Building Belonging Student Showcase

May 26, 2021

The Institute for Social Transformation hosted an end-of-year celebration and student flash talk event to honor the work that has been accomplished in the Building Belonging program. This event provided Building Belonging Fellows an opportunity to share their research with the community. The Building Belonging program is designed to increase engagement and build a greater sense of belonging for under-represented students through faculty mentored service-learning and research projects. Sponsored by the Institute for Social Transformation and the Division of Social Sciences

Video Recording

Student Presentations

• We Belong: Collaboration for Community-Engaged Research and Immigrant Justice
  • Jonathan Sanchez (Sociology major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Steve McKay, Sociology Department
  • We Belong website

• A Syndemic in the Ring of Fire: COVID-19, Type 2 Diabetes, and Climate Change
  • Andrea Asher (Sociology & Human Biology major) and Tamar Sasson (Economics & Sociology major)
  • Faculty Mentor: James Doucet-Battle, Sociology Department

• Communicational Remembering in Social Networks
  • Hananiel Suradji (Cognitive Science major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Jeremy Yamashiro, Psychology Department

• Barriers to Adopting Healthful Diets Across Cultural and Socio-economic Groups
  • Dmitrius Rodriguez (Environmental Studies/Economics + Philosophy major) and Yang (Elaina) Li (Business Management Economics & Mathematics major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Galina Hale, Economics Department

• Vulnerability and Positionality in Fieldwork on Law
  • Anushka Shah (Legal Studies & Intensive Psychology major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Mark Fathi Massoud, Politics Department

• Building Environmental Belonging: Racial Inclusion and Diversity Among Undergraduates at UCSC
  • Kimberly “Kimie” Dare (Environmental Studies major) and Jianjia Gettinger (Environmental Studies & Psychology major)
  • Faculty Mentors: Flora Lu and Emily Murai, Environmental Studies Department
  • Publications:
    • Building a More Student-Centered and Inclusive Environmental Studies Department, Policy Memo by Jianjia Gettinger, Kimberly Dare, Emily Murai, and Flora Lu
    • Propelling UCSC Undergraduates of Color in Environmental Studies Through Mentorship, Senior Thesis by Kimberly Dare

• Faculty Diversity in California Environmental Studies Departments: Implications for Student Learning
  • Amani Taylor (Environmental Studies major) and Arien Hernandez (Environmental Studies major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Sikina Jinnah, Environmental Studies Department
  • Publications:
    • Faculty diversity in California environmental studies departments: implications for student learning

• Profiling First-Generation Faculty: On Making Sense of Racial/Ethnic Identity in First-Generation Visibility Campaigns Nationwide
  • Kimberlie Hatch (Cognitive Science & Psychology major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Covarrubias, Psychology Department

• Optimizing Feedback to Enhance Student Learning
  • Kaylie Kurland (Cognitive Science major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Hannah Hausman, Psychology Department

• Suddenly Distant: Teachers’ Work in the Context of COVID-19
  • Lila Harte (Literature/Education major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Lora Bartlett, Education Department
  • Publications:
    • What We Learned About Teachers During the Pandemic: A Series
    • Suddenly Distant Findings from the Field Report

• Educational Justice across Digital Divides: Building and Sustaining a Community Partnership during COVID-19
  • Jesica Garcia Garcia (Sociology major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Cynthia Lewis, Education Department

• Chimpanzee Video Coding Team
  • Payton Sime (Anthropology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology major) and Lauryn Hobbs (Anthropology & Psychology major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Vicky Oelze, Anthropology Department

• Who Saves Whom? Compassionate Economies of Care in Animal Rescue
  • Sam Bass (Anthropology) and Dee Cappelli (Anthropology major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Lissa Caldwell, Anthropology Department

• Ecosystem Services and Shade Management in Coffee Agroecosystems: Ecology and Application
  • Robyn Fowler (Environmental Studies major) and Jenny Hsu (Ecology & Evolution major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Stacy Philpott, Environmental Studies Department

• Phenology Observers on Social Media
  • Luke Hamilton (Environmental Science major), Caitlin Schilt (Environmental Studies/Economics major), and Jade Guzman (Environmental Studies & Legal Studies Major)
  • Faculty Mentor: Kai Zhu, Environmental Studies Department

Additional Presenters

• Welcome by Katharyne Mitchell, Dean of the Division of Social Sciences and Chris Benner, Director of the Institute for Social Transformation.

• Katherine Quinteros, Ph.D. student in Social Psychology, received the Chancellor’s Graduate Internship for her evaluation of the Building Belonging program and is the winner of the Graduate Research Symposium Best of the Social Sciences Division Award for this work. Using critical frameworks, her research examines the experiences, challenges, and strengths of minoritized groups in higher education. Read more in this Q&A >>

• Rebecca Covarrubias, Associate Professor of Psychology and faculty mentor in the Building Belonging program.