Family Weekend was a huge success! First Row: (Left) Lauren Fuller ’25 (Biology) and guest; (Right) Sociology students with Professor Laura Nichols, far right back. Second Row: (Left) Classics Professor Lissa Crofton-Sleigh, center, with students; (Right) Leo Illing '25 (Physics) explaining his research. View more photos of our joint panel, Ask Me Anything About Emerging Technologies and the Dean's Reception & Student Showcase. Photos by Charles Barry

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

In Walter Miller's 1960 dystopian, kooky, post-apocalyptic novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz, an order of monks in the southwestern U.S. desert preserves engineering and scientific notes and texts the brothers do not understand in the hopes they will usher in a future scientific renaissance. The proximate cause of humanity's return to an intellectual Dark Age was a nuclear war, but I often think about the novel in the context of any attack on knowledge, human expression and science.

Bizarrely and cruelly, scientific research and funding are under attack by our own government, despite the fact that most Americans greatly appreciate new medical, scientific and technological advances. Happily, the academic scientists I know exhibit high levels of determination, resilience and integrity. Those traits were very much on display at Santa Clara University this week, first with our Womxn in STEM Dinner, which featured presentations by student engineering and science clubs as well as an inspiring panel of speakers. Many thanks to faculty speakers, Professors Pascale Guiton and Desiree Forsythe (Biology) and Maria Kyrarini (Electrical and Computer Engineering) as well as alumna Louisa Mantilla ’22 (Mechanical Engineering).

Also this week (this afternoon, 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. in front of SCDI), the SCU community is holding a Stand Up for Science demonstration, part of nationwide rallies to be held today and beyond. The goals of Stand Up for Science at SCU are 1) to reflect on the positive impacts of science while sharing information about recent changes in federal support for science, 2) to engage students and others in considering how the future of science will impact their lives and the lives of those they care about, and 3) to amplify ideas to decision-makers nationwide.

I believe in our scientists, faculty, staff and students alike. Thanks to them and their colleagues worldwide, we will not be future monks illuminating and engraving old physics textbooks that we cannot possibly understand!

For this week's poem, I offer you a moving piece by Alison Hawthorne Deming, a poet and professor emerita from the University of Arizona…and also a descendant of Nathaniel Hawthorne…

Fiat Lux!

Daniel

Then it was the future, though what’s arrived
isn’t what we had in mind, all chrome and
cybernetics, when we set up exhibits
in the cafeteria for the judges
to review what we’d made of our hypotheses.

The class skeptic (he later refused to sign
anyone’s yearbook, calling it a sentimental
degradation of language) chloroformed mice,
weighing the bodies before and after
to catch the weight of the soul,

wanting to prove the invisible
real as a bagful of nails. A girl
who knew it all made cookies from euglena,
a one-celled compromise between animal and plant,
she had cultured in a flask.

We’re smart enough, she concluded,
to survive our mistakes, showing photos of farmland,
poisoned, gouged, eroded. No one believed
he really had built it when a kid no one knew
showed up with an atom smasher, confirming that

the tiniest particles could be changed
into something even harder to break.
And one whose mother had cancer (hard to admit now,
it was me) distilled the tar of cigarettes
to paint it on the backs of shaven mice.

She wanted to know what it took,
a little vial of sure malignancy,
to prove a daily intake smaller
than a single aspirin could finish
something as large as a life. I thought of this

because, today, the dusky seaside sparrow
became extinct. It may never be as famous
as the pterodactyl or the dodo,
but the last one died today, a resident
of Walt Disney World where now its tissue samples

lie frozen, in case someday we learn to clone
one from a few cells. Like those instant dinosaurs
that come in a gelatin capsule—just add water
and they inflate. One other thing this
brings to mind. The euglena girl won first prize

both for science and, I think, in retrospect, for hope.

Got IT Questions or Issues?

Stop by the virtual IT drop-in sessions with Charles Deleon! These sessions are designed to provide faculty and staff in the College of Arts and Sciences a friendly and casual setting for addressing general IT questions and concerns. Feel free to drop in and out at any time during the scheduled session, whether you have a quick question, need assistance with something and don't know where to start, or simply want to learn more about our IT resources.

Biweekly. Next session: Friday, March 14, 11:00 am-12:00 pm.

Zoom link

Highlights

Fred Parrella (Religious Studies, Emeritus) published a review article of Hatfield, Elaine, Richard L. Rapson, & Jeanette Purvis, What’s Next in Love and Sex: Psychological and Cultural Perspectives, New York: Oxford University Press, 2023, in INTAMS, the Journal of Marriage, Families, and Spirituality 30, 2 (2024): 333334.

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John Hawley (English, Emeritus) chaired the First Book prize committee at the University of Milan, where he presented a paper on Sri Lankan Booker Prize winner Shehan Karunatilaka and Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo. He has been elected to the Modern Language Association (MLA)'s executive committee on Religion and Literature, on which his colleague Aparajita Nanda also serves. He was on a panel at the recent MLA convention in New Orleans, on the topic of Transcultural South Asia, followed by a roundtable at the online South Asian Literary Association, on the role of literature in personal maturation, focused on the Pope’s encyclical from last year on that topic.

Image: John Hawley at the University of Milan.

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Chan Thai (Communication) and alumni co-authors Jacqui Villarreal ’19 (Communication, Studio Art) and Jacqueline Thai ’24 (Environmental Studies, Communication) published their paper “The Relationship Between Perceptions Toward Advertising and Consumption of Energy-Dense Nutrient-Poor Foods Among Adults in the United States: Results from a National Survey” in Frontiers in Public Health. The study applied secondary data analysis to data from the FLASHE survey conducted by the National Cancer Institute to explore (1) the differences in perceptions toward and trust in food advertisements between racial/ethnic population subgroups; and (2) the associations between perceptions toward food advertising and the consumption of energy-dense, nutrient poor (EDNP) foods among adults using data from a national data set (n = 1,535). Results revealed that Black adults had higher trust in food advertising compared to White adults. Positive perceptions towards food advertising was also associated with an increase in daily consumption of EDNP foods and drinks. Our results provide some initial empirical support for the cognitive mechanisms of how exposure to food advertising may contribute to consumption. Developing advertising literacy interventions to inoculate against the cognitive impacts of food advertising may be a viable strategy to limiting consumption of EDNP foods.

Image: Chan Thai (left), Jacqui Villarreal (top right), Jacqueline Thai (bottom right).

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Mythri Jegathesan (Anthropology) delivered an invited lecture at University of Houston on February 4, organized by the Tamil Studies committee in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Her talk, "Mothering 'the children of Tamil Thai': disrupting Sri Lanka's lexicon of matrifocality" revisited the concept of matrifocality in feminist anthropology by presenting textual and ethnographic research on narratives of mothering on Sri Lanka's plantations. She also gave a guest lecture in Princeton University's Department of African American Studies on February 19. This talk engaged regional and global frameworks in plantation studies and presented ongoing research on caste, land attachment, and labor among formerly displaced Tamil communities in Sri Lanka's Northern Province.

Image: Mythri Jegathesan presenting her research on matrifocality at University of Houston on February 4, 2025.

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Aparajita Nanda (English) has just won a highly prestigious and very competitive Fulbright award for a three-year tenure where she goes to different host institutions all over the world in an advisory capacity as an expert on global literatures.

 

 

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(L-R): Justin Clardy, Frank Wilderson III, Kevin Morris.

The Center for the Arts and Humanities Faculty Fellow Series continued in February with a fireside chat between Justin Clardy (Philosophy), Frank Wilderson III, Professor of African American Studies and Drama at the University of California, Irvine and Kevin Morris, Doctoral Candidate in English at Umass Amherst. The conversation centered around civic indifference and black suffering. Special thanks to the following sponsors: Black Justice Studies Collaborative; departments of English, Ethnic Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies,  Political Science, Religious Studies, Sociology; Inclusive Excellence Division, Office of Multicultural Learning, Philosophy, and SCU Presents.

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In collaboration with Drs. Christopher C. Sonn (Victoria University, Australia), James Ferreira Moura Jr. (Federal University of Ceará, Brazil), Monica E. Madyaningrum (Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia), and Nick Malherbe (University of South Africa, South Africa), Jesica S. Fernández (Ethnic Studies) co-edited the publication of the Handbook of Decolonial Community Psychology (Springer, 2024). Illuminating the dynamic intersections between resistance and colonial legacies, whilst highlighting the power of communities and collectives coming together to create transformative change, the Handbook offers readers an opportunity to consider a decolonial standpoint in community psychology. The intentions of the Handbook are to inspire the emerging generation of scholars, practitioners, community organizers, and creatives/artists in co-creating knowledges, decolonial cosmovisions, and liberating methodologies.

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AJCU Student Success Officers gather for the annual meeting in the Humanities Center at Loyola University-Maryland.

Katie Heintz (Communication, Undergraduate Studies) joined colleagues from other Jesuit Universities for the second annual AJCU Student Success Officers meeting last month. Hosted by Loyola University-Maryland Dean of Undergraduate Studies, participants shared successes and challenges related to programs and services designed to support student thriving and academic success. This network of colleagues is committed to working together to troubleshoot common concerns and support students across the AJCU collective. (Those in attendance this year represented SCU, USF, Seattle U, Gonzaga, Creighton, St. Joseph's, Boston College, Loyola U - Chicago, Loyola U-Maryland, U of Scranton).

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Tony Hazard (Ethnic Studies, History) published "Teaching Whiteness Studies in the 21st Century" in Social Justice in Action: Model For Campus and Community (New York: Modern Language Association, 2024) edited by Neal A. Lester, Foundation Professor and Founding Director of Project Humanities at Arizona State University. The chapter offers and interrogation of the genealogy of Whiteness Studies and explores Tony's experiences designing and teaching Whiteness Studies at Santa Clara University during the emergence of Trumpian white nationalism. The chapter identifies the origins of Whiteness Studies not in the multidisciplinary scholarship of the 1990s but rather in the longer Africana intellectual tradition from W.E.B. Du Bois to Barbara J. Fields. Ultimately, the chapter offers a pedagogical model for teaching Whiteness Studies by utilizing a historical approach to interdisciplinary scholarship and contemporary media. This project is also a full circle moment for Tony who as a student athlete, Psychology and African American Studies major at Arizona State was mentored by Professor Lester.

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On Valentine's Day, the Center for the Arts and Humanities hosted an event in collaboration with the SCU Letterpress Collective and the SCU Student Art League. There were opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to make cards, flower bouquets, and other crafts.     Image (L-R): Kathy Aoki (Art and Art History), Amy Randall (History), Britt Cain (CAS Dean's Office), Heather Turner (English). Photo by Ingrid Kindel ’25 (Art History, Studio Art)

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Tom Plante (Psychology) co-authored a paper entitled "Potential Mental Disorder Symptoms in the Prophet Elijah: An Exegetical and Psychological Analysis of Selected Episodes from 1 Kings 18–19," in the Journal of Religion and Health.

Abstract: This interdisciplinary study examines the prophet Elijah’s experiences as depicted in 1 Kings 18–19 through a multidisciplinary lens, combining theological, literary, and psychological perspectives. Drawing on literary and historical–critical methods, a biblical scholar analyzes the narrative’s linguistic and cultural dimensions, while a psychologist evaluates these findings using contemporary mental health frameworks, including the DSM-5 and models of spiritual struggle. By synthesizing these approaches, the study explores Elijah’s emotional challenges, highlighting their resonance with modern understandings of mental health and spirituality. The findings suggest that Elijah’s profound struggles—marked by triumph, despair, and renewal—offer valuable insights into the interplay of faith, vulnerability, and resilience. These insights illuminate how ancient narratives continue to address contemporary questions of human experience and psychological struggle.

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On February 26, Barbara Burns (Child Studies) presented an invited workshop at the 2025 California Statewide Collaborative Prevention Conference with Veronica Amador and Maria Gallardo, from Sacred Heart Community Service (SHCS). We shared research findings from our community-led program designed to strengthen resilience in caregivers of young children and prevent child maltreatment. We tried to capture the imagination of stakeholders from diverse agencies who were committed to prioritizing input from community members with lived experience. Community-driven solutions to improve the prevention of child maltreatment have recently gained national momentum and, after quite a long wait, we are experiencing the phenomenon of "being in the right place at the right time." In 2012, we piloted our community-led program designed to strengthen resilience at SHCS with 25 caregivers of young children. We were funded by Burns's faculty start-up and a CAS Dean's grant. Currently, our program has 50 community facilitators from SHCS, reaches 350 families per year across SCC, and is funded by the Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children Services (SCC DFCS). We are more than happy to report that we are now conducting a randomized control trial with the hopes of establishing our community-led program to prevent child maltreatment on the National Clearinghouse of Evidence-Based Programs for Child Abuse and Neglect.

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Marine Layers, acrylic on wood, 2025

Ryan Reynolds' (Art and Art History) solo exhibition, Intertidal, at Sue Greenwood Gallery in Laguna Beach runs from February 25 through April 15, 2025. Ryan's paintings convey the atmosphere and light of coastal California. Standing as both observer and participant, in the intertidal zone, he defines the space of both constant and dynamic changes of the intersection between sea and land. In these paintings, the human presence merges with the landscape as its people inhabit the spaces of their everyday lives, searching for meaning, understanding and connection. Alongside the inhabitants and within this ephemeral space deeper perceptions of time, space and memory are deconstructed and reassembled within the picture-plane resulting in a shared experience between subject, artist, and viewer.

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar