In the Media
Scholars at UC Santa Cruz take an unflinching look at the forces that shape our world. Here are some highlights of UC Santa Cruz change-makers in the media.
Some California jobs lost to COVID will never be the same. Here’s what experts say
January 14, 2021 – The Sacramento Bee launched a new series on the future of work in California, and the first article included professor Chris Benner’s insights on how the rise of gig work is affecting job quality in sectors like grocery retail as the pandemic fuels e-commerce.
Death row inmate designs garden installation by instructing university students through letters
January 08, 2021 – The Art Newspaper featured a story about the Barring Freedom initiative and Solitary Garden art installation at UCSC, quoting Rachel Nelson, director of the Institute of the Arts and Sciences.
11 Books & Podcasts About Coups That Are Extra Relevant Right Now
January 08, 2021 – Bustle magazine included emeritus history professor Dana Frank’s recent book, The Long Honduran Night: Resistance, Terror and the United States in the Aftermath of the Coup, for a story about books that can help you make sense of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
At Google, Hundreds Of Workers Formed A Labor Union. Why? ‘To Protect Ourselves’
January 08, 2021 – NPR’s recent reporting on the development of a new labor union at Google included professor Chris Benner’s insights on labor trends in the tech sector.
Albertsons is laying off employees and replacing them with gig workers, as app platforms rise
January 06, 2021 – Professor Chris Benner was interviewed by The Washington Post about the influences of Prop 22 in Albertsons’ recent decision to replace employees with gig workers.
Has 2020’s spike in support for Black-owned business carried through to the holidays?
December 24, 2020 – Marketplace interviewed economics professor Rob Fairlie about trends affecting Black-owned businesses since the start of the pandemic.
Hispanic Serving Institutions: What to Know
December 16, 2020 – UC Santa Cruz is among the 10 highest-ranked National Universities in the 2021 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings with HSI status, according to a story from U.S. News and World Report.
Civil rights activist Angela Davis launches fashion collaboration with LA label
December 15, 2020 – A story in The Guardian reported that UCSC professor emerita Angela Davis is co-launching a “Heroes of Blackness” line of clothing featuring artwork by independent Black artists.
Nature’s 10: ten people who helped shape science in 2020
December 14, 2020 – Genome scientist Karen Miga was featured among the “Ones to watch in 2021” in a Nature article about the top 10 people who helped shape science in 2020.
Taking fish out of fish feed can make aquaculture a more sustainable food source
December 14, 2020 – Pallab Sarker, an associate research professor in environmental studies, wrote an article for The Conversation about the recent breakthrough in sustainable aquaculture feed that he and professor Anne Kapuscinski made from their ecological aquaculture lab.
Female workers could take another pandemic hit: to their retirements
December 11, 2020 – The New York Times cited an article coauthored by economics professor Rob Fairlie that shows how the COVID-19 labor market downturn has disproportionately affected unemployment rates for women, particularly those with school-aged children.
10 women breaking glass ceilings in the gaming industry
December 10, 2020 – Arts professor Robin Hunicke was featured in a Times Lifestyle story about the female executives, players, and innovators who are helping revolutionize the gaming industry and opening doors for other young, diverse gamers.
Global panel discusses India’s transformation into a ‘fascist state’ under Modi
December 09, 2020 – A story in The Express Tribune noted that associate feminist studies professor Anjali Arondekar, co-director of UCSC’s Center for South Asian Studies, spoke at a global conference in Australia’s Parliament about caste-based politics in India and the oppression and marginalization of minorities. The story also appeared in Pakistan’s Daily News and Dawn newspapers.
Researchers fear gig work will spread to grocery industry as demand for delivery surges
December 09, 2020 – MarketWatch broke the news about a new report on e-commerce labor trends in the grocery retail industry that was led by Chris Benner, an environmental studies and sociology professor and director the Institute For Social Transformation.
UC Santa Cruz offers new MFA program
December 07, 2020 – KION-TV news reported about a new M.F.A. degree program in Environmental Art and Social Practice offered by the Art Department.
December 04, 2020 – The editors of the business and policy-themed DealBook Newsletter from The New York Times included a new paper from economics professor Rob Fairlie in a collection of their favorite academic research from the past week. Fairlie’s new paper, which documents inequalities in access to capital for minority-owned startups, was also featured in The Hutchins Roundup from The Brookings Institution.
Trade-offs for growth revival: Why India’s policymakers need a new roadmap
December 04, 2020 – Economics professor Nirvikar Singh comments on economic reforms in India through an opinion piece in Financial Express.
California’s open Senate seat prompts guessing game
December 01, 2020 – Politics professor Daniel Wirls talked with KAZU host Doug McKnight about the factors that may affect who Governor Newsom chooses to fill Kamala Harris’ open Senate seat.
In rebuilding Big Basin, which history do we want to remember?
November 30, 2020 – History professor Dana Frank contributed an op-ed to the San Francisco Chronicle about racism, imperialism, and the rebuilding of Big Basin State Park.
Holiday gift-givers want their money to matter. Companies, large and small, are taking notice.
November 28, 2020 – CNBC cited research by economics professor Rob Fairlie in their coverage about consumers choosing to support Black-owned businesses this holiday season.
Will California’s small businesses survive another COVID-19 surge without more help?
November 24, 2020 – Economics professor Robert Fairlie was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article about the strain that the latest COVID-19 surge is putting on small businesses.
UC Santa Cruz Rhodes Scholar talks about process, future plans
November 23, 2020 – Spring 2020 graduate Garima Desai talks with NBC Bay Area anchor Terry McSweeney about her recent Rhodes Scholar win. Garima was also interviewed by ABC 7 News and featured in articles by the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Lookout Local.
Researchers found signs of human pollution in animals living six miles beneath the sea
November 19, 2020 – Ocean scientist Carl Lamborg was quoted in a Popular Science article about high mercury concentrations found in fish in the Mariana Trench.
As Broad Shutdowns Return, Californians Ask ‘Is This the Best We Can Do?’
November 19, 2020 – Infectious disease expert Marm Kilpatrick was quoted in a U.S. News story about the course of the pandemic in California.
A Critical View of the Criminal Justice System, Through Artists’ Eyes
November 18, 2020 – UCSC’s Institute of the Arts and Sciences director Rachel Nelson was interviewed in Hyperallergic for a story about Barring Freedom, an exhibition about art, prison, and justice that she co-curated at the San Jose Museum of Art.
At YBCA, Art is a Powerful Tool for Envisioning a Less Complacent Future
November 18, 2020 – A KQED story about a multimedia group exhibition at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts highlighted Sin Sol / No Sun, an augmented reality game by assistant professor of Art and Design: Games and Playable Media, micha cárdenas.
Policing Blackness: It happened again. This time it was in Discovery Bay
November 18, 2020 – History professor Dana Frank was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle for a story about an incident of policing blackness for innocuous behavior.
A New PBS Series Shows How Underserved Latino Communities Are Fighting To Protect Themselves During COVID-19
November 17, 2020 – A Time magazine story about a new PBS series of documentary shorts, Latinos Are Essential, described a film by associate film and digital media professor Jennifer Maytorena Taylor included in the series.
UC Santa Cruz researchers develop environmentally sustainable fish feed
November 16, 2020 – Environmental Studies Department faculty members Anne Kapuscinski and Pallab Sarker were interviewed in the Santa Cruz Sentinel about a research breakthrough from their ecological aquaculture lab.
Visualizing abolition: UCSC series explores a society without police, prisons
November 12, 2020 – Feminist studies professor Gina Dent was featured in the Santa Cruz Sentinel for an extensive article about Visualizing Abolition, a year-long campus lecture series she put together in collaboration with UCSC’s Institute of the Arts and Sciences.
Will Trump’s efforts to attract Indian American voters pay off?
November 02, 2020 – Associate feminist studies professor Anjali Arondekar, director of UCSC’s Center for South Asian Studies, was featured in a Los Angeles Times video about how both Democrats and Republicans are trying to recruit Indian American voters in the U.S. presidential election.
Thanks to Trump, U.S. no longer in denial of racism
November 02, 2020 – Emeritus history professor Dana Frank was quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle story about how President Trump “has made racism OK for many white people to practice.”
“We Don’t Protest”: Borough Park’s Mask-Burning Orthodox Jewish Demonstrators
November 01, 2020 – History professor Nathaniel Deutsch, director of the Center for Jewish Studies at UCSC, was quoted in a New Yorker magazine article about resistance to public health measures by traditional Orthodox Jewish communities in New York.
Prisons’ pandemic response: throw the infected into the hole
October 29, 2020 – Psychology professor Craig Haney was quoted discussing the adverse psychological and health effects of solitary confinement in an article by The American Prospect.
U.S. Black-Owned Firms Make Surprise Comeback to Pre-Covid Level
October 28, 2020 – Black-owned businesses, dealt a crippling blow in the first months of the COVID-19 crisis, have rebounded to their pre-pandemic numbers, according to research based on U.S. Census Bureau data collected by Economics Professor Robert Fairlie.
Philly Group Tackling Trash Through Art
October 27, 2020 – A story in Next City, about a Philadelphia neighborhood organizing to mobilize residents about a garbage problem, noted that they used the “implosion method,” a concept from humanities emeritus professor Donna Haraway, as an educational tool.
White House announces Sudan Israel deal
October 25, 2020 – UC Santa Cruz politics and legal studies professor Mark Fathi Massoud talked with BBC World News about the implications of a recent Trump administration deal to normalize relations between Sudan and Israel.
Science Friday Book Club: Conjuring An Alternate History Of Colonization
October 16, 2020 – Catherine S. Ramirez, a professor in the Latin American and Latino Studies Department, joined NPR’s Science Friday to discuss Chicanofuturism as part of a book club series exploring New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color.
October 12, 2020 – The New York Times editorial board cited a study led by Professor Chris Benner that showed workers performing the majority of app-based ride hailing and delivery services in San Francisco are typically working full time. Benner is director of the Institute for Social Transformation and a professor of environmental studies and sociology.
California Will Keep Burning. But Housing Policy Is Making It Worse
October 02, 2020 – Propublica reporters turned to Environmental Studies Professor Adam Millard-Ball for a discussion of California housing policy that forces people closer to the edge of wilderness areas for affordable housing and how that impacts the effects of wildfires on property.
How the Coronavirus Got to Donald Trump
October 02, 2020 – Infectious disease expert Marm Kilpatrick was quoted in a Wired news story about President Donald Trump’s coronavirus infection.
Why New Mexico’s 1680 Pueblo Revolt Is Echoing in 2020 Protests
October 01, 2020 – Film and digital media professor John Jota Leaños was quoted in a New York Times article about why indigenous groups in the Southwest are commemorating the 340-year-old Pueblo Revolt, one of Spain’s bloodiest defeats in its colonial empire, in their current activism.
To beat Trump, Democrats must mobilize young people
September 19, 2020 – Veronica Terriquez, an associate professor of sociology, wrote an op-ed for The Hill website that covers Capitol Hill, with advice to Joe Biden and Kamela Harris, the Democratic ticket for president and vice president, to reach out to young people of color.
The Effect of COVID-19 on CO2 Emissions
August 18, 2020 – Economics Professor Galina Hale wrote an article in Econofact about recession-related reductions in CO2 emissions are not going to have a measurable impact on the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere — the driver of climate change.
When a Family Separation Becomes Permanent
August 02, 2020 – The Atlantic quoted psychology professor Regina Day Langhout in an article about a West African man who was imprisoned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for nearly a year, leading to his wife’s suicide.
We must invest in the University of California, not cut core instruction
July 31, 2020 – Cal Matters published an op-ed by dean of social sciences Katharyne Mitchell about the social sciences at UC Santa Cruz – and quite likely throughout the University of California – standing at the edge of a fiscal precipice.
Congresswomen of color have always fought back against sexism
July 29, 2020 – The Washington Post published an op-ed by history professor Dana Frank about how the first woman of color in Congress, Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink, fought back for gender equality 50 years ago, paving the way for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent unflinching response to a verbal attack by Rep. Ted Yoho on the Capitol steps.
Lyft drivers accuse company of not providing enough protective gear
July 23, 2020 – CNN cited a recent study on San Francisco’s ride-hailing and delivery workers by Chris Benner.
When children return to school, don’t skip recess
July 16, 2020 – Professor of sociology Rebecca London co-authored an op-ed for EdSource about the importance of California’s elementary schools prioritizing outdoor recess and play time when schools physically reopen.
White backlash to Black Lives Matter was swift. It was also expected
July 9, 2020 – Professor of history Dana Frank was quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle piece about the expected hostility now beginning toward the racial uprising that has energized the country.
Airbnb Layoffs Expose Inequities in a Two-Tiered Workforce
June 26, 2020 – Chris Benner, professor of sociology and director of the Institute for Social Transformation, was quoted in a Bloomberg Businessweek article about layoffs at Airbnb that have exposed its two-tiered workforce.
Can We Trust the Police to Intervene in Fellow Officer Misconduct?
June 20, 2020 – Anjuli Verma, assistant professor of politics, co-authored an op-ed for The Jurist about whether the police can be trusted to intervene in cases of misconduct by fellow officers.
Be not dismayed when feeling helpless in today’s America
June 20, 2020 – John Brown Childs, professor emeritus of sociology, published an op-ed in the Santa Cruz Sentinel about reasons to feel hopeful during these troubling times.
Why Some Black-Owned U.S. Businesses Are Hardest Hit by Coronavirus Shutdowns
June 16, 2020 – Economist Rob Fairlie’s work on the impact of the pandemic on black-owned businesses continues to get widespread media attention, including from Reuters, The Financial Times, PBS Newshour, CBS News, USA Today, Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, Vox, The Hill, and the Associated Press.
Artist-Made Tools Resist Algorithmic Racism and Empower Communities
June 10, 2020 – KQED ran a story about activist art that included work by assistant professor of digital art and new media micha cárdenas and Arts Division grad students Abram Stern and Dorothy Santos.
Angela Davis on Abolition, Calls to Defund Police, Toppled Racist Statues & Voting in 2020 Election
June 9, 2020 – UCSC emerita professor Angela Davis discusses with Democracy Now the worldwide uprising against police brutality and racism.
Thousands of scientists worldwide to go on strike for Black lives
June 9, 2020 – Physicist Brittany Kamai was featured in news stories in Nature and the New York Times about the #ShutDownSTEM event she helped organize.
Elon Musk: An Eccentric Visionary?
June 7, 2020 – Chris Benner, professor of sociology and environmental studies and director of the Institute for Social Transformation, was interviewed by German public television for a story about Elon Musk.
Peruvians cry out for oxygen as coronavirus takes its toll
June 5, 2020 – Economist Kristian Lopez Vargas was quoted on CNN in a story about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Peru.
The black-white economic divide is as wide as it was in 1968
June 4, 2020 – Research by Economics Professor Rob Fairlie was featured in a Washington Post story about the wealth gap between black and white Americans, which is as wide today as it was in 1968.
Want to Fix Urban Sprawl? Ditch the Cul-de-Sac
May 31, 2020 – Adam Millard-Ball of Environmental Studies had his work about urban sprawl featured in Wired magazine.
How a plan to welcome 100 Syrian refugees divided a town and changed one woman’s life
May 27, 2020 – CBC Radio (Canada) ran a feature story about a new documentary film by associate professor of film and digital media Jennifer Maytorena Taylor that premieres at the Toronto Hot Docs Film Festival. Stories about the film also appeared in the Toronto-based magazine, The Gate, and IndieWire.
Peru: Coronavirus spreads despite strict and early measures
May 26, 2020 – Economist Kristian Lopez Vargas was featured in CNN‘s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in Peru.
May 25, 2020 – The Washington Post reported new findings by economist Rob Fairlie about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on black-owned businesses.
How literature can capture the essence of life in a pandemic
May 20, 2020 – Humanities dean Tyler Stovall contributed an op-ed to the San Francisco Chronicle about literature and the pandemic.
Coronavirus Makes Juvenile Jails Look Like Adult Prisons
May 18, 2020 – Psychology Professor Craig Haney was quoted in a Ms. magazine article about the conditions facing incarcerated juveniles around the country since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fear sent her Chinatown restaurant spiraling. The challenges to reopening feel ‘just impossible.’
May 16, 2020 – Research by economist Robert Fairlie was cited in a Washington Post article about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Asian-owned businesses.
Elon Musk reflects Silicon Valley’s ‘move fast and break things’ culture
May 15, 2020 – Chris Benner, professor of sociology and environmental studies, coauthored an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle about the risks workers face in Silicon Valley’s culture of radical innovation.
Gig workers in San Francisco are mostly people of color and many are immigrants, according to survey
May 5 2020 – Among the outlets covering the results of a unique survey of gig workers that was led by Chris Benner of Sociology are Tech Crunch, Vice, Science Daily, EurasiaReview, Eater SF, CFI.co, and Broke-Ass Stuart.
Voices from the Middle East: The Future of the Hirak Movement in Algeria
May 1, 2020 – Assistant professor of history Muriam Haleh Davis interviewed Algerian journalist Selma Kasmi in the Middle East Report about how the pandemic is affecting the Hirak protest movement in Algeria.
The New Wealth Test for Immigrants Is Un-American
February 24, 2020 – Read more on The New York Times
How parents can support the young activists in their lives
January 29, 2020 – Read more on Mashable
When Big Money Votes, Wealth Gaps Widen
November 13, 2019 – Read more on Capital & Main
When Solitary Confinement Is A Death Sentence
August 29, 2019 – Read more on HuffPost
