^{Choreographers' Gallery 2022 - Unstoppable, Choreographer: Amanda Wang '24 (Economics), Dancer: Graciella James-Hickey '26 (Environmental Studies). Photo courtesy of SCU Presents.}

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

As you may know, we are in the process of hiring a new Assistant Dean to join our Dean’s Office. This position has been altered slightly to fit our changing needs, but will continue to fulfill many of the duties and responsibilities that Rafael Ulate managed for so long. This week and early next, we have invited a number of qualified applicants to campus for in-person interviews. I expect this to be a tough decision as each person has qualities and skills that would benefit our team. I hope to have the position filled by the end of the year, with a start date in early Winter quarter.

In keeping with the theme of people joining the College, the Undergraduate Admissions team is planning to send out the first round of Early Action / Early Decision application decisions for Fall 2024 admits in the next week or so. It’s enormously gratifying to witness the continued, very strong interest prospective students have in coming to Santa Clara – many, many of you are very much responsible for that! As this first set of future Broncos learn of their acceptance to Santa Clara, I’m sure we will get more visits to our website and possibly inquiries to our departments and programs as admits explore what their future at SCU will look like. If you interact with any of them, please give them a big Bronco welcome that reinforces their decision to attend Santa Clara University.

I wish you luck with finalizing grades and closing out this busy but fulfilling quarter.

Daniel

Highlights

Linda Garber (Women's & Gender Studies, Dean's Office) spoke at the recent National Women's Studies Association Conference in Minneapolis and the Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference in Chicago. Her talks were based on her book about lesbian historical fiction, Novel Approaches to Lesbian History. Published by Palgrave in December 2021, the book was just issued in paperback in November 2022.

Kirsten Read (Psychology), a recently elected Fellow in the Psychonomics Society, presented a talk in the Psycholinguistics panel at this year's annual Psychonomics Society Meeting in Boston (November 17-20). The talk entitled, "Why Children’s Books?: The Role of Structure & Predictability within Language in Engaging Early Vocabulary Learning" was a theoretical paper based on evidence from several studies from the Read Lab over the last eight years that have incrementally tested our theory for why common linguistic features of children’s books (e.g., rhyming and structural repetition) may be especially useful for helping young children "fast-map" new vocabulary in situ.

Maggie Hunter (Sociology, Dean's Office) has been named as a collaborator with UCLA's Center for Scholars and Storytellers (CSS). CSS works with leading social scientists to help major media companies tell authentic stories with attention to equity issues such as race, gender and sexuality. Maggie has led several workshops this fall on colorism with casting directors, showrunners, animators and writers from companies such as Disney, Lionsgate, Warners Bros. and YouTube.

Pancho Jiménez (Art and Art History) had three art pieces permanently installed at the University of California Davis Eye Center, a research and care facility in Sacramento. The work was selected and installed by Beth Jones Art Consultant, a curatorial services firm. The ceramic pieces depict a variety of imagery, ranging from pop-culture and wildlife to figurative imagery.

Justin Boren (Communication) was elected by the membership of the Western States Communication Association (WSCA) to become the association's 96th President. WSCA, a 501(c)3 non-profit, is the largest regional professional association for communication scholars, teachers, and practitioners. Justin will become the First Vice President after the 2023 convention in Phoenix, AZ. He will then become the President-Elect after the 2024 (Reno) convention and will program plan the Albuquerque, NM convention, which will take place in February of 2025. He will become the President during the 2025-2026 year and preside over the San Diego convention (February 2026). He will continue service as Immediate Past President for the 2027 convention in Anchorage, AK.

Harry Nii Koney Odamtten (History) has been awarded Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship to work with the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon in crafting a long-term national project that reimagines an Indigenous History of Ghana. Odamtten would therefore be working with colleagues to produce research proposals to seek funding for this Indigenous History of Ghana. Harry is also expected to participate in a program review of the History & Politics section of the Institute's MA and Ph.D. programs. He will work to help improve the African Diaspora and Atlantic History content as well as research production of the institute to help strengthen its academic capacity. He will work with faculty, students, and administrators on campus to complete curriculum development work through the implementation stage.

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar