection” California Historical Society, San Francisco (March 26, 2020, postponed due to COVID)
“#TimesUp? Sexual Harassment in the United States – Past and Present,” Solano Community College, Women’s History Month Panel Discussion, (March 27, 2018).
“Global Study Program, 2014-2015: U.S. University & Classroom Culture, ” (September 20, 2016).
“Short-Skirted Harpies: San Francisco’s 1892 Anti-Dive Campaign” Western Association of Women Historians Annual Conference, Berkeley CA, (May 5, 2012).
AWARDS & GRANTS:
Principal Analyst, Vice Chancellor’s Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
“Faculty of California United in Scholarship (FOCUS),” 2022-25
UC Office of the President, Advancing Faculty Diversity Improved Climate and Retention Program ($250,000)
“Dialogues Across Difference: Solutions to Disruptive Speech in the Learning Environment,” 2021-23
UC Office of the President, Advancing Faculty Diversity Improved Climate and Retention Program ($175,000)
“Professors Leveraging A Community of Engagement (PLACE) with CAMPSSAH,” 2020-22
UC Office of the President, Advancing Faculty Diversity Improved Climate and Retention Program ($225,000)
“Faculty Retention and Inclusive Excellence Networks–Designing Solutions (FRIENDS),” 2019-22
UC Office of the President, Advancing Faculty Diversity Improved Climate and Retention Program ($200,000)
UC California Studies Consortium Graduate Student Travel Grant 2015-14
Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning TA Consultant Fellowship 2015-14
Graduate Program Fellowship, University of California, Davis, History Department 2014-13
Reed-Smith Research Fund, University of California, Davis 2014, 2011