Calvin Handy (2006-present)

UC Davis Chief of Police, Emeritus; Senior Public Safety Consultant.  He received a B.A. in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco (1989) and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy (U. of Virginia, 1992).  He started his career in law enforcement at UC Berkeley in 1974 after serving in the US Air Force in Alaska and England during the Vietnam War era.  At UC Berkeley, Calvin served many specialist roles in the police department, and he worked extensively on outreach and professional standards for the campus and in the surrounding communities. 

In 1986 he was appointed to a Management Fellowship in the Chancellors Office at UC Berkeley.  During his fellowship he initiated a community-based program, the Southside Community Coalition, to revitalize the blighted area south of the Berkeley campus.  In 1987 he co-chaired a campus task force to investigate graduation rates for at-risk students, and his report led to extracurricular improvements for freshmen students.  He served on the board of the National Campus Crime Prevention at Towson State University  beginning in 1988.  From 1993-2005 Calvin served as Chief of Police at UC Davis.  In 1997 he visited several cities in Japan for two weeks as a lecturer and guest of the National Police Agency of Japan.  In 2000 he was appointed Coordinator of Police Services for the nine campuses of the University of California.  In 2005 UC Davis established the Calvin E. Handy Leadership Award in recognition of individuals and organizations that actively support public safety and security on the campus.

  
Calvin grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he trained to be a high school music teacher.  His high school won the state music championships in 1965, and he spent two summers in the University of Michigan’s Summer Session Band Clinics prior to that time.  He was offered several full music scholarships when he graduated from high school.  Calvin met his wife Catherine in London, England.  Catherine is active in her book club, knitting, home renovation, and several charitable interests.  Calvin and Catherine have two children, Matthew who works in the home mortgage industry in San Diego, and Arabella who is a programmer/analyst at UC San Francisco.  Arabella is enrolled in the University of Pittsburg Art School studying interior design and considering a new career path.  The Handy family likes to travel, and they have visited England, Ireland, Spain, France, Japan, Hawaii, and many sites in the US.  Calvin is leader and the tenor sax player in the Davis Jazz Combo – he will be auditing music classes this spring.   He came on the board in January 2006.