In Memoriam: Betsy Marchand

Betsy Marchand, the first woman elected to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors and a longtime supporter of the California History-Social Science Project, passed away on October 22 at the age of 89. Marchand was first elected to the Yolo County Supervisors Board in 1972 and went on to serve six terms before retiring in 1996. She was later appointed to the State Board of Reclamation, of which she was president until 2005. In addition, Marchand was a founding member of the Yolo Basin Foundation, and she served for eleven years on the Tribal Gaming Commission at Cache Creek Casino Resort for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. 

Betsy Marchand was also a longtime educator and educational advocate. Before her political career, she was a high school teacher. She was married to UC Davis History Professor Roland Marchand, who passed away in 1997. In his memory, Betsy helped establish the Roland Marchand Center for Public Engagement. The Marchand Center is a collaborative partnership between the UC Davis History Department, the California History-Social Science Project, and the Area 3 Writing Project. It seeks to improve classroom instruction at both the K-12 and the university level, provide students with experience in public service and community-based research, and increase public access to historical scholarship.

I am a direct beneficiary of the Marchands’ generosity and ongoing legacy. I’m a Ph.D. candidate in the UC Davis History Department, and I’ve had the honor of working as a Marchand Public Engagement Intern for the last two years. Through the Marchand Internship, I’ve gained extensive experience working with TK-12 educators and administrators, UC Davis undergraduate and graduate students, UC Davis faculty and staff, and other community partners on and off campus. I have created educational materials for TK-12 classrooms, helped lead multiple teacher workshops, coordinated large events with multiple stakeholders, written funding proposals, presented at conferences, and so much more. This internship and Supervisor Marchand’s generous support have provided me with opportunities and work experiences that I would not have gotten through my graduate education alone. In addition to the professional skills I’ve gained, this internship has also provided me with invaluable life experiences — I’ve been able to travel across the state, receive a private museum tour, attend dinners with world-renowned scholars, lead an entire room of TK-5 teachers in a community dance experience, learn much more about my local community, interact with so many interesting people who are making a difference in their communities, and make lifelong friends. I know many of the other graduate and undergraduate students who have worked as Marchand Public Engagement Interns or on Marchand Center projects have had similar rewarding experiences. 

I am truly grateful to Betsy and Roland Marchand for helping make this Center and the opportunities it provides a reality. I hope that my work and the work of Marchand Public Engagement Interns, past and future, remain a testament to their impact and legacy in public education.