Writing program faculty member Patricia Fancher has published a book titled “Queer Techné: Bodies, Rhetorics, and Desire in the History of Computing,” which explores the role of relationships, sexuality and gender in the computing community during its early years of invention, specifically surrounding Alan Turing. Her work was supported in 2023 by the Bazerman Fellowship, given to a Writing Program lecturer, which offered her the opportunity to edit her manuscript. In an interview, she discusses her process and challenges that came up.
UC Santa Barbara Philosophy alum Noe Padilla ‘20 was recently awarded three first-place prizes from the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists for reporting for the Lafayette Journal & Courier. Now a reporter with the Indianapolis Star, Padilla got his start in journalism writing for student newspaper The Bottom Line, eventually and pursing the journalism track in the Writing Program.
Historian Evan Axel Andersson spoke on amulets and daily life in ancient Roman Egypt at the 2024 Van Gelderen Lecture, hosted by UC Santa Barbara’s History Department. Andersson discussed how these ancient artifacts did much more than adorn—serving as vital protective and spiritual tools.
Twenty students in the 2024 Raab Writing Fellowship program presented their final projects at a showcase last week, displaying multimedia works from books and zines to videos games and interactive websites — including research, fiction and creative nonfiction. Topics ranged from jazz, to AI to incarcerated women, and an Athenian prostitute. The program is generously funded by Santa Barbara writer Diana Raab, a former UCSB Foundation Trustee. It is administered by the UCSB Writing Program.
UC Santa Barbara's Walter H. Capps Center hosted Diane Winston, Knight Chair of Media and Religion at the University of Southern California, for a lecture on her book Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan's Evangelical Vision. She spoke about the role religion played in both Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump's presidency and how media helped popularize the politics of the Christian right.
There is a direct connection from slavery to colonialism to contemporary Italian culture and politics, says Stephanie Malia Hom, an associate professor of Transnational Italian Studies at UC Santa Barbara.
Screenwriter, producer, and UCSB educator Wendy Eley Jackson speaks to a student from the campus' Film and Media Studies department about her experiences within Hollywood’s film industry. Having gained acclaim working on several well-known films and television shows, Jackson uses her knowledge and resources to mentor her students towards successful careers in the film industry.
UC Santa Barbara's Interdisciplinary Humanities Center hosted Swati Chattopadhyay, a History of Art and Architecture professor at UCSB, to discuss her book Small Spaces: Recasting the Architecture of Empire. She spoke on servant quarters and other small spaces throughout the British Empire in India and how these marginalized spaces held together the Empire's infrastructure.
“HFA Speaks: For the Love of Language” brought together Sabine Frühstück, a UCSB professor of modern Japanese cultural studies, Magda Campo, an Arabic continuing lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies, and Laura Marqués-Pascual, the language program director in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for a panel discussion. Moderated by Jackie Jauregui, the panel had a conversation about the importance of learning languages, and the related struggles of teaching it at a time of dropping enrollment nationally.
Thomas Heine, a fourth-year student in UC Santa Barbara’s Germanic and Slavic Studies department will be combining his knowledge of German language, culture, and business with his passion of aviation. He is working towards flying for Lufthansa, the largest airline in Europe.
UCSB professor and artist Sarah Rosalena uses computer programming and hand crafting to interpret the stars. In an interview, she discusses representing Indigenous values and anti-colonialism through her art and her work at UCSB.
This spring, UC Santa Barbara students co-facilitated the creation of Originalia, an art showcase featuring the painting, sculpture, and interactive artwork of 11 students interpreting their experiences with reproductive biology. UCSB students Emilie Risha and Anastasia Senavsky described how they came together to express their passion for reproductive biology in an interdisciplinary manner.
In an interview, UCSB Writing Program faculty member Craig Cotich discusses his new course, "Writing for Change." Cotich designed the course to teach strategies to help students overcome resistance to change with a curriculum that encourages creativity. Cotich's teaching style incorporates storytelling and hand-drawn illustrations to engage students. The course, open to upper-division students, aims to improve writing skills and prepare students to manage both personal and societal change.
Ph.D. student Letícia Cobra Lima created the recent exhibit at UC Santa Barbara’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum, “A Box of One’s Own: Women Beyond Borders.” Through intricately decorated boxes, women express what womanhood means to them. Lima’s recent workshop 'Bring Your Own Box' invited the UCSB community to actively participate. Inspired by Virginia Woolf, this exhibit explores the use of artistic freedom and empowerment through the creation of these small, meaningful boxes.
Russell M. Jeung, a professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University, spoke at UCSB about the racial violence and hate that rose during the COVID-19 era and how that racial trauma has affected the community’s mental health. Jeung said that Asian Americans have been able to grow past these traumas by relying on their Asian identities and using cultural responses.
Ending Poverty in California (EPIC) is a non-profit that is seeks to change attitudes toward those living in poverty and better enact policies and administer solutions. EPIC’s president Devon Gray and its chief adviser for storytelling and narrative, George Kaufmann, joined UCSB History department professor Alice O’Connor for a panel discussion.
This spring, UCSB’s Humanities and Fine Arts Division hosted a creativity contest to highlight the work of creative students across the UCSB campus. The following story won third place in the prose category.
This spring, UCSB’s Humanities and Fine Arts Division hosted a creativity contest to highlight the work of students across the UCSB campus. The following story won second place in the prose category.
This spring, UCSB’s Humanities and Fine Arts Division hosted a creativity contest to highlight the work of creative students across the UCSB campus. The following story won first place in the prose category.
This spring, UC Santa Barbara’s Humanities and Fine Arts Division hosted an annual contest to highlight creative student voices across the campus. The following are the winning submissions in the Photography category.
