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  • About
    • About Us
    • What is Social Transformation?
    • Meet the Team
    • Faculty Support
    • Impact Report
    • Partners
    • Help Us Grow
    • Contact Us
  • Research Initiatives
    • Current Initiatives
    • Past Initiatives
  • Funding Opportunities
    • Faculty Research
      • Catalyze Awards
      • Emerging Scholar Manuscript Workshops
      • Current Fellows
    • Experiential Learning
      • Building Belonging Program
      • — Building Belonging Projects and Fellows
      • Transforming Futures Program
      • — Transforming Futures Interns
  • Publications
    • Publications
    • Better World Books
    • Resource Guides
      • Voting Resources
      • Anti-racism and Criminal Justice Reform
      • Immigrant Rights and Immigration Reform
    • Video Library
    • Audio Library
    • Q&A with Changemakers
    • Journal of International Society and Culture
    • COVID-19 Response
  • News & Events
    • Featured News
    • Upcoming Events
    • — Past Events
    • — Past Conferences

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Through groundbreaking initiatives, we are cultivating transformative interdisciplinary research and empowering equitable student success, enabling our campus to advance environmental and social justice in California and across the globe.

See how we are funding transformative scholarship, empowering student changemakers, and bolstering impact capacity for public benefit.

Read our 2023-2024 impact report
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Gathering for Change Gala

Join us for an unforgettable evening at the Gathering for Change Gala, where we invite the community to come learn about and celebrate the unwavering power of collective action for building a better future, even in uncertain times. During this event, you’ll mingle with changemakers and visionaries affiliated with the UC Santa Cruz Institute for Social Transformation and with other like-minded individuals from across our region who are continuing to fight for positive change.

We’ll also be honoring our founding Faculty Director, Professor Chris Benner, who has been instrumental in building the long term vision of the institute, and we’ll introduce you to our incoming Faculty Director, Professor Galina Hale, who will boldly lead us into the future.

RSVP here >>

Join our mailing list to learn more about new opportunities to get involved, recent publications, events + more!

Transforming Futures: Internship Scholarship

The Institute for Social Transformation is excited to offer an internship scholarship program called Transforming Futures. The program aims to create opportunities and eliminate financial barriers for UC Santa Cruz undergraduate students in the Social Sciences, enabling them to participate in career-advancing summer internships off campus.

Scholarships up to $8,000, depending on financial need

Applications due May 1, 2025

Learn more >>

Transforming Futures flyer 2025
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    Solidarity Economics


    Works to identify opportunities, eliminate barriers, and promote new narratives to build a more inclusive economy
  • Students at We Belong event

    Campus + Community


    Dedicated to supporting ethical and mutually beneficial community-engaged scholarship at UC Santa Cruz
  • Center for Labor and Community

    Center for Labor and Community


    Dedicated to the study of working people, the labor movement, and the challenges of the rapidly-changing economy
  • family in a community garden

    Global and Community Health


    A new program at UC Santa Cruz aimed at addressing challenges of ill-health both globally and locally
  • Lady justice

    Public Interest Technology University Network

    A partnership of colleges and universities dedicated to building the field of public interest technology and growing a new generation of civic-minded technologists
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    Right Livelihood Center


    Links faculty and students with ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’ winners for education about solutions to the world’s most pressing problems
  • SEACoast Center for Southeast Asian Coastal Interactions

    SEACoast Center


    Works to build a “slow science” in which scholars and students across disciplinary divides have the opportunity to bring area studies insights to urgent ecological dilemmas

Research News


Global premiere of “Power in the Desert” illuminates the human side of the lithium boom

Center for Labor and Community partners with regional union leaders on state-funded push to ensure workplace rights, safety, and benefits

Right Livelihood International Conference brings in laureates focused on women’s activism, indigenous rights, and the environment

More News >

Events of Interest


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Our Mission

Rooted in the Social Sciences Division at UC Santa Cruz, the institute supports innovative scholarship that changes the world. The institute is a critical intellectual and social hub, connecting scholars across UC Santa Cruz and partners beyond the University, developing research-based solutions to urgent problems in the world.

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Institute for Social Transformation
Division of Social Sciences
1156 High St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
email: transform@ucsc.edu

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