Dear College Faculty and Staff,

Commencement is upon us and it is hot out, so we will engage in a classic American pastime – donning heavy, dark robes and baking in the sun while we cheer on our beloved students on their big day, hooray!

Meanwhile, don’t forget the deadline to nominate your colleagues for one of our annual awards, announced during Convocation, has been extended until Monday. Please take a minute or two to ensure your colleagues are recognized for the work they are doing!

College Notes will appear less frequently over the summer, as usual, but please continue sending us updates and announcements that we can disseminate…I know that many of us will be working on projects this summer, although we must all rest and recharge for the coming academic year.

Above all, I wish to thank you for your steadfast and compassionate contributions to our campus community in this challenging year!

Daniel

Highlights

Iris Stewart-Frey (Environmental Studies & Sciences, Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative) together with community partners from the California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) has received a $49,999 award from the California Environmental Protection Agency to support her project "Removing barriers to accessing safe drinking water in San Joaquin Valley disadvantaged rural communities impacted by nitrate and drought."

Stewart-Frey and CRLA will partner to better understand and work to remove barriers disadvantaged communities face to access safe drinking water in the context of CV-SALTS, a water quality regulatory program aimed at reducing nitrate levels in groundwater and providing emergency replacement drinking water for impacted residents, and as extreme drought conditions currently exist in the San Joaquin Valley and are likely to become more frequent under climate change. The proposed work will involve undergraduate student interns and community members and includes spatial analysis, surveys, and focus groups through which they seek to understand communities’ experiences with water access, water quality (especially nitrate), drought impacts, and the CV-Salts program's outreach effectiveness. As drought is currently not included in the early action plan of the CV-SALTS process, the research will further illuminate the impact of the 2021 drought and climate change on disadvantaged unincorporated communities to inform future climate-resilient policy strategies.

Image: Central Valley Well. Photo credit: J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue

Maggie Levantovskaya (English) appeared on an episode of the Working People Podcast. The podcast focuses on the personal stories, working conditions and organizing efforts by working class people in the US and across the world. On this episode, titled "The Five-Year Union Election," Maggie discusses the historic union organizing effort by the adjuncts and lecturers at Santa Clara University, touching on the legal issues of trying to unionize religiously-affiliated institutions and on the importance of building solidarity among all academic workers. 

Molly M. King (Sociology) recently published an article with student and alumna coauthors Maria Gregg '21 (Sociology, Political Science), Ana Martinez '23 (Sociology), and Emily Pachoud '23 (Sociology, Environmental Studies). The article, "Teaching & learning guide for disability and climate justice," was published in Sociology Compass. The guide provides resources for readings and activities that instructors can use in class to teach the intersection of disability and climate justice for a better understanding of each. Funding for RA support was provided by a Dean's Grant and the Initiative for Environmental Justice and the Common Good.

Image: The critical realist model of climate justice

Tom Plante (Psychology) published the article Minding the gap: Spirituality in clinical practice during increased secularization and mental health needs in Spirituality in Clinical Practice. While there has been a recent dramatic increase in societal stress and mental health challenges, there has also been a dramatic increase in secularization with more people unaffiliated with any spiritual and religious communities or traditions. Years of research have well-documented the physical and mental health benefits of spiritual and religious practices, engagement, and communities that may no longer be available to those who now consider themselves religious “nones” or “dones.” Clinicians, who are spiritually and religiously informed, trained, and engaged, can help to bridge this gap between high stress and low religious engagement during current times. They can do so by creatively engaging clientele with secular versions of spiritual and religious tools for better health and wellness or by working with clients to find new ways to use spiritual and religious strategies that they feel comfortable with regardless of their lack of religious affiliations and interests. This reflection discusses minding the gap of increased secularization and increased mental health needs among clients using spiritual and religiously based perspectives and tools.

Korin Wheeler (Chemistry and Biochemistry) published a collaborative paper in Analytical Chemistry with Nikki Hoang and Prof. Cathy Murphy (UIUC) as a part of the NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology. The paper, entitled "Isolation Methods Influence the Protein Corona Composition on Gold-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles" interrogates the role of methodology in identifying the proteins that interact with nanomaterials. This work informs future experimental design. Results also point to the importance of a previous exposures and sample history in formation of the biomolecular surface of nanomaterials. With a molecular-level understanding of nanomaterial interactions in the environment, this work contributes to development of nanotechnology in a sustainable manner.

Evelyn Ferraro (Modern Languages & Literatures) published a journal article in Italian Studies titled “‘La tradizione è come il mare’: Giuseppe Pitrè’s Transnational Approach to Folk and Fairy Tales in the New Italy,” which examines the Sicilian folklorist’s methodological approach to Sicilian folk and fairy tales in post-1861 Italy. At that time, collecting oral traditions emerged as a practice of regional cultural preservation during the political unification, modernization, and redefinition of local identities within the new nation. Pitrè collected and transcribed those oral traditions in Sicilian. Mindful of his reinforcement of Sicilian stereotypes, the article analyzes Pitrè’s insights into Sicilian minor local history, women as storytellers, and transcultural influences, and highlights his articulation of cultural difference as intervention and resistance to cultural totalizations. Pitrè’s simile of the sea-tradition encapsulates the power of oral narratives to cross national borders and disturb rigid national identity constructs.

Image: 2013 edition of Donzelli’s four-volume set that features an unabridged version of Pitrè’s Fiabe in Sicilian, with Bianca Lazzaro’s parallel translations into Italian, and an introduction by Jack Zipes.

Narine Kerelian (Political Science) co-published an op-ed with Gizem Arat (Lingnan University, SAR Hong Kong, China) and Mr. Manoj Dhar (Co-founder and CEO of Integrated Brilliant Education, SAR Hong Kong, China) on how understanding multiculturalism can help promote integration of ethnic minorities in ‘Asia’s World City’ Hong Kong.

Jessica King '25 (Philosophy, Religious Studies), Mohammed Khadadeh '21 (Computer Science, Studio Art), Emily Dang '20 (Computer Science & Engineering), and David Jeong (Communication) were awarded the "Most Meaningful Overall Award" for "COLD VR: Exploring climate change and corporate greenwashing" in the Digital Artifacts Exhibition of the 72nd Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association at Sorbonne University in Paris.

SCU•Presents Performing Arts Center’s Arts for Social Justice Program, in partnership with the SCU Russian Speaking Club, is proud to announce that over $2,500 was raised to support Ukraine Refugees during “Arts Connecting Community Week.” For performances showing from May 20 to 26, $3 for every ticket purchased for Sister Act the musical, Jazz Band and Combos, and SCU Wind Ensemble was donated to the SCU Russian Speaking Club’s fundraiser benefiting Project HOPE.

Butch Coyne, Director of SCU•Presents Performing Arts Center, commented, “Arts for Social Justice is the heart of SCU•Presents, and in keeping with our commitment to foster dialogue and action within our community, we called upon our Santa Clara family to support those in the Ukraine. We sent out special mailings, email-blasts, posted to social media, and invited the Russian Speaking Club to set up a table in our lobbies. We wanted to show our community that we are not just a performing arts center, but rather an active participant in the Santa Clara Community.”

SCU•Presents Performing Arts Center’s Arts for Social Justice Program regularly partners with individuals and groups from the SCU community that want to pursue arts projects with social justice components. SCU•Presents PAC looks forward to future partnerships with groups in the SCU community to create a catalyst for change.

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar