Dear College Faculty and Staff,

Happy New Year!

As winter quarter gets underway, I am struck by what has changed since last year at this time…and what has not. This year, we have COVID vaccines and no one is storming the US Capitol. And yet, the omicron COVID variant is very present on our own campus…while partisan rancor is at its new, normal fever pitch.

Whether we are better or worse off, we certainly have learned a lot about caring for each other in periods of high stress. No doubt we will be taxed and rattled again this academic term. So I am ever more impressed by how much our campus community perseveres – as you navigate the pandemic’s enormous stressors, you still write, teach, perform, explore, analyze, experiment and create at very high levels.

Thus, like all other editions, this College Notes inspires and enlivens; may you read it and be similarly uplifted!

Take very good care and keep in touch,

Daniel

Student Advisory Council

Meet Student Advisory Council member Abigail Alvarez! She is originally from Portland, Oregon and at SCU she is studying Political Science and Spanish. Abigail enjoys being part of the College of Arts and Sciences' new Student Advisory Council because she gets to advocate for the student body. During her time on the council, Abigail hopes to support adjunct lecturers in their fight for a free and fair union election, increase scholarships that promote financial accessibility for low-income students, first-generation, and BIPOC students, and institute practices that prioritize student mental health over uncompromising academic rigor. In addition to being a part of the Student Advisory Council, Abigail is also the Student Body President and is a new plant mom. The Student Advisory Council was started during Fall 2021 and is made up of 10 students from across the College. They meet twice a quarter with Dean Press to discuss their aspirations, suggestions for new initiatives and their responses to issues of the day.

Highlights

Danielle Morgan (English) is a featured commentator in the documentary, We Need to Talk about Cosby, which is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, directed by W. Kamau Bell, reckons with the legacy of comedian Bill Cosby and grapples with the question of whether it is possible—or even desirable—to separate the art from the artist. The four-part documentary will premiere at Sundance on January 22, 2022, followed by a premiere on Showtime on January 30, 2022.

Francisco Jiménez (Professor Emeritus, Modern Languages & Literatures) made a brief presentation on his creative work, followed by an interview and discussion, as part of the Carbon Speaker Series, a company-wide program at Carbon, Inc. “that invites distinguished speakers who have unique experiences, expertise, or views.” On November 3, he was the keynote speaker for the United Nations Association of Boulder County in Colorado to help raise funds for ELPASO (Engaged Latino Parents Advancing Student Outcomes), which provides Latino families resources for advancing their children’s education throughout their school years. On November 13, Jiménez also made a virtual presentation on his book, The Circuit, for the Orion School's 19th Annual Children’s Author & Illustrator Fair to help raise funds for the school. He made a presentation, followed by Q&A, on his book, Breaking Through to all first-year students at Los Gatos High School on September 9. At a special meeting with SCU’s LEAD Scholars, he was interviewed by professor Pancho Jiménez about Francisco’s memoir Reaching Out, which deals with his experiences as a first-generation college student at Santa Clara. The event was followed by Q&A. In addition, he made virtual presentations on his creative work to Saint John Vianney Catholic School in San Jose, Oct. 19; Monroe Middle School, Campbell, Oct. 26; Roberto Cruz Leadership Academy, San Jose, November 16; and Frank Ledesma Elementary School, Soledad, CA, November 18.

Laura Nichols (Sociology) was one of three keynote speakers at the Nativity Miguel Coalition's Virtual 2021 conference. Her talk, "Being Companions on The Journey: The Educational Trajectories of Nativity Miguel Students" showed how data can be used to improve the outcomes of aspiring first-generation college students starting in middle school.

Tom Plante (Psychology) organized and presented at an international virtual conference and book launch on December 10 and 11 entitled "Human Interaction with the Divine, the Sacred, and the Deceased: Psychological, Scientific, and Theological Perspectives" hosted by the Scientific and Medical Network and several other sponsors based in London. The conference was based on a recently released book. Paul Schutz (Religious Studies), and former Arrupe Partnership director, Catherine Wolff, also presented at the conference and wrote chapters for the book project.

Plante also published an article in December, "Four positive lessons learned during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 global pandemic: Implications for Spirituality in Clinical Practice," in Spirituality in Clinical Practice. While the COVID-19 global pandemic has wrecked havoc for over a year in ways that we have not seen in our lifetimes, many important positive lessons have been learned during these tumultuous and what has felt like apocalyptic times. Upon close reflection, four critical and positive lessons were learned by this author that have implications for how we productively move forward in our efforts to provide spiritually and religiously informed psychotherapy services both now and in the future. These important lessons include the benefits of telehealth and “telespirit” services as well as highlighting the advantages of reflection, discernment, and resetting our life priorities. Although the pandemic took many lives and created economic chaos for countless people across the globe, several positive developments emerged that will provide an opportunity for better spiritually informed clinical practice in the future.

Kristin Kusanovich (Theatre & Dance, Child Studies) and 105 other partners presented and moderated 30 headliners (sessions, workshops, panels, events) at the 5th ever tUrn Climate Crisis Awareness & Action week in October. tUrn5 featured local and national experts and speakers from six different countries. Staff, faculty, students, and administrators from SCU and other Jesuit institutions participated, with 50% of tUrn's headliners including and centering BIPOC climate perspectives and leadership. New topics included presentations by Cynthia Calvo of the North American Jesuit Conference on Line 3 Pipeline Protests, the Environmental Volunteer Network of Afghanistan based in Kabul, and a session moderated by Erin Louthen (Univ. Archives) on addiction and recovery strategies in a climate crisis called "Rock Bottom." Kusanovich presented a talk entitled, "Writing the 5th Act: Shaping the Story" and co-facilitated a workshop with Brian Thorstenson (Theatre & Dance) on protest and perception in performance and with Nicole Banks (Wellness Center) on how to channel eco-anxiety positively.

Preparations for tUrn6 are underway, and all are invited to partner, participate, and "lean in" to climate crisis awareness & action at SCU April 18-22, 2022.

Image: Line 3 Protectors and Protesters in MN encircle for safety and planning

Last month, Kirsten Read (Psychology) and two alumni co-authors, Paloma Contreras '19 (Psychology) and Hector Martinez '19 (Psychology, Spanish Studies) published a new paper from Read's lab's work with local dual-language supporting families of emergent Spanish/English bilinguals. In the paper out in the Bilingual Research Journal, they argue for the importance of considering that there are different kinds of Spanish and English dual-language learners, who may have importantly different home language and literacy environments, particularly when it comes to the rich early language supporting experience of shared book reading. This work was supported in part by a DeNardo Science Scholar award in 2017-18, and took almost four years in the research and writing.

Image: Research assistants Raquel Hernandez '18 (Psychology), Paloma Contreras and Maria Munoz Yepez '19 (Psychology) presenting the initial round of findings on this work at the American Psychological Association conference in 2018.

ACT reACT is the newest release from saxophonist Carl Schultz (Music) and is a celebration of Art Lande, one of his musical mentors. The trio featured on this record was formed nearly 10 years ago but this release, funded in part by a grant from the Boulder Council for the Arts, is the first recording the group has produced. The unusual instrumentation of saxophone, guitar, and piano allows for a flexible treatment of the material as the 'roles' of bass and drums must be covered by members of the trio or purposely omitted. The trio will be performing at SCU as part of the SCU Faculty Recital series this April.

Molly M. King (Sociology) recently published a peer-reviewed article co-authored with Santa Clara CAS alumna Maria A. Gregg '21 (Political Science, Sociology). The review, "Disability and Climate Change: A critical realist model of climate justice," published in Sociology Compass, is the first article in her new project looking at how climate change impacts disability access and inclusion. The article's framework (the critical realist model of climate justice) reviews four elements: contextual and environmental features that cause vulnerability; adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change; perceptions of and information gathering about climate change risk; and social action and policy. The article argues that vulnerable communities can adapt to climate change via (1) institutional transformation to reduce bodily, environmental, social, and economic vulnerabilities; (2) better information for more accurate risk assessment; and (3) policy actions that support adaptive capacity and resilience.

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar