BLACK HISTORY SPOTLIGHT HOME

Continuing with the Black History Spotlight, this edition is about UC Davis as we profile Gordon Baranco ('85) and Pam (Bragg) Isom ('90).
   
Gordon Baranco played basketball for UC Davis from 1966-69, competing for Bob Hamilton during the first two years of his legendary Aggie coaching career. Baranco earned the school's W.P. Lindley Award as the university’s outstanding student-athlete for his contributions on and off the court.

Upon graduating from UCD with a degree in political science in 1969, he was accepted into the UC Davis School of Law. Baranco was one of just seven Black students in that class of 1972 and founded the Black Law Students Association during his first year of law school.

Upon graduation from law school, he embarked on a career that saw him eventually serve as a Superior Court judge in Alameda County. The honorable judge Baranco served in that capacity from 1984 through his retirement in December of 2016, also helping to establish the Alameda County Homeless and Caring Court. During his tenure there he also worked with a young deputy district attorney who's name you may have heard over the last few years...Kamala Harris.

Baranco has continued to give back to his alma mater as he was among the lead donors for the Bob Hamilton Memorial Basketball Scholarship, a fund that was awarded to a men's basketball player for the first time in 2002. He also remains close to Marietta Hamilton, the widow to the late Mr. Hamilton, even serving as an officiant at the Hamilton's daughter's wedding.

UC Davis School of Law Profile: The Honorable Gordon S. Baranco, Class of 1972
Oakland Judge Honored for Access to Justice Efforts - California Bar Journal

   
Pat (Bragg) Isom (right) is one of the most accomplished athletes in UC Davis history, twice earning All-America status in both cross country and track & field in the late 1980s.

After graduting from UC Davis with a degree in biological sciences in 1990, she attended a who's-who of graduate business programs in UCLA's Anderson School of Management, Stanford's Graduate School of Business and Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.

In 1999, Isom became the founding CEO and president of ICE Safety Solutions, a company that offers and distributes resources for professional rescuers and provides courses in community and corporate safety. The company was even more so in the spotlight over the last year as it was a leader in the production and distribution of personal protective equipment along the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

As a fun fact Isom's philanthrophy has allowed her to rub elbows with some big Hollywood names including Oprah, Jamie Foxx and Matthew Modine.

Women of Influence: Pamela Isom Ice Safety Solutions - Silicon Valley Business Journal
Pamela Isom Believes In New Opportunities — Both Literally And Figuratively - Minority Business News USA
Business UNusual: Pamela Isom, ICE Safety Solutions (VIDEO)