Current Position and Past Experience
Since 2014, Dennis Pendleton has been the Executive Advisor to the Provost at UC Davis. Prior to this, Pendleton served as dean of UC Davis Extension, the professional and continuing education arm of the University of California, Davis, from January 2001 until 2014.
Prior to becoming dean, he held joint appointments for nearly ten years as director of the UC Davis Public Service Research Program and associate dean of UC Davis Extension. He has held research and teaching appointments at UC Davis, Colorado State University and California Polytechnic State University, with emphases in natural resource planning and policy, ecology, and ecological simulation.
Pendleton was one of the founding members of
Common Ground: Center for Cooperative Solutions, a center based in UC Davis Extension that provides problem assessment, mediation and facilitation services. He worked during the 1990’s as a facilitator in community-based environmental partnerships in far Northern California and the central Sierra Nevada, helping diverse groups of stakeholders resolve contentious disputes regarding natural resources assessment and management.
Education, Honors and Achievements
Pendleton has a B.A. in economics from Colorado College, and an M.S. in ecology and a Ph.D. in regional resource planning from Colorado State University. After completing his Ph. D, Pendleton was a post-doctoral fellow at UC Berkeley.
Personal Details and Community Involvement
Pendleton created memoranda of understanding with a number of state agencies: the California Resources Agency, the California Youth Authority, California Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. He co-chaired the steering committees of campus faculty and agency professionals that managed the specific projects and activities of each of these agreements, expanding and enhancing agency-university collaborative research and community outreach.
Pendleton has served on the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Regional Technology Alliance and of the UC Davis Connect Program. He served also as a member of the Executive Committee of the Council now known as Engagement and Outreach of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities.
