Humanities News
- November 19, 2024
Announcing the 2025 Deep Read book James
The Humanities Institute (THI) has recently announced the UC Santa Cruz 2025 Deep Read book. This year, we will read James by prolific author, Percival Everett.
- November 14, 2024
Creating enchantment in Senegal
UC Santa Cruz Humanities Professor Gina Athena Ulysse was invited to participate as a featured artist for the prestigious Dakar Biennale (Dak'Art), which the New York Times called “Africa’s hottest art event” and “Africa’s most prominent cultural gathering.”
- November 12, 2024
Dolly Kikon’s new film Abundance selected for South Asia Film Festival, showcasing Indigenous Worlds in Nagaland
UC Santa Cruz Anthropology Professor Dolly Kikon's documentary highlights the ecological and cultural richness of Nagaland. The film will be screened on campus this Wednesday, November 13.
- October 28, 2024
A popular Humanities course is unwrapping the strange and fraught history and cultural afterlife of Egyptian mummies.
In their co-taught course, LIT 159M/HIS 159M: The Curse of the Mummy, UC Santa Cruz Associate Professor of Literature Renee Fox and Associate Professor of History Elaine Sullivan are looking into the strange pop-cultural afterlife of Egyptian mummies, which keep showing up as supernatural villains in movies and books.
- October 25, 2024
Award-winning poet and author Ellen Bass will be the honored guest speaker at the 15th annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading on November 7 (UPDATE: EVENT CANCELED)
The celebrated poet and longtime Santa Cruz resident Ellen Bass is the latest in a long list of poetry luminaries to speak at the Morton Marcus Poetry Reading. The list of previous speakers includes Gary Snyder, Natasha Trethewey, Robert Hass and Dorianne Laux.
- October 16, 2024
Dickens Project gets prestigious $200,000 NEH grant to host institute for high school teachers
A $200,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities is funding a new Dickens Project initiative, an in-person institute for 25 high school teachers from across the United States. The institute will help teachers consider bold new approaches to teaching Charles Dickens' classic 1861 novel Great Expectations
- October 15, 2024
Astronomy postdoc to develop technologies that mold starlight to better detect exoplanets
The Astronomy & Astrophysics Department welcomes postdoctoral scientist Emiel Por, who invents technologies that mold the starlight captured by ground- and space-based telescopes to improve imaging of planetary companions. His work will be supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation's 51 Pegasi b Fellowship program.
- October 15, 2024
2024 CITRIS Interdisciplinary Innovation Program supports wide range of campus research
The CITRIS Interdisciplinary Innovation Program (I2P) provides UC Santa Cruz Principal Investigators with funding for projects focussed on developing information technology solutions to significant societal challenges.
- October 06, 2024
UCSC artist micha cárdenas sounds the alarm on climate catastrophe in Toronto exhibition
micha cárdenas’s "Probability Engine,” opening in Toronto, explores climate tipping points through immersive art and augmented reality, urging audiences to imagine a more just and survivable future
- October 04, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Humanities Division welcomes new Associate Dean of DEI Eric Porter
Eric Porter, a professor of History, History of Consciousness, and Critical Race and Ethnic studies at UC Santa Cruz, has a longstanding fascination with power and resistance. His approach to history will inform his new position as Associate Dean of DEI for the Humanities.
- September 26, 2024
UCSC alumnus Kauchani Bratt stars in Netflix film Rez Ball
UCSC alumnus Kauchani Bratt (Cowell ’23, philosophy) makes his acting debut in the Netflix movie Rez Ball, streaming Sept. 27. The movie, directed by Sydney Freeland, is inspired by Michael Powell’s nonfiction book Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation.
- September 25, 2024
UCSC Humanities Division welcomes new faculty members
The University of California, Santa Cruz Humanities Division is proud to announce the recent hires of eight outstanding new faculty members whose disciplines range from Literature and Writing to Applied Linguistics and African history.
- September 24, 2024
New internship program gives UC Santa Cruz and HBCU students a hands-on look at the lives of enslaved peoples in 19th century America
This summer, ten history-minded research interns uncovered rare glimpses of enslaved people’s lives in America. In the process, they helped future scholars understand the slave trade’s growth and development in the United States.
- September 19, 2024
Famed economist and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz speaks out against right-wing notions of economic freedom
On Tuesday night, famed progressive economist Joseph Stiglitz drew a large and enthusiastic crowd to downtown Santa Cruz, where he took aim at neoliberal economics and called for more equitable alternatives. The event was co-sponsored by The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz.
- September 16, 2024
Election forum series to foster dialogue and empower students for active democratic participation
This fall, the University of California, Santa Cruz will host the 2024 U.S. Elections Forum Series: Power, Politics, and Our Democracy, a six-part event series designed to foster open dialogue and engage students and the public in critical conversations about democracy, media, and voter participation.
- September 12, 2024
Celebrating the 2024 UCSC Alumni Awards recipients
The UC Santa Cruz Alumni Association is proud to present this year’s UCSC Alumni Awards honorees: George M. Kraw, Keith Curry, Jacob Martinez, Kamari Maxine Clarke, Paul Fielder, and Neroli Devaney.
- September 10, 2024
UC Santa Cruz celebrates 35th anniversary of the Center for Cultural Studies
This fall, UC Santa Cruz will recognize the importance of the Center for Cultural Studies with a two-day conference on October 24 and 25. The celebration will showcase the Center’s culture of interdisciplinary dialogue and collaborative inquiry.
- August 26, 2024
Distinguished Arts and History of Consciousness Professor Sir Isaac Julien elected as a Fellow of the British Academy
Sir Isaac Julien, University of California, Santa Cruz Distinguished Professor of the Arts and Humanities, has been named a Fellow of the British Academy, joining a prestigious group whose past members include Sir Winston Churchill and the celebrated poet and playwright Seamus Haney.
- August 09, 2024
Dickens Universe 2024: A Spirited Celebration of Great Expectations
This summer, Charles Dickens readers converged on campus for the 43rd annual Dickens Universe, where a shared familiarity with Great Expectations added a sense of kinship and intimacy to the conference. The week was full of lecturers and discussions as well as dancing and a Gothic-themed grand party.
- July 17, 2024
The Humanities Institute receives Global Public Humanities Award
The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz was honored as one of the two inaugural winners of the “Public Humanities Award for Leadership in Practice and Community” at the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes annual meeting in May 2024.
- May 31, 2024
Humanities Distinguished Undergraduate Alumni Award recipient John Rickford is a world-renowned scholar of Black Talk and social justice advocate
John Rickford (Stevenson, ‘71, sociolinguistics), this year’s Humanities Distinguished Undergraduate Alumni Award recipient, is a world-renowned scholar and champion of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), also known as Black Talk.
- May 22, 2024
A passionate voice for diversity and inclusion
Rachel Freeman-Cohen (Stevenson, ‘20, Feminist Studies) has turned a passion for student advocacy into a flourishing career at San Diego State University.
- May 14, 2024
Championing Native American DNA
Kimberly TallBear, this year’s recipient of the University of California, Santa Cruz Distinguished Humanities Graduate Student Alumni Award, is being honored for her work in championing indigenous rights and protecting Native American DNA from exploitation.
- May 10, 2024
$1M grant to help prepare students for impactful careers in the arts
The UCSC entity Moving Image Lab, a new partnership between the Isaac Julien Lab and The Humanities Institute, will receive the prestigious Mellon Foundation funding that will provide the hands-on experience and career-building training in production, curation, and research and publication that distinguishes this project.
- May 02, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division presents "An Iliad"
Professor Patty Gallagher, in collaboration with other UCSC faculty, arranged an upcoming of 'An Iliad,' a retelling of Homer's classic. The show represents years of work, and has been showing around the world since 2022.
- April 29, 2024
Three University of California, Santa Cruz professors receive Mellon Foundation Affirming Multivocal Humanities grants
The Mellon Foundation has awarded three University of California, Santa Cruz, departments prestigious grants of $100,000 each for work that champions groundbreaking research in the realms of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.
- April 26, 2024
Three UC Santa Cruz faculty members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Three professors at the University of California, Santa Cruz were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.
- April 16, 2024
Humanities program provides rewarding research experience—and also crucial career prep
Employing Humanities–funded undergraduate students have begun working with faculty in paid research opportunities that connect their classroom curriculum with hands-on training.
- April 01, 2024
Educator and champion: Professor Bruce Thompson inspires generations through teaching and philanthropy
Bruce Thompson has taught tens of thousands of students during his three-decade career at UCSC; now, he’s making an impact in a new way.
- March 27, 2024
Championing inclusion: Nancy Kim’s leadership in UCSC’s resource centers
Nancy Kim graduated from UCSC in 1994, became the university’s founding Director of the Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center, and currently serves as the Executive Director of Resource Centers.
- March 21, 2024
Kat Gutierrez wins LEAD California's 2024 Richard E. Cone Award for Emerging Leaders in Community Engagement
In acknowledgment of her dedication to community engagement, LEAD California awarded Kat Gutierrez, assistant professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the prestigious 2024 Richard E. Cone Award for Emerging Leaders in Community Engagement.
- March 20, 2024
Diana Hernandez: From Hartnell College to UC Santa Cruz
Meet Diana Hernandez, a student parent who transferred to UC Santa Cruz from Hartnell College. Diana is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in literature, psychology, and Latin American and Latino Studies. In this Q&A, she discusses how she balances academics and parenting while staying involved in research and the Student Parent Organization on campus.
- March 18, 2024
April in Santa Cruz Creative Music and Arts Festival 2024: "A Time For Change"
The annual month-long celebration of the arts is back at UC Santa Cruz. There will be a dozen performances by talented professionals in art forms including dance, animation and much more.
- March 13, 2024
UCSC Alumna Carolina Ixta debuts first novel
UCSC alumna Carolina Ixta debuts her powerful novel, Shut Up, This Is Serious: a coming-of-age story following two Latina teens in East Oakland.
- March 13, 2024
Deep Read 2024 gears up
With book giveaways, email explorations, salons, community conversations, and more, The Humanities Institute is preparing an immersive experience with its latest Deep Read selection, the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning novel Trust.
- March 11, 2024
New gifts launch projects and experiential learning in Sikh studies
Two new gifts to UC Santa Cruz will raise awareness and understanding of Sikhism through two distinct projects. Each project includes paid internships for students.
- February 29, 2024
Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu launches her new book: "The Movies of Racial Childhoods"
To celebrate, Shimizu will be hosting a book launch on the University of California, Santa Cruz Campus at the Sesnon Gallery, where the book will be available for purchase from Two Birds Books. The book will be discussed in conversation with Shimizu and the Sesnon Gallery director Valeria Miranda.
- February 26, 2024
Two History of Consciousness professors named to lead prestigious political journal
University of California, Santa Cruz History of Consciousness Professors Banu Bargu and Massimiliano Tomba have been named co-editors of the influential scholarly journal Political Theory.
- February 26, 2024
The UCSC Music Department presents "The World Making Aura of Sonic Blackness" with Moor Mother & James Gordon Williams
On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, the University of California, Santa Cruz Music Department presents a very special performance by guest artist Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) and James Gordon Williams, assistant professor of music composition at UC Santa Cruz in the Recital Hall of the Music Center.
- February 20, 2024
Upcoming exhibition will shine a light on vibrant Filipino American life on the Central Coast
Sowing Seeds: Filipino American Stories from the Pajaro Valley will run from April 12 through August 4 at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art And History in downtown Santa Cruz, highlighting the vitality, struggles, and resilience of the Central Coast’s Filipino migrant community
- February 14, 2024
Alumna and award-winning author empowers the next generation
Renowned author and UCSC alumna Reyna Grande, recipient of multiple literary awards, traces her extraordinary journey to becoming a bestseller. Grande, now giving back to her alma mater through the Reyna Grande Scholarship, hopes to inspire Latinx students to pursue creative projects and amplify their cultural heritage.
- February 13, 2024
Distinguished Emerita Professor Angela Davis receives the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for her contributions to architecture
University of California, Santa Cruz Distinguished Professor Emerita Angela Davis has been honored with the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize for her influence on architectural culture.
- February 12, 2024
After Man: Alterhuman Ethics and Poetics at the Climate Change Tipping Point
Join associate professor micha cárdenas for her talk about the meeting point between the end of humanity and contemporary art.
- February 09, 2024
The UCSC’s African American Theater Arts Troupe presents Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage
Light-hearted comedy captures the struggles of the formerly incarcerated staff as they hope for a better life
- February 06, 2024
The future of Wikipedia in an era of AI
Maryana Iskander, Chief Executive Officer of the Wikimedia Foundation, is the featured speaker at this year’s Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture on Thursday, February 22, at the Cowell Hay Barn.
- February 06, 2024
Undergraduate Public Fellows Program connects humanities studies with real-world impact
The Humanities Institute's Public Fellows Program offers a mutually enriching opportunity for students to bring the humanities skills and knowledge they acquire in their university courses to diverse roles at non-profit organizations, museums, cultural institutions, and publishing venues.
- January 30, 2024
We are all in this together: Favianna Rodriguez and the ecology of social movements
The redwood trees that tower over the UC Santa Cruz campus are glorious manifestations of an ecosystem built on symbiotic relationships. The mighty redwoods, the iconic banana slug, the small sorrel are all interwoven in their existence and survival.
- January 30, 2024
Renowned Sitarist Nishat Khan playing at UC Santa Cruz
The classical Indian musician will play at Music Center Recital Hall along with tabla player Nitin Mitta. The two are internationally recognized musicians. We will be welcoming Khan back after he last played in 2015.
- January 30, 2024
Music Professor Russell Rodriguez wins the Américo Paredes Prize
The American Folklore Society awarded UC Santa Cruz professor Russell Rodriguez the annual Paredes prize in recognition of his work in the arts with the local community and his contributions to folklore and tradition.
- January 29, 2024
The Center For Public Philosophy garners national recognition for its unique Outreach Invitational High School Ethics Bowl
UC Santa Cruz's Center For Public Philosophy is being honored for its Outreach Invitational High School Ethics Bowl program, which has received the Prize for Excellence and Innovation in Philosophy Programs/
- January 24, 2024
National Endowment for the Humanities gives $60,000 award to two UCSC faculty members
The National Endowment for the Humanities included two UC Santa Cruz professors in their most recent round of grants and awards. Drs. Jennifer Derr and Stacy Kamehiro are using their newly awarded funding to continue in the projects that focus on diverse groups and global impacts.
- January 22, 2024
Three historians to share their insights on slavery’s origins in America at on-campus panel discussion.
Next week’s on-campus panel discussion, “What Actually Happened In 1619,” will provide a deeper understanding of the year 1619 as a turning point in slavery’s history. This talk takes place Thursday, February 1 at the Music Recital Hall on campus.
- January 22, 2024
Duke University Press publishes Arts Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu’s new book: The Movies of Racial Childhoods
UC Santa Cruz’s Dean of the Arts Division, award-winning filmmaker and author publishes her fourth sole-written book, exploring contemporary representations of Asian American youth.
- January 18, 2024
Historian Benjamin Breen explores the troubled birth of psychedelic science in acclaimed new book, Tripping On Utopia.
UC Santa Cruz Associate History Professor Benjamin Breen will read from his new book about the fraught history of Cold War-era psychedelic science at Bookshop Santa Cruz this Tuesday.
- January 18, 2024
UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience partnering with EY on Open Science Data Challenge on Coastal Resilience for students
Climate change is here, and so are its impacts on our communities. Globally, coastal hazards produce increasing costs, often to the most vulnerable populations. That’s why UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) and the University of California Disaster Resilience Network (UCDRN) are partnering with EY on its 2024 Open Science Data Challenge, focused on coastal resilience. CCCR will be hosting an event on campus on Jan. 25 for interested undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty to learn more about this significant opportunity.
- January 16, 2024
Alumni and professor authors return to UCSC
Ten alumni authors and two former professors will be featured in the Creative Writing Program’s Living Writers Reading Series in Jan. through March.
- January 16, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Humanities Division secures $1 million grant for Employing Humanities initiative
Investment from the Mellon Foundation will propel new program focused on experiential learning and career readiness for humanities students.
- January 10, 2024
Sage Michaels (Rachel Carson, ‘22, Intensive History) is sharing her passion for history
Sage Michaels discovered her passion for history while taking Humanities courses at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Now she works as an interpretive guide at two Massachusetts museums, where she’s focusing on the American Revolutionary War while getting ready to start graduate school.
- January 09, 2024
Finding her voice: Farnaz Fatemi's poetry explores language, borders and selfhood with an emphasis on her Iranian American identity
Farnaz Fatemi (Porter ’91, American studies), UCSC alumna, Lecturer in Writing, and Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate for 2023 and 2024, talks about embracing her identity, her career at UCSC, and her current work as poet laureate.
