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  • About
    • About Us
    • What is Social Transformation?
    • Meet the Team
    • Partners
      • Campus Partners
      • Off-Campus Partners
    • Help Us Grow
    • Contact Us
  • Areas of Work
    • AgTech
    • Campus + Community
    • Global and Community Health
    • New Gen Learning
    • Public Interest Technology
    • Right Livelihood College
    • Salton Sea Project
    • SEACoast
    • Social Sciences Centers
    • Solidarity Economics Projects
      • Solidarity Economics
      • Salinas Inclusive Economic Development Initiative (SIEDI)
      • Community Economic Mobilization Initiative (CEMI)
      • Lithium Battery Electric Supply Chain: Workforce Analysis
  • Campus + Community
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    • About C+C
    • C+C Projects
    • C+C People
    • C+C Publications
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  • Funding
    • Catalyze Awards
    • Emerging Scholar Support
    • Building Belonging Program
    • Transforming Futures
    • Fellows
      • Faculty Fellows
      • Building Belonging Fellows
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    • Publications
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      • Anti-racism and Criminal Justice Reform
      • Immigrant Rights and Immigration Reform
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    • Journal of International Society and Culture
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Building Belonging Program

The Building Belonging program at UC Santa Cruz is designed to foster student success, increase engagement, and build a greater sense of belonging for under-represented undergraduate students through faculty mentored service-learning and research projects.

The program is offered through the Institute for Social Transformation in the Division of Social Sciences. The institute awards up to 100 Building Belonging undergraduate scholarships each academic year. Faculty apply to the program, and if selected, can choose to mentor up to 4 students per academic year. Student fellows receive $1500 per quarter and are expected to contribute approximately 100 hours per quarter to the project. Making these opportunities paid rather than volunteer opens them up to students with limited financial means.

  • Meet the student fellows and faculty mentors in the program
  • Watch the 2022 Building Belonging Student Flash Talks

The Building Belonging program was developed to enable and expand engagement between students and faculty, and also give students a firmer sense of belonging and acceptance at a research university. We thank the generous donors who fund this program.


Faculty applications for Spring/Summer 2023 are now open. Deadline is January 31, 2023 (11:59PM).

Eligibility/Who Can Apply

This program is open to all Social Sciences faculty and lecturers. Faculty apply to the program, and if selected, will choose students for their research projects. By applying to this program, faculty agree to mentor undergraduate students on a research project or a community-engaged scholarly project. Faculty may apply to mentor up to 4 student-quarters per academic year maximum. The students can work individually with faculty or as part of a group. Faculty are expected to meet regularly with the student researchers. If faculty need help identifying students they can work with the institute and the EOP office.

The program aims to support undergraduate students in Social Sciences who are:

  • EOP eligible
  • first-generation
  • low income
  • under-represented/BIPOC
  • undocumented
  • former foster youth

As the goal is to build a sense of belonging among current students, participating students must be enrolled in at least 6 credits at UCSC for the term requested (except summer). Students can not participate in the program post-graduation. We encourage faculty members to recruit students who are not in their final year for these mentoring opportunities. 

Please note that if the proposed research project is connected or related to a class or independent study where students receive credit, the research must be separate and distinct from the class work. In other words, students cannot receive a Building Belonging scholarship payment for work where they are also receiving course credit.

All student fellows will be required to participate in the Building Belonging Research Symposium in the spring (summer fellows can participate the following year).

Meet the student fellows and faculty mentors who have participated in our program >>

2022-2023 Application Timeline

Faculty apply to the program, and if selected, will choose students for their research projects. In the spring all student fellows will be required to participate in a research symposium (summer fellows can participate the following year).

Fall/Winter Timeline

  • Faculty applications due August 15, 2022.
  • Decisions will be announced in mid September.
  • For fall quarter scholarships, student names and IDs must be provided by faculty to IST by September 30, 2022.
  • For winter quarter scholarships, student names and IDs must be provided by faculty to IST by January 6, 2023.

Spring/Summer Timeline

  • Faculty applications due January 31, 2023.
  • Decisions will be announced in mid March.
  • For spring quarter scholarships, student names and IDs’ must be provided by faculty to IST by March 17, 2023.
  • For summer quarter scholarships, student names and IDs’ must be provided by faculty to IST by May 5, 2023.
Scholarship Payments

Students selected for the program will receive a $1500 scholarship award per quarter and are expected to contribute approximately 100 hours per quarter to the project. In the application, faculty will need to indicate in which quarter the research will be conducted. Student scholarship awards will be processed by the institute and disbursed as a scholarship to the student’s financial aid account per quarter awarded. Please note that these are not posted as jobs in the Handshake System. The award will be incorporated into the student’s financial aid offer and the amount received as a payment/refund will depend on each student’s specific financial situation, including any unpaid university fees and other awards or aid they may have. If students have questions about this they can contact the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office or click here for frequently asked questions about scholarship payments.

Apply Here

Please contact the Institute for Social Transformation with any questions at transform@ucsc.edu. 

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

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