UCSB outlines progress and goals for Native American repatriation
UC Santa Barbara is advancing its efforts to return Native American ancestors and cultural items, with a comprehensive repatriation program and a goal of completing this work responsibly and transparently by 2028.
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Novelist Sameer Pandya Takes Helm of Nation's First Asian American Studies Department
With the start of the Fall 2025 quarter Sameer Pandya has officially begun his tenure as chair of the nation's first Asian American Studies department.
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Dr. Sabine Frühstück Appointed Director of East Asia Center
The University of California, Santa Barbara has announced the appointment of Dr. Sabine Frühstück, Distinguished Professor and Koichi Takashima Chair in Japanese Cultural Studies, as the new Director of the East Asia Center (EAC).
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Center for Feminist Futures Inaugural Director Jigna Desai offers a new take on feminism
The new Center for Feminist Futures at UC Santa Barbara, under the leadership of inaugural director Dr. Jigna Desai, is demonstrating the urgent relevance of feminist research to local, national, and global issues. Appointed in August 2023, Dr. Desai's mandate is to build the center from the ground up, with a mission to use feminist scholarship to address pressing societal challenges.
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Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson Appointed Director of the Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy
Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson, a scholar, organizer, and long-time resident of the Central Coast, has returned to UC Santa Barbara’s Division of Social Sciences as the new Director of the Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy. Her appointment signifies both a professional homecoming and a deepening of her commitment to the region she has served for decades.
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Troubling Trends in the Battle for California's Groundwater
An emerald-green oasis surrounded by bone-dry desert halfway between Santa Barbara and Bakersfield the Cuyama Valley is ground zero in a statewide legal battle over California's most precious resource: water. For the past 12 years, this remote agricultural community has been caught in a high-stakes conflict between corporate agriculture giants and a coalition of small farmers and residents fighting for their survival.
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UCSB Welcomes New Propel Scholars
UC Santa Barbara has welcomed 24 first year (and in many cases, first generation) students to its 2025 PROPEL Cohort. The program's title is an acronym for PRomoting OPportunity and Equity in Learning. It is a donor-funded initiative in the Division of Social Sciences empowering Social Science majors to enhance their academic, personal, and professional experience at UC Santa Barbara.
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Dr. Kyle Meng Joins Governor Newsom for Historic Climate Bill Signing
Governor Gavin Newsom today signed sweeping reforms to California’s world-leading climate policy that aim to save Californians billions of dollars on energy costs. The Governor’s action comes as the Trump administration continues its efforts to gut decades-old, bipartisan American clean air protections and derail critical climate progress. Newsom joined members of the Legislature, as well as hundreds of labor, business, climate and energy advocates, at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco where he signed the historic legislation.
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