Campus News
UCSC names Heather Bullock dean of Social Sciences
Heather is a professor of psychology and director of the Center for Economic Justice and Action and leads the systemwide UC Essential Needs Research, Training, and Promising Practices Consortium. She brings extensive experience in research, teaching, public engagement, and academic leadership to her new role as dean.
Dear Campus Community,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Heather Bullock as Dean of the Division of Social Sciences, effective September 21.
Bullock joined the UC Santa Cruz faculty in 1999 and is a professor of psychology and director of the Center for Economic Justice and Action and leads the systemwide UC Essential Needs Research, Training, and Promising Practices Consortium. A nationally recognized scholar, her work examines poverty, economic inequality, and social justice. She brings extensive experience in research, teaching, public engagement, and academic leadership to her new role as dean.
Her research focuses on the social psychological dimensions of poverty and economic injustice, including women’s experiences with poverty and public assistance systems, the impact of social policies on families, and how classism, racism, and sexism shape attitudes toward and treatment of low-income individuals and communities.
Over the course of her career, Bullock has worked extensively with nonprofit organizations on poverty alleviation initiatives and community-engaged scholarship. She served as the inaugural chair of the American Psychological Association’s Committee on Socioeconomic Status and was a member of the association’s Deep Poverty Initiative Working Group. In 2019, she received an American Psychological Association Presidential Citation in recognition of her contributions to the field.
In addition to her scholarship and national service, Bullock has held several academic leadership roles at UC Santa Cruz, including acting dean of the Division of Social Sciences and chair of the Department of Psychology.
She is the co-author of the books Poorly Understood: What America Gets Wrong about Poverty, and Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequality, and author of Women and Poverty: Psychology, Public Policy, and Social Justice.
Bullock was president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Prior to joining UC Santa Cruz, she was an American Psychological Association/American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Fellow with the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, chaired by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, where she worked on policies related to poverty, food insecurity, and early childhood education.
I would like to thank the search advisory committee members, especially Chair Jasmine Alinder, for their work in reviewing and interviewing the candidates. We had a strong group of finalists. Thank you, as well, to the many in our campus community who engaged with us in the search process and provided valuable feedback. Your input was extremely helpful.
Please join me in congratulating Dean Bullock on her appointment and thanking Herbie Lee for serving as interim dean this past year. He will stay on as interim until fall quarter begins.
Sincerely,
Paul
Paul Koch
Interim Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor