Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark directed by Aldo Billingslea (Theatre and Dance) and Lucas Simone '24 (Theatre Arts). Photos by Christian Pizzirani.
Left, 1930s Hollywood L-R: Alisha Burch '24 (Chemistry), Kennedy Dawson '25 (Theatre Arts), Alex Jordan '25 (Philosophy, Theatre Arts), Gia Reid '26 (Communication, Theatre Arts), Katy Wolff '25 (Communication, English), Giancarlo De Leon Argueta '24 (English);
Right, 1970s L-R: Giancarlo De Leon Argueta, Katy Wolff, Kennedy Dawson, Alex Jordan, and 1990s L-R: Oshiozokhai Abu '26 (Neuroscience, Music), Alisha Burch, Gia Reid. "The Belle of New Orleans" film created by Michael Whelan (Communication) with Ellen Duncan '24, Declan Lavery '25, Fernando Salvador Francisco '25, Amy Suh '25, and Rena Zhang '24 (all Communication).

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

Spring is in the air! It will soon be time to plant summer flowers and vegetables here in the Valley of the Heart's Delight (where you can grow just about anything). Finals week, grading and prep for spring quarter may postpone your spring gardening, but that's OK, many of us probably put out starts and seeds when the soil is too cold anyway.

There will be no College Notes next week, nor the week after. Next week I'll be off to New York City to do some fundraising for the performing arts here at SCU. The goal is to raise funding for much needed replacements to key systems in our beloved, but time-worn, Mayer Theater. While in New York City, I will meet with Theatre and Dance faculty (Kim Mohne-Hill and Pauline Locsin-Kanter) along with ten students spending spring break on an immersion in New York.

Our top priority: Lighting, or Fiat Lux, to borrow from the University of California motto! Indeed, without a major replacement, the theater risks going dark, possibly at an inopportune moment…

I wish you luck with finals, grading, and spring quarter prep; wish us luck with fundraising!

Daniel

Highlights

Kathy Aoki in-character as Curator of the Museum of Historical Makeovers; Risograph animations installed in solo show "Koons Ruins: Discovery Zone."

Kathy Aoki (Art and Art History) will give a performance-lecture in character as the "Curator of Historical Makeovers" at West Valley College on Wednesday, March 20 at 11 am. Related to her current solo exhibition, this public talk will take place in West Valley College's Fox building room 120. For more information about her talk and related solo exhibition, please visit this website. 

Jesica Siham Fernández (Ethnic Studies) has been named a 2024-25 Fulbright U.S. Scholar. She is the recipient of the 2024-25 EUI Distinguished Scholar Award affiliated with the Fulbright Schuman European Affairs Program at the European University Institute (EUI). Her scholarly project, Youth Making a Change, is a transnational study of climate justice activists' sociopolitical development. During her short-term Fulbright fellowship, Jesica will examine the political subjectivities of youth coming of age in times of climate change. The goal of her project is to examine how young people, between the ages of 15-24, are involved in organizing for sustainable climate action in the United States and the European Union. Specifically, she will document the processes and practices of sociopolitical development among youth activists in climate justice coalitions and movements in Florence, Italy. What youth think about climate change—and its connections to environmental issues such as poverty, poor health and forced migration due to environmental disasters, for example—matters because it can explain why youth enact their politics, and how youth embody their citizenship as members of the polity. Transnational organizations in the US and the EU, for example, can develop appropriate policies and interventions to support climate adaptation for sustainability, environmental health and global democratic thriving. Jesica's scholarly project will offer implications to advance climate justice, document youth citizenship, and foster US-EU transnational collaborations of political accountability for climate action.

Tom Plante (Psychology) co-edited and published several papers in a special edition of the journal, Spirituality in Clinical Practice, entitled: "Spirituality in Clinical Practice: Integrating Who We Are With What We Do" that speaks to the intersectionality of both professional and personal identities among psychologists in the psychology of religion and spirituality field.

Abstract: Inspired by the recent emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in professional psychology and in society in general, we were interested in how personal religious and spirituality identities, practices, and traditions inform professionals in their work as clinicians and clinical supervisors and trainers to integrate who they are with what they do. The spiritual and religious intersectionality of professionals was explored by inviting 12 diverse professionals representing several different spiritual and religious traditions to reflect on their identities and the integration that they do to provide evidence-based professional services. Additionally, we asked them to consider best practices in training the next generation of professionals as they integrate spiritual and religious factors into their work with cultural humility and respect for diversity in mind.

Philosophy minor Keith Dinh '25 (Accounting) and Susan Kennedy (Philosophy) presented their paper "Uterine Transplants and the Shifting Paradigm of the 'Male Standard' in Jurisprudence" at the 33rd Annual Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) International Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio in February. Their paper explores the potential for uterine transplants to enable pregnancy and childbirth among transgender women and cisgender males, investigating how such advancements might catalyze a transition towards reproductive laws grounded in principles of human equality rather than biological differences.

Julia Poremba '24 (Psychology) received a 2023-24 Undergraduate Research Grant from Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology. More specifically, she was selected as a recipient of a Mamie Phipps Clark Diversity Research Grant. This round of the Undergraduate Research Grants has a funding rate of 52%. Together with her mentor Birgit Koopmann-Holm (Psychology), she is examining how personal narratives, in addition to the desire to avoid feeling negative, shape the degree to which people acknowledge systemic racism.

The Political Science Department, in partnership with the Modern Perspectives Residential Learning Community, hosted a State of the Union watch party in Dunne Hall on March 7. Bryan Reyes ’24 (Political Science) was interviewed by the CBS affiliate KCBS which covered this annual event along with other local media.

Presenters from the team at the AGU conference.

Iris Stewart-Frey (Environmental Studies and Sciences), Jake Dialesandro (Environmental Studies and Sciences, CRLA), collaborators from the California Rural Legal Assistance and the Tuolumne River Trust, undergraduate students Samantha Lei '26 (Environmental Science), Lilah Foster '22 (Environmental Science), Sarah Movahedi '24 (Environmental Science, Computer Science), and Euichan Seo '23 (Environmental Science) gave four presentations on barriers on the access to safe drinking water in the Central Valley at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting. Stewart-Frey gave an invited talk on (1) Community-driven and co-produced water informatics to address vexing nitrate contamination under drought for Central Valley’s (California) Environmental Justice communities (Stewart, Dialesandro, Noel, Jensen, Aguilar, Garibay, Foster, Lei). Other presentations focused on (2) Documenting Shade and Tree Canopy Access Inequity under Extreme Heat for Environmental Justice Communities in a Large City of California's Central Valley (Dialesandro, Stewart, Seo, Lei, Movahedi) (3) Lip Service on the Advancement in Water Equity and Justice in California's Central Valley with the Implementation of the CV-SALTS Program (Lei, Stewart, Dialesandro), and (4) An Analysis of Disadvantaged Communities in the Central Valley for the Sake of Water Equity and Justice Through the Implementation of the CV-SALTS Program (Movahedi, Stewart, Dialesandro, Lei). An article related to this work was published in Eos.

Katie Heintz (Communication) and Brita Bookser (Child Studies) led a workshop on "Youth and Social Media" for the Sacred Heart Parish (Saratoga) Adult Speaker Series on Sunday, March 3. Over 50 parents and grandparents attended in-person, and more participated via a live stream. The conversation focused on the complicated relationship between digital technologies and their users (not just youth!) and encouraged participants to take a "whole child" approach when considering the uses of media that make sense for their children and families.

Thomas Plante (Psychology) returned to teach for OLLI@SCU this Winter. He explored how psychology and human behavior can help us understand religion and spirituality. He also introduced spiritual tools from Jesuit and Western traditions that can improve psychological and physical health, highlighting practical approaches to better living.

OLLI@SCU will be featuring notable instructors periodically in the College Notes. The average course ranges from 4 to 10 hours of instruction per quarter. We hope this will inspire you to stay updated on OLLI news and possibly teach a class for our members. OLLI instructors are compensated for their time and knowledge; to learn more about the joy of teaching adult learners, contact olli@scu.edu.

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar