Jim Chalfant

2016-17 Academic Senate Chair

James A. Chalfant is a Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis. He received a PhD in Economics and Business from North Carolina State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics/Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University. He joined the UC faculty in 1983, in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley, transferring to UC Davis in 1992.

His research interests are in applied econometrics, in areas such as agricultural marketing and demand analysis, risk and uncertainty, and agricultural production and supply.

Professor Chalfant has been one of the Senate’s leading voices on faculty welfare and budgetary issues over the last decade. He has six years of experience on the University Committee on Faculty Welfare, including a year as chair, and four years on the University Committee on Planning and Budget, including two years as chair. He also chaired the University Committee on Faculty Welfare’s Task Force on Investment and Retirement and is one of two Senate representatives on the UCRS Advisory Board. Chalfant was a member of the finance work group of the 2009-2010 President’s Task Force on Post-Employment Benefits, which recommended major changes to the design of UC’s pension and retiree health benefits. He also served on the President’s 2011 Task Force on Rebenching, the joint Administration-Senate body that proposed a new method for allocating state funds to the campuses.  In addition to his current role as vice chair, he serves on the current Retirement Options Task Force.

At Davis, Chalfant has served as department chair and as a member and chair of the Committees on Planning and Budget, Faculty Welfare, and Committees. He has also served as a divisional representative to the Academic Assembly.