Ask students in the College of Biological Sciences (CBS) who the associate dean of undergraduate programs is, and odds are many wouldn’t know. But the behind-the-scenes impact Michele Igo has made on their experience is profound. 

Igo, a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, has been in the associate dean role since 2018. During that time, she led the reorganizing of the Biology Academic Success Center (BASC), campus’s only comprehensive, standalone advising center; reformed course scheduling to better serve thousands of students; and helped launch the BIO123 Series, the redesigned biology curriculum for all UC Davis students. 

Igo initially accepted a four-year appointment in 2018. Her tenure has stretched longer, in part due to her commitment to seeing so many of the college’s keystone undergraduate projects through to completion. Ebony McClain, whom Igo hired as director of the reorganized BASC, emphasized that Igo’s influence pervades every aspect of the undergraduate experience in CBS. “Students may not see it, but anything that's related to undergraduate needs runs through Michele. Her focus is on supporting our undergraduates.”

“For the better part of a decade, Michele has been a stalwart advocate for students in the college, and across campus,” said Mark Winey, dean of the college. “Her tireless work has affected each of the college’s six-thousand-plus students and set the groundwork for the long-term success of CBS students well into the future. She has had a greater impact than almost any other single individual to the success of UC Davis students.”

From Microbiology to Education, A Focus on Details

Igo’s work as associate dean hasn’t always been flashy, but it has required detail orientation. Her background in microbiology was good training. “I worked on fastidious bacteria that took forever to grow, and I had to do my own glassware washing because the bacteria didn't grow if there were minerals left on the glass,” she explained. “In this role, you also have to be very focused on the details.”  

Because of this commitment, Igo has gained a reputation as a can-do administrator who keeps students’ needs as her top priority. Heather Danley, whom Igo hired to carry out her vision for student-friendly scheduling, said “If you mention that Michele is on a project, everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief. You know the job is going to get done and that she will do what's right for students.” 

Igo’s role also draws heavily on the educational research that she shifted to more than a decade ago. While teaching introductory biology, she and colleagues—including Marc Facciotti, a professor of biomedical engineering—became interested in student engagement with online content and learning tools, and began a research collaboration in natural language processing and learning at scale.

That research, Igo said, was part of both why she was tapped for the associate dean role and why she took on the challenge. The research helped her better understand student behavior and student needs, and it cemented her strong belief that educators must meet students where they are—a hallmark of her tenure. “We have a very diverse population, and I’ve been able to take things I learned from my educational research and apply them to how CBS administers courses and works with its students,” Igo said.

Facciotti said the qualities Igo brought to their research extended to her work as associate dean: “Michele has been an amazing collaborator and scientific colleague. She always brings an incredible attention to detail and an uncanny ability to see how things will play out,” he said. “As associate dean, she is hyper-focused on solving problems in principled ways that make a real difference for the people in CBS. Michele leaves a legacy of thoughtful and caring leadership.”

“A Huge Advocate” for Staff and Students

Of all the projects she has taken on, Igo points to the reorganization of BASC as a highlight. “When I inherited the job, BASC was in the middle of restructuring, and I became very involved,” she said. “CBS is very different from the other colleges in that we have a one-stop shop for advising, and it’s evolved into a professional advising unit so that almost everybody working there has a degree in either advising or counseling.” 

After hiring McClain to lead BASC, Igo later backed an expansion of McClain’s role into assistant dean of undergraduate advising, the only title of its type on the UC Davis campus. “If I could label Michele with one term, I would say advocate. She’s been a huge advocate for my team and for me,” said McClain, who was finishing her dissertation in education administration when she started at UC Davis, and warmly recalls Igo attending her defense. 

Danley agreed, adding that Igo’s nurturing guidance extends to students and staff alike. “She's very passionate about teaching and education, and she's super focused on student success and wellbeing and employee wellbeing,” said Danley. “She leaves a legacy of stability, of doing the right thing.”

Looking to the Future 

Even while serving as associate dean, Igo has found ways to work with students more directly, including leading study abroad groups to Belgium and Ireland. “I’m very passionate about it, because we have a lot of students in California who've never been out of California. As someone who grew up in Indiana and then did my Ph.D. at Harvard, I can tell you that California is a very different place. It was a culture shock,” Igo said, with a laugh. 

Igo, who retires this June after 36 years at UC Davis, will continue with study abroad and with her education research after retirement, but felt it was time to step away from administration. When June 2026 comes around, Igo will turn her primary attention to her two rescue dogs. She first adopted Taco, an 85-pound German Shepherd mix, during the pandemic. Her second rescue, Mikey, is a case of opposites attracting.

“I was trying to find Taco a companion, and I’d looked for a dog about the same size, but Taco decided we were going to go with a small chiweenie,” she said. “During COVID I spent a lot of time with them, but since then I haven’t had a chance. So that’s the plan: much more traveling, much more study abroad, and time with my dogs.” Igo steps down at the end of June.