UCSC Institute for Social Transformation

Dissertation Dish
2022-12-01 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Evaluating Engaged Research in Promotion and Tenure: Not Everything that Counts Can Be Counted

Lauren Wendling, Director of Institutional Success at Collaboratory

This study investigated how school- and department-level promotion and tenure committees not only define and understand faculty’s engaged research, but how they evaluate it. This study explored what goes into making evaluative decisions, if/how committees utilize tools for evaluation, and how evaluative decisions are made. In this single case multi-site qualitative study 12 participants across five R1 institutions classified as engaged by the Carnegie Foundation, participated in semi-structured interviews. All participants were tenured, engaged scholars with experience serving on a school- and/or department-level promotion and tenure review committee.

Register Here

If you missed our previous Dissertation Dish webinars, please click here to access it on our youtube channel! If you have recently completed your dissertation and are interested in being featured on a Dissertation Dish, please complete this submission form.

The Dissertation Dish is a collaboration between the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE), Imagining America, and LEAD California (formerly California Campus Compact). Dissertation Dish webinars are meant for all audiences, from seasoned scholars to practitioners to graduate students, as well as journal editors or conference organizers seeking scholars to present the most current and innovative research. Dissertation Dish will highlight quality emerging research in the field of service learning and community engagement by providing a platform for recent doctoral degree recipients to share their work more broadly. We invite you to join us!

POSTPONED: Douglas Brinkley: Silent Spring Revolution
2022-12-01 18:00
POSTPONED – THIS EVENT WILL BE RESCHEDULED

New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed presidential historian Douglas Brinkley will present his new book Silent Spring Revolution, which chronicles the rise of environmental activism during the Long Sixties (1960-1973), on December 1 at the UC Santa Cruz Cowell Ranch Hay Barn. The book tells the story of an indomitable generation that saved the natural world under the leadership of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. Brinkley will be joined by State Senator John Laird for a question and answer session, including questions from the audience.

Presented by The Humanities Institute and Bookshop Santa Cruz. Co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Transformation.

With the detonation of the Trinity explosion in the New Mexico desert in 1945, the United States took control of Earth’s destiny for the first time. After the Truman administration dropped atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II, a grim new epoch had arrived. During the early Cold War years, the federal government routinely detonated nuclear devices in the Nevada desert and the Marshall Islands. Not only was nuclear fallout a public health menace, but entire ecosystems were contaminated with radioactive materials. During the 1950s, an unprecedented postwar economic boom took hold, with America becoming the world’s leading hyperindustrial and military giant. But with this historic prosperity came a heavy cost: oceans began to die, wilderness vanished, the insecticide DDT poisoned ecosystems, wildlife perished, and chronic smog blighted major cities.

In Silent Spring Revolution, Douglas Brinkley pays tribute to those who combated the mauling of the natural world in the Long Sixties: Rachel Carson (a marine biologist and author), David Brower (director of the Sierra Club), Barry Commoner (an environmental justice advocate), Coretta Scott King (an antinuclear activist), Stewart Udall (the secretary of the interior), William O. Douglas (Supreme Court justice), Cesar Chavez (a labor organizer), and other crusaders are profiled with verve and insight.

Carson’s book Silent Spring, published in 1962, depicted how detrimental DDT was to living creatures. The exposé launched an ecological revolution that inspired such landmark legislation as the Wilderness Act (1964), the Clean Air Acts (1963 and 1970), and the Endangered Species Acts (1966, 1969, and 1973). In intimate detail, Brinkley extrapolates on such epic events as the Donora (Pennsylvania) smog incident, JFK’s Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Great Lakes preservation, the Santa Barbara oil spill, and the first Earth Day.

With the United States grappling with climate change and resource exhaustion, Douglas Brinkley’s meticulously researched and deftly written Silent Spring Revolution reminds us that a new generation of twenty-first-century environmentalists can save the planet from ruin.

Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, presidential historian for the New-York Historical Society, trustee of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “America’s New Past Master.” He is the recipient of such distinguished environmental leadership prizes as the Frances K. Hutchison Medal (Garden Club of America), Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks (National Parks Conservation Association), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Lifetime Heritage Award. His book The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He was awarded a Grammy for Presidential Suite and is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates in American studies. His two-volume, annotated Nixon Tapes recently won the Arthur S. Link-Warren F. Kuehl Prize. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and three children.

Venue | Location

Cowell Ranch Hay Barn, University of California, Santa Cruz

Doors at 5:30pm, Program beings at 6:00pm

Event logistics

Bicycling, car pooling, ridesharing, and public transportation are encouraged as parking is limited. If you drive to the event, please plan to park in UCSC Lot #115 or 116. To reach these lots, proceed through the main entrance to campus, continue up the hill from the information kiosk on Coolidge, then turn right at the Ranch View/Carriage House Road stoplight into the Carriage House/Campus Facilities parking lot. The Hay Barn is a 5-minute walk across the street from the parking lot. There will be directional signage to help you get to the correct parking lot and farm entrances. Overflow parking will be available at lot 122. Download a parking map here.

Rebellion, Reform, and the U.S. Punishment System with Jarrod Shanahan
2023-02-08 17:00
This hybrid event will be a conversation with scholar Jarrod Shanahan about the history of prisons and jails in New York, the present arrangement of the carceral state, and the 2020 rebellion. How do the histories of capitalism and the carceral state inform how we understand the radical challenges that emerged in the summer of 2020? What does the history of jail construction on Rikers Island have to teach those of us struggling for liberation in the here and now? And how do we understand the so-called reform efforts, flush with private foundation money, which speak the language of social justice and even abolitionism, but seek to construct new jails and further empower America’s cops?

Jarrod Shanahan is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Governors State University. He is the author of Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage (Verso, 2022) and co-author of States of Incarceration (Field Notes/Reaktion, 2022) with Zhandarka Kurti.

This event is free and open to the public.

Location: UC Santa Cruz, Humanities 1-Room 202 and on Zoom

Register here for the Zoom link

Sponsor: UCSC Center for Racial Justice

Contact for questions: Abby Cunniff, acunniff@ucsc.edu

Brazil's Social Movements and Lula's New Government: Challenges and Expectations
2023-02-09 13:00 - 14:30
This webinar will bring together Brazilian social activists and Right Livelihood Award Laureates Cassia Bechara of the Movement of the Landless Rural Workers / MST, and Chico Whitaker, co-founder of the World Social Forum, to discuss the challenges and expectations for Brazil’s social movements in light of the newly implemented presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that started on January 1st, 2023. One of the world’s most important leftist leaders, Lula will be serving as president of Brazil for the third time, after defeating by a narrow margin the far-right Jair Bolsonaro who ran for reelection in October 2022. Our guest speakers will examine the prospects for the poor, the working class, and the disenfranchised sectors of Brazil after the four devastating years of Bolsonaro’s government, marked by the return of widespread hunger, the surge of political violence, the devastation of the Amazon, and the reckless response to the COVID-19 pandemic that led to almost 700,000 deaths.

This event is offered in Portuguese with simultaneous translation to English.

Moderated by professor Patricia Pinho.

Sponsored by Right Livelihood and Huerta Center at UC Santa Cruz.

Register Here

Nate Hagens
2023-02-21 12:00 - 13:30
Nate Hagens is the Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF).

The Earth Futures Institute has invited Nate to give a lunchtime brown-bag seminar on Tuesday Feb 21 at UCSC in-person at the Center for Adaptive Optics, which is next to the Earth and Marine Sciences Building (map here). If you can’t attend in-person, you can join via this Zoom link.

"Dolores" Documentary with Friends of the Aptos Library
2023-02-21 18:00 - 20:00
A documentary about Dolores Huerta, co-founder—with César Chávez—of the precursor to the United Farmworkers union.

Introduction by Jerry Kay, longtime friend of Ms. Huerta.

Come a few minutes early so you can view a video display of the work of Aptos High School students, whose class assignment was to redesign the book cover for Mary Coin or use art to tell the story behind the photo. Student work will be judged by members of the Bookshop Santa Cruz staff and awards given to the top work.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Aptos Library.

Co-sponsored by The Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas at UC Santa Cruz

Location | Museum of Art and History, Garden Room, 705 Front Street, Santa Cruz

Register Here

39th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Convocation
2023-02-21 18:00 - 19:30
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 we welcome big data expert, math professor, and host of NOVA Wonders, Talithia Williams.

Register Here

Dry Farming Symposium
2023-02-23 09:00 - 15:00
As we confront the fragility of California’s water system, a crucial question emerges: how can we adapt to water scarcity without jeopardizing farmer livelihoods? Join farmers, researchers, technical assistance providers, and policy advocates as we discuss dry farming in this community of practice!

At this event, participants will:

Connect with other dry farm practitioners

Hear research updates from recent field experiments

Discuss dry farm management practices

Learn about varieties and breeding trials for tomatoes and other dry farmable crops

Explore water scarcity and potential water restrictions

Brainstorm barriers and potential policy solutions

…and more!

Sponsored by UCSC’s Center for Agroecology

Location | UCSC Hay Barn | 1008 Ranch View Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95064

There is no charge to attend this event. Lunch will be provided!

Pre-register at https://forms.gle/LHvhkfJCM8ixgJk67

Strengthening the Sixth in Santa Cruz: Building Cases and Community Through Holistic Defense
2023-02-24 00:00 - 2023-02-25 23:59
The UC Santa Cruz Legal Studies Program, in partnership with the Santa Cruz County Office of the Public Defender, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), and the National Association for Public Defense, will host its first-ever National Public Defense Summit. The summit will feature a variety of nationally-recognized public defenders, including attorneys, social workers, and investigators, who are doing cutting-edge work in public defense, focusing on early representation, vertical representation, holistic representation, and participatory defense. Students will have the opportunity to learn about career paths in this area of law.

The summit will kick off on the evening of Feb. 23 with Bending the Arc of Justice: Reimagining the Criminal System, featuring author and criminal justice reform advocate Keeda J. Haynes. The event is free, but separate registration is required.

Location: UCSC Stevenson Event Center

This is a free event.

Register Here

20th Annual Practical Activism Conference
2023-02-25 10:30 - 17:00
Join us for the 20th Annual Practical Activism Conference!

Practical Activism is a free day-long conference featuring speakers, performances, interactive workshops, and a variety of hands-on creative activities and opportunities on a wide range of social justice issues. The conference serves to provide information, tools, and opportunities to generate local and global change. Practical Activism is coordinated, planned, and implemented by a group of passionate students from College Nine and John R. Lewis College, who are mentored by professional staff from the CoCurricular Programs Office (the CoCo).

The goal of the Practical Activism Conference is to open spaces for dialogue and inclusion, for active discussion of serious issues, for questioning our privileges and assumptions, and for constructive and critical engagement. As such, it is a space in which we welcome discussions of gender, sexuality, power, oppression, and the problems of heteronormativity. The student-designed and facilitated workshops at Practical Activism commonly address these and many other difficult issues that concern our community.

This year, our speakers include internationally acclaimed author, poet, comedian, and public speaker Alok Vaid-Menon and 3-time Grammy nominated singer/composer, choral conductor, music director, and vocal activist Melanie DeMore.

Workshop Topics include:

Comprehensive and Inclusive Sex Education

Colorism, Mixed Identity, and White Anti-Racist Organizing

Disability Justice

Environmental Justice

Prison Abolition and the School-to-Prison Pipeline

i-Lab: Activism as a Practice, Laboratory

The Preservation of Culture: Land Back and Reparations

*Please note that these are our currently planned topics, with slight changes and updates likely to happen. Check back in February for an updated list of workshops and descriptions!

For more information and updates regarding this year’s conference, visit the PAC website! Learn more about the last 19 conferences by checking out our archive.

Location: College Nine/John R. Lewis College Multipurpose Room

Solidarity and Spirituality: Soul, Scale, Strategy in a Time of Crisis
2023-02-27 16:00 - 17:00
Together we are forging new futures so that our communities are sustained and thriving. This labor of love often looks external: Changing the material conditions through organizing, educating, voting, and more. It is long and dedicated work.

But what about the internal work? How does what happens internally impact our collective justice work? Are we fueled by love and grace for each other, or are we running on empty, about to burn out? How can we draw on the waters of our spiritual traditions to bring refreshment to ourselves and revolutionize our collective work for liberation?

Join us as nationally renowned Valarie Kaur (Revolutionary Love Project) leads us through a conversation that weaves her own work as well as new works by our other speakers: The Activist Spirit: Toward a Radical Solidarity (Victor Narro, UCLA Labor Center) and Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter (Chris Benner, UCSC and Manuel Pastor, USC).

A collaboration by the Revolutionary Love Project, the UCSC Institute for Social Transformation, the UCLA Labor Center, and the USC Equity Research Institute.

Speakers

Valarie Kaur@Revolutionary Love Project Valarie Kaur is a renowned civil rights leader, lawyer, award-winning filmmaker, educator, innovator, and author of the #1 LA Times Bestseller SEE NO STRANGER and the founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. Valarie burst into global consciousness when her 2016 Watch Night Service address went viral with 40 million views worldwide. Her question “Is this the darkness of the tomb – or the darkness of the womb?” reframes the historical moment and is now a mantra for people fighting for change.

Victor Narro@UCLA Labor Center A nationally known expert on immigrant rights and low-wage workers, Victor Narro has been involved with immigrant rights and labor issues for over 35 years. Currently Project Director for the UCLA Labor Center, Victor’s focus is to provide leadership programs for Los Angeles’ immigrant workers, policy, legal and organizing campaign planning for unions and worker centers, and internship opportunities for UCLA students. Victor is Core Faculty for the Labor Studies Program at UCLA and Core Faculty for the Public Interest Law Program and Lecturer in Law for the Critical Race Studies Program at UCLA Law School.

Chris Benner@UC Santa Cruz Institute for Social Transformation Dr. Chris Benner is the Dorothy E. Everett Chair in Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship, and a Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He currently directs the Everett Program for Technology and Social Change and the Institute for Social Transformation. His research examines the relationships between technological change, regional development, and the structure of economic opportunity, focusing on regional labor markets and the transformation of work and employment.

Manuel Pastor@USC Equity Research Institute Dr. Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He currently directs the Equity Research Institute at USC. Pastor holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC. Pastor’s research has generally focused on issues of the economic, environmental and social conditions facing low-income urban communities – and the social movements seeking to change those realities.

Silent Speech, Migratory Gesture: 55th Annual Faculty Research Lecture
2023-03-09 19:00 - 20:00
The UC Santa Cruz Academic Senate is delighted to invite you to the 55th Annual Faculty Research Lecture featuring Professor Jennifer González, Department of History of Art and Visual Culture.

In this talk, Professor González will explore speech and silence in the history of art, with a special emphasis on the role of art as a form of political democracy.

A reception will be held following the program.

Location: University Center, Bhojwani Dining Room

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:45 p.m.

Parking permits will be available for purchase for $5 in lots 164/165. Please follow the event signage at the base of campus and a parking attendant will assist you.

The lecture will be held in person and also available to view via livestream.

RSVP to Attend

Join Virtually

International Women's Day: Celebrating Feminist Scholarship from the Americas
2023-03-09 13:30 - 17:00
The Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas invites you to join us as we celebrate International Women’s Day with keynote speakers Prof. Michelle Tellez and Prof. Esther Hernández-Medina. Together, they will help the audience explore the critical themes of resistance, survival, intersectionality, and reproductive justice in the Americas

Prof. Tellez’s lecture is titled “Fronteriza Imaginaries: Women’s Leadership in the Borderlands” and Prof. Hernández-Medina’s lecture is titled “Take your Rosaries out of Our Ovaries:” the Fight for Women’s Right to Choose in the Dominican Republic.

About Keynote Speaker: Prof. Michelle Téllez

Prof. Michelle Téllez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona. Her public and academic scholarship focuses on transnational community formations, mothering, and gendered migration along the U.S./Mexico borderlands. Her work has been published in journals such as: Gender & Society, Feminist Formations, and Aztlán and featured online in Truth Out, The Feminist Wire, and Latino Rebels. She has a long history in grassroots organizing projects, digital media, and community-based arts and performance. She co-edited The Chicana M(other)work Anthology: Porque Sin Madres No Hay Revolución, published in March of 2019 and is the author of Border Women and the Community of Maclovio Rojas: Autonomy in the Spaces of Neoliberal Neglect published in September 2021. In 2022, she her Co-PIs were awarded two Andrew W. Mellon-Foundation funded Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative Grants for new work on Afro-Chicanx communities and Mexicana/Chicana activists in the borderlands. You can find out more about her work at: www.michelletellez.com.

About Keynote Speaker: Prof. Esther Hernández-MedinaProf. Esther Hernández-Medina is a feminist academic, public policy expert, and activist from the Dominican Republic, with a particular interest in how marginalized groups are able to change and influence public policy in their favor. She is an Assistant Professor at Pomona College in Latin American Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies. And she holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University, a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University, and a Master in Gender and Development and a B.A. in Economics from INTEC in the Dominican Republic.

Location | Merrill Cultural Center at UC Santa Cruz

Light refreshments will be served outdoors in the courtyard of the Merrill Cultural Center

More info

Architects of Abundance: Indigenous Regenerative Food Systems and the Excavation of Hidden History
2023-03-13 17:00 - 19:00
Colonization is an issue of climate justice. Contrary to popular belief, Indigenous Peoples leveraged immense influence on their surrounding lands, fires, and waters in ways that could heal our planet today. Whether it’s periodically burning grassland ecosystems with low severity fires to maintain habitat for deer, buffalo, antelope, etc, or building intertidal rock walls that catch sediment and warmer waters to expand clam habitat, native people have a number of innovative strategies for scaling habitat for edible plants and animals whom they often view as relatives.

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Lyla June Johnston as she translates this under-studied history to the contemporary world and highlights the connection between Indigenous land ethics, carbon sequestration, biodiversity augmentation, anthropogenic habitat expansion, and regional ecosystem connectivity. The success of these systems is believed to be due to their underlying value system of respect, reverence, responsibility and reciprocity.

Presented by: Institute for Social Transformation, American Indian Resource Center, and People of Color Sustainability Collective at UC Santa Cruz. This event is made possible with generous support from the Kamieniecki Lecture Fund Endowment.

Land acknowledgement: The land on which we gather is the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.

Event Recording

Featuring:

Lyla June Dr. Lyla June Johnston (aka Lyla June) is an Indigenous musician, scholar, and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her research focuses on the ways in which pre-colonial Indigenous Nations gardened large regions of Turtle Island (aka the Americas) to produce abundant food systems for humans and non-humans. www.lylajune.com

Chairman Valentin Lopez Valentin Lopez is the Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, one of three historic tribes that are recognized as Ohlone. He is Mutsun, Awaswas, Chumash and Yokuts. Valentin is a Native American Advisor to the University of California, Office of the President on issues related to repatriation. www.amahmutsun.org

Brook M Thompson Brook Thompson (She/Her/They) is a Yurok and Karuk Native from Northern California. Brook is a water rights activist and an Environmental Studies PhD student at UC Santa Cruz where she studies how Indigenous Knowledge can be better implemented into California water policy. She has been an intern for the City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in D.C., the California State Water Resource Control Board Office of Information Management, Save California Salmon, and currently works as a Restoration Engineer for the Yurok Tribe’s fisheries Design and Construction Program. www.brookmthompson.com

Chris BennerPanel Moderator Dr. Chris Benner is Director of the Institute for Social Transformation and the Everett Program for Technology and Social Change at UC Santa Cruz. He is also the Dorothy E. Everett Chair in Global Information and Social Entrepreneurship, and Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology. His research examines the relationships between technological change, regional development, and the structure of economic opportunity, focusing on regional labor markets and the transformation of work and employment. www.transform.ucsc.edu/chris-benner

Join us in person

Location: UCSC Cultural Center at Merrill or via Zoom. This is a hybrid event, presented both in-person and virtually.

Parking: Available in Merrill Lot 119. Parking attendants will be onsite selling $5 permits.

Join us virtually

Free and open to the public.

For general questions or any disability-related needs, please contact us at transform@ucsc.edu.

Slugs and Steins: Producing and Understanding Sarcasm
2023-03-13 18:30 - 20:00
Have you ever had the experience of not knowing whether someone was being sarcastic? You are not alone. In this talk, Prof. Jean E. Fox Tree will present research findings from her lab on how people produce and understand sarcasm in speech and writing, including studies of how sarcasm is expressed in internet arguments, how reliable tone of voice is in identifying sarcasm, how often people experience gaps between intended and interpreted sarcasm (sarchasm), and whether sarcastic people are more likely to see sarcasm in others.

Jean E. Fox Tree is a Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a cognitive scientist studying the comprehension and production of verbal and nonverbal behavior across a variety of communicative settings. She has studied face to face communication, virtual communication, and written communication, among other topics. Most of her work focusses on how people communicate with each other, but she also researches how people communicate with machines. Recent topics include how to have a good conversation and how to spot hyperpartisan communication in online chat groups.

Register Here

2023 Latino Role Models Conference
2023-03-25 09:00 - 13:00
Latino Role Models is a free conference for Santa Cruz County students from grade 6 to college and their families.

This exciting FREE annual conference features Latino/a college students and professionals and performances inspiring students to achieve their dreams for college and career. This year, we are excited to welcome Olga Talamante as the keynote speaker! The conference is conducted in Spanish with English translation at the Crocker Theater, Cabrillo College. Please complete the registration below to ensure your spot at this year’s conference on March 25th, 2023 from 9:00-1:00 PM.

Esta emocionante conferencia anual GRATUITA presenta a estudiantes y profesionales latinos / a universitarios y representaciones que inspiran a los estudiantes a alcanzar sus sueños universitarios y profesionales. Este año, esperamos dar la bienvenida a Olga Talamante como oradora principal! La conferencia se lleva a cabo en español con traducción al inglés al teatro Crocker, Cabrillo College. Complete el registro a continuación para asegurar su lugar en la conferencia de este año el 25 de marzo 9:00-1:00 PM.

Location: Cabrillo College, Crocker Theater

Register

Keynote Speaker

Olga Talamante is Executive Director Emerita of the Chicana Latina Foundation (CLF). She became the first Executive Director of CLF in January 2003 serving in that position until she retired in March of 2018.

Ms. Talamante’s family migrated from Mexico to Gilroy, California in the early 1960’s where they worked in the farm fields for several years. Those formative years formed the basis for her activism as an organizer and supporter of the nascent United Farm Workers labor union. She is widely respected for her long-standing community activism and leadership. During the mid-seventies, she became well known for her experience as a political prisoner in Argentina. As a result of a successful grass-roots campaign, she was released after spending 16 months in an Argentine prison. After returning to the United States, she remained active in the Chicana/o, Latin American solidarity, LGBTQ and progressive political movements. She serves on several boards and currently co-chairs the Caravan for the Children, which advocates for the release, reunification and healing of the children separated at the southern border. She holds a B.A. in Latina American History from UC Santa Cruz and an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the School of Education at the University of San Francisco. During the month of October 2022, she received the following awards: The Visionary Award from Horizons Foundation, The Rosario Anaya Community Service Award from The San Francisco Latino Heritage Committee, The History Maker Award from the GLBT Historical Society and the Distinguished Citizen award from the Commonwealth Club.

Mistress of Ceremonies

Erandi García, originally from Morelia, Mexico, has worked in various media outlets in Mexico and the United States, such as: TV Azteca Michoacán, Univision 67 and Telemundo 48 in the Bay Area. She has won the Emmy Award for excellence in news, among other distinctions. Erandi is the founder of a non-profit organization called Juntos Podemos whose mission is to inform and educate the Spanish-speaking population about public health and safety. She currently works for the Hospice Giving Foundation in Monterey, California. When she’s not working, Erandi likes to walk on the beach, hike, and plan the next adventure with her family.

Legal Studies Program Annual Distinguished Lecture: Coming to Understand Latino Anti-Black Bias
2023-04-05 14:00 - 16:00
Please join us as we welcome Tanya Katerí Hernández to discuss her book Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality. Praised as the “most important Afro-Latina voice on civil rights today,” Hernández argues that unmasking Latino anti-Black bias is essential for fostering multiracial democracy in the United States.

The UCSC Legal Studies Program administers one of the oldest undergraduate law and justice programs in the country, exposing students to notions of legality and institutions of law from across disciplinary traditions in the humanities and social sciences.

This event is open to all. Copies of Racial Innocence will be available for purchase. The UCSC Legal Studies Program and Professor Hernández are making 50 copies of the book available free to UCSC students who attend.

Location: UCSC Cowell Ranch Hay Barn

RSVP – In Person

RSVP – Virtual

Tanya Katerí Hernández is the Archibald R. Murray Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law, and an Associate Director of Fordham’s Center on Race, Law and Justice. She is the author of Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality.

Co-sponsored by:

Center for Racial Justice

Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Department

Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas

Feminist Studies Department

History Department

Latin American and Latino Studies Department

Philosophy Department

Politics Department

Sociology Department

The Humanities Institute

Javier Zamora: Helping Farmworkers Succeed in California
2023-04-06 15:00 - 17:00
Join us for an afternoon with Javier Zamora, organic farmer and leading voice in the organic community.

Zamora will share his experiences, challenges, and perspectives as a local organic farmer. A Q&A session will follow the talk. After the discussion, attendees can enjoy light refreshments and mingle time. All are invited to this free event. Spanish interpretation will be available.

Event presented by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology

RSVP Here

Javier Zamora After immigrating to the United States in 1986, Javier Zamora worked in the service industry for 20 years before going back to school to earn his GED and a degree in landscape design. He then participated in the horticulture program at Cabrillo College and sharpened his farming skills through the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA). He started farming organically in 2012 on 1.5 acres. Today, as owner of JSM Organics, he farms over 200 acres on California’s Central Coast, 120 acres of which are part of a conservation easement through a partnership with the Elkhorn Slough Foundation. He sits on the Boards of ALBA, Ecological Farming Association, Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, and the USDA National Organic Standard Board (NOSB) and is a member of USDA’s Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers.

Research Cluster on Extractivism & Society Event: Conversación con Luis Tapia
2023-04-10 12:00 - 14:00
The Research Cluster on Extractivism & Society is interested in getting together students, scholars, and social activists to talk to Professor Luis Tapia in an event in Spanish at UCSC. Luis Tapia is Professor and Coordinator of the M.A. in Critical Theory at the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos in Bolivia and will be visiting UCSC invited by the History of Consciousness Department. Along with Alvaro García Linera, Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar, and Raul Prada, Luis Tapia was part of Grupo Comuna, an influential intellectual collective producing major breakthroughs at the start of the 2000s in social theory and analyses of Bolivian and Latin American reality.

Professor Luis Tapia has examined key topics for the present and future evolution of the region:

State theory and state autonomy in Latin America

The legacy of René Zavaleta Mercado and the concept of “abigarramiento”/”Sociedad abigarrada” (motley society)

Colonial domination and internal colonialism

Plurinationality and socio-political processes in Boliva

Bolivia’s first MAS government, indigenous communities, and the reproduction of colonialism

This will be a unique opportunity to engage with one of the region’s most influential intellectuals and do so in Spanish.

We suggest attendees to read Chapter 3 of his book, Dialéctica del Colonialismo Interno (Traficante de Sueños, 2022), available online.

Location: Charles Merrill Lounge at UCSCThis is a hybrid event.

Register Here

This event is held with support from the Latin American & Latino Studies Department, the Institute for Social Transformation, and the Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas.

An Economist's Perspective on Climate Change and Global Inequality with Professor Galina Hale
2023-04-10 18:30 - 20:00
Climate change is a global problem and solving it requires a global effort. Some possible climate solutions are consistent with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the UN, while other solutions may be at odds with these goals. This lecture will discuss ways of thinking about different climate solutions in the context of global inequality and SDGs. The lecture will also discuss climate-related risks faced by the financial sector and how private investors may be incentivized to invest in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Galina Hale is a Professor of Economics at UC Santa Cruz. She served as a Research Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and as an assistant professor of economics at Yale University. Galina’s current research interests focus on attracting mainstream finance to climate solutions, the sustainability of the global food system, and international financial stability, especially with respect to climate risks. Galina has published over 30 articles in leading economics and finance peer-reviewed journals. She serves on multiple editorial boards and presents her work regularly at scholarly and policy meetings worldwide.

This is a virtual UCSC Slugs & Steins event.

Questions? Contact the UC Santa Cruz University Events office at specialevents@ucsc.edu.

Register Here

2023 Spring Emeriti Lecture with John Brown Childs
2023-04-11 19:00 - 20:30
Peace Teachers In and From Soledad Prison

Eighteen years ago Distinguished Professor Emeritus John Brown Childs began offering courses on “Transcommunal Peacemaking and Cooperation” in Soledad Correctional Facility. Transcommunality is rooted in the Native American philosophy of unity and diversity created by the peacemaker Deganawidah in the 15th century. The incarcerated men in Soledad have responded positively to transcommunality. The original students now are the teachers. In these hard times of hatred and violence, the Soledad Peace Teachers offer key examples of non-violence and mutually respectful cooperation.

Location: UC Santa Cruz Cowell Ranch Haybarn or virtual

Parking will be available in lots 115/116. Please follow event signage at the base of campus and a parking attendant will assist you.

Event presented by the UC Santa Cruz Emeriti Association.

Questions? Please contact the University Events Office at specialevents@ucsc.edu.

Register In Person

Register Virtually

John Brown Childs John Brown Childs is a volunteer teacher of peacemaking and “transcommunal cooperation” in Soledad Correctional Training Facility. His writings include Transcommunality: From the Politics of Conversion to the Ethics of Respect about cooperation among diverse communities. In 2022 he earned the University of California’s system-wide highest honor for emeriti faculty, the Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Understanding the UCSC Land Acknowledgement
2023-04-12 15:00 - 16:30
The act of sharing the UCSC land acknowledgement at public events, meetings and in the classroom has increased interest in what land acknowledgements are meant to do, who they are for and why they are done. There are many questions about the UCSC land acknowledgement: How and when was it created? Who wrote it? Why does it include information about other tribes? Why is it important? Join us for a conversation with members of Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to learn more.

This will be a hybrid event (in-person or livestream available). A recording of the lecture will be the second acquisition of the UCSC Community Archive.

Hosted by the University Library Special Collections and Archives, co-sponsored by the American Indian Resource Center and the Amah Mutsun Relearning Program.

In-person Location: UCSC Stevenson Event Center (map)

Livestream link: https://ibm.co/3YRZ8z9

Confronting Climate Change
2023-04-13 18:00
The UC Santa Cruz Division of Physical and Biological Sciences and the Division of Social Sciences invite you to the ninth annual Confronting Climate Change Event.

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. This event continues to spark conversation and thought on how research in the natural and social sciences can lead to climate change solutions and preserve the overall environmental health and wellbeing of our planet.

Presenters will discuss the social and economic transformations that will be required in order to address the health impacts of climate change, and together we will think about how climate change might inspire us to work towards a more livable future.

Speakers

Julie Livingston, New York University

Matthew Huber, Purdue University

Bharat Venkat, UC Los Angeles

Moderator

Andrew Mathews, UC Santa Cruz

Join us!

We invite members of the community and general public to engage and participate in this free online event.

Register Here

People-powered Responses to the Climate Crisis
2023-04-17 19:00 - 21:00
Join our weekly Right Livelihood Community Conversation for a surprise visit from activist, poet, and Right Livelihood Laureate Nnimmo Bassey, joining us in person from Nigeria! The session begins with a brief keynote or “conversation starter” from Nnimmo followed by a series of small-group and whole-group conversations, and dinner.

ABOUT NNIMMO BASSEY

Nnimmo Bassey’s tireless work with national and international organizations has turned him into one of Africa’s leading advocates and campaigners for the environment and human rights. Bassey has stood up against the practices of multinational corporations in Nigeria and the environmental devastation they leave behind destroying the lives and ignoring the rights of the local population. He received the Right Livelihood Award in 2010 “For revealing the full ecological and human horrors of oil production and for his inspired work to strengthen the environmental movement in Nigeria and globally.” He is the author of many books including “Oil Politics: Echoes of Ecological Wars”, and “To Cook a Continent: Destructive Extraction and Climate Crisis in Africa”.

Check out his interviews on Democracy Now! and his Messages from the Future Part 1 and Part 2 with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Naomi Klein.

Location: Kresge Seminar Room #159

Questions? rightlivelihood@ucsc.edu

For more information on the Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz, visit rightlivelihood.ucsc.edu

RSVP – In-person

Additional Right Livelihood College Events:

Helena Norberg-Hodge

Localization, World Politics, and Responses to the Climate Crisis

Tuesday, April 18th

3:20 – 5:00 pm via zoom

Click here to RSVP

Join Right Livelihood Award Laureate Helena Norberg-Hodge for a brief keynote and World Cafe-style discussion about localization, world politics, and timely responses to the climate crisis. The session begins with a 20-minute “conversation starter” from Helena followed by a series of small-group and whole-group conversations. This session is a guest visit by Helena and UCSC Right Livelihood Coordinator David Shaw to Professor David Gordon’s Politics 160, “Theories of International and World Politics” course.ABOUT HELENA NORBERG-HODGE: Linguist, author, and filmmaker, Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of the international non-profit organization, Local Futures, a pioneer of the new economy movement, and the convenor of World Localization Day. She is the author of several books, including ‘Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh’, an eye-opening tale of tradition and change in Ladakh, or “Little Tibet”. Together with a film of the same title, Ancient Futures has been translated into more than 40 languages, and sold half a million copies. Helena received the Right Livelihood Award in 1986 “for preserving the traditional culture and values of Ladakh against the onslaught of tourism and development.

Lottie Cunningham Wren

Human Rights, Illegal Cattle Ranching, and Indigenous Community Responses to Land Theft in Nicaragua

Wednesday April 26th

5:20 – 7:00 pm via zoom

Click here to RSVP

Join Right Livelihood Award Laureate Lottie Cunningham Wren for a brief keynote and World Cafe-style discussion about human rights, illegal cattle ranching, and indigenous community responses to land theft in Nicaragua. The session begins with a 20-minute “conversation starter” from Lottie followed by a series of small-group and whole-group conversations. This session is a guest visit by Lottie and UCSC Right Livelihood Coordinator David Shaw to Shawn Nichols Politics 175, “Human Rights” course. ABOUT LOTTIE CUNNINGHAM WREN: Lottie Cunningham Wren is a lawyer from the Miskito indigenous group in Nicaragua, defending the rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples to their land and resources. She has been instrumental in ensuring legal protections, including initiating the process of demarcation and titling of indigenous lands. Cunningham has fought to uphold the human rights of indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants, protecting them and their livelihoods from armed settlers. She directs CEJUDHCAN, a not-for-profit providing educational programs, legal support, and practical assistance to indigenous peoples and Afro-descendant communities on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. In 2020 she received the Right Livelihood Award “For her ceaseless dedication to the protection of indigenous lands and communities from exploitation and plunder.”

Valuing Engaged Scholarship in the Tenure and Promotion Process Forum
2023-04-19 15:30 - 17:30
Join Campus + Community in a forum with campus leaders about taking stock of engaged scholarship in the tenure and promotion process at UCSC and across the UC system. UCSC has developed several new sets of guidelines that will help engaged scholars to talk about and elevate their teaching and research. These guidelines will also help departments, deans, the Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP) and senior leadership to evaluate engaged scholar files. Presenters will share the ways that campus is seeking to support engaged scholarship in the merit process and will take questions from the audience about how to move forward. For more information, visit our webpage.

Workshop: 3:30pm–4:30pmReception: 4:30pm–5:30pm

Location: UCSC Rachel Carson Red Room

Questions? Contact Campus + Community: cam_com@ucsc.edu

View the unedited recording. (Note, we had some technical difficulties at the start, which will be fully apparent in the video. Apologies, and thanks for sticking with us!)

RSVP – In-person

RSVP – Virtual

Social Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award: Honoring Peter Bratt
2023-04-26 17:45 - 20:00
The Division of Social Sciences is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2023 Social Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award, Peter Bratt.

Please join us on April 26, 5:45–8 p.m., to honor him at an award ceremony and a public film screening of his documentary, DOLORES. Jennifer Siebel Newsom, award-winning documentary filmmaker and founder of The Representation Project, will provide opening remarks. After the film, Professor Sylvanna M. Falcón will engage in a Q&A dialogue with Peter.

Peter Bratt is a Rockefeller Fellow, a Peabody Award winner, an Emmy-nominated, award-winning film director, writer, producer, and social justice activist. He received a B.A. in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Bratt wrote, produced, and directed DOLORES, a feature documentary about civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, that was executive-produced by legendary musician Carlos Santana. The movie debuted at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and has won numerous awards, including a 2018 Peabody Award and a Critic’s Circle Award. Other film work includes Follow Me Home and La Mission, and he also directed the ABC network special called Corazón de América (Soul of a Nation). Peter is also project lead of The Village SF, an innovative planned housing development in San Francisco to meet the holistic needs of Native Americans.

Location: Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

RSVP Here

Peter Bratt Peter Bratt is a UC Santa Cruz Alumnus (Cowell ’86, Politics), a Rockefeller Fellow, a Peabody Award winner, an Emmy-nominated film producer, writer, director, community organizer, and social justice activist.

Sylvanna M. Falcón, Ph.D. Sylvanna M. Falcón, Ph.D., is an award-winning author and educator, an Associate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, and the Director of the Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom Jennifer Siebel Newsom is the founder of The Representation Project, co-founder of the California Partners Project, an award-winning filmmaker, and mother of four.

This event is presented by the Division of Social Sciences

Co-sponsors: Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, Institute for Social Transformation, The Humanities Institute, American Indian Resource Center, El Centro, Latin American and Latino Studies department, and Politics department.

Reel Work: Labor Action in Education
2023-04-29 19:00
Film screening followed by panel discussion with speakers and Q&A with audience. Music by the Mike Stout Trio at 6:30pm.

UCSC Center for Labor & Community and Reel Work Labor Film Festival present three films:

Alma Mater – experiences of striking grad students at UCSC

The Wisconsin TA Strike – an early action of organizedn graduate students

When We Fight – United Teachers of Los Angeles’ successful 2019 strike

Panel discussion: MC Jason Rabinowitz, Secretary Treasurer of Teamsters CX 2010 with filmmakers, representatives of UCSC campus unions & Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers

You may attend in person at the Resource Center for Nonviolence (612 Ocean St, Santa Cruz 95060), or Register here for virtual participation in this hybrid event.

See details and full schedule at http://reelwork.org/schedule.htm

Unsettled Borders: The Militarized Science of Surveillance on Sacred Indigenous Land
2023-05-03 16:00 - 17:30
Book Talk and Celebration – Hybrid Event

Please join FMST/CRES professor Felicity Schaeffer for a discussion of her newest book, in conversation with Jennifer Gonzales and Kat Gutierrez

Unsettled Borders: The Militarized Science of Surveillance on Sacred Indigenous Land, examines the ongoing settler colonial war over the US-Mexico border from the perspective of Apache, Tohono O’odham, and Maya who fight to protect their sacred land. Exploring the logic of borders, Schaeffer turns to Indigenous sacred sciences and ancestral land-based practices that are critical to reversing the ecological and social violence of surveillance, extraction, and occupation.

Felicity Schaeffer is a UCSC Professor of Feminist Studies and Critical Race & Ethnic Studies. She is also the author of Love and Empire: Cybermarriage and Citizenship across the Americas, and co-editor of Precarity and Belonging: Labor, Migration, and Noncitizenship.

Register Here

The Deep Read: Faculty Salon
2023-05-04 18:00 - 20:00
On May 4, you’ll be able to join the conversation—either in person or online—at a salon-style event where our participating professors will lead a discussion of this year’s Deep Read book, Under a White Sky, with UCSC students and the broader Deep Read community.

Faculty Speakers

Jorge Menna Barreto, Environmental Art

Mike Beck, Marine Sciences, Director of the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience

Jody Biehl, Literature and Science Communication Program

Sikina Jinnah, Environmental Studies

This event is part of The Humanities Institute’s Deep Read Program that invites curious minds to think deeply about literature, art, and the most pressing issues of our day. We read books from a wide range of genres, exploring their implications on our politics, inner lives, and communities.

Register Here

What These Walls Won't Hold - Film Screening
2023-05-06 14:00
Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic at San Quentin State Prison, WHAT THESE WALLS WON’T HOLD, chronicles the organizing and relationships of people who came together beyond the separations created by incarceration, to respond to this crisis. Filmmaker Adamu Chan, who was incarcerated at San Quentin during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, documents his path through incarceration and beyond.

The film is a meditation on how relationships built on trust, shared liberatory struggle, and connections across broader abolitionist organizing work can unfold into sites of resistance and radical change.

RSVP to Attend

Film Screening

Runtime: 42 Minutes Panel Discussion: 30 Minutes

Following the screening, engage in a dynamic panelist discussion featuring activist scholars, policy advocates, and formerly incarcerated individuals, as we explore how films can help us imagine a future without prisons and the collaborative efforts needed to amplify prison abolition. Don’t miss this compelling event that highlights the power of art and activism in advocating for a more just and equitable society.

Location: Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
