Social Consciousness
-

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen to speak at UC Santa Cruz on Oct. 19
On October 11, the MacArthur Foundation awarded Viet Thanh Nguyen a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship for his work as a fiction writer and cultural critic, citing his contributions to “challenging popular depictions of the Vietnam War and exploring the myriad ways that war lives on for those it has displaced.”
-

Nearly 70 percent experience “rent burden” in Santa Cruz County, according to UC Santa Cruz survey results
Nearly 70 percent of renters surveyed in Santa Cruz County experience “rent burden,” defined as spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities, according to preliminary results of a survey of 1,700 renters across the county conducted by UC Santa Cruz.
-

Fall Living Writers Series explores histories of war, refuge and social justice
“Beyond the Wall: War, Refuge, and Home” is the name of this fall’s installment of the Living Writers Series at UC Santa Cruz. Curated by the campus’s award-winning author and literature professor Karen Tei Yamashita, the series runs through December 7 at the Humanities Lecture Hall.
-

Gail Project exhibition studies military occupation of Okinawa through a photographic lens
Now in its fourth year at UC Santa Cruz, The Gail Project was inspired by a collection of photographs taken in 1952 by American Army Captain, Charles Eugene Gail. “The Gail Project: An Okinawan-American Dialogue” opens on campus October 5 at the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery.
-

An advocate for awareness
Alumna Dyane Harwood is sharing her journey with postpartum bipolar disorder to raise awareness and help others struggling with postpartum mental illness
-

UC Santa Cruz initiated fiber-optic project brings high-speed broadband to Central Coast communities
Installation is complete on a 91-mile fiber optic cable made possible by UC Santa Cruz that will bring reliable, speedy internet broadband to underserved communities across 430 square miles from Watsonville through the Salinas Valley to Soledad.
-

Join campus effort to support first-gen college students, campus community
With more than 42 percent of undergraduate students as the first in their generation to attend college, UC Santa Cruz launched its First Generation Initiative in spring 2016. The program, modeled after the successful, pioneering efforts of UC Irvine, now includes all ten UC campuses.
-

Giving fish a fighting chance
Alumnus Brycen Swart identified how warmer river temperatures were hurting Chinook salmon fry—and he earned a medal for conserving them.
-

USDA awards $2.5 million grant to UC Santa Cruz to expand organic strawberry research
UC Santa Cruz researchers who have pioneered alternatives to methyl bromide in commercial strawberry production have received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will take their work national.
-

Alum and independent filmmaker Peter Bratt directs, writes, and produces documentary about labor activist Dolores Huerta
Independent filmmaker Peter Bratt, a 1986 politics graduate of Cowell College, has written, directed, and produced a new documentary about legendary labor activist Dolores Huerta.
-

Murals tell a story of pan-Latino solidarity in SF’s Mission District
Graduate student Mauricio Ramírez is an artist, a muralist, and a native San Franciscan who is fascinated by the murals in the Mission District of San Francisco—and by the progressive coalition of artists and immigrants that coalesced during the decades they were painted.
-
Supporting our community
UC Santa Cruz will continue to provide services and support to all students without regard to immigration status.