James Lai (Ethnic Studies) moderating a lively discussion on Asian American Contemporary Race Relations. (L-R): James Lai, Angel Lin '23 (Sociology), BD Wong (Sinatra Artist-in-Residence), Josh Raymundo '22 (Marketing), Erin Kimura-Walsh '98 (LEAD Scholars Program). Photo by Charles Barry.

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

This week concluded the final residency week for BD Wong as our Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts. Throughout his time on campus this year, he attended 22 classes, participated in 10 public events, and interacted with many of our students, faculty, staff and community in such meaningful ways. I do hope you were able to attend one of his events or find ways to interact with him. He truly provided such value to our campus. 

Looking forward, I am excited that the Department of Theatre and Dance’s Sister Act will be premiering this evening. It’s great to have our theatrical performances back in person and hope you will be able to catch a performance between now and the end of the month. We also have quite a few musical performances to look forward to over the next couple weeks as we start to conclude this quarter. Not to mention the departmental and affinity group year-end and graduation celebrations! I am trying to attend as many of these events as my schedule allows; I always love interacting with our community and think it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of our students.

Sincerely,
Daniel

Highlights

On May 5, 2022, Barbara M. Burns (Child Studies) presented a webinar titled “Pastoral Ministries and Community Resilience: La Cultura Cura” as part of the Catholic Restorative Justice Network Series, sponsored by the California Catholic Conference Office of Restorative Justice; the SCU Graduate Program in Pastoral Ministries; and the (Arch) diocesan Restorative Justice Directors. Burns’s webinar focused on the science of resilience and the power of community and culture to buffer adversity and strengthen healing and resilience in families. She shared her 10-year journey to establish a community-led program in partnership with Sacred Heart Community Service (SHCS) to support families of young children and prevent child abuse and neglect. The initial funding for this research project came from the SCU Dean of Arts and Science Office and the Ignatian Center’s Thriving Neighbors Initiative (TNI). This community prevention program, called Safe, Secure and Loved: Resilient FamiliesTM, was adopted by the Santa Clara County Department of Families and Children Services (SCC DFCS), and since 2018, has been made available to families of young children in Santa Clara County.

Throughout March, April, and May, Naomi Levy (Political Science) and Fiorella Vera-Adrianzén (Political Science), along with their colleague from Brandeis University, Peter Dixon, conducted 24 focus groups and 9 town halls in collaboration with six community-based organizations in Oakland as part of their Everyday Indicators for Policy Innovation (EIPI) project, which is funded by the California 100 initiative. The goal of this project is to source everyday indicators of “community well-being” and “community safety” as they are perceived by different communities throughout Oakland. This work builds on the pioneering work of the Everyday Peace Indicators project and is based on an understanding that, in order to actualize meaningful public safety reforms that improve the well-being of communities, those most impacted by the current public safety infrastructure must play a key role in policy design processes. Individuals in under-served neighborhoods, especially minorities and low-income residents, have distinct experiences and understandings of what it means to be safe. In a city like Oakland, concepts like “safety” will have many different dimensions, likely stratified by geography, class, race, gender, and other factors. The goal of this work is to complement and amplify ongoing grassroots efforts to give community members a voice in policy decisions.

Image: An East Oakland community member considers the everyday indicators of community wellbeing that were sourced during focus group discussions.

Vedya Konda '23 (Mathematics & Computer Science), advised by David Jeong (Communication) and Amy Lueck (English), attended the DECOLONIALATHON workshop at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, a community event where participants co-creatively explore decolonization and augmented reality (AR) from an anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and intersectional feminist lens. Vedya was also awarded a travel grant from the workshop.

Students presenting their posters at the Sigma Xi. Photo by Adam Hays. View more photos from this event.

On Thursday, May 5, nearly 50 students from across the sciences and engineering presented the results of their research experiences at the Sigma Xi Poster Session. These students were all nominated to Sigma Xi, the Honor Society for Scientific Research, in recognition of their research accomplishments, primarily on campus with SCU faculty mentors. The new lobby of SCDI provided an exciting and vibrant new venue for this annual tradition!

Catherine R. Montfort (Modern Languages and Literatures) presented a paper, “Irène Némirovsky and Wilhelm Thiele, the betrayal of a text,” at the 10th International Women in French Conference, “Margins: Voices and Pathways,” Iowa State University, May 12-14, 2022. Montfort’s paper focused on one of Némirovsky’s lesser-known novels, Le Bal (1929) and its filmic adaptation (1931) by an Austrian film director Wilhelm Thiele, contrasting their dramatically different visions of femininity and life in general. Montfort analyzed Némirovsky's primary obsessions, themes and satiric style. Her view of society was largely pessimistic while Thiele’s film has a happy ending, with all major problems dissipating by the end.

Rohit Chopra (Communication) was invited to join the jury of the Human Rights and Religious Freedom Journalism Awards. The awards honor original and pathbreaking journalism related to the rights of Indian religious minorities and marginalized communities. The jury consists of academics, journalists, advocacy experts, policymakers, and activists from across the globe who have distinguished themselves in the fields of human rights and minority rights in India and other contexts.

Natalie Henriquez presenting her project “Frankenstein and Artificial Intelligence Technology Today” at the Student Fellows Showcase, May 16, 2022.

Monday was the Center for the Arts and Humanities Student Fellows Showcase and End-of-Year Celebration featuring this year’s inaugural cohort of CAH student fellows. The 2021-22 student fellows, including Frances Bertotti-Metoyer ’22 (Music, History, Ethnic Studies), Teresa Contino ’24 (English, Psychology), Sophia Flores ’22 (Music, Physics, Ethnic Studies), Natalie Henriquez ’22 (History, Philosophy), Emma Kuli ’22 (English), and Sophie Wink ’22 (History), showcased the amazing projects they've been working on this year. Next year's student and faculty fellows were also introduced. Dean Press was pleased to announce Sophie Wink as the winner of the 2022 Hoefer Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Writing for her paper, “Behind the Brick Walls: The Gendered Implications of Eugenic Sterilization in the State of Maine.”

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar