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Awards and Honors

December 11, 2014
Professors Leta Miller and Carolyn Dean honored for arts research
Acting Arts Dean Martin Berger has named the 2014 Arts Dean’s Eminent Professors, the division’s highest recognition of faculty research achievement.
December 11, 2014
Physicist Peter Fischer elected fellow of American Physical Society
Peter Fischer, adjunct professor of physics at UC Santa Cruz, has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
December 08, 2014
UC Santa Cruz professor honored by San Francisco Film Society
UC Santa Cruz arts professor B. Ruby Rich was honored at the San Francisco Film Society’s fifth annual Essential SF, an event celebrating the Bay Area film community's most vital figures and institutions.
November 25, 2014
Computer scientist Ethan Miller elected IEEE Fellow
Ethan Miller, professor of computer science, has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
November 20, 2014
Ocean scientist Christina Ravelo receives Outstanding Faculty Award
Christina Ravelo, professor of ocean sciences, was recognized by the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences for her contributions.
November 19, 2014
UC Santa Cruz grad awarded Sutter scholarship for medical school
Matthew Carr, who graduated from UCSC in June with a degree in biology, will receive the 8th annual Primary Care Physician Award.
November 06, 2014
UC Santa Cruz grad student among veterans honored by National Science Foundation
Ocean sciences grad student John Koster was one of 11 military veterans recognized in an event at NSF headquarters.
October 31, 2014
UC Santa Cruz named one of the country’s best colleges for film majors
UC Santa Cruz has been ranked No. 7 in the country by College Factual for Best Bachelors Program for Film, Video and Photographic Arts.
October 28, 2014
UC Santa Cruz named a 'silver bicycle-friendly' university
UC Santa Cruz has been named a 'silver bicycle-friendly' university by the League of American Bicyclists.
October 16, 2014
Grad students' interactive fiction honored at IndieCade games festival
Ice-Bound is an interactive fiction piece created by two graduate students in the UC Santa Cruz Center for Games and Playable Media
October 13, 2014
UC Santa Cruz named top college for Hispanic students
Noting UC Santa Cruz's first-year retention rate of 91 percent and 74 percent graduation rate, a college comparison website has named the campus first in the nation for Hispanic/Latino students.
October 13, 2014
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez wins social sciences award for outstanding research
Anthropology professor Diane Gifford-Gonzalez is the 2014 recipient of the Martin M. Chemers Award for Outstanding Research in the Social Sciences at UC Santa Cruz.
October 10, 2014
Computer scientist Charlie McDowell recognized as advocate for women in tech
McDowell and alumnus Jacob Martinez are featured on a list of "10 Men Making Waves for Women in Tech"
October 06, 2014
Thomas Pettigrew to deliver Jos Jaspars Memorial Lecture at Oxford
Thomas Pettigrew, UC Santa Cruz research professor of social psychology, has been invited to deliver the 2015 Jos Jaspar Memorial Lecture at Oxford University.
September 19, 2014
UCSC places with open mindedness
The well-known open mindedness of UC Santa Cruz is noted in two recent lists of top colleges.
September 18, 2014
Renowned astronomer Harland Epps to be honored at ‘Harfest’ conference Sept. 23-24
Leading astronomers from around the world will gather to honor UC Santa Cruz astronomer Harland W. Epps, who retired in July.
September 05, 2014
Professor's book on Sudan legal system wins political science book award
Mark Massoud's "Law’s Fragile State: Colonial, Authoritarian, and Humanitarian Legacies in Sudan" wins honorable mention.
August 26, 2014
UC Santa Cruz alum wins Emmy for HBO drama ‘True Detective’
UC Santa Cruz alumnus Cary Fukunaga picked up an Emmy Award last night in the category of “Outstanding Director for a Drama Series” for the HBO series True Detective.
August 20, 2014
Pradip Mascharak wins Gandhi medal for non-resident Indians
Chemistry professor Pradip Mascharak will be honored by the Non-Resident Indians Welfare Society of India.
August 19, 2014
UC Santa Cruz moves up in Shanghai ranking of world universities
UC Santa Cruz is ranked 93 among the world's best universities and in the top 50 in the U.S., according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) published by a Shanghai education-consulting firm.
August 06, 2014
UC Santa Cruz Cal Teach alum wins Knowles science teaching fellowship
The Knowles Science Teaching Foundation has awarded a 2014 teaching fellowship to alumna Brenda Minjares.
July 22, 2014
Former farm apprentice wins national food sustainability leadership award
Karen Washington, a graduate of the 2008 Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture at the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, is one of five winners of a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award.
July 10, 2014
Alumnus Cary Fukunaga earns Emmy nomination for HBO's 'True Detective’
UC Santa Cruz alumnus Cary Fukunaga has been nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of “Outstanding Director for a Drama Series” for the HBO show "True Detective"
July 10, 2014
Earth scientist Patrick Fulton to receive Early Career Award from AGU
AGU's Jason Morgan Early Career Award recognizes Fulton for outstanding research contributions.
July 09, 2014
UCSC Grounds Services wins sustainability best practice award
The UCSC Grounds Services Department received the Sustainability Best Practice Award for Innovative Waste Reduction at the 2014 California Higher Education Sustainability Conference.
July 07, 2014
Two UC Santa Cruz Earth scientists honored by American Geophysical Union
Gary Glatzmaier and Thorne Lay will receive AGU medals in recognition of their breakthrough achievements in Earth science.
June 30, 2014
Astrophysicist Douglas Lin wins 2014 Brouwer Award
Douglas N. C. Lin earns recognition for outstanding contributions to the field of dynamical astronomy.
June 23, 2014
Lionel Cantu Queer Center director receives lifetime achievement award
Deborah Abbott, director of the Lionel Cantú Queer Center at UC Santa Cruz since 1997, has received an LGBTQ Lifetime Achievement Award from the Diversity Center of Santa Cruz County.
June 19, 2014
UC Santa Cruz humanities alum named 2014 ACLS Public Fellow
UC Santa Cruz humanities alumnus Michael Ursell has been named a 2014 ACLS Public Fellow by the American Council of Learned Societies.
June 10, 2014
Human rights activist named winner of Gabriel Zimmerman Scholarship
Abuoali "Arash" Mohajerinejad is the third winner of the Gabriel Zimmerman Memorial Scholarship given to a social sciences undergrad committed to a career in public service.
June 10, 2014
Eight faculty members honored with Excellence in Teaching awards
One of the highest honors a UC Santa Cruz faculty member can receive is an Excellence in Teaching Award given each spring by the Academic Senate's Committee on Teaching.
June 06, 2014
Wlad Godzich receives Dizikes Award for teaching in Humanities
Distinguished Professor of Literature Wlad Godzich was presented with the John Dizikes Faculty Teaching Award in Humanities.
June 04, 2014
Huffman Prize winner approaches bioengineering with an artist's eye
Payam Yousefi, who graduates in June with a B.S. in bioengineering and a minor in bioinformatics, is the 2014 Huffman Prize winner.
May 30, 2014
Marine scientist Adina Paytan honored by Geochemical Society
Adina Paytan, a research scientist in the Institute of Marine Sciences, will be honored as a Geochemical Fellow.
May 28, 2014
Social Sciences division ranked 7th for faculty impact in news media
The Social Sciences Division at UC Santa Cruz ranks seventh in the nation in a study based on faculty citations in the news media compared with federal research funding.
May 21, 2014
Astronomer Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz wins fellowship at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute
Astrophysicist Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz is among a select group of 50 artists and scholars chosen for the Radcliffe Fellows Program.
May 16, 2014
Astronomer Harland Epps honored by Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Harland Epps, a pioneer of astronomical optics, will receive the ASP's Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award.
May 12, 2014
Awards recognize top presentations at Graduate Research Symposium
Graduate students from all divisions shared their research at the 10th Annual Graduate Research Symposium.
May 08, 2014
UCSC emeritus professor Nathaniel Mackey wins prestigious poetry prize
Nathaniel Mackey, professor emeritus of literature at UC Santa Cruz, has been named the winner of the Poetry Foundation’s 2014 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
May 06, 2014
Grad student in literature awarded Mellon/ACLS fellowship
Ariane Helou, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Literature, has been awarded a 2013-14 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship from The American Council of Learned Societies.
May 06, 2014
Thorne Lay honored by Seismological Society of America
Harry Fielding Reid Medal is the second major honor in one week for Lay, who was just elected to the National Academy of Sciences
May 01, 2014
Graduate student in history wins Fulbright Award
Benjamin Pietrenka, a PhD Candidate in the Department of History, has been awarded a 2014-2015 Fulbright IIE Research Fellowship.
May 01, 2014
UCSC ranks 2nd in the U.S., 11th overall among universities under 50
UC Santa Cruz ranks 2nd in the U.S. and 11th overall among the top universities in the world under 50 years old, according to an annual analysis by Times Higher Education (THE).
April 29, 2014
Two UCSC professors elected to National Academy of Sciences
Ecologist James Estes and seismologist Thorne Lay have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
April 25, 2014
UCSC awards first annual Gram Memorial Scholarship to creative writing student
UCSC student James Williams, a former machinist who returned to school to be around “people who talk about books,” is now the first recipient of the Kenneth Andrew Gram Memorial Scholarship.
April 25, 2014
Alumna Kathryn Sullivan on Time's '100 Most Influential People' list
UCSC alumna Kathryn Sullivan is featured on Time magazine's 2014 list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World."
April 24, 2014
Mark Massoud's book on law in Sudan wins Law and Society Association award
"Law’s Fragile State: Colonial, Authoritarian, and Humanitarian Legacies in Sudan" has won the Herbert Jacob Prize for the best book in law and society published in 2013.
April 22, 2014
UCSC highlighted in Guide to Green Colleges
UCSC is one of four UC campuses scoring 99 points–the most possible–in The Princeton Review’s Guide to 332 Green Colleges, a free guide featuring colleges with a strong commitment to the environment and to sustainability.
April 14, 2014
Alumnus Robert Dawson receives Guggenheim award for photography
UC Santa Cruz alumnus Robert Dawson has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Creative Arts for photography.
April 11, 2014
President Obama nominates UCSC alumnus as NEH chair
President Obama announced today his intent to nominate UC Santa Cruz alumnus Dr. William “Bro” Adams as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
March 26, 2014
Genome scientist Melissa Cline honored for mentoring women in science
Melissa Cline, a project scientist for the Cancer Genomics Browser, will receive the 2014 Ellen Weaver Award for mentoring young women in science.
March 20, 2014
Gary Young wins 2014 George Bogin Memorial Award for poetry
UCSC humanities lecturer and alumnus Gary Young has received the 2014 George Bogin Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America.
March 17, 2014
UC Santa Cruz graduates lead major social science associations
UC Santa Cruz graduates Annette Lareau and Carroll Seron are leading two major social science associations.
March 11, 2014
CASFS apprenticeship alum wins land steward award from Georgia Organics
Celia Barss, a 2002 graduate of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food System’s apprenticeship program at UC Santa Cruz, won the 2014 Land Steward Award as Georgia’s organic agriculture community held its 17th annual organics conference.
March 10, 2014
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez elected president of the Society for American Archaeology
Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, professor of anthropology at UC Santa Cruz, has been elected president of the Society for American Archaeology.
March 10, 2014
Eduardo Mosqueda wins early career scholar award
Eduardo Mosqueda, assistant professor of education at UC Santa Cruz, has won the 2014 Hispanic Research Issues Special Interest Group (SIG) Early Career Scholar Award.
February 27, 2014
UCSC students shine at CAMP Statewide Symposium
Five UC Santa Cruz undergraduates received awards for their research presentations at the 2014 CAMP symposium
February 25, 2014
UC Dining takes top honors in Boardwalk Clam Chowder Cook-Off
Redwood Sluggers, a clam chowder cooking team from UC Santa Cruz Dining, took top honors Saturday, February 22 at the 33rd Annual Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook-Off, at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
February 25, 2014
UCSC alumnus Ron Yerxa up for ‘Best Picture’ Academy Award
"Election," "Cold Mountain," "King of the Hill," "Little Miss Sunshine"…these are just a few of the high-quality films produced by Ron Yerxa since he left UC Santa Cruz with a masters degree in 1976...
February 18, 2014
UCSC planetary scientist Ian Garrick-Bethell wins Sloan Research Fellowship
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship to Ian Garrick-Bethell, assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences.
February 14, 2014
Gabriela Arredondo named to historians lectureship program
Gabriela F. Arredondo, associate professor of Latin American and Latino studies at UC Santa Cruz, has been appointed to the Organization of American Historians (OAH) Distinguished Lectureship Program for the 2014-2017 term.
February 04, 2014
Computer-human interaction expert Steve Whittaker wins lifetime achievement in research award
UC Santa Cruz psychology professor Steve Whittaker, a specialist in human and computer interaction, has won the 2014 Lifetime Achievement in Research Award given by the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction.
January 29, 2014
Art professor Elizabeth Stephens wins Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship
UCSC art professor Elizabeth Stephens is one of three Santa Cruz County artists who have been awarded a Rydell Visual Arts Fellowship for 2014-15.
January 27, 2014
Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart pays tribute to late UCSC professor
Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart honored the late UC Santa Cruz music professor Fred Lieberman on Saturday at a celebratory memorial event in the campus’s Music Center Recital Hall
January 27, 2014
Tom Pettigrew wins American sociology's highest award for social psychology
Thomas F. Pettigrew, research professor of social psychology at UC Santa Cruz, will receive the Cooley-Mead Award for Lifetime Contributions to Sociological Social Psychology from the American Sociological Association in August. It is American sociology’s highest award for social psychology and will be presented at the association’s annual meeting in San Francisco.
January 22, 2014
Electrical engineer Holger Schmidt named Optical Society Fellow
Holger Schmidt, professor of electrical engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the Optical Society
January 16, 2014
UCSC music lecturer nominated for a Grammy Award
UCSC music lecturer and percussionist William Winant has been nominated for a 2014 Grammy Award in the Best Chamber Music Small Ensemble Performance category for his work on 'The Ten Thousand Things' by John Cage.
January 15, 2014
Astrophysicist Piero Madau wins Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics
Piero Madau, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, has been chosen to receive the 2014 Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics.
January 13, 2014
UCSC alumni glow in TV spotlight
It's been a hot week in Hollywood for two former students at UC Santa Cruz.
January 10, 2014
DANM student nominated for four Independent Game Festival Awards
Deirdra 'Squinky' Kiai--a first-year student in UCSC's Digital Arts and New Media MFA program (DANM)--has been named a finalist in four categories of the 2014 Independent Game Festival Awards.
January 10, 2014
Electrical engineer Alyson Fletcher receives NSF CAREER Award
Alyson Fletcher, assistant professor of electrical engineering, has received a prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation.
January 08, 2014
Mathematical biologist Marc Mangel awarded honorary degree
The University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, has awarded an honorary degree to mathematical biologist Marc Mangel.
January 08, 2014
Marine scientist Adina Paytan honored at AGU meeting
Adina Paytan was chosen to give the Rachel Carson Lecture at the 2013 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.