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2020 Humanities News

December 18, 2020
Research partnership explores bonds between mothers and nonspeaking autistic children
Researchers at UC Santa Cruz and the University of Virginia have been collaborating to better understand behaviors and beliefs that may strengthen relationships between mothers and children with nonspeaking autism.
December 08, 2020
Campus publishes sixth edition of “inquiry@UC Santa Cruz” research magazine
The stories, crafted by alumni of the world-renowned UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Master’s Program, cover projects across the five academic devisions.
November 24, 2020
An unflinching look at America’s tragic past
Journalist and bestselling novelist Ta-Nehisi Coates drew an audience of 1,200 for a live discussion about his new novel, the legacy of slavery, and the aftermath of the presidential election.
November 24, 2020
Two UCSC professors elected 2020 AAAS Fellows
Linguist Matthew Wagers and microbiologist Fitnat Yildiz have been awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
November 19, 2020
'Living in a Frayed Democracy': Ethics lecture to feature noted alumnus Ezra Klein
UC Santa Cruz will present "Living in a Frayed Democracy," a trans-Atlantic public dialogue, featuring noted UCSC alumnus and journalist Ezra Klein and London political economist William Davies, as part of the Humanities Division’s Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture Series on Dec. 5.
November 12, 2020
Humanities Institute to host acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates in special post-election event
Coates will be in conversation with Adam Serwer, staff writer at The Atlantic magazine, to discuss his acclaimed novel "The Water Dancer"—as well as the state of the country after the election
November 09, 2020
The 2020 new Slug reality: Handling adversity and transitioning to a virtual learning experience
Remote learning has its challenges, but the newest class of Banana Slugs is making the most out of this uncharted experience.
November 08, 2020
Elaine Sullivan awarded American Historical Association prize for innovation in digital history
UCSC associate professor of history Elaine Sullivan and alumnus Vincent DiGirolamo have each received a 2020 prize from the American Historical Association.
November 04, 2020
Award-winning poet Morgan Parker to read at 11th annual Morton Marcus memorial event
Acclaimed poet, essayist, and novelist Morgan Parker will be the featured guest at the 11th annual Morton Marcus Memorial Poetry Reading, which takes place this year as a virtual event on November 12.
October 26, 2020
Big Ideas contest offers up to $20,000 for big ideas in social innovation
Big Ideas contest, open to all UC students, seeks student-led, early-stage projects or ideas with a social impact focus.
October 21, 2020
Feminist studies Ph.D. student receives American Association of University Women fellowship
The program aims to tackle barriers women face in education by recognizing recipients whose academic work and community projects empower women and girls.
October 21, 2020
UCSC alumna Traci Chee named finalist for 2020 National Book Award
'We Are Not Free,' a work of historical fiction by UC Santa Cruz alumna Traci Chee, has been named a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.
October 16, 2020
The savior of the opera
With dampened prospects for in-person classes, rehearsals, and performances this pandemic year, UC Santa Cruz’s opera program is adapting with help from donor Scott Lord
October 15, 2020
‘Visualizing Abolition’ series kicks off with conversation featuring Angela Davis and Gina Dent
The UCSC Institute of the Arts and Sciences has joined forces with associate feminist studies professor Gina Dent to offer a year-long online series featuring artists, activists, scholars, and lawyers united by their commitment to the struggle for prison abolition.
October 13, 2020
Challenging how we see the prison-industrial complex
An ambitious two-part exhibit, titled Barring Freedom and Visualizing Abolition, organized by the UC Santa Cruz Institute of the Arts and Sciences, combines art and activism to address prison and policing issues.
October 01, 2020
New faculty build on campus strengths
UC Santa Cruz is welcoming 43 new faculty members to campus this academic year. Areas of expertise include psychology, mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics, computer science and engineering, and much more.
September 23, 2020
Hope in the time of dystopia
The celebrated author Margaret Atwood offered some words of cautious encouragement and measured during her virtual dialogue with alumna and author Kate Schatz. The event was part of the Humanities Division’s annual Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture Series.
September 15, 2020
2020 Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture to feature visionary author Margaret Atwood
Award-winning poet, novelist and essayist Margaret Atwood will be featured in conversation with UCSC alumna Kate Schatz, the New York Times bestselling author of "Rad American Women A-Z," as part of the Humanities Division’s annual Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture Series.
September 09, 2020
Summer Session helps students earn degrees
UC Santa Cruz staff and faculty have been steadily working to increase summer session enrollment, leading UCs in online offerings and working with departments to offer the classes students need to graduate.
August 31, 2020
John R. Lewis College: Providing the tools to stand up against injustice and create change
John R. Lewis College students take on social justice issues while pushing for positive growth and progress in society.
August 31, 2020
Rising to the Eco-Challenge
Two Slug alumni were part of a grueling, 11-day, 416-mile adventure race called Eco-Challenge Fiji, caught in a 10-episode series streaming on Amazon Prime.
August 31, 2020
History professor Eric Porter examines musical improvisation as a response to crisis
"Playing for Keeps: Improvisation in the Aftermath" is an exploration of the various ways that musical improvisation can be used as a method for responding to crisis and dealing with trauma and stress.
August 12, 2020
UCSC historian Greg O’Malley awarded NEH grant for research on slavery in early America
UCSC history professor Gregory O’Malley has received a Public Scholars Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to write a biography of David George, who was born a slave in 1743 and whose pursuit of freedom intersects with major events of the Revolutionary Era.
August 05, 2020
UCSC linguists receive $400,000 NSF grant for research on rarely studied languages
UC Santa Cruz linguistics professors Maziar Toosarvandani, Ivy Sichel, and Matthew Wagers have been awarded a $411,058 grant from the National Science Foundation to support research on endangered languages.
August 04, 2020
College Nine: Embracing world cultures and developing tomorrow’s leaders
College Nine encourages students to take part in experiential learning opportunities and inspires them to become global citizens.
July 29, 2020
New Sikh and Punjabi Studies chair to enhance Asian Studies with focus on social justice
Associate professor of literature Guriqbal Singh Sahota has been appointed the new Sarbjit Singh Aurora Endowed Chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies.
July 23, 2020
Humanities Institute and Cabrillo Festival to celebrate fight for equal voting rights
The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz has teamed up with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Bookshop Santa Cruz to present "Celebrating Woman Suffrage and the Struggle for Voting Rights"—a live Zoom panel discussion followed by audience Q&A
July 20, 2020
Virtual Dickens Universe to spotlight link between Victorian and African American studies
For nearly four decades, the Dickens Project at UC Santa Cruz—the largest multi-campus consortium on Victorian studies in the world—has presented the Dickens Universe, a week of intense study and festivities among the redwoods. But this year, due to the pandemic, it will instead be hosting a weeklong "Virtual Dickens Universe."
July 07, 2020
Karen Yamashita offers dazzling short stories about growing up in Japanese America
Sansei and Sensibility, the latest book by UC Santa Cruz emerita professor of literature Karen Tei Yamashita is a dazzling collection of short stories about growing up and living in Japanese America.
June 30, 2020
Merrill College: Embracing individuality and cultural identities
Merrill College values diversity, inclusion, and experiential learning.
June 30, 2020
Three interdisciplinary projects receive seed funding from UCSC Foundation
Three interdisciplinary projects have received seed funding from the UC Santa Cruz Foundation following a campuswide call for proposals issued by the Office of Research.
June 28, 2020
UCSC collaborates with Santa Cruz Shakespeare for virtual Shakespeare Summer Series
The Humanities Institute and Shakespeare Workshop at UC Santa Cruz are joining forces with Santa Cruz Shakespeare to present their first virtual Shakespeare Summer Series.
June 16, 2020
Building bridges out of prison walls
Student Alyssa Tamboura began a student-run, volunteer program called Walls to Bridges that mediates meetings between those jailed and their families as a way to work their way back to better relationships.
June 15, 2020
Committee on Teaching recognizes innovative, dedicated instructors
The UC Santa Cruz Committee on Teaching has announced the eight recipients of the 2020 Excellence in Teaching Award.
June 09, 2020
THI presents acclaimed writer Pico Iyer in conversation with history professor Alan Christy
The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz and Bookshop Santa Cruz will present an online event featuring bestselling author Pico Iyer in conversation with UCSC history professor Alan Christy.
June 04, 2020
Historian Greg O’Malley awarded ACLS grant to expand Intra-American Slave Trade Database
UC Santa Cruz associate history professor Gregory O’Malley has received a 2020 Digital Extension Grant from The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) to expand coverage of the Intra-American Slave Trade Database.
June 03, 2020
Give revolution a chance
History of Consciousness Professor Massimiliano Tomba's prestigious Princeton University fellowship will enable him to spend the next year advancing his reinterpretation of the concept of revolution
June 02, 2020
UCSC poet, lecturer, and alumnus Gary Young receives Dizikes Teaching Award in Humanities
Literature Department lecturer Gary Young has been selected as the 2019-20 recipient of the John Dizikes Teaching Award in Humanities.
May 14, 2020
Cowell College: Blazing the trail to lifelong learning
UC Santa Cruz’s first college prides itself on academic rigor and the spirit of community, living up to its motto: “The pursuit of truth in the company of friends.”
April 28, 2020
Double fellowships
History of Consciousness Associate Professor Banu Bargu will use two fellowships to complete her book on human bodies, violence and political expression
April 24, 2020
Lecturer Ryan Coonerty named UC Free Speech Fellow
Ryan Coonerty, a longtime lecturer in the Legal Studies program at UC Santa Cruz, has been named a 2020-21 fellow of UC’s National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement.
April 23, 2020
Watch UCSC participants talk about hope during TEDx Santa Cruz
Last December, TEDx Santa Cruz hosted a day-long extravaganza of talks curated around the theme of "The Art of Hope." Those talks, including ones by several UCSC affiliates, are now available for online viewing.
April 21, 2020
Art in the time of COVID
UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of the Arts and Sciences offers shelter-in-place relief with a new, virtual museum called Art Without Distance, featuring sights, sounds, words, curricula, and even a quirky campus tour.
March 17, 2020
How to #keepteaching and #keeplearning during a pandemic
Jody Greene is eager—almost desperate—to help her colleagues who are facing the unprecedented challenge of shifting to remote instruction for the entire spring quarter.
March 04, 2020
Elaine Sullivan uses 3D technologies to peel away the layers of history
A new "born-digital" publication by UC Santa Cruz associate history professor Elaine Sullivan takes a fresh look at the ancient Egyptian burial site of Saqqara to demonstrate how it has evolved over more than 2,500 years.
February 20, 2020
Campus conference to inaugurate new ‘Helene Moglen Lecture in Feminism and Humanities’
UC Santa Cruz will present Writing for Living, a conference in honor of emeritus dean of humanities and literature professor Helene Moglen (1936-2018), on March 13-14 at the Humanities Division.
February 13, 2020
Using isotopes to reconstruct life histories within the transatlantic slave trade
Four hundred years after the displacement of millions of Africans began, anthropologist Vicky Oelze wants to use isotope biogeochemistry to trace back and identify the origins of individuals who were abducted and perished in the Americas.
February 06, 2020
Humanities Institute launches new ‘Deep Read’ initiative with spotlight on Margaret Atwood
The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz has launched “The Deep Read,” a new initiative that invites the campus—and the community at large—to take a deep dive into literature, art, and the most pressing issues of the day.
February 06, 2020
Stevenson College: An inclusive, collaborative social atmosphere
Stevenson College was built on a legacy of responsibility, engagement, and mutual understanding, preparing students to become leaders and to make positive social change in their communities.
January 29, 2020
UCSC taking art/science LASER talk series downtown for special evening at Rio Theater
On Wednesday, Feb. 19, the Institute of the Arts and Sciences will bring its local LASER—now in its seventh year of quarterly talks on campus—downtown for a special evening at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz, beginning at 7 p.m.
January 23, 2020
Questions That Matter: Reporting the Middle East and the future of investigative journalism
The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz will present "Reporting the Middle East and the Future of Investigative Journalism"—the sixth installment of its Questions That Matter series—on Feb. 4 at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in downtown Santa Cruz.
January 21, 2020
Linguistics grad student focused on understudied languages
Vishal Arvindam is particularly interested in psycholinguistics, the study of how humans acquire, use, and understand language. Much research has been done on the world's major languages, with others left unstudied.
January 09, 2020
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor to kick off ‘Beyond the End of the World’ lecture series
The Humanities Institute and the Center for Creative Ecologies at UC Santa Cruz will launch the "Beyond the End of the World" lecture series with award-winning author Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, on January 23, at the Music Center Recital Hall.