Spring 2022 Newsletter

DIVISION OF GRADUATE STUDIES

Registration for the Graduate Research Symposium open to all graduate students; judging open to all postdoctoral scholars

Graduate Research Symposium registration is open! After two years of virtual symposia, the 18th annual symposium returns to McHenry Library as an in-person live event on the Friday of Alumni Week, April 22, 1:15 – 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time, followed by a reception to announce the winners on the McHenry South Lawn, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. The deadline to register to present graduate work in one of three formats — talks (maximum 5 minutes, with 2 minutes Q&A, with or without slides), posters (maximum 4' W x 3' H, unlaminated, accompanied by a talk of 5 minutes maximum, with 2 minutes Q&A), or alternative media (for example, video or game demo, accompanied by a talk of 5 minutes maximum, including the time to show the video or demo the game with 2 minutes Q&A) — is April 15, 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (noon).

If you're a postdoc interested in judging at the symposium, contact Sonya Newlyn at snewlyn@ucsc.edu by April 8.

 

Grad Slam Winners

Amanda Quirk will represent UC Santa Cruz in the UCOP system-wide Grad Slam in San Francisco

Grad Slam took place March 5 at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, and 5th-year Astronomy and Astrophysics Ph.D. candidate Amanda Quirk won the contest with her presentation The Tale of Two Galaxies: Studying How Galaxies Change Over Time. Jessica Kendall-Bar from Ecology and Evolutionary Biology won second place, and Melissa Marini Švigelj from Sociology won the People’s Choice Award.

Amanda Quirk will represent UC Santa Cruz in the UC Office of the President (UCOP) Grad Slam on May 6, 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Pacific Time, in San Francisco. UCOP will live stream the event on its Grad Slam website. Audience members attending in person and watching the live stream will be able to vote for the People’s Choice Award. Join a campus watch party in the Graduate Student Commons Fireside Lounge or the Center for Adaptive Optics atrium and support Amanda!

 

UC President's Pre-Professoriate Fellowship

The UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship (PPPF) – part of the UC-Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative (UC-HSI DDI) – is designed to enhance faculty diversity and pathways to the professoriate for underrepresented students from California Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). This prestigious year-long award supports PhD students who are California HSI alumni, have advanced to candidacy at UC, and have demonstrated academic achievement, commitment to advancing issues of equity and inclusion, and plans to pursue a career in the professoriate. Winners receive a living stipend, tuition and fee remission, and supplemental professional development outreach and support. Congratulations to this year’s winners!:

	Michelle Gomez Parra Sociology Research: Using sociology and feminist epistemologies to examine how gender, sexuality, and mobility are co-constituted elements of Latinas' migratory and college experiences.
	Brenda Gutierrez Psychology Research: Understanding the development of sexism within cultural communities from an intersectional feminist perspective.

 

2022 Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award

The Division of Graduate Studies, Arts Division, Baskin School of Engineering, Humanities Division, Physical and Biological Sciences Division, and Social Sciences Division announce the 2022 class of graduate student alumni honorees. The honorees will be celebrated Alumni Weekend on Saturday, April 23, in the Hay Barn with an award ceremony.

	Brian Levine Baskin School of Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Ph.D. Computer Engineering 1999 M.S. Computer Engineering 1996 Professor, Manning College of Information and Computer SciencesUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst
	William Long Arts Division Distinguished Alumnus M.A. Music: Conducting B.A. Music: Piano Performance Conductor
	Harryette Mullen Humanities Division Distinguished Alumna Ph.D. Literature 1990 Poet, Professor of Creative Writing UC Los Angeles
	Sarah Peelo Social Sciences Division Distinguished Alumna Ph.D. Anthropology 2009 Principal Albion Environmental
	Risa Wechsler Physical and Biological Sciences Division Distinguished Alumna Ph.D. Physics 2001 Professor of Physics and at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Stanford University

 

Featured Graduate Student Profile 

Darren Wallace Film and Digital Media

Darren Wallace is a current Ph.D. student in Film and Digital Media whose work traces colonial modernity's grasp on the historical development of cinematic narrative forms, Western constructions of drama, and audience readings of human agency. Using the Black cinematic vernacular of Tik Tok, Vine, and music videos, Darren interrogates the process of Black masculinities constructed through the intersections of labor, capital, desire, mythmaking and violence via African Diasporic self imaging.

Darren has recently presented two films: When is Philadelphia screens online as a part of Scribe Video Center's Radical Remedies call for works, and Cinema as Ritual was part of the Detroit Narrative Agency's Ethics and Aesthetics call for works. He describes Cinema as Ritual as “a technoshamanic altar call retelling the social iniquities of life in the U.S. during 2020 (COVID-19, West Coast wildfires, anti-Black state violence).”  As an education fellow with the Institute of Arts and Sciences, Darren led a walkthrough of the Just Futures exhibition in February and March at the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery at UCSC.

You can learn more about Darren and his work on his website.

 

Featured Professional Development

	Writing the Teaching Statement Kendra Dority, Ph.D. Associate Director for Graduate Programs Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning (CITL) Wednesday, April 27 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Pacific Time Graduate Student Commons Study Lounge 204, complimentary lunch available at 11:15 Zoom for remote participants REGISTER for Writing the Teaching Statement
	Writing the CV Veronica Heiskell, Ph.D. Associate Director of Experiential Learning and Student Employment Career Success Thursday, April 28 11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m. Pacific Time Graduate Student Commons Study Lounge 204, complimentary lunch available at 11:15 Zoom for remote participants REGISTER for Writing the CV
	Interviewing and Negotiating Salary and Benefits Veronica Heiskell, Ph.D. Associate Director of Experiential Learning and Student Employment Career Success Friday, April 29 1:00–3:00 p.m. Pacific Time Graduate Student Commons Study Lounge 204, complimentary refreshments Zoom for remote participants REGISTER for Interviewing and Negotiating Salary and Benefits

New Resources

Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office Hours

Lorato Anderson, the new Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Graduate Division, holds office hours for graduate students on Zoom every Wednesday, 1:30 - 3:30 PM. Please feel free to drop in for help/information regarding graduate support, help with a specific situation (e.g. encountering bias, starting/running a DEI program in your department, a grant you'd like her to apply for on graduate students' behalf, etc.), have questions about DEI-related plans or decisions, or just want to check in. Email her at lorato@ucsc.edu if you’d like to set up an appointment outside of these hours.

 

National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity

UC Santa Cruz is now a member institution of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD), which provides on-demand access to the mentoring, tools, and support graduate students need to be successful in academia. Its resources and workshops focus on strategic planning, writing grants, publishing, professional relationships, work-life balance, job applications, and more.

 

Upcoming Events

Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning (CITL)

Convocation: The Problem with Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion are hugely popular academic buzzwords. But why do we use them and what purpose do they serve? In this talk, Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein will provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the evolution of “diversity and inclusion” as a legal and institutional concept, and discuss how it fails to address the problems we face.

 

Global Engagement

Spring Global Gathering
Global Engagement invites you to join us for a global dinner gathering for all international students and scholars. You will have an opportunity to meet other members of our international community and staff in person, and continue building connections. Dinner will be provided.

International Students: Resilience and Resources (Graduate Session)
This event will provide a space for international students to engage in reflective discussion with peers about their experience thus far at UC Santa Cruz. We hope to create a community of support for all students to engage in dialogue about their successes, challenges, and hopes for their time as students. Come join us for good conversations and food.
Date: Monday, April 18, 2022
Time: 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Location: Graduate Student Commons, Fireside Lounge
Register here

 

Graduate Student Association (GSA)

Graduate Student Tax Preparer Workshop

 

Graduate Student Commons (GSC)

GSC April First Friday on the Lawn

How to Ask for What You Want
Asking for what you want in graduate school can be difficult given the obvious power differential between you and your professor, Department Chair, research advisor, etc. Discover the myths about assertiveness and learn how you can be more assertive in this workshop. Hosted by CAPS Counselor Richard Enriquez.
Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: Graduate Student Commons Room 204 and Virtually via Zoom (hybrid event)
Register here

GSC Governing Board
Make a difference and contribute to the graduate student community. The GSC offers social, health, & wellness, and personal and professional development events, specifically for graduate students. Join the governing board or associates team to voice your opinion, make friends and have fun! Join the board as a  voting member or be on the executive team as the Vice President. Those interested can attend the next GSC Governing Board meeting.
Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Time: 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Location: Zoom

The Psychology of Writing
We often impede our writing success with negative thinking. Explore the advice and techniques of these resources to get positive about and start writing.
Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: Graduate Student Commons room 204 or virtually via Zoom

 

Resource Centers

Sister Solidarity Keynote: Cat Brooks: Abolition and Artivism
The Womxn's Center invites you to a conversation with Cat Brooks about her journey with artivism as an activist within the bay area. We will be discussing how the UCSC community can continue conversations and artistic engagement surrounding alternative policing. We also intend to explore fostering critical connections among the campus and our local communities.
Date: Friday, April 1, 2022
Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Register here

Making with Marigold: A Black Botany Studio Workshop
How has making with marigold been central to Black, Latinx, and global ecologies? Join us for a virtual conversation and workshop with marigold, where you will have the opportunity to dye textiles with the flower. Main materials provided. Led by Jennifer Steverson. 20 spots available; application required.
Date: Application due Friday, April 1, 2022 ; Event on Thursday, April 21, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Location: Zoom
Apply here

Sophia Garcia Robles Memorial IndigeFest 2022: Celebrating Indigenous Cultures of the Americas
Performances, raffle, music, food & fun! Join us for an opportunity to learn more about Indigenous communities on campus, in Santa Cruz, and beyond!
Date: Saturday, April 2, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location: UCSC Quarry Amphitheater
Register here

8th Annual AA/PIRC Comedy Night Featuring Maysoon Zayid
Maysoon Zayid is an actress, comedian, writer, and disability advocate. She is a graduate of and a Guest Comedian in Residence at Arizona State University. Maysoon is a Princeton University Arts Fellow for 2021-23 and will begin two years of teaching and community collaboration in September. Maysoon is the co-founder/co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest. She was a full-time On Air Contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann and a columnist for The Daily Beast. She has most recently appeared on Oprah Winfrey Networks In Deep Shift, 60 Minutes, and ABC News. Maysoon had the most viewed TED Talk of 2014 and was named 1 of 100 Women of 2015 by BBC.
Date: Saturday, April 30, 2022
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:15 pm
Location: College Nine And College Ten Multipurpose Room
Register here

 

University Library

Zotero for Beginners
This hands-on workshop will focus on the basics of Zotero to get you started, from saving references to citing them. We'll begin by installing Zotero software on your device; we will build a library of sources; we will insert citations of these sources directly into a research paper and bibliography. There will be time at the end for questions. Librarian Annette Marines will lead this workshop.
Date: Thursday, April 7, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm
Location: Zoom
Register here

Get Started with Zotero
Have you struggled to keep track of search results and PDF attachments? Do you save writing bibliographies to the last minute? Have you mixed up bibliography styles in your research papers? Do you need a robust system for organizing all of your references across time? This workshop is open to anyone interested in learning to use Zotero in their research process. We'll cover the basics of how Zotero works and the useful features for getting started. Martha Stuit (she/her), Scholarly Communication Librarian, will lead this workshop.
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm
Location: Zoom
Register here

CART Commons: CART Fellowship 2022 Information Session
Interested in applying to be a CART Fellow for 2022-2023? Come to this information session to ask questions about the CART program and get to know the archival collections that next year's cohort will arrange, describe, and preserve.
Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Location: Zoom
Register here

Publishing and Open Access for Your Dissertation or Thesis
What will happen with your dissertation or thesis once you’ve written it? Did you know that UCSC has a policy about making your dissertation or thesis openly available? This library workshop will help you navigate the process of sharing and preserving your dissertation, as well as publishing. In 45 minutes, we will cover: what options you have for your thesis or dissertation’s availability (i.e., open access and copyright); what to know about the platforms/systems where your dissertation will be published; how to enhance your scholarly profile; and what publishing support is available to you for publication, such as turning your dissertation into an article or book, with time for questions. Martha Stuit (she/her), the Scholarly Communication Librarian at UCSC Library, will teach this workshop.
Date: Wednesday, May 4, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm
Location: Zoom
Register here

 

Teaching as an Ethical Practice

If you are a first-time teaching assistant (TA) spring quarter, you are required to take Teaching as an Ethical Practice (TA Ethics) on the Canvas online learning platform. Developed by the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning and informed by educational research, this training provides a foundational introduction to key pedagogical principles applicable across disciplines. TA Ethics also introduces campus resources that TAs should be familiar with. The videos feature campus resource staff and experienced TAs, and content includes case scenarios, personal reflection questions, and quizzes.

If you are a first-time TA spring quarter and have not received an invitation from Canvas to enroll in TA Ethics, contact Sonya Newlyn and copy your graduate student staff adviser.