Humanities
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Long days, snacks, and scan-a-thons: student archivists stepped up to save a treasure trove of Okinawan-American memories
In a cramped conference room, a small group of students spent countless hours digitizing the photos, slides and artworks of the Okinawan American community in Los Angeles County. These students work for the Okinawa Memories Initiative.
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Making ethics accessible
Alumnus Tim Shannon (Cowell ’71, history) has philanthropically supported the Humanities at UC Santa Cruz for 15 years. His support of the Norcal Regional Highschool Ethics Bowl, hosted annually at UC Santa Cruz, has opened doors for public schools across the region.
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Damming the Nile and the devastating cost of human progress
In her upcoming Nauenberg History of Science Lecture, World Wounds: The Damming of the Nile River and the Transformation of Medicine, Associate Professor of History Jennifer Derr will explore how massive infrastructure projects contributed to widespread illness, and offer insights into the global history of medicine.
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$2 million grant to propel UC Santa Cruz humanities careers
Since launching in 2023, the Employing Humanities initiative has provided hundreds of undergraduates with real-world work experience—as resource development coordinators, editorial writers, digital marketing interns, and archivists—that helps prepare them for impactful careers after they graduate. Underscoring the initiative’s impact, UCSC was just awarded a $2 million grant from the Mellon Foundation.
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Humanities EXPLORE Fellows bridge history, culture, and community
This year’s Humanities EXPLORE Program fellows are adventurous and ambitious, transcribing 300-year–old texts, helping to revitalize forgotten languages, exploring archives, and learning from faculty mentors. This winter, two fellows were given film cameras to preserve and share their experiences of connection, creativity, and purpose.
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In Memoriam: David Couzens Hoy
Hoy had a world-renowned reputation as a scholar in Continental philosophy and critical theory.
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Humanities skills are transferable skills
UC Santa Cruz humanities students graduate with a toolkit of transferable skills in high demand across fields ranging from academia to the entertainment industry and high-tech startups. Here are the stories of UC Santa Cruz humanities graduates thriving in a wide range of jobs.
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In Memoriam – Teresa de Lauretis (1938-2026)
A pioneering thinker who brought semiotics and psychoanalytic theory to bear upon cinematic representations of desire, de Lauretis taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz, from the mid-1980s until her retirement in 2008 as Distinguished Professor Emerita.
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Questions that Matter: Lessons on the good life from a Star Trek opera-in-progress
For the past decade, an eclectic group of professors, staff members, and show-business professionals has been working hard to bring a Star Trek opera to vibrant life. Now, they are inviting the public to delve more deeply into the philosophical heart of their interstellar project. Their talk, “How to Live Long and Prosper: Lessons from a…
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A candid conversation with Marion Nestle: How corporations and politicians decide what you eat
A few hours before delivering the Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture, the longtime nutrition scholar and tireless consumer advocate Marion Nestle gave a far-ranging, informal interview at The Humanities Institute (THI.) Nestle discussed the political structure of the American food system, arguing that corporate influence—from agricultural subsidies to supermarket slotting fees—shapes what people eat far…
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Humanities graduates apply human-centered thinking in impactful careers
Across disciplines, they point to critical thinking, ethical reasoning, adaptability, and empathy as core strengths developed through humanities coursework.
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Distinguished Professor of Literature Carla Freccero dies at 69
Carla Freccero, distinguished professor and chair of the Literature Department and a beloved mentor to hundreds of graduate students, died this week at Stanford Hospital, surrounded by loved ones. She was 69.