UC Santa Cruz has renamed the Research Center for the Americas in honor of social justice icon Dolores Huerta, whose legacy has influenced the center’s work and values.

Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962, and has spent more than 60 years leading community organizing and lobbying efforts to address issues like labor rights, gender discrimination, voter registration, education reform, LGBTQ rights, and economic inequality on behalf of farm workers, immigrants, women, youth, and others in California and the United States. Series: "UC Santa Cruz News" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39253]

In 2002, a UC Santa Cruz college with the theme of social justice and community opened with distinguished professors, politically engaged students, and a number for a name: College Ten.

That changed for good, and for better, in 2023 when College Ten was named for John R. Lewis, the late American civil rights leader and politician who stood up to Jim Crow–era segregation in the 1960s. He was one of the key organizers of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The son of Alabama sharecroppers, Lewis went on to become a longstanding congressman. He was elected in 1986 to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Georgia’s fifth congressional district. He held his post until his death in 2020.

The naming endowment will allow the college to advance its mission of justice and social equity with a number of potential projects including the Good Trouble Academy, social justice internships and support, and expansion of programs geared toward the graduates of historically black colleges. Series: "UC Santa Cruz News" [Humanities] [Education] [Show ID: 39283]

UC Santa Cruz scientists, along with a consortium of researchers, have released a draft of the first human pangenome—a new, usable reference for genomics that combines the genetic material of 47 individuals from different ancestral backgrounds to allow for a deeper, more accurate understanding of worldwide genomic diversity. Series: "UC Santa Cruz News" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 39252]

UC Santa Cruz developed a computational tool known as UShER that enables real-time SARS-CoV-2 tracking and helps researchers identify new lineages of the virus. The easy-to-use tool and online server creates an evolutionary tree that helps scientists understand genomic mutations by creating new branches, showing the relationships between virus samples and the order in which mutations happened along various lineages as the virus evolves. Series: "UC Santa Cruz News" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 39241]

The Visualizing Abolition Initiative seeks to change the narrative linking prisons to justice, contributing instead to the unfolding collective story and alternative imagining underway to create a future free of prisons. The initiative is a collaborative effort with artists, scholars, poets, lawyers and activists, and through public exhibitions and educational genres. Series: "UC Santa Cruz News" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39242]

When it comes to moving into a career you love, cultivating relationships is critical. In today’s world of work, it’s easier than ever to make new professional connections with a simple click of a button. Hear from experts as they share why the word “networking” makes most people cringe and how to move beyond your fears, discover what the hidden job market is and how to tap into it, effectively plan and prepare for informational interviews, and much more. Series: "Career Channel" [Business] [Show ID: 38424]

In this episode, Michael Chemers, Chair of the Department of Performance, Play & Design, and Theater Arts professor at UC Santa Cruz, discusses his wide ranging plans for the newly formed Department of Performance, Play and Design and how it is incorporating DEI issues and concerns. Series: "The Art of Change" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 38223]

Rick Prelinger, Professor of Film and Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz, is a world-renowned archivist, writer, filmmaker, and founder of the Pray-linger Archives and the Pray-linger Library in San Francisco. He’s also been a pioneer in making archives accessible to the public. In this episode, Prelinger talks about his work and how it has been influenced by diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. Series: "The Art of Change" [Humanities] [Show ID: 38123]

UC Santa Cruz drama lecturer Don Williams talks about how he founded, in 1991, UCSC's African American Theater Arts Troupe, or "AATAT" as it’s often called. The theater group has had a profound and lasting effect on countless numbers of African American students throughout the years. His students have a deep appreciation and love for his willingness to address head on not only what it means to be Black on the UCSC campus, but also the importance of exposing African American students, and all students, to the Black experience through plays written by Black playwrights. Series: "The Art of Change" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 38077]

Professor Sharon Daniel talks about a remarkable undergraduate class called Making an Exoneree that she currently teaches with Georgetown University. This unusual class consists of a group of highly motivated undergraduate students who reinvestigate likely wrongful conviction cases, produce short documentaries that suggest innocence, and create social media campaigns calling for exonerations. Series: "The Art of Change" [Humanities] [Show ID: 38078]