History of the Communications Office with Maril Stratton, Laurie Lewis, and Patricia Bailey

Name: Maril Stratton, Patricia Bailey, Laurie Lewis

Date interviewed:6/21/18

Date appointed: Stratton, 1986; Bailey, 1983; Lewis, 1987

Date retired: Stratton, 2011; Bailey, 2017; Lewis, 2014

Department: Public Affairs/Public Communications/University Communications/Strategic Communications

In this conversation, long-time communications office colleagues Associate Chancellor Emerita Maril Stratton, retired Sr. Public Information Representative Patricia Bailey and retired Lead Campus Designer/Creative Director Laurie Lewis discuss the office’s three-decades evolution (spanning five chancellors), its role as campus story tellers and historians, its values and the tensions that tested those values, particularly memorable experiences (e.g., “Project M,” the confidential planning for the 2001 announcement of the Mondavis’ $35 million gift for a performing arts center and a wine and food science institute; the dazzling 2002 opening of the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts; the tragic 2000 Sea of Cortez boating accident that claimed five researchers’ lives), the controversial identity study that ultimately led to the development of enduring UC Davis graphic standards, and several anecdotes about interactions with Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef, whose forthrightness and commitment to the university’s best interests provided reinforcing guidance to the office.