Social Sciences

Environmental studies presents two student awards

The year wrapped up happily for two undergraduates in environmental studies, who received awards that were announced December 12.

UCSC Farm & Garden publishes new cookbook

The UCSC Farm & Garden has published Volume 2 of <i>Fresh from the Farm & Garden: Seasonal Recipes for Busy Cooks</i>, with 217 recipes featuring fruits, vegetables, and herbs that highlight the bounty of fresh local produce.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, alum Hector Tobar speaks on campus

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Oakes College alumnus Hector Tobar spoke on campus November 15.

Nations embracing jury system as part of 'wave of judicial reform,' says UC Santa Cruz expert

Countries around the world are embracing the jury system in a wave of judicial reform that is democratizing jurisprudence in nations as diverse as South Korea, Mexico, and Japan, according to jury expert Hiroshi Fukurai.

Environmental protection can't be bought, says author of new book Shopping Our Way to Safety

Like a marketer's dream come true, Americans have responded to environmental hazards by shopping, as if buying bottled water and organic vegetables will protect them and their loved ones. But sociologist Andrew Szasz says "buying green" offers little real

Pettigrew honored for lifetime achievement

Thomas Pettigrew, research professor of social psychology, has been selected by the International Academy of Intercultural Research (IAIR) to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the group's sixth biennial conference in Honolulu in August 2009.

Fox coedits new book about transparency in Mexico

Jonathan Fox, professor of Latin American and Latino studies, has coedited a new book about the Mexican public's right to know about its government.

New Social Sciences research award honors Martin Chemers

The new Martin M. Chemers Award for Outstanding Research in the Division of Social Sciences recognizes senior faculty members who have made major impacts through their research.

Economists evaluate impacts of Proposition 209

Eleven years after California voters banned the use of affirmative action in the state, two UCSC economists discuss the impacts of Proposition 209 on minority-owned firms.

Researchers cite limitations of genetic ancestry tests, urge consumers to use caution

Even as consumers embrace commercial genetic ancestry tests to trace ancestral roots or fill in gaps in the family tree, a team of researchers today (Oct. 19) is urging buyers to use caution when interpreting test results.

UC Santa Cruz economists discuss global capital markets during free public workshop Nov. 9 at NASA Research Park

Four economists will discuss the implications of turmoil in global capital markets, during a free public workshop Nov. 9 at UCSC's Silicon Valley Center.

Four social scientists honored for teaching and research at UC Santa Cruz

Four social scientists at UC Santa Cruz were honored for teaching and research today (Thursday, October 11) during the annual fall convocation hosted by the dean of the Division of Social Sciences.

Global affairs expert to deliver UCSC's 2007 Maitra Lecture at Montalvo on Nov. 2

Campus honors Congressman Sam Farr for support of sustainable agriculture

UC Santa Cruz stands alone as a pioneer of sustainable agriculture, and the campus took a moment Friday afternoon to honor Congressman Sam Farr for his visionary support of its agroecology programs.

UC Santa Cruz anthropologist Nathaniel Dominy wins prestigious $625,000 Packard Fellowship

Nathaniel J. Dominy, a gifted young anthropologist at UC Santa Cruz, has received a prestigious Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, it was announced today (Tuesday, October 9).

Gifford-Gonzalez travels to Argentina as Fulbright Senior Specialist

Anthropology professor Diane Gifford-Gonzalez recently completed a four-week visit to Argentina as a Fulbright Senior Specialist.

Patricia Allen named director of Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems

Patricia Allen has been named director of UCSC's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) by Social Sciences Dean Sheldon Kamieniecki.

Kamieniecki receives book award for Corporate America and Environmental Policy

Sheldon Kamieniecki, dean of the Division of Social Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, has received the 2007 Lynton Keith Caldwell Award for his book <i>Corporate America and Environmental Policy: How Often Does Business Get Its Way?</i>

UCSC's New Teacher Center launches online mentoring program for math teachers

The New Teacher Center has launched a new initiative to boost student performance in mathematics by providing an online network for beginning math teachers.

Zavella coedits new book on women and migration

Patricia Zavella, professor of Latin American and Latino studies, has coedited the new book <i>Women and Migration in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands: A Reader</i>.

Educators gather Sept. 21 at UCSC for summit on the future of education in the Monterey Bay region

Educators and policy makers from Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito counties will gather on Friday, September 21, for a one-day summit on the future of education in the Monterey Bay region.

Extra gene copies were enough to make early humans' mouths water

To think that world domination could have begun in the cheeks. That's one interpretation of a discovery, published online September 9 in <i>Nature Genetics,</i> which indicates that humans carry extra copies of the salivary amylase gene.

Philip Bell, founding provost of UCSC's Merrill College, dies at 82

Philip Wilkes Bell, founding provost of Merrill College at UC Santa Cruz, died August 1. Bell, who was 82, lived in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania at the time of his death. Named provost of ""College

Documentary screenings commemorate 1982 slaying

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the murder of Vincent Chin, UCSC filmmaker Renee Tajima-Pena's award-winning documentary film <i>Who Killed Vincent Chin</i> is being screened in cities across the United States this summer.

UC Santa Cruz celebrates 40 years of leadership in sustainable agriculture and organic farming

Decades before Wal-Mart began selling organic food, a charismatic Englishman and a group of students transformed a brush-covered hillside at the University of California, Santa Cruz, into a lush garden where vegetables and flowers were grown without chemi

New book Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) explains how self-deception dooms marriages, starts wars, and promotes a culture of unaccountability

In the new book <i>Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)</i>, Elliot Aronson spells out how the psychological mechanism of self-justification puts us on a slippery slope of self-deception that frequently gets us into enormous trouble when we are unable to ac

UC Santa Cruz awards $20,000 scholarships to 11 community college transfer students

The University of California, Santa Cruz, is pleased to award scholarships to 11 dedicated community college transfer students who will enroll at UCSC this fall as recipients of Karl S. Pister Leadership Opportunity Awards.

Scientists reconstruct prehistoric behavior and ecology of northern fur seals

A team of researchers has documented major changes in the behavior, ecology, and geographic range of the northern fur seal over the past 1,500 years using a combination of techniques from archaeology, biochemistry, and ecology.

UC Santa Cruz New Teacher Center expands partnership with East Palo Alto school district

A once-troubled school district in East Palo Alto is on the upswing, thanks to a partnership with the UCSC New Teacher Center and the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Winners of Chancellor's Achievement Awards for Diversity announced

Two professors, two staff members, and the Center for the Mathematics Education of Latino/as have been selected as winners of the 2007 Chancellor's Achievement Awards for Diversity.

Two UCSC students win award from CITRIS

Daniel Press named first holder of Griswold endowed chair

Heather Bullock named director of CJTC

UCSC team gives invited tech talk at Google

Campus invited to Cantú Memorial Colloquium May 18

Psychology professor Aida Hurtado receives gender equity award

Aida Hurtado, professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has received the 2007 Distinguished Contributions to Gender Equity in Education Research Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

UC Santa Cruz research team sheds light on diet of early human ancestors

The diet of early human ancestors probably included bulbs and rhizomes, according to researchers at UC Santa Cruz who have shed new light on a conundrum that has puzzled anthropologists for eight years.

Art meets science in campus Earth Day mural project

G. William Domhoff, expert on dreams and power relations, receives UC-wide faculty emeriti award

G. William Domhoff says the best thing that ever happened to him professionally was being hired as a founding faculty member at UC Santa Cruz in 1965. The second-best thing was retiring early, which gave him the freedom to focus on his research.

Climate Solutions Summit draws local leaders to UCSC

Acting Chancellor George Blumenthal told regional economic and government leaders that UC Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz County have a unique opportunity to participate in the solution to global warming and boost the local economy.

Varieties galore at this year's UC Santa Cruz Farm Spring Plant Sale May 5-6

Just as gourmets appreciate fine wine, gardeners in Santa Cruz seek out unusual varieties of flowers, vegetables, and herbs. At this year's UC Santa Cruz Spring Plant Sale, gardeners will delight in the array of varieties available, including 12 varieties

Climate change could usher in "boom and bust" population cycles and make species prone to extinction, says UC Santa Cruz conservation biologist

Climate change could trigger "boom and bust" population cycles that make animal species more vulnerable to extinction, according to Christopher C. Wilmers, an assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Pioneering sociologist William Friedland receives emeriti faculty award from UC Santa Cruz

Sociologist William H. Friedland may be best known for his critique of mechanized tomato harvesting, but he's been a thorn in the side of corporate agriculture for almost half a century.

'Green-collar' jobs can relieve poverty and transform cities, says activist Van Jones, who will speak April 25 at UCSC

The battle to save the planet could create an "eco-apartheid" unless low-income areas and communities of color get their share of new "green-collar" jobs, according to Van Jones, an Oakland-based progressive leader whose vision of environmentalism puts po

Banana Slug Spring Fair drawing alumni back to UC Santa Cruz

Student-led mock trial team makes it to nationals

In only its third year, the UCSC mock trial team made it to the semifinal round of the national college mock trial championship, facing off against powerhouse teams from Yale, the University of Pittsburgh, and Loyola University Chicago.

Wildlife photographer Kennan Ward branches out with feature-length documentary about grizzly cubs

Kennan Ward, who earned a B.A. in environmental studies and wildlife biology from UC Santa Cruz in 1980, has spent three decades crisscrossing the globe to photograph animals in the wild.

Judge Kelvin Filer accepts Distinguished Social Sciences Alumni Award

Compton Superior Court Judge Kelvin Filer (B.A. politics, 1977) made a whirlwind visit to campus last week to accept the second Distinguished Social Sciences Alumni Award, meet with students, and field questions from aspiring attorneys during a legal stud

Learn how to select and care for roses at a free workshop March 31

UCSC rose expert Orin Martin will share his techniques for choosing and growing roses organically at a free workshop on Saturday, March 31, from 10 a.m. to noon at The Garden Company on Mission Street in Santa Cruz.

UCSC lecturer Ryan Coonerty publishes Etched in Stone, a tribute to 50 memorials and monuments

Anyone who has ever gotten goose bumps visiting the Lincoln Memorial will be drawn to the new book <i>Etched in Stone: Enduring Words from Our Nation's Monuments</i>.

First systematic test finds plant pathogens spread to distant relatives far more readily than thought

SANTA CRUZ, CA--The first systematic test of how widely pathogens can spread among distantly related plants reveals far greater range than conventional wisdom would suggest, raising questions about the adequacy of current regulatory approaches for plant q

Third annual 'Writing Matters' conference for community educators to be offered by UC Santa Cruz Writing Project on March 24

City Folk reunion concert March 28 at The Attic will benefit the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden

The popular trio City Folk is coming together Wednesday, March 28, for a reunion concert at The Attic with special guest Alisa Fineman. The concert, a fundraiser for the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden, will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at The

Compton Superior Court Judge Kelvin D. Filer speaks March 12 at UC Santa Cruz

As a Superior Court Judge in the Southern California city of Compton, Kelvin D. Filer sees more than his share of cases involving murder, drugs, and gang violence. As a product of the same neighborhood, Filer is a powerful role model who has devoted himse

UCSC economics grad reconnects with campus to help others

Santa Cruz native Stephen Bruce recently reconnected with UCSC, where he is opening doors for students by funding a fellowship for aspiring high school math and science teachers, and creating a fellowship for graduate students in politics.

Sexualization of girls is linked to common mental health problems in girls and women, says APA task force chaired by UC Santa Cruz professor

A report of the American Psychological Association (APA) released today (Monday, February 19) found evidence that the proliferation of sexualized images of girls and young women in advertising, merchandising, and media is harmful to girls' self-image and

SF Bay Area's poor and minorities face disproportionate burden of exposure to environmental hazards

From African American residents of West Oakland's diesel-choked neighborhoods to Latinos in San Francisco's traffic-snarled Mission District, poor and minority residents of the San Francisco Bay Area get more than their share of exposure to air pollution

UCSC's New Teacher Center receives $175,000 from MetLife Foundation to fund next generation of mentoring tools

MetLife Foundation has awarded $175,000 to the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz, as part of the foundation's Teacher Development and Retention Initiative.

EPA ranks UC Santa Cruz the sixth largest 'green power' purchaser among campuses

UC Santa Cruz film scholar B. Ruby Rich chairs panel at Sundance Film Festival

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Film scholar B. Ruby Rich will chair a panel discussion at the Sundance Film Festival about how the counterculture has changed since the 1960s.

Richard Musgrave, renowned pioneer of public finance, dies at 96

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Richard A. Musgrave, widely regarded as the founder of modern public finance and an adviser on fiscal policy and taxation to governments from Washington to Bogota to Tokyo, died Monday, Jan. 15.

UC Santa Cruz honored during Ecological Farming Conference Jan. 24-27

SANTA CRUZ, CA--The contributions of UC Santa Cruz to sustainable agriculture will be in the spotlight during this year's Ecological Farming Conference, with a focus on the 40th anniversary of the campus's pathbreaking Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticu

Leading Iraq expert Juan Cole to discuss crisis January 17 at UC Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Juan Cole, professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Michigan and the moderator of the highly acclaimed blog "Informed Comment," will discuss the Iraq war on Wednesday, January 17, at 7 p.m. in the Colleges Nine and Ten Mult