This past summer, Pancho Jiménez (Art and Art History) presented a solo exhibition of his artwork at the Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery in San Ramon, California. The body of work in this exhibition explored the elusive nature of dreams and memory by merging molded forms in unexpected combinations, and in doing so transforming kitsch elements into complex, layered pieces with contemporary relevance.

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

As you read this, I will be attending the annual meeting of the AJCU Arts and Sciences Deans. This year we are hosted by Fairfield University. It's a great opportunity for me to connect with our sisters and brothers in the AJCU, learn about how they do things, compare notes, and bring back good ideas for the College.

As a result, I will miss Grand Reunion, alas. But I do hope that many of you will attend, especially if some of your former students will be coming this weekend. They love connecting with their peers and their professors!

On Saturday evening the College and the School of Engineering are hosting Grand Bash from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in SCDI. It’s always a popular event and a wonderful opportunity to catch up with CAS alumni from a variety of class years. Please stop by and say hello if you can.

This week's poem is by Robert Frost; it was first published in an anthology in 1913. Who knew that Frost could think like a winemaker, about grapes, sun and harvest?!

Sincerely,

Daniel

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

Highlights

Since Winter 2025, Smita Ghosh (Mathematics and Computer Science) has led a new independent study course in collaboration with SCU Athletics, with Jacob Roy (Athletics) as lead educator. The course gives students hands-on practice at the intersection of data science and sports science, applying statistical and machine learning methods to athletes’ biometric and performance data to inform performance optimization, recovery, and injury prevention. In addition to project work, students attend lectures on sports/data science and hear from guest experts, gaining both technical depth and applied perspective.

Projects have included: injury-risk estimation assistants; gameday readiness models; analyses of men’s soccer match data for patterns; a men’s basketball talent evaluation tool; soccer readiness modeling across training and competition; tennis load monitoring with video analysis; and baseball player development models linking physical metrics to on-field outcomes. The course emphasizes reproducible research, clear technical writing, and effective communication with non-technical stakeholders (e.g., coaches and trainers).

Looking ahead, the course will continue and scale, expanding internships and networking—supported by ongoing collaborations with Bay FC and the 49ers, and potential internships with the San Jose Sharks—while maintaining its focus on experiential learning, technical skill development, and building strong student profiles.

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Tom Plante (Psychology) published a book chapter entitled, "Living ethically in an unethical world: Teaching psychology ethics through a Jesuit and Catholic lens." In R. Wheeler & K. Kifler (Eds.). Beneath the Rage and Tumult: Promoting Radical Hospitality and Belonging in College Classrooms (pp. 277-286). MN: Liturgical Press.

Summary: The state of the world is troubled and at the heart of all of our troubles is problems with ethical decision-making. The tension between acting in the common good versus our own selfish interests is a balancing act where it typically seems that egoism rules the day. College students, and everyone else, could likely benefit from training and reflection in ethical decision making seeking to develop thoughtful tools for considering and acting on ethical challenges, both small ones and large ones. Catholic universities and other faith-based institutions of higher learning can be at the forefront of offering quality ethics courses for all of their students. The Ethics in Psychology course at Santa Clara University is one of many and can be used as a template to use at other universities across the land, religious or secular. Certainly, in our current cultural and societal climate, more training on ethics is likely better than less. The future of the planet might actually depend on it.

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Physics faculty with students (L-R): Shan Wu, Ariel Mazor ’28 (Engineering Physics), Chris Washburn ’26 (Engineering Physics), Tyler Pham ’26 (Physics), Shuzhi Zhu ’26 (Physics), Maura Kragelund ’28 (Engineering Physics), Betty Young, Emily Scott ’27 (Physics), Andrew Cates ’26 (Physics), Isabela Camacho ’26 (Physics), Roman Junes ’26 (Electrical Engineering), Johnason Yao ’28 (Physics), Alessandro Valdevit ’26 (Engineering Physics), Kristin Kulas, Bachana Lomsadze, Guy Ramon. Not Pictured: Andrew Pintor '27 (Engineering Physics).

The Department of Physics and Engineering Physics held its annual Student Research Symposium last Saturday, Sept. 27. Students presented their research results from summer 2025. Some of the topics discussed were probing dipole-dipole interaction using dual comb spectroscopy, plasma tracing through the Europa-Jupiter magnetic interaction region, two-level fluctuator characterization in solid-state qubit systems, and superconducting cameras for x-ray astronomy.

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Erin Bradfield (Philosophy) presented her paper, “A Tale of Two Cults: The Popular and Isolationist Aesthetic Communities of Twin Peaks” at the Association for Philosophy and Literature Conference at Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt, Germany on Aug. 20-22. The theme of this year’s conference was “Borders / Dialectics / Civility.” Bradfield’s essay examines the shifting ground of David Lynch’s reception and endeavors to categorize the different aesthetic communities spurred by Twin Peaks (1990-1991). She analyzes the show’s reception to argue that response to it was not monolithic, claiming that the program spurred two aesthetic cults—one popular and the other isolationist. Bradfield argues that the groups are marked by distinct interests and communication styles.

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On Oct. 3, Justin Clardy (Philosophy) gave a talk as a part of the visiting speaker series for the Department of Philosophy at San Jose State University. His talk discussed the ethicality of intimacy confining restraints.

 

 

 

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Francisco Jiménez (Modern Languages and Literatures, emeritus) was honored by La Raza Historical Society (LRHC) of Santa Clara Valley with the 2025 Celebrating La Raza Award on Sept. 20. The award “recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the Latino community in the Santa Clara Valley and beyond”. At the LRHS Awards dinner, Francisco also received a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, acknowledging “his extraordinary contributions as an educator, scholar, and acclaimed author,” signed by Senator Dave Cortese; a commendation from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, recognizing his “exceptional dedication and enduring contributions to enhancing the lives of Santa Clara County residents”; and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for “outstanding and invaluable service to the community,” signed by Congressman Sam Liccardo.

In addition, earlier in the month Francisco spoke at two events focused on the transformative power of education and storytelling: on Sept. 10 at Hartnell College in Salinas (LINK) and on Sept. 11 at Cal State Monterey Bay, he delivered a talk on how storytelling through different artistic media can be used to foster empathy and respect for immigrants, especially migrant farmworkers whose labor and culture have helped shape the nation. His remarks introduced a screening of The Unbroken Sky, a short film based on his memoirs.

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In September, Victor Quiroz (Modern Languages and Literatures) delivered a conference presentation at the Ohio Latin Americanist Conference (OLAC), held at Bowling Green State University. In his talk, Quiroz examined Clorinda Matto’s novel Aves sin nido (1889) through the lens of the Quechua oral story “Malikachamanta Curamantawan” (Malikacha and the Priest, c. 1904–1905) from the “Manchay Puytu” (The Pot of Fear) narrative cycle. Quiroz argued that Matto rewrites Quechua oral tradition in her novel—specifically by redistributing Malikacha’s narrative roles across different female characters and reversing the anti-colonial stance of Quechua discourse—in order to sanitize Western acculturation as a means of incorporating Indigenous communities into the Peruvian nation, even at the cost of the gradual erasure of indigeneity.

Image: Victor Quiroz at Bowling Green State University (Ohio).

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Robin Tremblay-McGaw's (English) image + text piece, "Audubon in Haiti", part of her work using paint chip names to investigate whiteness, has been published in Superpresent's Fall 2025 issue.

 

 

In addition, Robin spent part of September and late August in residency at Yaddo where she had the great privilege to be in community with other writers, artists, and filmmakers. Some of its famous residents over the years have included James Baldwin, Laurie Anderson, Henri Cartier-Bresson, John Cheever, Nell Irvin Painter, Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, and more. Robin had her own art studio to work on her newly developing image + text multimodal work.

 

 

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Alberto Ribas-Casasayas (Modern Languages and Literatures) was invited to present his book Otras iluminaciones: Narrativa, cultura y psicodélicos with Ana Luengo (SFSU) at the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP) on Sept. 23. The BCSP is an academic center focused on psychedelic research, training, and public education. This was the first of its monthly research presentations featuring research in the humanities, and it was followed by a lively Q&A with researchers and graduate and undergraduate students.

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John Farnsworth (Environmental Studies and Sciences, emeritus), who was recently appointed to a second three-year term on Washington state’s Wildlife Diversity Advisory Council (WDAC), has been elected to serve as the council’s vice chair for the 2025-26 year. He will automatically transition to the WDAC chair for the following year. Farnsworth will continue to chair the committee revising the WDFW State Wildlife Action Plan for 2025-35 until the end of the current calendar year.

 

 

 

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar

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Got IT Questions or Issues?

Stop by the virtual IT drop-in sessions with Charles Deleon! These sessions are designed to provide faculty and staff in the College of Arts and Sciences a friendly and casual setting for addressing general IT questions and concerns. Feel free to drop in and out at any time during the scheduled session, whether you have a quick question, need assistance with something and don't know where to start, or simply want to learn more about our IT resources.

Biweekly. Next session: Today, Oct. 10, and Friday, Oct. 24, 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Zoom link

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