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    • About Us
    • What is Social Transformation?
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    • Help Us Grow
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  • Research Initiatives
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Building Belonging Projects and Fellows 2020-2021

Watch the 2021 Building Belonging Student Flash Talks. For more information on the program click here.


PROJECT: Making Noncitizen Rights Real

FACULTY MENTOR: Juan Manuel Pedroza, Sociology Department

PUBLICATIONS:

  • Pedroza, Juan M., Anne Schaufele, Viviana Jimenez, Melissa Garcia Carrillo, Dennise Onchi-Molina. “Insurgent Citizenship: How Consumer Complaints on Immigration Scams Inform Justice and Prevention Efforts.” Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 37, no. 3: 369-400.
  • Pedroza, Juan M. “Making Noncitizens’ Rights Real: Evidence from Immigration Scam Complaints.” Law and Policy 44, no. 1 (2022): 44-69.

Dennise Onchi-Molina

Combined Latin American and Latino Studies Major

Melissa Garcia Carrillo

LALS and Legal Studies Major


PROJECT: Building Environmental Belonging: Racial Inclusion and Diversity among Undergraduates at UCSC

FACULTY MENTOR: Flora Lu, Environmental Studies Department

PUBLICATIONS:

  • Building a More Student-Centered and Inclusive Environmental Studies Department, Policy Memo by Jianjia Gettinger, Kimberly Dare, Emily Murai, and Flora Lu
  • Propelling UCSC Undergraduates of Color in Environmental Studies Through Mentorship, Senior Thesis by Kimberly Dare

Kimie Dare

Environmental Studies Major & Education Minor

Jianjia Gettinger

Environmental Studies and Psychology


PROJECT: Faculty Diversity in California Environmental Studies and Sciences Departments: Implications for Student Learning and the Growth of the Field

FACULTY MENTOR: Sikina Jinnah, Environmental Studies Department

PUBLICATION:

  • Faculty diversity in California environmental studies departments: implications for student learning

Amani Taylor

Environmental Studies Major

Arien Hernandez

Arien Hernandez

Legal Studies Major


PROJECT: Suddenly Distant: Teachers’ Work in the Context of COVID

FACULTY MENTOR: Lora Bartlett, Education Department

PUBLICATIONS:

  • What We Learned About Teachers During the Pandemic: A Series
  • Suddenly Distant Findings from the Field Report

Lila Harte 

Literature & Education Major


PROJECT: Chimpanzee Video Coding Team

FACULTY MENTOR: Vicky Oelze, Anthropology Department

Lauryn Hobbs

Anthropology and Psychology Double Major

Payton Sime

Anthropology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Major


PROJECT: Educational Justice across Digital Divides: Building and Sustaining a Community Partnership during COVID-19

FACULTY MENTOR: Cynthia Lewis, Education Department

Jesica Garcia

Sociology Major


PROJECT: Incorporating Cultural and Family Strengths to Build an Inclusive Campus Climate for Undocumented Community College Students

FACULTY MENTOR: Saskias Casanova, Psychology Department

Arley Aguilar Luna

Psychology and Latin American and Latinx Studies


PROJECT: Narratives of Political Participation Among Peruvian Women’s Right Activists: Archive Project

FACULTY MENTOR: Sylvana Falcón, Latin American and Latino/a Studies Department & Shelly Grabe, Psychology Department

Nicole Herrera-Moro

Latin American and Latinx Studies and Spanish Studies

Lizbeth Garcia Bermudez

Psychology and Latin American and Latinx Studies

Karely Valdez

Psychology and Spanish Studies Double Major

María Govea Mendoza


PROJECT: Phenology Observers on Social Media

FACULTY MENTOR: Kai Zhu, Environmental Studies Department

Caitlin Schilt

Environmental Studies Major

Jade Guzman

Environmental Studies and Legal Studies Major


PROJECT: Turning the Tide: Shifting Access, Equity, and Vulnerability in Coastal California

FACULTY MENTOR: Katherine Seto, Environmental Studies Department and Juan Pedroza, Sociology Department

Leslie Lazo

Biology EEB Major

Joseph Lee

Marine Biology Major


PROJECT: Profiling First-Generation Faculty: On Making Sense of Racial/Ethnic Identity in First-Generation Visibility Campaigns Nationwide 

FACULTY MENTOR: Rebecca Covarrubias, Psychology Department

Kimberlie Hatch

Cognitive Science Major


PROJECT: Youth Participatory Action Research, Cultural Knowledge & Resilience for (Im)migrant High School Students

FACULTY MENTOR: Saskias Casanova, Psychology Department

Alicia Alvarez

Psychology and Latin American & Latinx Studies


PROJECT: We Belong: Collaboration for Community-Engaged Research and Immigrant Justice

FACULTY MENTOR: Steve McKay, Sociology Department

We Belong website

Jonathan Sanchez 

Sociology Major

Eddie Resendiz

Cristina Gonzalez

Ashley Gutierrez

Sociology Major


PROJECT: Barriers to Adopting Healthful Diets Across Cultural and Socio-Economic Groups

FACULTY MENTOR: Galina Hale, Economics Department

Dmitrius Rodriguez

Environmental & Economics Major

Yang Li

Business Management Economics Major


PROJECT: Two Pandemics in the Ring of Fire: COVID-19, Diabetes, and Infernal Change

FACULTY MENTOR: James Doucet-Battle, Sociology Department

Tamar Sasson

Sociology and Economics Major

Andrea Asher

Sociology and Human Biology Major


PROJECT: Who Saves Whom? Compassionate Economies of Care in Animal Rescue

FACULTY MENTOR: Lissa Caldwell, Anthropology Department

Samuel Bass

Anthropology major

Jazmin Gonzalez

Economics Major

Erendira Blanco Castano

Anthropology Major

Alyssa Cabral

Dee Cappelli

Anthropology Major

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Isabella Crespin


PROJECT: Vulnerability and Positionality in Fieldwork on Law

FACULTY MENTOR: Mark Fathi Massoud, Politics Department

Anushka Shah

Legal Studies and Intensive Psychology Major


PROJECT: SEMILLA Teach Project

FACULTY MENTOR: Samuel Severance, Education Department

Karina Ibeth Rosales

Molecular Cell & Developmental Biology Major

Noemi Avenido

Science Education Major


PROJECT: Ecosystem Services and Shade Management in coffee Agroecosystems: Ecology and Application

FACULTY MENTOR: Stacy Philpott, Environmental Studies Department

Jenny Hsu

Ecology and Evolution Major

Robyn Fowler

Environmental Studies Major


PROJECT: Lost in Translation: Language Segregation Among Hispanics in the United States

FACULTY MENTOR: Juan Manuel Pedroza, Sociology Department

Alejandra Martinez Saldivar


PROJECT: Hate Speech and Community

FACULTY MENTOR: Ryan Coonerty, Politics Department

Cassandra Mar

Legal Studies and Politics Major

Edward Estrada


PROJECT: Language, Literacy, and Academic Pathways for the ‘New Mainstream’ in Community Colleges

FACULTY MENTOR: George Bunch, Education Department

Alexis Roman

Legal Studies & Education, Democracy, and Justice

Gabriela Nunez de la Torre

Legal Studies & Spanish Major


PROJECT: Optimizing Feedback to Enhance Student Learning

FACULTY MENTOR: Hannah Hausman, Psychology Department

Kaylie Kurland

Cognitive Science Major

Huda Ajaz

Intensive Psychology and Sociology Major

Sid Masuda

Cognitive Science and Psychology Major

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Garrett Swelgin


PROJECT: Platform Workers in the Post Prop 22 Enviroment

FACULTY MENTOR: Chris Benner, Sociology Department

Jonathan Winston

Sociology Major

Karina Diaz Alvarez

Proposed Psychology and Legal Studies


PROJECT: Socio-Environmental Conflicts in Chile’s Huasco Valley 

FACULTY MENTOR: Fernando Leiva, Latin American & Latino Studies

Dalia Cervantes

Politics & LALS Major


PROJECT: Translatinx Migrant Health during COVID-19

FACULTY MENTOR: Katherine Seto, Environmental Studies Department & Juan Manuel Pedroza, Sociology Department

Melanie Renteria

Politics & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Major


PROJECT: Bodies of Evidence: Legibility, Medical Uncertainty, and the Knowledge Problem of ‘Rape Kits’

FACULTY MENTOR: Jaimie Morse, Sociology Department

Valerie Garcia

Valerie Garcia

Sociology Major

Bridge Kennedy

Bridge Kennedy

Sociology & Legal Studies Major

Victoria Crowley

Feminist Studies & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Major

Sophia Grewell

Sophia Grewell

Feminist Studies & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Major


PROJECT: Civic Identity Development and Social Media Use among U.S. College students

FACULTY MENTOR: Adriana Manago, Psychology Department

Jacqueline Gonzales


PROJECT: Communicational Remembering in Social Networks

FACULTY MENTOR: Jeremy Yamashiro, Psychology Department

Hananiel Suradji

Hananiel Suradji

Cognitive Science Major


PROJECT: Enhancing Climate Change Education Through Personalized Scientific Communications on Phenology

FACULTY MENTOR: Kai Zhu, Environmental Studies Department

Jade Guzman

Jade Guzman

Environmental Studies and Legal Studies Major

Luke Hamilton

Luke Hamilton

Environmental Science Major


PROJECT: Global Banking Capital Allocation Project

FACULTY MENTOR: Grace Weishi Gu, Economics Department

Jacob Hammersly

Jacob Hammersly

Economics, Environmental Studies/Earth Science Major


PROJECT: Interrupting Patriarchal Violence: Abolitionist Approaches to Harm in Black Communities

FACULTY MENTOR: Savannah Shange, Anthropology Department

Shaye Paysinger


PROJECT: Pandemic Politics, Structural Racism and Community Resilience

FACULTY MENTOR: Matt Sparke, Politics Department

Samantha Gonzalez

Samantha Gonzalez

Legal Studies Major 


PROJECT: Political Distancing across the Carceral Divide: COVID-19, Confinement, Contagion, Containment, and County Choices in California

FACULTY MENTOR: Anjuli Verma, Politics Department

Saron Yared

Saron Yared

Environmental Science and Legal Studies Major

Heather Collins

Heather Collins

Politics

Jared Farley

Cassandra Beale

Shaye Paysinger


PROJECT: The Digital Undercommons: Documenting Abolitionist Pedagogies in Global Social Movements

FACULTY MENTOR: Roberto de Roock, Education Department

Yareli Jimenez

Yareli Jimenez

Psychology (minors in Education & LALS)

Sophia Partida

Sophia Partida

Psychology and Sociology Major

Mitzy Acevedo

Mitzy Acevedo

Intensive Psychology Major


PROJECT: Uncanny Ecologies: Toward a NonSecular Understanding of Nature

FACULTY MENTOR: Mayanthi Fernando, Anthropology Department

Queenie Don

Queenie Don

Anthropology

Adria Vidales

Critical Race and Ethnic Studies and Environmental Studies Major


PROJECT: Moonshot or Mundane? Tracing Investment Patterns in the Bay Area Agri-food Tech Sector

FACULTY MENTOR: Julie Guthman, Community Studies Department

Tara Lamb

Tara Lamb

Cognitive Science

Tamar Sasson

Tamar Sasson

Sociology and Economics Major

Bonifacio Miranda

Bonafacio Miranda

Computational Mathematics


PROJECT: Internship in the Archaeology of Slavery and the Slave Trade

FACULTY MENTOR: J. Cameron Monroe, Anthropology Department

John Berg

Lauren Castaneda


PROJECT: Intergenerational Occupation Mobility and Trade

FACULTY MENTOR: Gueyon Kim, Economics Department

Manisha Magal

Crystal Fok

Past Fellows


2023-24 Fellows

2022-23 Fellows

2021-22 Fellows

2020-21 Fellows

2019-20 Fellows

 

Building Belonging Program

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