UC Santa Cruz Magazine Feature: Instituting Change
February 2020
UC Santa Cruz’s Institute for Social Transformation incubates, funds, and helps amplify important social sciences research, aiming for wide audiences and maximum impact. Read more >
Call for Applications: Building Belonging Program
July 30, 2020
Designed to increase engagement and build a greater sense of belonging through service-learning and research projects, the Institute for Social Transformation will award up to 100 Building Belonging undergraduate research fellowships of $1,500 per student each academic year. Faculty in Social Sciences can apply now for Fall/Winter fellows >>
CITRIS UCSC funds new pandemic-related research projects
July 14, 2020
The campus seed funding program is providing $40K grants for three new projects to address the challenges of COVID-19.
New film by Jennifer Taylor portrays Vermont town as microcosm of divided America
July 13, 2020
“For the Love of Rutland,” a new documentary by UCSC film professor Jennifer Taylor, is an exploration of the multiple problems now faced by rural America–most notably the opioid epidemic, income inequality, racism, and xenophobia.
Connecting on campus
July 6, 2020
Social psychologist Rebecca Covarrubias documents the experiences of students who are the first in their family to attend college.
Three interdisciplinary projects receive seed funding from UCSC Foundation
June 30, 2020
Three interdisciplinary projects have received seed funding from the UC Santa Cruz Foundation following a campuswide call for proposals issued by the Office of Research.
Building bridges out of prison walls
June 16, 2020
Student Alyssa Tamboura began a student-run, volunteer program called Walls to Bridges that mediates meetings between those jailed and their families as a way to work their way back to better relationships.
Royal Geographical Society publishes special COVID-19 issue
June 5, 2020
A virtual special issue of Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers features Politics Professor Matt Sparke’s article, “Contextualizing Coronavirus Geographically,” and provides free access to additional articles that provide perspective on the pandemic.
Social Sciences recognizes students amid unprecedented times
June 5, 2020
The Social Sciences Division announced the recipients of its annual student achievement awards.
Campus, Santa Cruz Community Health unite to test underserved community members
June 4, 2020
As news outlets published stories about celebrities and athletes unnecessarily getting tested for COVID-19, UC Santa Cruz scientists and staff saw an opportunity to provide fast testing for the community’s most vulnerable residents who too often do not have access to the same medical services.
Give revolution a chance
June 3, 2020
History of Consciousness Professor Massimiliano Tomba’s prestigious Princeton University fellowship will enable him to spend the next year advancing his reinterpretation of the concept of revolution
Protecting vulnerable children and families during the pandemic
May 27, 2020
In addition to experiencing higher rates of COVID-19 infection and death, the most vulnerable among us are losing ground in schooling, learning, and development, according to the authors of a new policy brief aimed at lawmakers.
Field courses boost STEM diversity, study reveals
May 19, 2020
The challenge of diversifying STEM fields may get a boost from the results of a new study that show field courses help build self-confidence among students—especially those from underrepresented groups.
Outbreak inquiry
May 18, 2020
Faculty have developed two undergraduate classes that are focusing on the effects and experiences of the coronavirus pandemic, even while the pandemic is under way.
Planting trees is no panacea for climate change, says ecologist
May 7, 2020
Restoration ecologist Karen Holl has a simple message for anyone who thinks planting 1 trillion trees will reverse the damage of climate change: “We can’t plant our way out of climate change.”
Already vulnerable, gig economy workers in San Francisco suffer during coronavirus pandemic, survey reveals
May 5, 2020
A new survey of app-based ride-hailing and food and grocery-delivery workers in San Francisco underscores the financial vulnerability of workers in the gig economy—and the coronavirus has made their plight much worse.
Zavella authors new book about reproductive justice
April 29, 2020
Pat Zavella, professor emerita of Latin American and Latino studies, has published a new book about the reproductive justice movement that blends research, history, theory, and memoir.
Economist Nirvikar Singh joins panel of experts
April 27, 2020
Professor of economics Nirvikar Singh has joined a panel of experts convened by the government of Punjab to oversee the revival of the state in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Watch UCSC participants talk about hope during TEDx Santa Cruz
April 23, 2020
Last December, TEDx Santa Cruz hosted a day-long extravaganza of talks curated around the theme of “The Art of Hope.” Those talks, including ones by several UCSC affiliates, are now available for online viewing.
Agroecology major available this fall
April 21, 2020
Beginning this fall, students will have an opportunity to enroll in a new agroecology major, an interdisciplinary program housed in the Environmental Studies Department.
Delivery and ridehailing workers lack critical protections from coronavirus
April 21, 2020
Preliminary data released today (April 21) to the San Francisco Local Agency Formation Commission (SF LAFCo) provides a disturbing snapshot of what app-based delivery and ridehailing workers are confronting with COVID-19, and demonstrates the urgent need for the city and platform companies to take more immediate actions to protect this vulnerable workforce.
New program advances global and community health
April 7, 2020
As countries across the globe fight the coronavirus pandemic, UC Santa Cruz is creating a new program that will prepare students and provide research to solve current and future global health problems. The university’s new global and community health program will offer a multidisciplinary bachelor of arts degree and a bachelor of science degree. The program will also coordinate university-wide community and global health research efforts.
COVID-19: Economist helps build “contact tracing” app for Peru
April 6, 2020
Kristian López Vargas couldn’t stand by as the coronavirus threatened his home country of Peru. Instead, he approached the Peruvian government about developing an app to improve “contact tracing” to protect people from COVID-19. Then he helped lead the effort that culminated with the app’s release just three weeks later.
Discrimination, governance, and trust in the age of COVID-19
April 2, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has upended daily life around the world, and is simultaneously triggering challenging questions of discrimination, governance, and trust, says sociologist Jenny Reardon, who calls for higher levels of public oversight and vigilance as the pandemic unfolds.
Two programs will support undergrads in research, service learning, and peer mentoring
March 16, 2020
The “Building Belonging” program, a new five-year effort designed to increase engagement and build a greater sense of belonging through service-learning and research projects. A total of 550 students will participate over the five years, each earning a $1500 fellowship award. “It’s great because the students get faculty mentors, they get paid, and faculty get help with their research,” said Social Sciences Dean Katharyne Mitchell. “It’s a win-win-win.”
Craig Haney testifies before committee charged with revising state’s penal code
February 03, 2020
40 years of mass incarceration must be reversed, says expert on criminal justice system. Craig Haney, distinguished professor of psychology, was the only witness to testify in Sacramento during the first meeting of the newly formed Committee on Revision of the Penal Code.
Public conversation about race and racial reconciliation on Jan. 22
January 10, 2020
Racial reconciliation and the future of race in America will be the subject of a public conversation with scholars Alondra Nelson and Herman Gray on Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. The event will feature a conversation with Nelson and Gray, moderated by Jenny Reardon, professor of sociology at UC Santa Cruz.
Food and anti-corporate globalization activist Vandana Shiva coming to campus Jan. 25-26
January 06, 2020
Shiva, a proponent of “poison-free” food and a leader of the fight against Monsanto, will be in conversation with Anthropology Professor Nancy Chen on Saturday, January 25, at 7 p.m. in the UCSC Music Recital Hall. In 1993, Shiva received the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.”
Guthman’s book named one of the best of 2019
December 19, 2019
Julie Guthman’s book Wilted: Pathogens, Chemicals, and the Fragile Future of the Strawberry Industry, has been named one of the best 2019 books about the U.S. food system, according to U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit investigative research group focused on the food industry. In the book, Guthman, a professor of social sciences, writes about a confluence of factors unique to the California’s strawberry industry that are making the industry’s future quite uncertain.
Youth activism is on the rise around the globe, and adults should pay attention, says author
September 17, 2019
Greta and Malala get the headlines, but for every young leader pictured on a magazine cover, thousands more are working tirelessly for causes like climate justice, racial and gender equality, LGBTQ rights, and economic change.
UC Santa Cruz establishes interdisciplinary Southeast Asia research center
July 01, 2019
Home to some of the most diverse and vibrant ecological zones in the world, Southeast Asia is threatened by a daunting array of environmental, economic, cultural, and political forces.
Funded by a $1 million grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the new Center for Southeast Asian Coastal Interactions (SEACoast) at UC Santa Cruz will bring together scholars from the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences to address the region’s challenges.
Video highlights cultural differences in collaboration
May 13, 2019
A video by Distinguished Professor of Psychology Barbara Rogoff is featured in the “2019 STEM for All Video Showcase,” a competition hosted by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
