David Daley in a familiar scene—both at the University Farm and at home at his ranch near Oroville—working with cattle. (photos courtesy of David Daley)

The Outstanding Adviser award recognizes faculty who give time, guidance, and support to students above and beyond what is required. At CSU, Chico, all faculty are assigned students to advise, but according to Dean Tom Dickinson of the College of Agriculture, students are allowed to pick their own advisers. Daley is one of those teachers, said Dickinson, who have standing-room-only outside their office doors.

"David has an open-door policy. If he is in his office, he is available to talk with students, help them, give them information, and guide them," said Dickinson. "He is the epitome of a student-centered learning faculty member."

Daley coaches the CSU, Chico Livestock Judging Team and travels with students to competitions. He is considered the premier university livestock judging coach in the state and enjoys a national reputation in the livestock industry. That reputation, said Dickinson, serves the students of the college in a variety of ways, particularly through numerous student internships located in and out of state.

His work with livestock judging, the Young Cattlemen's Association, and Students for Responsible Agriculture puts him out in the field where he meets and interacts with high school students. "He advises students even before they are Chico State students," said Dickinson.

Daley said of the advising process, "I don't view the process as `extra work,' but as the reward for being a professor. I spend a great deal of time getting to know my students personally—their interests, family, background—and we begin to develop a realistic and achievable goal. For some, this is a Ph.D. program; for others, it is obtaining a college degree and a career when no one thought they could. I enjoy both kinds of advising."

Daley was a leader in the development and successful implementation of AGRI 10, Agriculture's version of freshman orientation. He helped to design the class as a way for students to get answers to commonly asked questions and introduce students to the vast number of available resources on campus. He has served on the University Student Centered Learning Committee, co-authored a document detailing Agriculture's efforts toward student-centered curricula, and is recognized by students and colleagues, said Dickinson, as an outstanding teacher.

David and wife Cindy Daley came to CSU, Chico in 1988, David as an animal science professor and Cindy as an agricultural bio-technologist with an emphasis in mammalian repro- ductive physiology. Cindy Daley received a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to determine the effects of stress on embryo survival rates in mammals.

KM