News & Events

Carla Freccero, distinguished professor and chair of the Literature Department and a beloved mentor to hundreds of graduate students, died this week at Stanford Hospital, surrounded by loved ones. She was 69.

Long before women gained the right to vote nationwide in 1920, Black women in the Pacific Northwest were already working to shape political life—organizing clubs, building party networks, and mobilizing voters.

Assistant Professor of History Quin’Nita Cobbins-Modica’s research shines a light on these overlooked political strategists. Her scholarship has earned her the 2025 Judith Lee Ridge Award, which recognizes the best article in any field of history published by a member of the Western Association of Women Historians (WAWH).

The Humanities Institute (THI) at UC Santa Cruz is exploring the theme of nourishment this year, inviting the campus and community to reflect on what sustains life, fosters connection, and makes flourishing possible.

“What does it mean to be nourished in our bodies, our minds and our communities at a moment of profound social, political, and ecological change?” said Saskia Nauenberg Dunkell, research programs and communications director for THI.

UC Santa Cruz experts are working to guide AI in ethical, sustainable, and socially beneficial directions

David George was born enslaved in Virginia in 1742, but he never gave up on his fight for freedom. Running by night, fording rivers and crossing borders, George embarked on a decades-long odyssey in and out of captivity that carried him thousands of miles. Those repeated getaway form the heart of The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution (St. Martin’s Press), a forthcoming book by History Professor Gregory O’Malley.

A hard-working group of UC Santa Cruz undergraduate Ethics Bowl competitors is heading for the 2026 Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National Championships in St. Louis, MIssouri, in March. 

From amazing research discoveries to high-impact new education and fundraising initiatives, UC Santa Cruz created significant positive change, despite headwinds

In Specters of the Marvelous: Race And The Development Of The European Fairy Tale, Literature Professor Kimberly Lau reveals how “innocent” stories often encoded virulent prejudice.

Three hundred people filled the Merrill Cultural Center to hear celebrated poet Ellen Bass deliver the keynote presentation at the 15th annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading this month.