Philanthropist Sara Miller McCune and SAGE Publications Establish Endowed Chair for UCSB Dean of Social Sciences
UC Santa Barbara has received a $500,000 gift from Sara Miller McCune and SAGE Publications Inc., the company she founded, to establish an endowed chair for the dean of social sciences in the College of Letters and Science. The recent gift from McCune, the publisher at SAGE, will support the teaching, research, and special activities of Melvin Oliver, a distinguished UCSB professor of sociology and dean of the social sciences. In honor of the gift, the leadership position will be known as the SAGE Sara Miller McCune Dean of Social Sciences.


National Communication Association Recognizes Four Communication Faculty Members
Howard Giles, a professor of communication, received the Distinguished Scholar award in recognition of his outstanding scholarship. Along with his UCSB colleagues Linda Putnam and David Seibold, he is one of only 50 National Communication Association distinguished scholars, and one of only 11 scholars, including Putnam, who have been honored by both the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association. Other honors received by UCSB faculty members include the 2007 Best Article award, which was presented to Michael Stohl, professor and chair of the communication department, and his wife Cynthia, also a professor of communication. The scholars were recognized for their article titled "Networks of Terror: Theoretical Assumptions and Pragmatic Consequences," which was published in the May 2007 issue of the professional journal Communication Theory. In addition, the organization awarded top paper honors to Karen Myers, an assistant professor of communication, for her work titled "Toward an Integrative Theory of Membership Negotiations: Socialization, Assimilation, and the Duality of Structure."

UCSB History Associates Marks 20th Anniversary with Afternoon of Jazz and Blues
The UCSB History Associates will celebrate its 20th anniversary with "An Afternoon of Jazz and Blues" later this month at SOhO Restaurant and Music Club in Santa Barbara. The event will feature a lecture by Douglas Daniels, a professor of history and black studies at UC Santa Barbara, and music provided by a jazz trio that includes Frank Frost, a professor emeritus of history at UCSB.

CNS-UCSB Hosts Conference on Occupational Health and Safety in Nano Labs and Industries
The Center for Nanotechnology in Society (CNS) recently hosted a major conference on health and safety in laboratories and industrial workplaces employing nanotechnology. Nanotechnology and Occupational Health and Safety brought together union leaders, human resource managers, social scientists, media, public policy officials, and scientists to examine issues relating to potential risks for nanotechnology researchers and workers, and ways to limit those risks.  The three-day conference initiated conversations on these issues between specialists and practitioners. 


UCSB Scholar Examines Musical Improvisation as a Model for Social Change
Musical improvisation as a model for political, cultural, and ethical dialogue and action is the focus of an international research project involving scholars at 18 universities across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. George Lipsitz, a professor of Black studies and sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is leading the section on transcultural understanding and improvisation.


National Program in Health Games Research To Be Based at UC Santa Barbara
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced the selection of UC Santa Barbara as the home for a new $8.25-million national research program to examine how interactive games can be used to improve health. "Health Games Research was created to advance the innovation, design, and effectiveness of health games and game technologies so that they will help people improve their health-related behaviors and achieve better health," says Debra Lieberman, director of the program. Lieberman is a communication researcher at UC Santa Barbara's Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (ISBER), where the program will be housed, and also a lecturer in the university's Department of Communication. She is an expert in the research and design of interactive media, especially video games, for learning and health behavior change.

New Study Explores Impact of Voting Rights Act on Election of Non-White Officials in the U.S.
Despite an increase in the number of non-white officials elected in recent decades, people of color continue to be significantly underrepresented at all levels of government. So concludes a study conducted by Pei-te Lien, a professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Five UCSB Faculty Members Named AAAS Fellows (Barbara Herr Harthorn)
Five faculty members at UC Santa Barbara have been awarded the distinction of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. Barbara Herr Harthorn, associate professor of women's studies and director of the Center for Nanotechnnology in Society, was named a fellow for for her contributions in bringing together scientists, social scientists, policy makers, and the general public to gain awareness and understanding of the risks and opportunities in science and technology.

UCSB Professor Studies Depictions of Asian American Women in Film and Theatre
While the sexualized representations of Asian American women in Western cinema and theater tend to be denounced as necessarily demeaning or negative, it may actually be the case that the images represent women taking charge of their own sexuality – including desires and subjugation – as actors, producers, critics, and viewers. In her new book "The Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian American Women on Screen and Scene" (Duke University Press, 2007), Celine Shimizu, an associate professor of film and video in the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, suggests a more nuanced approach to the mysterious mix of pleasure, pain, and power in performances of sexuality in film and theater.

UCSB Professor Honored for Meritorious Service to the Social Sciences
The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) has honored M. Kent Jennings, professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with the Warren E. Miller Award for Meritorious Service to the Social Sciences.The award was presented at the organizations biennial meeting on October 19 at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. It was established in 1993 and named for ICPSR's co-founder and first executive director. It recognizes individuals who have had a profound impact on social science research and infrastructure.

UC Santa Barbara Announces Winner of $10,000 Competition for New Plays About Science and Technology
Playwright Elyse Singer has been awarded first prize in an international competition for plays about science and technology launched by the Professional Artists Lab and the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Writer Alejandro Morales to Receive Luis Leal Literature Award
Alejandro Morales, a novelist and professor of Chicano/Latino studies at the University of California, Irvine, is the recipient of this year's Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. The award is presented annually by UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College, and the Santa Barbara Book Council. The author of seven books, Morales is considered one of the country's premier Latino writers of fiction.

Communication Group Honors UCSB Scholars
Four faculty members in the Department of Communication have received awards from the prestigious International Communication Association.

Bruce Bimber, professor of communication and political science; Andrew J. Flanagin, associate professor of communication; and Cynthia Stohl, professor of communication, were selected to receive the 2006 Outstanding Article Award for their paper titled "Reconceptualizing Collective Action in the Contemporary Media Environment." The award recognizes an article published in a peer-reviewed journal during the previous two years. Also recognized by the ICA was Howard Giles, professor of communication, who received the 2006 B. Aubrey Fisher Mentorship Award. The award honors outstanding scholars, teachers, and advisors in the field of communication who serve as role models in those capacities and who have had a major impact in the field of communication by virtue of their own accomplishments or those of their former students.

Series Examines African American Traditions in Southern California
Offering insight into one of the nation's most vibrant cultural communities, the Center for Black Studies Research and the Department of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara will host a summer conference series titled "African American Traditions in Southern California: History, Culture, Social Vision, and Challenges." The conference consists of four events that will take place during July and August. All events are free and open to the public.

New UCSB Members of Phi Beta Kappa
Faculty members at UC Santa Barbara have inducted 110 high-achieving seniors into the UCSB chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest honorary academic society.

UCSB Students, Faculty Member Receive UCSB Research Awards
Two graduating seniors, two graduate students, and one faculty member have been recognized for their outstanding contributions to undergraduate research at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research for 2007 has been awarded to Phillip Dawkins, a political science major in the College of Letters & Science; Kathryn Blaschke, a biochemistry major in the College of Creative Studies; and Eduardo Orias, professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Dawkins, who has been elected to the Golden Key National Honor Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, was nominated by three faculty members to receive the undergraduate research award. Randolph Bergstom, associate professor of history, described Dawkins's research in the history of public policy as "impressive for its ambition, design, use of evidence, and accomplished translation of the research into a challenging scholarly argument."

Communication Scholars Study Credibility and the Internet
Building on their earlier research that explored how people were using the Internet in the early days of its mass popularity, two UCSB professors have embarked on a project that examines how individuals seek information on the Internet and how they evaluate its credibility. The research by Andrew Flanagin and Miriam Metzger, associate professors of communication, is supported by a $520,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Two Professors Awarded Fulbright Fellowships
Paul Berkman, a research professor at the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, and Peter J. Garcia, a visiting professor of ethnomusicology and folklore in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, have been awarded Fulbright fellowships to do research abroad during the 2007-08 academic year.

Graduating Seniors Win Top Awards
Three outstanding graduating seniors will receive the university's top awards for their scholastic achievements, their extraordinary service to the university and the community, and their personal courage and persistence.

Six graduating women will receive cash awards totaling $46,000 from the now-defunct Santa Barbara City Club, whose members established the program 27 years ago to reward top female graduates at UC Santa Barbara for "a job well done."

Four College of Letters and Science graduates are being recognized with awards for their academic achievements.
Phillip Andrew Dawkins, a political science major from Elk Grove, will receive the Luis Leal Social Sciences Undergraduate Award for outstanding interdisciplinary achievement in the social sciences. The award was established in honor of Don Luis Leal, a distinguished visiting professor of Chicano Studies whose presence and scholarship have greatly enriched the Santa Barbara campus. (Dawkins also is also a recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.)

Findings of Second Annual Central Coast Survey Released
Researchers at UCSB's Social Science Survey Center/Benton Survey Research Lab have released the findings of a large-scale public-opinion poll of residents in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties on a variety of issues affecting life in the region. The findings are based on an analysis of responses to telephone interviews with members of more than 1,000 households in the two counties.

Harvard University Scholar to Give 49th Annual Carl Snyder Memorial Lecture
Claudia Goldin, Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University, will give the 49th Annual Carl Snyder Memorial Lecture at UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday, May 22. She will speak on "American Leadership and the Human Capital Century: The Virtues of the Past."

The Carl Snyder Memorial Lecture is named for the noted economic authority and author who died in 1946. Established in 1960 with a bequest from the estate of Snyder's wife, Madeleine Raisch, the memorial is used to bring to UCSB outstanding lecturers in the field of economics.

UCSB Conference Explores Nationalism in Asia
Scholars from the United States, Japan, China, South Korea, and Norway will gather at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for a three-day conference titled "Historical Memories and the Resurgence of Nationalism in Asia: Paths to Reconciliation." Participants will examine how historical memories are intertwined with the recent upsurge of nationalism in East Asia, and discuss specific paths to reconciliation between Japan and its neighbors. The community is invited to attend a public forum at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23, featuring Gilbert Rozman, professor of sociology at Princeton University; Mike M. Mochizuki, associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University; and Kazuhiko Togo, formerly Japan's ambassador to the Netherlands and currently the Public Policymaker-in-Residence at UCSB.

2007 Economic Outlook for North S.B. County Topic of May 11 UCSB Seminar in Santa Maria
The outlook for North Santa Barbara County's economy in the coming year will be the topic of a special seminar in Santa Maria to be presented by the Economic Forecast Project of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The UCSB Economic Forecast Project is a research unit that provides regional economic data, analysis, and forecasts to the community. Dr. Bill Watkins, executive director of the UCSB Economic Forecast Project and a former research economist at the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., will review the performance of the local, state, and national economies in 2006 and offer his outlook for northern Santa Barbara County's economy in 2007.

UCSB Critical Issues Conference Explores Torture and the Future
"Torture and the Future," the Critical Issues in America series at the University of California, Santa Barbara, continues on May 18 with a conference featuring humanities scholars from across the country.

Professor and Spouse Make Record Donation to Build Centers of Excellence Across Disciplines
UCSB Emeritus Professor Duncan Mellichamp and his wife, Suzanne, have made a $2 million philanthropic gift to the campus to establish a second cluster of four endowed chairs. The innovative gift will make it possible for UCSB to recruit four leading scholars to launch a major new interdisciplinary academic research initiative to study the effects of globalization.

Presidential Documents, Recordings Available on Comprehensive Web Site
Interested in reading George Washington's first State of the Union Message or Abraham Lincoln's second Inaugural Address? How about listening to one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fireside chats? These and every other public document as well as many audio and video recordings associated with the American presidency are posted on The American Presidency Project, a UCSB Web site with 70,000 documents and 700 recordings. The project was developed by John Woolley (at right in photo), professor and chair of political science, and Gerhard Peters, a graduate student.

UCSB Scholars Elected to National Education Association
Three faculty members at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have been elected to the American Educational Research Association (AERA) for the 2008 term. Lorraine M. McDonnell, professor of political science, was voted president-elect, and Cynthia Hudley, professor of education, and Richard Mayer, professor of psychology and education, were elected divisional vice presidents.
"I am especially honored to have been voted AERA president-elect because it is the first time the members have selected someone from outside a school or department of education," said McDonnell. "It signals that AERA is an intellectually diverse organization open to a variety of theories and methods for understanding schooling and its impact on society."

Award Lecture by Distinguished UCSB Sociologist Examines Social Protests
Jennifer Earl, associate professor of sociology at UC Santa Barbara and a specialist in social movements, information technology, and the legal system, has received the campus's coveted 2006-07 Harold J. Plous Memorial Award. She will give the annual Plous Lecture at 4 p.m. May 9 in the McCune Conference Room. In her talk, titled "Arrests and Political Repression: Understanding the Policing of the 2004 Republican National Convention and Its Implications," Earl will dispel the notion held by many scholars and social commentators that protest-related arrests, particularly mass arrests, are benign events.

UCSB Town Forum to Focus on Social Implications of the Internet and New Media
Social commentators have both praised and criticized the Internet and other new media, often citing concern that, over time, Internet and computer users would isolate themselves from their social groups and communities. Examining various speculations about how the Internet and new media might impact social interaction, Jennifer Earl, associate professor of sociology and director of the Center for Information Technology and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will speak at a UCSB Affiliates Town Forum on Tuesday, April 17. Her talk, titled "Social Implications of the Internet and New Media: Understanding How People and Communities Relate to New Technologies," will explore current research on the topic.

President of NYSE Group, Inc., to Give Herbert C. Kay Lecture at UCSB
Jerry Putnam, a leader of the New York Stock Exchange, will give the 10th Annual Herbert C. Kay Lecture on Thursday, April 12, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In his talk titled "Santa Barbara Global Exchange With Jerry Putnam Founder of Archipelago Holdings and Current President of the NYSE Group" he will discuss the global marketplace and world economy.
The lecture is supported by an endowment from Herbert C. Kay, a former professor of economics at UCSB who built a prosperous career in business after leaving the university in the 1960s. The Kay Lecture seeks to bring accomplished business professionals to campus to inspire and educate undergraduate students.

Leading American Civil Rights Scholar Lani Guinier to Deliver UCSB's Shirley Kennedy Memorial Lecture Feb. 25
Lani Guinier, one of the nation's leading civil rights scholars and the first black woman to be appointed a tenured professor at Harvard Law School, will deliver UC Santa Barbara's Shirley Kennedy Memorial Lecture on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. in Victoria Hall in Santa Barbara. The title of her presentation will be "Race, Gender, and Activism in Our Communities." The event, which is sponsored by UCSB's Center for Black Studies Research, is free, and the public is invited to attend. Guinier's scholarly writings and op-ed articles span a range of topics, including the relationship between democracy and the law, the role of race and gender in the political process, equity in college admissions, and affirmative action.

Wealth Gap Between Blacks and Whites Has Grown Larger, Scholars Find
Disparities in wealth – or net worth – have shaped the financial inequality existing between blacks and whites for generations even as racial income differences have somewhat narrowed. That was the authoritative view of a pair of prominent scholars 10 years ago when they published a groundbreaking book on the subject. Now those experts – Melvin L. Oliver, professor of sociology and dean of social sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Thomas Shapiro, professor of law and social policy at Brandeis University – have collaborated on an updated edition, in which they take a second, even closer look at the problem.

Economics Forum to Focus on U.S. Health Care and Obesity
While the United States spends more money on health care than many other wealthy nations, in general, Americans haven't achieved the longer life expectancies that might be anticipated. This fact has led to criticism that the U.S. health care system is inefficient. New research providing a disciplined, quantitative means of comparing health care productivity among countries, however, reveals the poor performance is due mostly to high levels of obesity. Once that factor is taken into account, the U.S. falls within an average range. That new research will be examined in a talk by H.E. (Ted) Frech, III, professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, at a UCSB Affiliates Economics Forum on Tuesday, Jan. 30. Speaking on "Health Care, Mortality and Obesity-Is the U.S. Special?" Frech will discuss international comparisons of health care productivity, including the subtle benefits and challenges of different health care systems, which cannot be quantified or modeled.

Japanese Ambassador Joins UCSB Faculty as Public Policymaker-in-Residence
The Hon. Kazuhiko Togo, formerly Japan's ambassador to the Netherlands, will join the department of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in January as the Public Policymaker-in-Residence for the current academic year. He will teach four courses during winter and spring quarters on topics including East Asian languages and culture, foreign policy of the Soviet Union, modern Japanese history, and current issues in Japanese foreign policy.

Former Top General Calls on Military to Include Gays
General John Shalikashvili Says Integration Will Not Harm U.S. Military
General John Shalikashvili, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 through 1997, published an op-ed in today's New York Times calling for the end of "don't ask, don't tell", the policy which prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Shalikashvili says that while the military is ready for gays and lesbians to serve openly, political leaders should take a cautious approach to change rather than rushing to enact a new policy of integration.

UCSB's External Research Funding Reached $159 Million in 2005-06
Annual Total More Than Doubles Over Past Decade
At UC Santa Barbara research support from external sources - federal and state agencies, corporations, and foundations - reached $159 million during the 2005-06 fiscal year, an increase of $6 million over the previous year. Funding in the form of contracts and grants premier research university. Over the past 10 years, UCSB's annual external research funding has more than doubled.

UCSB Affiliates Town Forum Looks at U.S. Presidents, Economy
When the economy takes a downward turn, people generally blame the President, who bears ultimate responsibility for the country's financial well-being. What does it take, however, for a President to be a successful manager of the national economy? Stephen Weatherford, professor of political science at UC Santa Barbara, will answer this question and more when he speaks on "How Presidents Manage the Economy: The Good, the Bad, and the Political" at a UCSB Affiliates Town Forum lecture on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m.

UCSB Accounting Program Scores with 'Big Four'
KPMG, one of the nation's four largest international public accounting firms, has named UC Santa Barbara a Premier School for its accounting program. UCSB is one of only 38 such Premier Schools in the country. Among Premier Schools in the Southern California recruiting area, UCSB shares the honor with UCLA and USC. With the designation from KPMG last month, each of the firms that comprise the “Big Four” in accounting have recognized UCSB as a key source for recruiting new accounting graduates. In addition to KPMG, they include Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

UC Santa Barbara Center for Film, Television, and New Media Named for Emmy Winners Marcy Carsey and Dick Wolf
UC Santa Barbara's Center for Film, Television, and New Media will be named for Emmy Award-winning television producers Marcy Carsey and Dick Wolf in recognition of their generous contributions toward the construction of a new instructional and research facility for the innovative interdisciplinary center.

Sociologist Reaps Festival Awards
The United Nations Development Programme in Poland plans to host a special screening in Warsaw on Oct. 24 of “The Shape of Water,” the award-winning documentary about women's social activism aiding Third World development by filmmaker Kum Kum Bhavnani, UCSB professor of sociology.