Congratulations to the 2021 University Award Winners: Top left: Haley Howard (Political Science, Ethnic Studies), Camilla Khorrami (Ethnic Studies, Biology), Alexander Quan (Neuroscience), Lisa Kloppenberg, Ciara Moezidis (Political Science, Communication), Liyah Lopez (Marketing), Sam Broyles (Mechanical Engineering). Bottom left: Daniel Mendoza (Electrical Engineering), Cassidy Basham (Mathematics, Philosophy), Abby Fafinski (Psychology, Communication), Olivia Figueira (Computer Science & Engineering). Not pictured: Briahna Jackson (Psychology, Ethnic Studies), Katherine Kuwada (Psychology, Child Studies), Nina Molanphy (Public Health Science), Martimeano Villa (English, Political Science).

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

Well, we made it! The last day of the academic year is here, along with commencement celebrations taking place throughout this weekend. I hope you will share in my excitement as we send our seniors off with both in person and virtual commencement activities. It has been a tough year, but nevertheless, I am so proud of all the Class of 2021 has accomplished and know that they are well prepared to make their mark in this world.

As we look ahead, I am happy to share that we are able to fund nearly 100 students for summer work through the REAL program this year. Students will be engaging in a diverse set of opportunities ranging from research with faculty members to work with nonprofits, governmental agencies, arts organizations, and more. Opportunities will include both in-person and remote work with students representing 25 of 27 College departments and programs!

I would also like to officially welcome Veronica Miranda who will be joining the Anthropology department as an assistant professor this fall. She has spent the past two years as a postdoctoral fellow with the department and we are thrilled she’ll be continuing her career here at Santa Clara.

Many thanks to everyone for their work during this challenging year! I wish you all a rejuvenating summer.

Daniel

New Assistant Professor

Veronica Miranda
Anthropology 

Highlights

On Friday 5/28, the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department hosted three Ph.D. chemists to discuss Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with students and faculty. Paulette Vincent-Ruz (U Michigan), Rigoberto Hernandez (Johns Hopkins U), and Ningkun Wang (SJSU) helped to lead a spirited discussion of the recent PBS documentary, Picture a Scientist. Our guest panelists described their own scientific journeys and struggles and led a spirited discussion about the biases that persist in STEM, barriers to entry within the sciences for underrepresented groups, and the proactive steps members of the chemistry community can take to increase diversity. The faculty members who helped organize this event (Korin Wheeler, Paul Abbyad, Mike Carrasco, Amelia Fuller, and Linda Brunauer) are excited to continue this essential dialogue and work with our colleagues to identify ways to increase diversity and inclusion. This event was supported through a Racial Justice Coalition Bannan-sponsored mini-grant to the Department.

Rohit Chopra (Communication) delivered a talk, "Ethics, Actions & Results: The Gita as a Global Guide," related to his book, The Gita for a Global World: Ethical Action in an Age of Flux, on June 3, for City Book Leaders (CBL). CBL is a New-Delhi based organization that organizes lectures, for global audiences, on books related to Indian history, culture, philosophy, religion, and politics. An excerpt from Rohit's book was also published in Scroll India, on May 20. "Gita: A new book says its focus on action in the face of uncertainty makes it important for our time."

Jimia Boutouba (Modern Languages and Literatures) has published an article, “Screen Memories & Invisible Legacies” and an interview with Franco-Algerian filmmaker, Wahid Chaib, in Expressions Maghrébines, a top tier journal in the field of Francophone Postcolonial Studies. The article examines how contemporary documentary filmmaking restores immigrant memories and stories to French cultural history. Despite recent attempts to diversify cultural memory, the memory of migration to France remains largely sidelined and marginalized in official historiography. Unsurprisingly, the cultural history of migration from former colonies has yet to emerge in a truly inclusive fashion and space, hindered as it is by France’s reluctance to critically examine its colonial past and politically address its ever-lasting structural effects in present-day society. In particular, the article illustrates how performative and presentational (rather than representational) modes potentiate the construction of a postcolonial memory that stands in opposition to exclusionary and homogeneous narratives. While these documentary films can be read as being part of a larger political struggle against cultural violence as manifested in the politics of forgetting and historical erasure, they also point to the redeeming power of a transcultural French national history that includes minority voices and accounts for the complex dynamics of shared histories that have been shaped by power relations.

Terri Peretti's (Political Science) new book, Partisan Supremacy: How the GOP Enlisted Courts to Rig America's Election Rules, was awarded the C. Herman Pritchett Award by the American Political Science Association. The award, given to the best book on law and courts published over the previous year, describes the book as "a masterly intervention into how modern American conservative actors have employed U.S. courts in the service of regime maintenance...Partisan Supremacy conclusively establishes that American conservatives have successfully deferred to courts the work of entrenching their electoral power---even as popular, generational, and demographic trends would seem to augur otherwise. Treating American courts and judges as essential cogs in conservative regime maintenance, Partisan Supremacy is a compelling work that enriches and challenges conventional scholarly accounts of courts and judging."

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar