UCSC Institute for Social Transformation

Envisioning the Convergence of the Environmental and Social Justice Movements
2022-01-31 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
This coming year will mark the 50th spring since Ken Norris started the first natural history field course at UC Santa Cruz. To commemorate this remarkable milestone, the Norris Center is planning a series of events this year: 50 Years of Wonder, Celebrating the First Half Century of Natural History at UC Santa Cruz. At this first of four events, we will make a brief announcement/invitation to all our students/alumni to join us at our series of events over the next six months. These events will culminate in a large in-person gathering on June 3–5, 2022.

At this first virtual event, we have invited author and wildlife biologist Dr. J. Drew Lanham to speak to the UC Santa Cruz natural history community about the convergence of the environmental and social justice movements. In many ways, we at UC Santa Cruz are a developing example of the convergence of what these two movements look like at the university level. For example, we have two of our themed residential colleges named after luminaries in both movements: Rachel Carson College and our recently named John Lewis College. With this background in mind, we have asked Dr. Lanham to speak to us about this and other related ideas in his recent essay “A Convergent Imagining.”

We encourage everyone attending this talk to first read Dr. Lanham’s essay. Dr. Lanham will first talk more about how these two movements can positively influence the other, how we might better teach natural history to include and inspire future naturalists from all backgrounds, and what he thinks the next 50 years of natural history/environmentalism will look like. After his talk, there will be a short question and answer session.

This event is co-sponsored by the Norris Center for Natural History, the Institute for Social Transformation, Rachel Carson College, and John Lewis College.

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Dr. J. Drew LanhamAlumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife EcologyForestry and Environmental Conservation Department, Clemson University J. Drew Lanham is a native of Edgefield and Aiken, South Carolina. In his twenty years as Clemson University faculty he’s worked to understand how forest management impacts wildlife and how human beings think about nature. Dr. Lanham holds an endowed chair as an Alumni Distinguished Professor and was named an Alumni Master Teacher in 2012. In his teaching, research, and outreach roles, Drew seeks to translate conservation science to make it relevant to others in ways that are evocative and understandable. As a Black American he’s intrigued with how culture and ethnic prisms can bend perceptions of nature and its care. Drew strongly believes that conservation must be a blending of head and heart; rigorous science and evocative art. He is active on a number of conservation boards including the SC Wildlife Federation. South Carolina Audubon, Aldo Leopold Foundation, BirdNote and the American Birding Association. He is an inaugural Fellow of the Audubon-Toyota Together Green initiative and is a member of the advisory board for the North American Association of Environmental Education. Drew is a Fellow of the Clemson University Institute for Parks and was named a 2016 Brandwein Fellow for his work in Environmental Education. Dr. Lanham is a widely published author and award-nominated poet, writing about his experiences as a birder, hunter and wild, wandering soul. His first solo work, The Home Place-Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature was published in 2016-17.

Black Liberation and Pedagogies
2022-02-16 16:00 - 17:30
Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.“ ― John Lewis

This event is part of the 2022 event series “Necessary Trouble: Thinking with the Legacy of John R. Lewis.” In anticipation and in honor of the dedication of John R. Lewis College at the UC Santa Cruz, the Division of Social Sciences, Colleges Nine and Ten, the Institute for Social Transformation, and the Center for Racial Justice are organizing five events centered on topics exemplified by the life of Representative John Lewis.

To learn more about this event, its speakers, and the other events in the series please visit the series page below.

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38th Annual Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Convocation
2022-02-23 17:30 - 19:00
The annual convocation celebrates the life and dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by presenting speakers who discuss the civil rights issues of equality, freedom, justice, and opportunity. The convocation also seeks to build partnerships and develop dialogue within the campus community and with the local communities served by the university. This year’s speaker is Professor Ruha Benjamin.

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Ruha Benjamin Ruha Benjamin is a professor in the Department of African American studies at Princeton University where she studies the social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine. Dr. Benjamin is also the founding director of the IDA B. WELLS Just Data Lab, and a faculty associate in the Center for Information Technology Policy, Program on History of Science, Center for Health and Wellbeing, and Program on Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Communities in Movement: From local territorial defensive action to national and hemispheric political articulation
2022-02-24 09:00 - 13:30
The Extractivism and Society Research Cluster is organizing a four-part series entitled “Conversations on Extractivism in a Post-Pandemic World.” This is the third conversation in the series.

Convening Questions

1. How have territorially-based community-rooted resistance to extractivist projects evolved from merely the local realm to being able to exercise influence at broader national political scene?

2. What are the lessons gleaned from territorially-based community-anchored resistance to disaster extractivism during the pandemic?

3. What are the obstacles faced for moving forward and how are they being addressed?

4. How could the work of engaged/activist scholars accompany and support territorially-based community-connected actors in this new conjuncture as they create new paths from articulating the local with national and hemispheric scales?

Background

After the ebb of Pink Tide governments, a new cycle of massive popular uprisings unfolded during 2019 and 2020 in Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Haiti, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere. These events and their legacies mediated by the Covid-19 global pandemic, are creating a new moment, a sort of “rupture” or “turning point” that needs careful attention at this critical moment.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown even more starkly the limitations of global neoliberalism as well as its inability to put the lives of communities and ecosystems above the needs of private capital and the profit rate. As communities fashion strategies to ensure their survival and defend livelihoods in the context of global neoliberalism’s deepening hegemonic crisis, we observe the emergence of two parallel trends shaping political struggles in the region.

The first of these, unfolding indifferent degrees across the Americas, is the dramatic loss of legitimacy of existing political institutions including major political parties and levels of participation in electoral politics. In many countries (i.e. Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Haiti), the crisis of political representation deepens as mobilized popular sectors eschew traditional forms of political mediation to make their voices and demands heard, creating emerging forms of political and social involvement that challenge traditional political structures.

A second trend is the “socio-territorial turn” as the preferred locus of action for popular sector mobilizations. The multi-dimensional crises faced by communities, their perceived abandonment by state agencies and sense of betrayal by the political establishment, precisely when facing increased threats of dispossession (theft of water, expansion gold and copper mining, mega infrastructure projects in indigenous lands, etc.) has enhanced the role of community-based resistance, fostered the emergence of new leaders and community-anchored imaginaries for transformative politics.

As community-based leaders and territorially-based organizing strategies fill the vacuum left by the crisis of traditional forms of political representation and strive to prove their effectiveness, we can also observe glimmers of a new “jump in scale” of this socio-territorial turn. Novel territorial arrangements, where territoriality has evolved towards more diffuse and horizontal forms seem to proliferate (Ortega, 2021).

In many countries, territorial and community-based organizations are forging multiple and creative paths that connect the local to the national and even hemispheric scales of political action (viz. Asamblea Constituyente Atacama and Lista del Pueblo in Chile, and the recent Pacto Eco-Social del Sur launched at a transnational level).

Local-territorial organizations are crafting new political opportunities and possibilities for change as they attempt to move from the local socio-territorial defense of resources and livelihoods, to new forms of national and hemispheric political action. Are these just temporary and short-lived phenomena? Or do such trends conform the beginnings of more systemic realignments which will continue reshaping the terrain upon which resolution to current crises of neoliberalism will be decided?

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Disruptive Archives: Feminist Memories of Resistance in Latin America's Dirty Wars
2022-02-24 12:00 - 13:30
Dr. Viviana MacManus, the author of Disruptive Archives: Feminist Memories of Resistance in Latin America’s Dirty Wars (University of Illinois Press, 2020), will discuss the history of gender and state violence during the so-called “Dirty Wars” of Argentina and Mexico (1960-1980s) and the current struggles over the historical memory of this era. In dialogue with RCA Director Sylvanna Falcón of LALS, Dr. MacManus, Assistant Professor of Spanish and French Studies at Occidental College, will explore narratives of loss, haunting, and trauma to bring forth a Latin American feminist theory of justice. This event is free and open to the public. Closed captioning and an ASL interpreter will be provided.

Co-sponsored by the Research Center for the Americas.

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Viviana MacManusAssistant Professor of Spanish and French Studies, Occidental College Viviana Beatriz MacManus’s research and teaching focuses on Latin American and Latinx feminist theory, literature, film, and cultural studies. Her first book, Disruptive Archives: Feminist Memories of Resistance in Latin America’s Dirty Wars, (University of Illinois Press, 2020), examines cultural narratives of resistance articulated by women activists who survived Mexican and Argentinean state terrorism (1960-80s). Prof. MacManus has published in The Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, the International Feminist Journal of Politics, and Chiricú: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures. Her current research projects center on the politics of violence and visuality in the Américas, the cultural legacy of insurgent motherhood in Latin America’s guerrilleras, and the feminist uses of horror in contending with gender, state, and racialized violence in Latin American film and literature.

Practical Activism Conference
2022-02-26 10:30 - 17:00
Practical Activism will be holding its 19th annual day-long conference on Saturday, February 26th, 2022 in a hybrid format. The conference will take place in the Multipurpose Room at College Nine and John Lewis College. Registration links will be available soon – you can sign up to the PAC ’21-’22 Email List to be notified and register for specific workshops!

Our day-long, student-led conference aims to further local and global change in our community by representing diverse perspectives on a variety of social justice issues, and providing hands on tools to make practical change. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about many social-justice related topics in student-organized workshops and special-sessions. This year’s PAC takes on special salience given the recent naming of College Ten as John R. Lewis College.This year’s workshop topics include:

Voting Rights: Voting 4 TomorrowBIPOC Mental Health & WellnessCritical Race TheoryNative American Land StewardshipHomelessness & Housing JusticeWorker Exploitation in the Garment IndustrySocial Justice in STEMTherapeutic Activism – A Special Film Screening

This conference will be in person, adhering to current safety protocols, which includes wearing a mask and showing your clearance badge/symptom tracker (for UCSC affiliates). For visitors to UCSC, please note that UC Santa Cruz has COVID-19 guidelines for in-person events. When you arrive, please provide proof of vaccination OR a recent negative COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours of the start of the event (must be a lab PCR test; home tests/antigen tests are not valid). Campus visitors will also be asked to complete a symptom tracker and are required to wear masks indoors. Additional information can be found here.

More info

What is PAC?

Media and Criminal Justice in the U.S.
2022-03-01 19:00 - 20:30
Media and Society is a series of lectures and public conversations on the role of media, journalism, popular culture narrative, and media representation, in the deployment of power in contemporary society. Kresge College, the University Library, and The Humanities Institute work together each year with an interdisciplinary group of faculty, staff, and students, to build a series of conversations that help fulfill a charge of media literacy and media engagement at UC Santa Cruz. This year’s series — celebrating Kresge’s 50th year — focuses on creative media, the visual and aural spectacle of race and racism, and dialogues on abolition and transformative justice.

The winter event will feature Craig Haney, professor of psychology, on March 1.

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Craig HaneyProfessor of Psychology, UCSC Craig Haney is a social psychologist and criminologist whose work leverages interdisciplinary approaches to policy theory and practice in the pursuit of justice and equity within institutions of policing and corrections. Drawing on social histories of crime and punishment, as well as the environments of public media and representation in which opinions and beliefs and crime and justice are formed, Haney and his students examine the personal and social histories, the psychological effects of incarceration, and the complex mechanisms in which criminal justice occurs.

Solidarities for Justice
2022-03-02 16:00 - 17:30
We are one people, one family, the human family, and what affects one of us affects us all.” ― John Lewis

This event is part of the 2022 event series “Necessary Trouble: Thinking with the Legacy of John R. Lewis.” In anticipation and in honor of the dedication of John R. Lewis College at the UC Santa Cruz, the Division of Social Sciences, Colleges Nine and Ten, the Institute for Social Transformation, and the Center for Racial Justice are organizing five events centered on topics exemplified by the life of Representative John Lewis.

To learn more about this event, its speakers, and the other events in the series please visit the series page below.

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War in Ukraine: Background, Context, Prospects and Implications
2022-03-04 12:00 - 13:30
On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded its neighbor Ukraine, a former republic of the USSR and today an independent, democratic country. Join a panel of UC Santa Cruz faculty, PhD students, and alumni who will discuss the historical and political context for Russia’s war in and on Ukraine, tension with NATO, broader Russian efforts at territorial expansion and destabilization, and responses by Ukrainians and the global community. Topics include the geopolitical history of the region, Russian media politics, the legacy of Soviet ideals of multinationalism and “brotherhood,” shifting registers of “Europeanness,” and responses by the European Union, other formerly Soviet republics, and China.

Co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Transformation, The Humanities Institute, and the Arts Research Institute at UC Santa Cruz.

“An African-American’s Support for Ukrainian Independence” (open source article for free distribution)March 15, 2022 By John Brown Childs Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz and Editor, Transcommunal Cooperation News

Video Recording:

A Conversation with UC Santa Cruz Experts:

Jonathan Beecher Jonathan Beecher, Professor Emeritus of History at UC Santa Cruz, is a European intellectual historian specializing in 19th-century France and Russia. He received a PhD from Harvard and studied for two years at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. He has published intellectual biographies of the early French Utopian socialists, Charles Fourier and Victor Considerant and, most recently, “Writers and Revolution: Intellectuals and the French Revolution of 1848” (Cambridge, 2021).

Rikki Brown Rikki Brown is a PhD candidate in Socio-Cultural Anthropology at UC Santa Cruz. Her research interests are viticulture, national identity, and heritage in the Republic of Georgia. She also serves on the board for the Graduate Association of Food Studies. Prior to beginning her PhD, Rikki studied and worked in the post-Soviet space, including employment with American Councils for International Education and the Eurasia Foundation.

Melissa L. Caldwell Melissa L. Caldwell is Professor of Anthropology at UC Santa Cruz. Her ethnographic research in Russia examines socioeconomic stratification, civic engagement, and social justice movements in postsocialist societies. Most recently, she has been conducting research on activist hacking communities in formerly state socialist societies.

Peter Kenez Peter Kenez is Professor Emeritus of History at UC Santa Cruz. A founding faculty member of UCSC’s Stevenson College, Professor Kenez received his PhD from Harvard University. His research interests include Russian history, Eastern Europe, 20th-century Europe and Soviet film. Professor Kenez is a native of Hungary and a Holocaust survivor. He is the author of eight books, including A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End and the autobiographical Varieties of Fear: Growing Up Jewish Under Nazism and Communism. His most recent work is entitled From Antisemitism to Genocide; the Origins of the Holocaust.

Tanya Merchant Tanya Merchant, Associate Professor of Music at UC Santa Cruz, is an ethnomusicologist whose research interests include music’s intersection with issues of nationalism, gender, identity, and the post-colonial situation. With a geographical focus on Central Asia and the Balkans, she has conducted fieldwork in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia, the United States, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her book, Women Musicians of Uzbekistan: From Courtyard to Conservatory, was published in 2015 by the University of Illinois Press.

Lincoln Mitchell Lincoln Mitchell is a political analyst, pundit, and writer based in New York City and San Francisco. A frequent contributor to CNN Opinion, NBC News, the San Francisco Examiner, and Brussels Morning, Dr. Mitchell writes and researches on the politics of the former Soviet Union and democratic rollback in the USA. Dr. Mitchell teaches in the School of International and Public Affairs and the political science department at Columbia University and is an affiliate with Columbia’s Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. Dr. Mitchell earned his BA from UC Santa Cruz and his PhD from Columbia University.

Ben Read Ben Read is Professor and Department Chair of Politics at UC Santa Cruz, where he teaches courses on China’s domestic politics and its rise to global prominence, as well as East Asian politics and other topics. His research focuses on local governance in China and Taiwan, and he also writes about issues and techniques in field research and comparison. He co-edits the Cambridge Elements series in Politics and Society in East Asia.

April L. Reber April L. Reber is a PhD candidate in the Anthropology department at UC Santa Cruz. She researches performativity and radical and normative politics in Europe and her research approach includes sound and visual methodologies. She has presented on topics including tropes of the former East German government, radical politics in Germany, and Covid conspiratorial rhetoric. Recently, she has conducted research on conspiratorial networks and middle-class radicalism in Germany.

Daria Saprykina Daria Saprykina is a PhD Candidate in Politics at UC Santa Cruz. Her areas of interest lie in international relations, politics in the post-Soviet space, and the political role of the media. Her research focuses on the relationship between the media and the government in post-Soviet countries and shifts in official narratives and public opinion in Russia post-2014.

Roger Schoenman Roger Schoenman is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Politics at UC Santa Cruz. His research explores the political economy of post-communism. Most recently, he has been writing about the economic ideas and policies of populist governments in East Central Europe.

Norris Center for Natural History: Symposium at the UCSC Arboretum
2022-03-06 12:00
This coming year will mark the 50th spring since Ken Norris started the first natural history field course at UC Santa Cruz. To commemorate this remarkable milestone, the Norris Center is planning a series of events this year: 50 Years of Wonder, Celebrating the First Half Century of Natural History at UC Santa Cruz. This is the second of four events. These events will culminate in a large in-person gathering on June 3–5, 2022.

Come spend time with your peers, local alumni, and community members for an afternoon of Natural History exploration in the Arboretum. Featuring a keynote speech by Environmental Studies Assistant Professor Dr. Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela. Light snacks will be provided.

This event is co-sponsored by the Norris Center for Natural History, the Institute for Social Transformation, Rachel Carson College, and John Lewis College.

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Dr. Natalia Ocampo-PeñuelaAssistant Professor of Environmental Studies Dr. Ocampo-Peñuela is an Assistant Professor of Field Conservation Ecology in the Environmental Studies Department at the University of California Santa Cruz. The research group Dr. Ocampo-Peñuela leads focuses on several aspects of Conservation Ecology such as spatial modelling, urban conservation, biodiversity hotspots, birds, ecosystem services, animal tracking, among others. Her biggest passion in life is birds, and she spends her research and leisure time studying and enjoying them. She was born in Colombia and have focused most of her research on this amazing biodiversity hotspot. Learn more about Dr. Ocampo-Peñuela and her work on her website.

Amartya Sen: “Can the World Really be our Home?”
2022-03-06 16:30 - 18:00
The 2022 Sidhartha Maitra Memorial Lecture featuring Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen, in conversation with UC Santa Cruz History of Consciousness Professor Massimiliano Tomba and Dr. Anuradha Luther Maitra, UC Santa Cruz Foundation Board Trustee.

The Maitra Lecture Series on Humanism, Reason, and Tolerance, established in 2001, seeks to enrich the intellectual life of UC Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz community. This premier campus event series is made possible thanks to the Sidhartha Maitra Memorial Lecture endowment.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for South Asian Studies at UC Santa Cruz.

Amartya Sen Amartya Sen, professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University, has been called the “conscience of his profession” for his work on famine, poverty, gender inequality, human development theory, and welfare economics. He is a distinguished economist philosopher who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998. From 1998 to 2004, he was Master of Trinity College at Cambridge University, becoming the first Indian academic to head an Oxbridge college. He has received over 80 honorary doctorates, and his books have been translated into more than 30 languages. His many books include Development as Freedom, The Argumentative Indian, Identity and Violence, The Idea of Justice, and his newly published memoir, Home in the World. Sen’s numerous awards include Bharat Ratna (India’s highest civilian award); Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur (France); the National Humanities Medal (USA); Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico (Brazil); Honorary Companion of Honour (UK); Aztec Eagle (Mexico); Edinburgh Medal (UK); the George Marshall Award (USA); the Eisenhower Medal (USA); and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Germany). He has served as President of the Econometric Society, the American Economic Association, the Indian Economic Association, and the International Economic Association. Sen previously spoke on “The Tyranny of Identity” at the UCSC Maitra Lecture in 2006.

Expanding Diversity and Gender Equity (EDGE) in Tech Symposium: Advancing Climate Change Resilience
2022-03-10 09:00 - 2022-03-11 13:00
How can we engage diverse talent in the high-growth climate tech sector and lead the way toward environmental justice and equitable, sustainable solutions for the next generation?

Now in its sixth year, the annual Diversity in Tech Symposium (formerly Women in Tech) will highlight the experiences of experts working to advance innovation in clean energy, water conservation, food systems, disaster prediction, sustainable manufacturing and many other areas within their organizations.

Join us for this event devoted to world-changing technologies featuring a climate tech fireside chat with E. Natasha Stavros of the University of Colorado Boulder and Tsu-Jae King Liu of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering, keynote talk by Margot Brown of Environmental Justice & Equity Initiatives at the Environmental Defense Fund, featured panels, deep-dive breakout sessions with tech companies, a student career fair, and more.

A panel titled “Ocean Innovation: Tech Interventions for the Health of Our Global Waters” will feature UCSC Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Coastal Science & Policy Program Anne Kapuscinski, as well as researchers from Sandia Nat’l Labs and MBARI.

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Students can email Michael Matkin (mmatkin@ucsc.edu), Assistant Director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute at UC Santa Cruz for discounted or FREE tickets.

2022 Latino Role Models Virtual Conference
2022-03-12 09:00 - 12:30
The Latino Role Models Conference is a free conference is designed to inspire students in grades 6 through college to achieve their dreams for college and career. Presentations center the experiences of Latino professionals, students, parents and community leaders who share the barriers they have overcome and strategies to persevere. This conference will be conducted in Spanish with English translation. Parents and guardians are strongly encouraged to participate. The conference includes presentations that provide parents with information about post secondary options and strategies for supporting their students.

Featured presenters will include:

Dolores Huerta, keynote speakerDr. Violeta Barroso, family physician with Kaiser PermanenteFrancisco “Paco” Estrada, Co-Executive Director, FoodWhat?!; former Watsonville Mayor and City Council MemberAlex Santana, Video Production Manager at Digital NestKristen Silva, software engineer with IntuitErandi Garcia, formerly of Telemundo will moderate the conference

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The Latino Role Models Conference was created by Senderos in 2010 and is now presented in collaboration with: Cabrillo College; Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County; Consulado General de México en San José; Greater Opportunities for Adult Learning (GOAL); Kaiser Permanente; Live Oak School District, Pajaro Valley Unified School District; San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District; Santa Cruz City Schools; Santa Cruz County Office of Education; Santa Cruz County College Commitment; Senderos; Soquel Union Elementary School District; UC Santa Cruz. The event is co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Transformation.

Dolores HuertaKeynote speaker Dolores Huerta is a civil rights activist and community organizer. She has worked for labor rights and social justice for over 60 years. In 1962, she and Cesar Chavez founded the United Farm Workers labor union. She served as Vice President and played a critical role in many of the union’s accomplishments for four decades. In 2002, she received the Puffin/Nation $100,000 prize for Creative Citizenship which she used to establish the Dolores Huerta Foundation (DHF). DHF is connecting groundbreaking community-based organizing to state and national movements to register and educate voters; advocate for education reform; bring about infrastructure improvements in low-income communities; advocate for greater equality for the LGBT community; and create strong leadership development. She has received numerous awards: among them The Eleanor Roosevelt Humans Rights Award from President Clinton in 1998. In 2012 President Obama bestowed Dolores with The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Holistic Digital Security and Early Career Human Rights Researchers: Inspiring Industry Change
2022-03-29 12:00 - 13:30
The webinar “Holistic Digital Security and Early Career Human Rights Researchers: Inspiring Industry Change” will bring together panelists from academia, industry, and non-profits to discuss the external threats facing digital investigators from under-represented communities and ways to counter those challenges. Addressing the issue of digital security within the field of human rights investigations requires both an awareness of the problems and an industry that is willing to strive towards equity and inclusion. Join us as we discuss the work of the Human Rights Investigations Lab at the Human Rights Center (UC Berkeley) and the Research Center for the Americas (UC Santa Cruz) and hear from early career professionals on inspiring industry change.

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Segment 1: Defining Holistic Security Panelists: Steve Trush (Owner/Founder of West County Labs), Rachael Cornejo (Consultant, Cyber & Strategic Risk, Deloitte), and Pearlé Nwaezeigwe (Product Policy Manager SSA at TikTok) Moderator: Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley

Segment 2: Inspiring Industry Change Panelists: Karin Goh (Senior Software Engineer at Salesforce) and Leigh Honeywell (CEO and co-founder of Tall Poppy) Moderator: Sofia-Lissett Kooner, Lab Coordinator of the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley

Segment 3: Managing Security Risks & Well-Being Online Panelists: Abir Ghattas (Associate Director, Information Security of Human Rights Watch) and Nikita Gupta, resilience coach and expert with UCSC students Monica Mikhail and Sydney Eliot. Moderator: Sylvanna Falcón, Director of the Research Center for the Americas, UC Santa Cruz

Social Movements for a Just Society
2022-03-30 16:00 - 17:30
A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few. Ignoring these cries and failing to respond to this movement is simply not an option — for peace cannot exist where justice is not served.” ― John Lewis, on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

This event is part of the 2022 event series “Necessary Trouble: Thinking with the Legacy of John R. Lewis.” In anticipation and in honor of the dedication of John R. Lewis College at the UC Santa Cruz, the Division of Social Sciences, Colleges Nine and Ten, the Institute for Social Transformation, and the Center for Racial Justice are organizing five events centered on topics exemplified by the life of Representative John Lewis.

To learn more about this event, its speakers, and the other events in the series please visit the series page below.

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Preventing the Next Pandemic, a book talk by Dr. Peter Hotez
2022-03-31 12:00 - 12:45
Global and Community Health at UCSC presents a book talk by Dr. Peter Hotez.

In Preventing the Next Pandemic, international vaccine scientist and tropical disease and coronavirus expert Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, argues that vaccine diplomacy is critical for addressing global health inequalities. At the same time, he is also a leader in using science to create global public goods, with his lab at Baylor College of Medicine creating a patent-free vaccine designed to overcome vaccine apartheid and universalize vaccination access globally. With all his work, Hotez highlights the importance of public engagement to communicate science during troubled times. In that same spirit, please join us for this talk and opportunity to engage with him directly.

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Dr. Peter Hotez, Preventing the Next Pandemic Modern diseases and viruses have been spurred anew by war and conflict as well as shifting poverty, urbanization, climate change, and a new troubling anti-science/anti-vaccination outlook. From such twenty-first-century forces, we have seen declines in previous global health gains, with sharp increases in vaccine-preventable and neglected diseases on the Arabian Peninsula, in Venezuela, in parts of Africa, and even on the Gulf Coast of the United States. In Preventing the Next Pandemic, international vaccine scientist and tropical disease and coronavirus expert Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, argues that we can—and must—rely on vaccine diplomacy to address this new world order in disease and global health. Detailing his years in the lab developing new vaccines, Hotez also recounts his travels around the world to shape vaccine partnerships with people in countries both rich and poor in an attempt to head off major health problems. Building on the legacy of Dr. Albert Sabin, who developed the oral polio vaccine with Soviet scientists at the height of the Cold War, he explains how he is still working to refresh and redirect vaccine diplomacy toward neglected and newly emerging diseases. Hotez reveals how—during his Obama-era tenure as the US Science Envoy for the Middle East and North Africa, which coincided with both the rise in these geopolitical forces and climate change—he witnessed tropical infectious diseases and established vaccine partnerships that may still combat them up close. He explores why, since 2015, we’ve seen the decline of global cooperation and cohesion, to the detriment of those programs that are meant to benefit the most vulnerable people in the world. Unfortunately, Hotez asserts, these negative global events kick off a never-ending loop. Problems in a country may lead to disease outbreaks, but those outbreaks can lead to further problems—such as the impact of coronavirus on China’s society and economy, which has been felt around the globe. Zeroing in on the sociopolitical and environmental factors that drive our most controversial and pressing global health concerns, Hotez proposes historically proven methods to soothe fraught international relations while preparing us for a safer, healthier future. He hammers home the importance of public engagement to communicate the urgency of embracing science during troubled times. Touching on a range of disease, from leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) to COVID-19, Preventing the Next Pandemic has always been a timely goal, but it will be even more important in a COVID and post-COVID world.

Transforming Structures of Whiteness in University Leadership Day 2: Calling Out Whiteness In University Structures of Leadership
2022-04-01 12:00 - 13:30
Centering the voices and lived experiences of faculty of color (FOC) is critical for exposing and transforming problematic structures of university leadership. From a brief research talk, audiences will learn how FOC navigate and reform structures of Whiteness in leadership. Interactive discussion with divisional deans will follow, with goals of understanding how to bolster the leadership efforts of FOC and undo structures of Whiteness. Presented by the Center for Racial Justice.

Register here via Zoom

Featured Speakers:

Rebecca Covarrubias, Assistant Professor of PsychologyKatherine Quinteros, Graduate Student, Department of Psychology

Read their Research Paper here >>

#WeChooseNow: Climate Justice From the Southern Frontlines
2022-04-04 17:30 - 19:00
UC Santa Cruz Merrill Cultural Center or Virtual, free admission

Signs of the climate crisis are everywhere–from record wildfires, drought scorching the west, intensified hurricanes lashing the south, and rising oceans threatening coastal communities around the globe. At the same time, in recent years we have witnessed profound assaults on democracy and human rights–from a violent insurrection in D.C. to restriction on people’s human right to healthcare, amidst a global pandemic that is exacerbating economic and health apartheid favoring the Global North over the Global South.

For more than two decades, Colette Pichon Battle has been on the frontlines in the Gulf South fighting for climate justice and a just transition to a just economy as the Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy. Helping to lead a wide range of initiatives, Colette has been at the forefront of movements for building more sustainable economics and achieving justice for all. Colette was the lead organizer of Gulf South Rising highlighting the impact of the global climate crisis on the Gulf South region, the co-chair of the national Water Equity and Climate Resilience Caucus, is the lead architect of the Gulf South for Green New Deal, Southern Communities for Green New Deal with the Southeast Climate & Energy Network and the national Red, Black & Green New Deal with the Movement for Black Lives.

In this event, a conversation with UC Santa Cruz professor Flora Lu and graduate student Chris Lang, Colette will discuss the urgent need: to stop investing in the same extractive industries that divide and harm us; to demand that corporations pay their fair share on an equitable and transformative recovery; to rebuild our communities better; and to act from a position of love and abundance together.

Presented by: Institute for Social Transformation, John R. Lewis College, People of Color Sustainability Collective, and the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at UC Santa Cruz. This event is made possible with generous support from the Kamieniecki Lecture Fund Endowment.

Join us in person

We are excited to welcome people in person! Attendance is limited to the first 100 to RSVP, register early to ensure your seat. This is a hybrid event, presented both in-person and virtually.

Join us virtually

*Please note that UC Santa Cruz has COVID-19 guidelines for in-person events. When you arrive, you will be asked to provide proof of vaccination OR a recent negative COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours of the start of the event (must be a lab PCR test; home tests/antigen tests are not valid). Guests are also required to wear masks and complete a symptom check form online the day you arrive on campus.

Guest Speakers:

Colette Pichon Battle Colette Pichon Battle is a generational native of Bayou Liberty, Louisiana. As founder and Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy (GCCLP), she develops programming focused on equitable disaster recovery, global migration, community economic development, climate justice, and energy democracy. She has received multiple awards and honors, including being selected as an Echoing Green Climate Fellow and a Margaret Burroughs Community Fellow, and being named a White House Champion of Change for Climate Equity, and later an Obama Fellow for her work with Black and Native communities on the frontline of climate change. Colette was a lead coordinator for Gulf South Rising 2015, a regional initiative around climate justice and just transition in the South. Under Colette’s leadership, the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy serves on the governance council of the Southern Movement Assembly, co-chairs the national Water Equity and Climate Resilient Caucus with PolicyLink, serves on the steering committee of the Ocean Justice Forum, and anchors the 5-state, multi-issue initiative Gulf South for a Green New Deal. Colette was the lead architect of the 13-state Southern Communities for Green New Deal with the Southeast Climate & Energy Network and the Red, Black & Green New Deal, the national climate initiative for the Movement for Black Lives. Colette chairs the Equity Advisory Group of the Louisiana Governor’s Climate Initiative Task Force, advises the Kataly Foundation’s Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective, serves on the boards of the US Climate Action Network, Center for Constitutional Rights, Highlander Research Education Center, and Healthy Gulf, is a member of the Movement for Black Lives policy table leadership team and the Resilience Roadmap project steering committee.

Flora Lu Flora Lu is the Pepper-Giberson Endowed Chair, Professor of Environmental Studies, and Provost of Colleges Nine and Ten (soon to be named John R. Lewis College) at UC Santa Cruz. She earned her B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As an ecological anthropologist, Flora is interested in human/environment dynamics in tropical rainforests, the political economy of oil extraction, resource governance, household economics, and environmental justice.

Chris Lang Chris Lang (he/him) is a graduate student in Environmental Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at UC Santa Cruz. Through plastic, he explores the ways that physical waste is racialized across nodes of the supply chain. Chris documents how petrochemical and industrial animal industries re-enact anti-Blackness, patriarchal white supremacy, settler coloniality, speciesism, and ecocide. While problematizing the neoliberal exclusivity of ethical consumer movements, he foregrounds the liberating potential of collective zero waste, plant-based praxes to assist the efforts of abolition and decolonization.

Pathways to Thriving Communities
2022-04-06 16:00 - 17:30
These young people are saying we all have a right to know what is in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, and the food we eat. It is our responsibility to leave this planet cleaner and greener. That must be our legacy.” ― John Lewis

This event is part of the 2022 event series “Necessary Trouble: Thinking with the Legacy of John R. Lewis.” In anticipation and in honor of the dedication of John R. Lewis College at the UC Santa Cruz, the Division of Social Sciences, Colleges Nine and Ten, the Institute for Social Transformation, and the Center for Racial Justice are organizing five events centered on topics exemplified by the life of Representative John Lewis.

To learn more about this event, its speakers, and the other events in the series please visit the series page below.

Learn More

Bookshop Santa Cruz Presents: Reyna Grande | A Ballad of Love and Glory
2022-04-07 19:00 - 20:30
“Panoramic and sweeping, A Ballad of Love and Glory immerses us in the history of the Mexican-American War, a history all the more relevant today as we face the legacy and painful aftermath of that bloody war. Grande integrates a sweeping Tolstoyan vision and command of language with her very own Latin American popular traditions . . . This is indeed a grand and soulful novel by a storyteller who has hit her full stride.” —Julia Alvarez, bestselling author of In the Time of the Butterflies and Afterlife.

Reyna Grande will be in conversation with UCSC professors Sylvanna Falcon and Micah Perks.

This event is cosponsored by The Research Center for the Americas and The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz.

This event is FREE to UCSC students. To register, click on the UCSC Students Only registration link below.

The event is in-person only; no streaming option is available at this time, and the event will not be recorded.

General Registration

UCSC Students Only

Reyna Grande Reyna Grande is an award-winning author, motivational speaker, and writing teacher. As a young girl, she crossed the US-Mexico border to join her family in Los Angeles, a harrowing journey chronicled in The Distance Between Us, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Her other books include the novels A Ballad of Love and Glory, Across a Hundred Mountains, and Dancing with Butterflies, the memoirs The Distance Between Us: Young Readers Edition, and A Dream Called Home, and the anthology Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings. She lives in Woodland, California, with her husband and two children. Visit ReynaGrande.com for more information.

Watsonville is in the Heart: Digital Archive Launch & Community Talk Story
2022-04-09 19:00 - 22:00
You are warmly invited to celebrate the launch of the Watsonville is in the Heart Digital Archive. The new archive features oral history recordings, original documents, and family artifacts that capture the rich history of Filipino life and labor in California’s Pajaro Valley. This event is FREE and open to the public, refreshments will be provided.

Come to learn more about the UCSC Watsonville is in the Heart research initiative and its partnership with The Tobera Project, and share in conversation with Watsonville community members working to uplift stories of the manong generation, the first wave of Filipino workers to arrive in the United States at the start of the twentieth century.

The digital archive launch will include a presentation of the digital archive website and a Talk Story panel, “Women of the Pajaro Valley.” The panel will highlight three community members at the forefront of this memory-preservation work: Juanita Sulay Wilson, Eva Alminiana Monroe, and Antoinette DeOcampo Lechtenberg.

The evening will include pop-up exhibitions curated by THI Undergraduate Fellows, Markus Faye Portacio and Katrina Pagaduan. Guests will be able to explore the digital archive using interactive stations and meet with members of Watsonville is in the Heart and The Tobera Project.

This event is sponsored by the University Library, California Humanities, The Humanities Institute, and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.

Register

This event is made possible with generous support from: California Humanities; the University of California Santa Cruz, University Library, The Humanities Institute, the Social Sciences Division, and UCSC AAPI Faculty and Staff Group; the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History; and the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County. The event will be held in-person. We kindly ask that all attendees show proof of vaccination, wear a mask, and fill out a symptom questionnaire on the day of the event.

Eva Alminiana Monroe Eva Alminiana Monroe is the daughter of Filipino immigrants who first arrived in California at the start of the twentieth century. Her father, Amando Ocampo Alminiana, settled in Watsonville in the early 1930s and operated Universal Barbershop, one of the few Filipino-owned businesses in the agricultural town. After serving in the US Army during World War II, Amando met and married Eva’s mother in Manila. Over the last two years, Eva has participated in numerous oral history interviews and has shared family artifacts with the WIITH team.

Antoinette DeOcampo Lechtenberg Antoinette DeOcampo Lechtenberg is the child of manong Paul “Skippy” Tabalan DeOcampo and Texas-native Gloria Molina DeOcampo. Her father migrated on a stow-away ship from Ilocos Sur in the Philippines in 1928. Along with two other siblings, Antoinette grew up in the agricultural town of Aromas, seven miles from Watsonville. She practices as an herbalist with a deep connection to the soil, agricultural history, and manong narratives.

Juanita Sulay Wilson Juanita Sulay Wilson is the daughter of Mamerto Agustin “Max” Sulay and Virginia Alice Viner. Her father was a migrant foreman who followed the agricultural seasons in the Pajaro and Salinas valleys as well as in San Luis Obispo, Imperial, Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Barbara counties. The eldest of six children, Juanita spent the first two years of her life in a labor camp on Rowe Ranch in Pajaro before moving with her family to the northern town limit of Watsonville. For over forty years, she was a classroom aide for San Francisco Unified School District.

Students as Agents of Transformative Change
2022-04-13 16:00 - 17:30
Every generation leaves behind a legacy. What that legacy will be is determined by the people of that generation. What legacy do you want to leave behind?” ― John Lewis, from Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America

This event is part of the 2022 event series “Necessary Trouble: Thinking with the Legacy of John R. Lewis.” In anticipation and in honor of the dedication of John R. Lewis College at the UC Santa Cruz, the Division of Social Sciences, Colleges Nine and Ten, the Institute for Social Transformation, and the Center for Racial Justice are organizing five events centered on topics exemplified by the life of Representative John Lewis.

To learn more about this event, its speakers, and the other events in the series please visit the series page below.

Learn More

Growing Up Latinx: Coming of Age in a Time of Contested Citizenship
2022-04-18 15:30 - 16:30
An in-person event featuring Dr. Jesica Siham Fernández, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Santa Clara University, on her new book Growing Up Latinx: Coming of Age in a Time of Contested Citizenship (New York University Press).

This event is part of the Research Center for the Americas (RCA) Mobilities and Belonging event series, promoting meaningful conversations at UC Santa Cruz and beyond, the RCA invites you to join us for a series of programs and events that explore this theme.

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Alumni Week 2022
2022-04-19 17:00 - 2022-04-24 19:00
Celebrating Alumni Voices with both virtual and in-person events—a mixtape of our favorite hits we’ve made just for you! For a full list of events, visit the Alumni Week website here.

Register

Featured Social Sciences Events:

Tuesday, April 19 Weird Science Reunion, with Psychology Professor Jeannie Fox Tree

Wednesday, April 20 Banana Slug Share: How to Foster Belongingness in Your Life, with Psychology and CRES alum Sareil Brookins

Thursday, April 21 Banana Slug Share: Exploration of Nature & Banana Slugs, lead by Environmental Studies alum Sarah Angulo LALS Alumni Online Gathering

Saturday, April 23 Confronting Climate Change Conference – Climate Action Market, hosted at the Seymour Center Cultivating Food Access and Student Success at the Cowell Coffee Shop, lead by the Center for Agroecology Tour of UCSC Farm and Garden, hosted by the Center for Agroecology

Social Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award: A conversation with Ricky Bluthenthal
2022-04-20 16:00 - 17:00
The Division of Social Sciences is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2022 Social Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award, Ricky Bluthenthal. Currently serving as Associate Dean for Social Justice, Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and the Institute for Prevention Research at the USC Keck School of Medicine, Bluthenthal received a B.A. in History and Sociology from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California Berkeley.

A steadfast champion of health justice and equity for African Americans, unhoused people, sex workers, and others from marginalized groups, Bluthenthal has also long championed the identification, support, representation, and success of people of color in academia and is committed to imparting equity and justice as fundamental attributes of all careers in medicine. He has designed and taught numerous pioneering courses at USC Keck School of Medicine that require aspirant clinical practitioners to recognize and consider both the human dignity of and the social determinants that inform health outcomes for indigent, low-income, and other marginalized patients.

His exceptional career at the intersection of sociology and public health exemplifies the power of academic research, teaching, mentorship, and leadership to inform social and health justice for African Americans and others from marginalized communities.

We hope you will join us on April 20, 4–5 p.m. to honor Ricky Bluthenthal as this year’s Social Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. He will be joined in conversation by Assistant Professor of Sociology Naya Jones and Assistant Professor of Sociology Alicia Riley.

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Ricky Bluthenthal Ricky N. Bluthenthal, Ph.D., is a professor in the department of Population and Public Health Sciences (DPPHS), Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Associate Dean for Social Justice in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.

Naya Jones Naya Jones, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of sociology at UC Santa Cruz, as well as a critical geographer and cultural worker. She is a core faculty member in the Global and Community Health Program. Through research and creative practice, she studies Black geographies of health, ecologies, and healing in the context of spatial injustice.

Alicia Riley Alicia Riley, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of sociology and a core faculty member of the Global and Community Health program at UC Santa Cruz. As a sociologist, she studies how the health effects of structural inequality can be modified through policy. In addition to her research and teaching on health inequality, she has a longstanding interest in border health and migration.

Norris Center for Natural History: Alumni Week Career Panel
2022-04-21 17:30 - 19:00
This coming year will mark the 50th spring since Ken Norris started the first natural history field course at UC Santa Cruz. To commemorate this remarkable milestone, the Norris Center is planning a series of events this year: 50 Years of Wonder, Celebrating the First Half Century of Natural History at UC Santa Cruz. This is the third of four events. These events will culminate in a large in-person gathering on June 3–5, 2022.

Attend an evening panel with early to later career alumni working in diverse natural history-related fields. Come find out what a job in the Natural History world really looks like.

This event is co-sponsored by the Norris Center for Natural History, the Institute for Social Transformation, Rachel Carson College, and John Lewis College.

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Confronting Climate Change Conference - Responding to the impacts of climate change in Santa Cruz County
2022-04-21 18:00 - 19:30
Confronting Climate Change is an annual public lecture series that brings together scientists, artists, policy experts, and community members to discuss our planet’s wellbeing and share solutions for our future.

Please join us on Thursday, April 21 at 6p.m. for a deep dive into climate impacts at home here on the central coast and around the world with UC Santa Cruz scientists and community leaders in conservation, climate resilience, and sustainability.

Join us on Friday, April 22 at 6p.m. for the exhibit Strange Weather, which brings together works by influential artists from the 20th and 21st century that creatively illuminate and reframe the boundaries of bodies and the environment.

And join us on Saturday, April 23 from 10a.m. to 2p.m. for the Climate Action Market, a science-meets-community-action festival.

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April 21 Panelists

Borja Reguero UC Santa Cruz Borja G. Reguero is an associate research professor at the University of California Santa Cruz. His work spans areas of climate change in coastal areas, socioeconomic impacts of coastal hazards, and climate resilience and adaptation. His research is centered on ocean waves, climate change, the physical processes that govern coastal flooding and erosion, and how ecosystems influence them, including how environmental degradation contributes to climate risks.

Sherry Flumerfelt Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust Sherry Flumerfelt is the executive director of the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust. She has spent the last two decades working with coastal communities to find the balance between environmental and economic sustainability. She also spent eight years as a consultant on a range of fisheries and conservation projects, supporting clients such as the Environmental Defense Fund, CATCH Alaska (halibut charter operators), the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, Ecotrust, and the California Fisheries Fund.

Valentin Lopez Amah Mutsun Tribal Band Valentin Lopez is the Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. He is a Native American Advisor to the University of California, Office of the President on issues related to repatriation. He is also a Native American Advisor to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Chairman Lopez is working to restore the Mutsun language and is actively involved in efforts to restore tribal indigenous knowledge and ensure that tribal history is accurately told.

Katherine Seto UC Santa Cruz Katherine Seto is an assistant professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz. Her research lies at the intersection of political ecology, governance theory, and sustainability science. Using frameworks from these fields, her research investigates the equity, sustainability, and governance of marine and coastal systems, and the reciprocal relationship they have with human wellbeing and conflict.

Sikina Jinnah UC Santa Cruz Sikina Jinnah is an associate professor of environmental studies and an affiliated graduate faculty of politics at UC Santa Cruz. She is also an 2017 Andrew Carnegie Fellow, co-editor of the journal Environmental Politics, and a member of the Advisory Committee for Harvard University’s Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx). Her research focuses on global environmental governance, with a focus on climate change, solar geoengineering, and the nexus between international trade and environmental politics.

UCSC Earth Day Rally
2022-04-22 09:00 - 17:00
The UCSC climate coalition (a student and faculty climate group on campus) are organizing one of the biggest days of action for the climate that our campus has seen. On earth day, 4/22, dozens of UC faculty and local politicians are holding a teach-in, which is open for anyone to attend (schedule below). We are then rallying at the Quarry Plaza with 2 central demands.

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Confronting Climate Change Conference - Climate Action Market
2022-04-23 10:00 - 16:00
Dozens of researchers, nonprofits, businesses, and public agencies will set up booths so that you can learn what environmental work is happening right here in our community and how you can get involved. Enjoy food, music, and games alongside science and climate action.

Learn about the science happening to understand the impacts of climate change on the oceans and our local coastal climate. Booths will be filled with scientists, civic partners, community organizations, and businesses sharing what they’re doing to understand and/or act to achieve healthy marine, coastal ecosystems and human communities. A full list of market participants can be found here.

The community festival will be hosted both inside and outside the Seymour Center. To visit the inside of the Seymour Center, our admission prices are: Adult $11; Senior (65 and older) $10; Student (with ID) $8; Child (3-17) $8; Toddler (2 and under) Free; Members Free; UC Santa Cruz undergraduate with valid ID Free.

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Radical Healing for Internal, Interpersonal, and Institutional Transformation with Tessa Hicks Peterson
2022-04-26 09:30 - 11:00
This Imagining America Teaching & Learning Circle Study Group is an intimate space for IA members to learn from leaders and peers in the IA network taking on the challenging and hopeful work of institutional culture change. This month’s Study Group features Tessa Hicks Peterson.

Many in the world today suffer from traumas of violence, neglect, and abuse as well as injustices borne of prejudice and discrimination. Likewise, many have inherited or cultivated tools and practices for extraordinary resilience. Furthermore, many of those most directly impacted are called to work on the very issues that have harmed them most. Thus, there is a critical need for healing as a pillar of our work for change– both internally and in the external systems in which we operate. Radical healing will help bolster not only our own capacity for wellness, joy, and compassion, but also make our work for social change more sustainable, resilient, and effectiveness. In this workshop, we will explore concepts, tools and practices for greater healing in our work for personal and social change.

Tessa Hicks Peterson is a scholar activist, teacher, and community-builder. She is the Assistant Vice President of Community Engagement and Associate Professor of Urban Studies at Pitzer College. She has a Masters and PhD in Cultural Studies from Claremont Graduate University and a BA in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz. Tessa teaches classes and facilitates trainings on issues ranging from anti-bias education and social justice to empowerment through movement, mindfulness, and art. Her current scholarship centers on transformative movement organizing and healing justice, community-based education and research, and prison education and abolition. She has over 20 years of experience as a practitioner of Afro-Brazilian dance and yoga. Her ultimate work in the world is to engage with, teach about, learn from and better connect healing*arts*education*justice.

Register here

UC Santa Cruz is an IA member. Anyone with a ucsc.edu email can register including students, faculty, and staff. Select University of California, Santa Cruz from the drop down member list.
