Current students Noel Del Toro (Public Health and Anthropology), Shelby White (Communication), and Caroline McInerney (Communication) hosted the College of Arts and Sciences Student Panel as part of SCU's Virtual Open House on October 12. Nearly 60% of the 939 Open House attendees indicated an interest in the College, and of the 30 sessions available throughout the week, this student panel had the third-highest attendance, after the Center for Student Involvement and Housing & Residence Life panels.

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

Here we are already in the middle of fall quarter! I have heard many great things about fall classes, and lately, the first-year students and new faculty have especially been on my mind. They are the ones who have not experienced Santa Clara University in person but are so positively jumping in (albeit virtually). I hope you'll join me in offering gratitude and encouragement to all of our newcomers who will have to wait a little longer to get the full Bronco experience!

Meanwhile, we have a busy week ahead of us. Starting on Monday, Sinatra Artist in Residence Rhiannon Giddens will be joining classes and meeting with groups on campus during her Fall Residency. She will be joined by her partner Francesco Turrisi and nephew Justin Harrington, both of whom are also musicians. Select courses and events throughout the week will be open to the public. You can find the schedule and access links on the Sinatra website.

Also happening next week is the first of a quarterly speaker series, SCU Listens and Learns: Race, Reflection, Renewal. During this first conversation, legendary activist and labor leader Dolores Huerta and renowned Chicano playwright and director Luis Valdez will join Anna Sampaio (Ethnic Studies) for a conversation on how they have used their voices over the years to fight for their beliefs and why people need to use their voices now and vote. I encourage you to attend what is sure to be a wonderful conversation.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Amy Lueck (English) as Digital Humanities Coordinator. Amy has been central in her previous position as associate coordinator in organizing and energizing the Digital Humanities Working Group, helping to envision its role on campus and beyond and to plan a wide variety of events that engage faculty, students, staff, and others in digital learning and research. Thank you also to Lee Panich (Anthropology) and Nadia Nasr (Learning Commons) for continuing as faculty associate coordinator and library associate coordinator, respectively. In response to the national Black Lives Matter movement, which itself has powerful digital and clearly humanistic components, and the pressing call for action it has spurred on campuses and communities around the country, the Digital Humanities Working Group at SCU has dedicated this year to supporting and highlighting work that uses digital humanities methods to represent, understand, and intervene in issues of racial inequity, particularly those surrounding the experience of BIPOC individuals and communities.

I hope you will enjoy the highlights below as much as I did. They show just how vibrant and creative our Arts and Sciences community continues to be, despite all the challenges.

At the risk of earning a rebuke from our colleagues in the Classics Department, Ite Broncos! (my attempt at Go Broncos! in Latin…).

Daniel

Highlights

Katy Bruchmann (Psychology) and Chan Thai (Communication) received a competitive research grant from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology to continue their research examining how people's implicit theories about body shape can influence responses to comparisons with "fitspiration" messaging on social media. Implicit theories posit that people hold beliefs about their personal characteristics as fixed or malleable. People may hold different implicit theories for different personal characteristics. Their work suggests that believing that body shape is changeable through diet and exercise can generally have positive effects on body image; however, these beliefs can also be harmful if people compare themselves frequently to fitness ideals on social media.

Photo: Dr. Bruchmann and Dr. Thai in one of their weekly zoom research meetings

Andrew Keener (English) has two articles published in the journal Shakespeare Studies. The first, "Cosmopolitan Windsor: Seduction and Translation in Shakespeare's 'English' Comedy," uncovers an alliance of multilingualism and feminism in what has been regarded as the Bard's most nationalistic comedy. The second, part of a special section on "English among the Literatures of Early Modernity," examines the transnational dealings of one of Shakespeare's lesser-known playwright contemporaries, Samuel Daniel.

Paul J. Schutz (Religious Studies) published two chapters in The T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Theology and the Modern Sciences. The first chapter, "20th and 21st Century Catholic Voices on Nature and Science," explores the theological legacies of Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., and Msgr. Georges Lemaître, the original proponent of the Big Bang theory (and a Catholic priest). The chapter argues that their seminal approaches, which seek the synthesis of (Teilhard) and dialogue between (Lemaître) science and faith, set the trajectory for contemporary discussions of the relationship between science and theology by seven key figures, including John Haught, Ilia Delio, Elizabeth Johnson, and Celia Deane-Drummond. The second chapter, "Environmental Sciences and Christian Theology," presents scientific foundations for thinking Christian faith ecologically. Then, in dialogue with ecofeminist and ecowomanist thought, it considers the intersectional character of the ecological crisis and calls for a theological orientation that seeks intersectional justice amid social and ecological degradation.

Matthew Bell (Psychology) published "Failure to find a distance effect in pigeon choice: Manipulating amount and delay of reinforcement" with co-author Federico Sanabria (ASU) in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. The work investigated the generality of the "distance effect" finding. Humans demonstrate this effect by showing longer latencies to choose between two alternatives that are close in value. When the alternatives have very different values the latencies are short. They found that pigeons do not show this effect, suggesting different adaptive mechanisms may be present in birds vs. primates. Their results have implications for developing a comprehensive theory of choice behavior.

Photo: Matthew Bell & his Mo Willems mask

Image: Posted on North East Independent School District's webpage after Jimenez's presentation,

Francisco Jiménez (Emeritus, Modern Languages and Literatures) delivered, virtually, the Hispanic Heritage Month Lecture at Hope College in Holland, Michigan on Sept. 23. He gave a virtual presentation on his writing at the Gilroy Public Library on October 3; and a virtual presentation on his book, The Circuit, for students and staff at Harris and Driscoll middle schools and at North East School of the Arts in San Antonio, Texas on October 8.

Phipps Scholar Kyler Juarez '21 (English) has been selected as a Venture for America Fellow. The application process is highly competitive: only 20% of thousands of applicants make it into the program. As a Fellow, she will be working for two years as part of a startup, writing copy, and managing social media accounts. Juarez names Dr. Morgan, Dr. Keener, Dr. Garber, and Dr. Voss as faculty who have been particularly important to her. Congratulations, Kyler!

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar