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| June 14, 2024 | Submit a Note |
 Visit the College's Class of 2024 web page for award winners, spotlights, and stories.
We have arrived at another graduation commencement, congratulations to all of you – it takes a College, a University and many families to help our students arrive at this day! I have a few important announcements in this last College Notes of the academic year. I am happy to announce that Teresa McCollough (Music) has been selected as the 2024-26 Frank Sinatra Chair in the Performing Arts. She will be collaborating with award-winning alumni musicians over the next two years during her time as Sinatra Chair. Please keep your eyes out for a full press release with more details in the coming weeks. And just this week, we posted a position for a new Assistant Dean of Student Services and Academic Support. This new AD will be responsible for improving and managing the overall quality of student academic support across the College and will be a resource to the departments. This position has been in development for quite some time, and we are thrilled it is finally live. I am working with folks in the Dean’s Office to finalize search details, but wanted to share this exciting update with you all. Please share the position with anyone you know who may be interested. Finally, here is a poem that might resonate with you as we reflect on what our students have learned about the world and themselves. It is attributed to the 13th century Dutch visionary and poet, Hadewijch, who belonged to a group of beguines—evangelical women who took vows of poverty, chastity, and service while remaining in the world. "You who want ..." By Hadewijch II You who want There you Sincerely Daniel Highlights
The Military Science Department is celebrating the end of a successful year by commissioning 16 seniors as Second Lieutenants in the U.S. Army! These Second Lieutenants will serve across the Active Duty Army, the National Guard, and Army Reserves in a diverse array of career fields including Cyber, Infantry, Transportation Corps, Medical Services, Finance Corps, Armour, Adjutant General, and Military Intelligence. We also look forward to the summer as 9 of our junior class Cadets will go to Fort Knox to train at Cadet Summer Training - Advanced Camp to put all of the skills that they have learned over the past three years to the test. At Advanced Camp our juniors will work with Cadets from across the nation to complete leadership challenges and learn new skills to come back to campus in the Fall to lead the ROTC program towards another successful year.
On June 4, Lissa Crofton-Sleigh (Classics) gave a virtual presentation at the New Directions in Classics, Gaming, and Extended Reality conference hosted by the University of Bristol (UK). She discussed development and the newly completed second chapter of the Latin-learning virtual reality experience Lingua Vitae, a faculty-staff-student collaborative project at SCU with Em Dang (Imaginarium Lab Manager), David Jeong (Communication), Nicolas Lopatin '24 (Engineering), Darren Inouye '24 (Computer Science and Engineering), Caitlin Gronowski '25 (History, Classics), Ryan Fell '25 (Computer Science), Tony Baldacci '25 (Accounting), and Allison Kemp '27 (Business Undeclared), and sponsored by several internal grants. Lingua Vitae is also the subject of one chapter within a new volume edited by Lissa and Brian Beams (at Stanford, previously of SCU), entitled Past and Future Presence: Approaches to Implementing XR Technology in Humanities and Art Education, which was published in May by Amherst College Press. The volume is open access and available through Fulcrum.
On May 23, the French & Francophone Studies Program in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures hosted "Writing Beyond Walls," an event celebrating the work of justice-impacted writers. Students, staff and faculty were given the opportunity to chat with authors who are currently and formerly incarcerated about their writing practices and projects; to learn from campus organizers about the legal, social and logistical challenges of writing behind bars; and to participate in a collaborative editing workshop where audience members provided creative feedback on poetry submitted by an author in custody. The Writing Beyond Walls event is part of an ongoing initiative led by the French & Francophone Studies program to diversify the curriculum and support the inclusion of underrepresented voices on our campus – including those of Pell-eligible and Hispanic-identifying learners, who are disproportionately represented within the U.S. prison population – in line with the university’s 2030 Strategic Plan and its HSI commitment. In Winter 2025, Keziah Poole (Modern Languages and Literatures), Director of The Readers’ Circle, a national prison-writing program that pairs campus volunteers with writers in custody, will introduce a new ELSJ course that allows for more in-depth engagement with the theme: FREN 120E: Writing Beyond Walls - Prison Writing in Global Contexts.
Giselle Laiduc (Psychology) presented a talk titled “A near-peer video storytelling intervention improves first-year students’ social fit in the university” at the 2024 Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention in San Francisco, California on May 24, 2024. The research explored the differential impact of three short peer role model videos that were embedded in a campus wide orientation delivered to first-year students transitioning into the university. The talk was included in a symposium about new directions in role model intervention research. Image: Speakers (L-R) Yu-Shan (Grace) Huang (University of Chicago), Sarah Herrmann (Weber State University), David Marx (San Diego State University), Giselle Laiduc (SCU).
Kirstyn Leuner (English) and Nadia Nasr (Archives and Special Collections) gave presentations at the British Women Writers Conference, held May 28-30, at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Kirstyn led a workshop called "DH in the Classroom" that emphasized that digital humanities pedagogy can increase engagement, accountability, community-building, and conscientious use of technology when it is used to craft assignments and learning opportunities that meet specific course learning objectives. Kirstyn and Nadia both presented papers on a panel called "The Stainforth Library of Women's Writing: New Findings after a Decade of Research" that also featured research by Deborah Hollis (CU-Boulder Rare and Distinctive Collections). Kirstyn's paper, titled "'Handsome' Presents and Hidden Letters in Francis Stainforth's Private Collection of Women's Writing," is (as the title says) about what she has been learning from hidden ephemera uncovered within physical copies of Stainforth's original books. Nadia's paper, titled “Stainforth’s Library: Working Tool or Intellectual Monument?” is about how Stainforth saw his collection, and by extension, how we may “read” the collection in aggregate. By collecting over 7,122 works by more than 2,800 authors, Stanforth’s library creates space for women writers to inhabit in a world that has historically devalued the presence of women and what they had to say. Stainforth invites us to stop and to give literary credit where it is due.
Francisco Jiménez (Modern Languages and Literatures, Emeritus) was the keynote speaker at the LiUNA Local Laborer's Scholarship Fund Celebration and Fundraiser, honoring 66 scholarship recipients, in San Jose, May 17. He made a virtual presentation on his literary work and on the importance of education to over 200 students at the Upper Merion Area Middle and High School District, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, May 15. (Students read his books, The Circuit and Breaking Through.) On May 23, he made a public presentation on his book The Circuit Graphical Novel at Sequoia High School in Freedom, sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and Bookshop Santa Cruz. He also made a virtual presentation to Point Arena High School students at Point Arena, California, May 29. (Students read his book The Circuit.) In addition, he made in-person presentations, followed by Q&A, on campus to students and their teachers from St. Mary’s School in Gilroy (students read The Circuit) and Bear Creek High School in Stockton on May 21. (Students read his books, Breaking Through and Reaching Out.)
On World Environmental Day, June 5, 2024, Kristin Kusanovich (Theatre and Dance), Director of tUrn Climate Action, presented virtually at Afghanistan's international climate conference entitled "Mitigating Climate Change Impacts and Natural Disasters in Afghanistan" hosted by EPTDO-- Environmental Protection, Training and Development Organization, a 1600-member volunteer-driven organization based in Kabul. She spoke on artists and humanities scholars in the climate movement, climate justice being tied to economic opportunities for women, the need for international climate finance in Afghanistan to support functional, environmental NGOs, and relational solidarity with Afghan climate orgs. The one-day conference featured in-person speakers from international organizations and local NGOs working in Afghanistan, such as UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan), UN WFP (World Food Programme), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), FCDO Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the U.K., AfghaniAid-UK, IRC (International Rescue Committee), DACAAR (Danish Humanitarian Aid in Afghanistan), NEPA (National Environmental Protection Agency of Afghanistan), ANDMA (Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority), and others. tUrn was the sole organization presenting from the western hemisphere. As a tUrn partner, EPTDO has hosted six tUrn weeks throughout provinces of Afghanistan, and created six headliner presentations for the biannual tUrn weeks centered at SCU in October and April. Image: World Environmental Day Conference presenters in Kabul.
Following a rousing SCU studio sendoff performance with over 80 people in attendance, David Popalisky (Theatre and Dance) took his 3rd Act Dancers to the Lineage Performing Arts Center in Pasadena, California for two enthusiastically received performances on May 4 and 5, 2024. The repertoire included a reprise of Old Man Adagio, premiered in NYC in 2023 and two new dances choreographed by Popalisky. His solo From Oranges to Aubergines blends lighthearted irreverence through spoken and danced stories about significant crossroads in life. A new quartet suite "Been There, Done … Not Yet," featuring Kim Gardner and Michael Hazinski who share notable ballet careers, Popalisky and Deborah Marcus, who draw upon contemporary dance backgrounds, closed the show. Without acknowledging each performer’s six decades of life experience, this vigorous dance to a John Adams score pokes fun at the vagaries of life and challenged assumptions that dancing is a young person’s game. The movements entitled “Hello,” “One of Those Days,” “Showoff,” and “Bring it Home” dare to laugh at what is laughable and move with power, precision and perspiration through the immediacy of the dancing moment.
Iris Stewart-Frey (Environmental Studies and Sciences, Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative), along with Clare Pace '04 (Studio Art), now at the UC-Berkeley Water Equity Science Shop, and colleagues from UC Berkeley and the University of New Mexico organized and moderated a one-day conference at SCU on shallow groundwater contamination from PFAS near tribally managed lands in California. PFAS are often described as persistent organic pollutants or "forever chemicals." Keynote speakers were Otakuye Conroy-Ben (Oglala Lakota), a leading researcher on PFAS contamination on Tribal lands nationally, and Gregg Castro (Salinan/ Rumsien-Ramaytush Ohlone), Charlie Toledo (Towa), and Shaun Livermore (National Tribal Water Council, Poarch Band of Creek Indians) on Tribal perspectives and priorities. The conference provided opportunities to discuss what is currently known about the issue and explore legal strategies and opportunities for collaboration among PFAS researchers, Tribal community members, environmental agencies, and policy advocates. See the full program with a list of speakers and funders. Several SCU ESS and CESE classes attended different panels, especially those using GIS for mapping PFAS. ESS students Samantha Lei '26 (Environmental Science), Stephanie Davis '25 (Environmental Studies), and William Alexander '26 (Environmental Science) supported the logistics of the conference.
Terri Peretti's (Political Science) "Equality and the U.S. Constitution" class ended the quarter in Charney Hall's Panelli Moot Court Room. Student-lawyers argued a hypothetical case challenging pay-to-stay jails in Southern California before student-justices representing the Roberts Court.
This spring, SCU presented the Broadway play 42nd Street, which opened in 1980 and won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Choreography. Kimberly Mohne Hill (Theatre and Dance) went behind the scenes of the SCU play, introducing the cast and crew and discussing her directorial take on the hit musical. Members also received a ticket to the Sunday matinee of Santa Clara University’s main stage musical event.
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SCU students, staff and faculty participate in a Readers' Circle workshop, offering creative feedback to incarcerated writers.
David Popalisky's quartet "Been There, Done ... Not Yet"
(L-R): Karina Gutierrez '26 (Political Science, Spanish Studies), Jonathan Blanco '25 (Political Science), Isabella Espinoza '24 (Political Science), Robert Duoto '25 (Political Science), Athena Sanchez Erb '25 (Political Science), Sydney Maccabe '26 (Political Science), Brad Zukeran '24 (Environmental Science), and Ria Punukollu '26 (Political Science).| College of Arts and Sciences |
Questions? Contact Sandy Boyer |