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2021 Donor News

April 20, 2021
Enabling women and girls to achieve their potential
Alumna Ann Starrs, director of family planning at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, came to reproductive health work from a steadfast commitment—strengthened by her time at UC Santa Cruz—to feminism, gender equality, and women’s empowerment.
April 19, 2021
Live reading of The Comedy of Errors to benefit new scholarship for theater students
UCSC’s Arts Division will present a live virtual reading of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors on Friday, April 23, to honor Theater Arts professor Danny Sheie, who is retiring this year after three decades at the campus.
April 16, 2021
Alumna Terri McCullough, chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will make a virtual campus visit for Alumni Week
This year’s Alumni Week will feature a virtual fireside chat with Terri McCullough, an Oakes '90 politics alumna who is now chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
April 13, 2021
Study of U.S. tuna fisheries explores nexus of climate change, sustainable seafood
A new study by researchers at UC Santa Cruz and NOAA examines traditional aspects of seafood sustainability alongside greenhouse gas emissions to better understand the carbon footprint of U.S. tuna fisheries.
April 12, 2021
UCSC's Van Williams discusses diversity in IT at Stanford event
Speaking at the second “Conversations with Extraordinary Leaders” at Stanford University last month, Van Williams, vice chancellor of information technology and strategic technology initiatives at UC Santa Cruz, said designing for diversity and inclusivity within organizations requires planning.
April 12, 2021
Sharing insights from more than six decades of social psychology research
New book by Professor Emeritus Thomas Pettigrew distills themes across his storied career
April 09, 2021
Inaugural Hayden White lecture to explore the afterlife of slavery with author Saidiya Hartman
Award-winning literary scholar and cultural historian Saidiya Hartman will be the featured guest at the inaugural Hayden V. White Distinguished Annual Lecture, a virtual event that takes place on April 19.
April 06, 2021
UC Santa Cruz to launch new support center to advance the university’s innovation, industry engagement
UC Santa Cruz is launching a new support center to advance innovation, entrepreneurship and business engagement that will leverage the campus’s innovative spirit and be guided by its deep commitment to environmental and social justice.
April 06, 2021
Marco Rolandi appointed faculty director of UCSC Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development
UC Santa Cruz has appointed Marco Rolandi, professor and chair of the department of electrical and computer engineering, to serve as faculty director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development (CIED).
April 02, 2021
Event to focus on the case for Black reparations
“Reparations for Black Americans: The Road to Racial Equality in California and Beyond,” hosted on April 15 by the Institute for Social Transformation, will feature a discussion with leading experts and advocates of reparations.
March 31, 2021
Seymour Center plans for physical reopening as virtual programs continue to expand their reach
Seymour Center Outdoors!, a new in-person outdoor education program, is scheduled to open to the general public on April 24.
March 30, 2021
Marking fifth year, Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning plays vital role in campus mission
The center will celebrate its fifth anniversary April 14 with a convocation featuring Estela Bensimon, professor of higher education at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education and director of the Center for Urban Education, which she founded in 1999.
March 29, 2021
Teens describe their gender and sexuality in diverse new ways, but some are being left behind
Psychology Professor Phil Hammack’s latest research shows how regional differences and other social factors can either hinder or support expression of diversity in sexual and gender identity among teens and young adults.
March 25, 2021
Staff member guides students on path to higher education
Osiris Ortiz has spent nearly two decades helping the regions high school students pursue four-year degrees through her work at the Educational Partnership Center.
March 25, 2021
UC Santa Cruz faculty recognized for excellence in ecology
The Ecological Society of America announced its 2021 Fellow and Early Career Fellow awards, and UC Santa Cruz’s faculty were the most decorated of any university on this year’s list.
March 24, 2021
Three decades of connections, encouragement, and programs
UCSC's African American Resource and Cultural Center, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary, has created meaningful change for students of color and become a key part of the university community.
March 18, 2021
UC Santa Cruz joins new consortium to ensure future of SlaveVoyages database
UC Santa Cruz has joined a newly formed consortium of institutions to ensure the preservation, stability, and future development of what has become the single most widely used online resource for anyone interested in slavery across the Atlantic world.
March 18, 2021
UCSC professor contributes to new study showing how parts of the US will ‘tropicalize’ as climate changes
Environmental Studies Professor Michael Loik is a coauthor on a new paper describing how warming winters are allowing some tropical plants and animals to replace temperate communities in southern portions of the country.
March 18, 2021
New analysis shows potential for ‘solar canals’ in California
UC Santa Cruz researchers and their partners published a new study that suggests covering California’s water delivery canals with solar panels could be an economically viable means of advancing renewable energy and water conservation.
March 18, 2021
UC Regents approve UC Santa Cruz plan to increase student housing, expand child care
Recognizing the critical role housing plays in supporting student success, the University of California Board of Regents reapproved a project that will significantly increase the number of current UC Santa Cruz students who are able to live on campus.
March 16, 2021
Campus holds first Sexual Violence Sexual Harassment Research Symposium
UC Santa Cruz will hold its first-ever research symposium — and a first for a UC campus — highlighting research by campus scholars on issues of sexual violence and sexual harassment Friday, April 2.
March 15, 2021
Systemwide review of revised policy on the classification of gifts and sponsored awards
The University of California Office of the President invites comments on a proposed Presidential Policy on Classification of Gifts and Sponsored Awards.
March 11, 2021
Disrupting harmful food systems to prevent future pandemics
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Maywa Montenegro de Wit is exploring how lessons from the abolition movement could help agroecology combat the agro-industrial complex to prevent future pandemics.
March 03, 2021
Girl activists are more visible than ever. Is this progress?
In the past decade, there’s been an explosion in media coverage of girl activists. Professor Jessica Taft, a leading expert in youth activism, sees opportunity in this visibility, but her research has also identified many troubling trends in how girl activists are portrayed.
February 26, 2021
Massive debris flow swamps Big Creek Reserve as heavy rains follow summer wildfire
Boulders the size of vehicles and decades-old redwoods were ripped from the banks of the Big Creek drainage when an atmospheric river inundated the Landels-Hill Big Creek Natural Reserve on the Big Sur coast in late January.
February 25, 2021
Forest monitoring efforts contribute to new understanding of climate change impacts
Data collected by student interns at UC Santa Cruz’s Forest Ecology Research Plot recently contributed to a breakthrough in understanding how climate change affects forests.
February 11, 2021
Annual Jewish Studies Diller Lecture to feature award-winning author Sarah Stein
This year’s Helen Diller Distinguished Lecture in Jewish Studies will feature guest author and scholar Sarah Abrevaya Stein—in conversation with UCSC’s Neufeld-Levin Chair of Holocaust Studies, Alma Heckman—on Wednesday, February 17, at 5 p.m.
February 11, 2021
Listening and bringing change
Aaron Jones, interim Educational Opportunity Programs director, founded the orientation program Black Academy, which has dramatically increased African Black Caribbean students' retention rate at UCSC.
February 05, 2021
Troupe dynamic
UC Santa Cruz's African American Theater Arts Troupe, which is celebrating its 30-year anniversary, has not only staged plays but also taken up works that deal with issues of race, injustice, and discrimination; brought its performances into the community; and awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships.
February 04, 2021
Rob Fairlie testifies before Congress on inequality in pandemic economic impacts
Rob Fairlie testified before the House Committee on Small Business to share his latest research on the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, including the disproportionate hardships faced by minority-owned businesses.
February 02, 2021
Robert Bocking Stevens, fifth UCSC chancellor, dies at age 87
Robert Bocking Stevens, a legal scholar in England and the United States who served as the fifth chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, died Jan. 30 in Oxford, England, at age 87.
February 02, 2021
Seawater intake replacement, bike path improvement projects win public works awards
A $1.1 million project to replace the seawater intake structure at the UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab was selected as environmental project of the year by the Monterey Bay chapter of the American Public Works Association.
February 01, 2021
Green New Deal architect Rhiana Gunn-Wright will make a virtual campus visit
Gunn-Wright previewed some of the insights she'll share on climate policy and environmental justice during her February 10th event with the Institute for Social Transformation.
January 29, 2021
In Memoriam: Robert Shepherd (1938-2021)
Robert Shepherd, a teaching professor emeritus from the UC Santa Cruz Economics Department, passed away at 82 years old. Shepherd taught at UC Santa Cruz for more than 30 years and was instrumental in the development of both the accounting path and the business management economics major.
January 29, 2021
Sociology researcher seeks solutions for Public Safety Power Shutoffs
Sociology researcher Les Guliasi’s most recent paper shows how “microgrid” technologies could reduce the impact of outages, if regulatory challenges can be resolved.
January 28, 2021
With record applications, UC Santa Cruz poised to build exceptional, diverse fall class
The competition to earn a spot at UC Santa Cruz will increase this year, with the campus receiving a record number of applications and nearly 200 students approved last year to defer their enrollment to fall 2021.
January 26, 2021
Digital NEST founder to serve as external adviser to chancellor
Jacob Martinez is bringing his insight on economic opportunity, community empowerment and digital innovation to UC Santa Cruz as an external special adviser to Chancellor Cindy Larive.
January 25, 2021
Energy spent avoiding humans linked to smaller home ranges for male pumas
New research shows that fear of humans causes mountain lions to increase their energy expenditures as they move through the landscape, and this can ultimately limit the size of the home ranges they’re able to maintain.
January 25, 2021
A year of generosity
In 2020, UCSC donors demonstrated how giving can make a positive difference even in a period of turmoil.
January 20, 2021
Italian newspaper ranks sociology professor among top women of the year
Camilla Hawthorne is being recognized for shedding light on emergent Afro-Italian identities and activism during a time of racial reckoning in Italy and beyond.
January 19, 2021
Grant funding will advance aquaculture research in UCSC’s new state-of-the-art facility
Researchers won a USDA grant in support of their efforts to develop ocean-friendly feed formulas for farm-raised rainbow trout. This work will take place in the team's new aquaculture facility at the UCSC Farm.
January 08, 2021
UCSC’s Living Writers Series a place to shelter in the storm
“Shelter and Place” is the theme of the 2021 winter installment of the Living Writers Series at UC Santa Cruz. Curated by Micah Perks, professor of literature and director of the Creative Writing Program, the now virtual series will run from January 14 through March 4, on Thursday nights throughout the winter quarter.
January 08, 2021
Professor recognized among the art world’s top influencers for 2020
Anthropology professor Anna Tsing won international acclaim for an interdisciplinary project that documents drivers of the Anthropocene in creative new ways.
January 07, 2021
Students, staff, faculty contribute nearly 160,000 meals through Holiday Food and Fund Drive
UC Santa Cruz students, staff, and faculty contributed nearly $40,000 to the 2020 Holiday Food and Fund Drive sponsored by the Staff Advisory Board, enough to provide nearly 160,000 meals to local residents.
January 04, 2021
Uncovering the social factors lurking within diabetes risk
Assistant professor of sociology James Doucet-Battle's new book challenges assumptions about race within diabetes research and delves into the issue through the lens of African American experience.
January 04, 2021
Shedding light on one of environmental policy’s most under-the-radar strategies
Associate professor of environmental studies Sikina Jinnah studies the environmental provisions contained within trade agreements and wants to help policymakers better navigate this space.