UC San Diego School of Arts & Humanities

Julia Saldivar (she/they), an interdisciplinary computing at the arts major and house advisor for the LGBTQIA+ Living and Learning Community (LLC) at Muir College, was recently featured in a campus-wide story on “What Pride Means to Us.”

“Pride means never being ashamed of who I am—and never being ashamed of other people who are living as themselves, too. Pride means different things to different people, so it’s really about celebrating pride in all its forms and showing our support for one another.”

Read the full story: https://bit.ly/3WdnAfT

Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts Music Major Qui-Shawn Tran was one of eight student speakers that offered words of gratitude and inspiration to their fellow 2024 graduates via video at the June 15 Commencement ceremony.

“On a gut level, I believe that I can relate to every single student that is graduating this year…I have had the chance to understand the doubts we feel at our lowest moments and the hope we feel at our greatest moments. I hope that I can bring the joy and light and love I have felt in my time at UC San Diego to my fellow graduates.”

Qui-Shawn was deeply involved at UC San Diego, from OASIS Summer Bridge to the Triton Community Leadership Institute and the Cross-Cultural Center. He also studied abroad in
Copenhagen, Denmark, participated in the “Pho” King pageant hosted by the UC San Diego Vietnamese Student Association and cultivated a meditation practice. Up next, he’ll teach English in Japan for a year.

Congratulations to Qui-Shawn and all of our Class of 2024 graduates!
UC San Diego Music

Hats off to the Class of 2024! ICAM Music transfer student Jorge Valdez Diaz is graduating this June, and he is excited to start a new chapter in his life.

Valdez Diaz began getting involved in music in high school. When he arrived at UC San Diego, he found community at the KSDT radio station on campus. He became an audio intern and started to DJ on live broadcast.

“Through both of these opportunities I honed my skills as an audio technician and a recording artist. Plus, I got to meet some of my dearest friends here at UC San Diego, people that I can nerd out about music to the fullest extent. It's also how I met the people I'd start a band with, one of the biggest blessings to come into my life. The best thing to come out of the radio station was meeting my partner! KSDT has given me lifelong bonds and plenty friends that I will work with out in the industry!”

After graduation, Valdez Diaz would like to keep working on creative projects, especially his band, his friends’ bands and solo projects. “I want to have a recording studio and help SD get a music scene going so that the amazing talent that grows here doesn't have to go to LA anymore! We can do it all here in SD, so I say we make it happen!”

Congratulations to all of our School of Arts and Humanities 2024 graduates!

We congratulate Assistant Professor of History Bright Gyamfi, who was recently honored with the Award for Excellence in Teaching in African and African Diaspora Studies at UC San Diego.

The recognition was presented by the African and African-American Studies Research Center at UCSD at their 30th Anniversary Awards Banquet.

As an educator, Gyamfi highlights the connections within Africa and between the African Diaspora to allow students to see the ways they each can contribute to broad liberatory projects. His goal is to change the face of academia by mentoring students from underrepresented groups and exposing them to resources and opportunities that they would otherwise not experience.

Congratulations to our Kamil Media Award honorees! This year’s grand prize winner is Jessica Zhu for her film “Balloon Jungle.”

The Adam D. Kamil Media Awards were developed to support the skill development and filmmaking ambitions of UC San Diego undergraduates. The program honors the memory of Adam D. Kamil, who was a visual arts media major with a passion for connecting people through media.

See all 20 incredible film submissions: https://bit.ly/3R9tRXb

This Saturday, learn about creative career paths in the animation, film and video game industries. UC San Diego alumnus and animator Marty Davis will moderate a panel with four professionals who have insights to share about their work with companies such as Disney, Netflix and Blizzard Entertainment. The free event, happening from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, Apr. 27, is hosted by UC San Diego’s Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts in partnership with the SoCal Cineforum. More details: https://bit.ly/4bcz200

MFA acting student Ruva Chigwedere is one of 30 scholars to receive the 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. The merit-based program for immigrants and children of immigrants awards up to $90,000 to support each fellow’s graduate studies. Fellows are chosen based on their achievements and potential to make meaningful contributions to the United States across their fields of study.

Chigwedere was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and raised in New Jersey. As an artist, she centers love as a way to conquer oppression. Chigwedere enjoys the opportunity to perform work that centers the feminine perspective and honors the complexity and depth of Black women’s emotional universes.

Read more: https://bit.ly/440rA5T.
UCSD Theatre and Dance

Professor of Dance Ana María Álvarez founded the Contra-Tiempo Activist Dance Theater in 2005 to create communities where all people are awakened to a sense of themselves as artists and social change agents who move through the world with compassion, confidence and joy.

Recently the company visited UC San Diego to perform their latest work, called ¡Azúcar!. The multi-year project explores ancestral wisdoms about a plant (sugar cane) that once aided in healing, was used as a means to sweeten medicinal concoctions and is now extracted, refined and weaponized as poison. The powerful performance was presented at the Epstein Family Amphitheater in partnership with ArtPower.
UCSD Theatre and Dance

There are plenty of reasons to love artificial intelligence (AI); but what happens when helpfulness turns into harm? This is one of the big questions that occupies David Danks, a professor in UC San Diego’s Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute and Department of Philosophy. He spoke at the annual Institute for Practical Ethics keynote event, illuminating a a roadmap to ethical AI development.

Read the story and see the full livestreamed video here: https://today.ucsd.edu/story/creating-ai-that-helps-not-harms.

Photos by Aretha Li (Qualcomm Institute) and Erik Jepsen (University Communications).

Outland Magazine recently wrote a review of media artist Lauren Lee McCarthy's work, which is currently featured in a solo exhibition 's Mandeville Art Gallery. "Lauren Lee McCarthy...is one of the few performance artists I know of working today who regularly makes me feel uncomfortable and disturbed, even though her work is couched in the soothing language of care and comfort," said author Brian Droitcour.

The "Bodily Autonomy" exhibition is on view through May 25. Read the full article here: https://outland.art/lauren-lee-mccarthy-performance/.

Just one week away! The Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts at UC San Diego invites you to a special film screening of "Star Choir" along with a discussion and reception.

In this cosmic opera by artists and UC San Diego Visual Arts faculty Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade, a starship crew seeks refuge on the hostile planet 85K: Aurora. As the planet defends itself from the crew’s invasive presence, the humans evolve to become a part of a queerly multi-species organism that covers the entire world.

Produced by The Industry, an experimental company that expands the operatic form in Los Angeles, this film chronicles Star Choir’s live premiere in fall 2023 at the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory, where an ensemble cast and orchestra performed inside the 100-inch telescope. Event is free and open to all. RSVP for your spot!

Film Screening: Star Choir A film chronicling the 2023 live performance of cosmic opera "Star Choir" inside the telescope of the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory.

On Saturday, Apr. 6, the Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts will host a film screening of the documentary "Rally," exploring the controversial influence of political activist Rose Pak and Chinatown's rise to power. The film will be followed by discussion with filmmaker, Rooth Tang. The event is free and open to the public and will be held at 4 p.m. in Mosaic Building, Room 113 in. Learn more and rsvp: https://bit.ly/4azEjhW.

Department of Music's King Britt was recently featured in British music, fashion and culture magazine, The Face. The article highlights Britt's Blacktronika course and the way that he is tracing the connection between Afrofuturism and the club.

Read more about Britt's course, which is held virtually and engages over 500 students: https://bit.ly/4cIIIAX.

Congratulations to Professor of History Dana Velasco Murillo, who recently received a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to complete research on the nomadic Chichimeca peoples of northern Mexico—once a thriving community of hundreds of thousands in the 16th century before their lives were stolen, and stories forgotten.

Read more about her work: https://bit.ly/3J1YCcg.

The Without Walls (WoW) Festival returns to UC San Diego this April! The four-day event (from Apr. 4-7) will include more than 20 captivating art experiences. Organized by the La Jolla Playhouse, the festival is an opportunity to discover innovative artists who will present an array of bold new works, many of which invite audience participation.

This year two performances are led by the UCSD Theatre and Dance Department—including a housewarming party delayed by a move in “Letters to Home” and a team of social media influences looking to escape the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego sculpture in “Fallen Star(s).” A third features alumna and Blindspot Collective artistic director, Shellina Hefner, in “iykyk,” a performance that celebrates the spirit of defiance.

Learn more and rsvp at wowfestival.org.

Some stunning photographs of this weekend’s UC San Diego Theatre and Dance WinterWorks performances, which featured three original works by dance faculty Dr. Grace S. Jun (hip hop), Kara Mack (African Diasporic Movement) and Ana María Álvarez (Afro-Latine activist dance theater).

Faculty choreographers collaborated with undergraduate and graduate students as well as alumni to design and create the show, which are rooted in choreography as community organizing. The works converge inside of physical worlds built from purpose, lineage, healing, liberation and love.

Photography by Erik Jepsen, UC San Diego

History students in Professor Dana Velasco Murillo’s “Spanish California” class recently had the chance to explore rare books and manuscripts at the UC San Diego Library in partnership with Special Collections & Archives.

Students will have the chance to create their own exhibit featuring primary sources that they found compelling. The books contained a range of histories—from the memoirs of Californios, census records, narratives of travelers visiting from Europe and maps of rancho land plots.

Double Feature: This Saturday from 2-6 p.m. join the opening celebration for "Bodily Autonomy," the new solo exhibition of works by media artist Lauren Lee McCarthy at the Mandeville Art Gallery at UC San Diego.

Happening concurrently, view projects from over 20 MFA and Ph.D. UC San Diego Visual Arts graduate students at the annual MFA Open Studios at the Visual Arts Facility.

Bodily Autonomy: https://bit.ly/3V1oH2b
MFA Open Studios: https://bit.ly/3TclR9f

Looking to break into the entertainment industry? This Saturday is your chance to talk to some of the field’s top creatives—three of them UC San Diego alumni! Special guests will include producer Marty Adelstein '82, screenwriter and film consultant Lauren Craig '14, Emmy-award winning executive director Chris Thomes '93, and Tonya Mantooth, CEO and artistic director of the San Diego Film Festival

The free event, hosted by the Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts, will be held from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24 at UC San Diego. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3SKbIPS

Throughout the month of February, UC San Diego celebrates Black History Month with a series of in-person and virtual events that recognize and commemorate the rich history, culture and contributions of the Black community. This year, we're exploring "Black Culture through Artistic Expression" with numerous events that are hosted by and feature faculty and students from the School of Arts and Humanities. See the full list of events at https://blackhistorymonth.ucsd.edu/2024/.

Congratulations to Anthony Davis, distinguished professor of music, for his induction into the Opera Hall of Fame. The honor comes on the heels of an immensely successful production of “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at the Metropolitan Opera, a work he composed 37 years ago, and which drew packed houses nearly nightly.

A Pulitzer prize-winning musician who has written eight operas thus far, audiences and critics alike are drawn to the way Davis uses music as resistance and creates a whole world on stage through sound.

A Standing Ovation for Opera Icon Anthony Davis UC San Diego Distinguished Professor of Music Anthony Davis has been inducted into the Opera Hall of Fame. The honor comes on the heels of an immensely successful production of “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at the Met Opera, a work he composed 37 years ago, and which drew packed houses.

Professor and Chair of Literature Kazim Ali contemplates the ideas of home, familial roles, romantic love and the nature of the universe in his new book of poetry, titled "Sukun."

Read about how he approaches poetry as a form of discovery, as a sound experiment and as physical structure and hear him recite several of his works.

A Two-Decade Journey of the Heart is Mapped in Poetry Professor and Chair of Literature Kazim Ali presents a retrospective book of poetry traversing ideas of home, spirituality, love and loss.

Join us in welcoming Sara Kozameh, who recently arrived at UC San Diego as assistant professor in the Department of History! Her research specialties include the Cuban Revolution, social movements and popular uprisings, agrarian history and Black radicalism

On the new role, Kozameh said “I look forward to designing courses that are embedded in the local history and Latino community. Drawing on the rich history of San Diego political cultures is important to how I think about the development of my next book, so I am excited to settle and delve deeper into local politics.”

It’s with sadness that we say goodbye to Alexis Smith, a Southern California conceptual artist who was known for her imaginative collages and assemblages fusing images and text.

Smith is the only artist to be commissioned for two works in UC San Diego’s Stuart Collection. In 1992, she completed the Snake Path, a 560-foot-long, 10-foot-wide footpath in the form of a serpent leading to Geisel Library.

In 2021, Smith donated a massive mural to the university, called “Same Old Paradise.” The 22 by 62-foot painting, located outside of “the Jeannie” auditorium in Sixth College, references the search for paradise, depicting a road transforming into an immense snake within a landscape of California hills and orange groves.

Learn more about Alexis Smith at stuartcollection.ucsd.edu.

We are excited to welcome Ryan Bessett, who recently arrived at the School of Arts and Humanities as associate teaching professor in the Department of Literature! His research interests center around language change, heritage and phonology, in particular the Spanish language spoken around the U.S.-Mexico border.

On joining the university: “I am excited to be joining UC San Diego because of its vibrant academic community, its multicultural community, and especially due to its proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border. I am also pleased to be part of UC San Diego as it strives to become a Hispanic-Serving Institution.”

“Me emociona unirme a UC San Diego debido a su comunidad académica dinámica, su comunidad multicultural, y sobre todo por su proximidad a la frontera entre USA y México. Me alegro de llegar en un momento en que UC San Diego se esfuerza por llegar a ser una Institución de Servicio a la Comunidad Hispana.”

Congrats to our two Theatre and Dance alumni playwrights who were recognized this month in the New York Times’ annual “Best Theatre of 2023.” Dubbed the “year of dramedy,” the plays—including "How to Defend Yourself" by Lilianna Padilla and "The Best We Could (a family tragedy) by Emily Feldman—explore serious topics like the complexity of consent and familial dysfunction, each grounded in an undercurrent of humor.

New York Times Acclaims Theatre and Dance Alumni Dramedies The New York Times published their annual “Best Theatre of 2023,” which featured two standout UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance alumni playwrights. Dubbed the “year of dramedy,” the plays explore serious topics like the complexity of consent and familial dysfunction.

“We can’t exist without one another; this is the impetus for the work I do through the body, through movement, and through art making.” Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance Ana María Álvarez is one of 20 new faculty members to join UC San Diego as part of a network of scholars who are reshaping the meaning of inclusive research, teaching and service. Read more: https://bit.ly/3T1opHC

It was a pleasure to celebrate Eleanor Antin on Nov. 18 as she received the Revelle Medal, UC San Diego’s highest honor given to emeriti faculty at UC San Diego for extraordinary service to the campus. Learn more in the video below about how Eleanor shaped the early direction of the Department of Visual Arts, gained worldwide acclaim for her bold experimentation as an artist and how she continues to inspire innovation among the next generation of creators at the university.

2023 Revelle Medalist: Eleanor Antin The Revelle Medal is the highest honor given by the chancellor to a retired or emeriti UC San Diego faculty member.One of the world’s leading feminist artist...