FY10 Projects

Funding for Two Astronomy Salons

Submitted by Jeffrey Kongslie, Director of Development, Physical and Biological Sciences

Proposed by Gary Novack

Approved January 2010

Project:

For the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, in partnership with the UC Observatories at the Physical and Biological Sciences Development Office, to host two Astronomy Salons for donor cultivation and stewardship, one in late winter and one in the spring.

Goals:

1.     To cultivate and steward department and observatory donors and prospects in an intimate environment, and to build a community of donors for these programs.

2.     To solicit two gifts in the six-figure or above level from prospects cultivated through these events by the close of the fiscal year.

Amount funded: up to $10,000 to cover the cost of two astronomy salons, with the funds transferred after a budget for each salon is submitted to the Foundation Office.

 

IT Infrastructure for the Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics

Submitted by James McCloskey, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Linguistics

Proposed by Richard Moss

Approved January 2010

Project

To develop the IT infrastructure of the Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics in the Linguistics Research Center, with two components:

• Acquisition of hardware
• Creation of a one-year (2010-11) post-baccalaureate fellowship to be known as the UCSC Foundation Fellowship that will be filled through a national search.  The holder will have expertise both in linguistics and in the building and maintaining of research intranets, with the responsibility to participate in research and develop needed infrastructure.

Goals:

1)     Bring the LRC Lab within a period of 6 – 9 months to a new level of productivity and research capacity.

2)     Position the Department and the LRC to win a large-scale training grant

Amount funded: $10,000.  Funds matched on a 1 to 1.5 basis by Vice Provost for Research Bruce Margon.

Faculty and staff involved in the project:

• Assistant Professors of Linguistics Pranav Anand, Adrian Brasoveanu, Grant McGuire, and Matthew Wagers
• Professors of Linguistics Judith Aissen, Sandra Chung and Jaye Padgett;
• Department Manager Tanya Honig
• Linguistics Research Center Coordinator Debbie Belville.

 

The Integration of Local and Global Communities:

Old Timers, New Immigrants and the Transnational Roots of Watsonville

A project of the UCSC Center for the Study of Pacific War Memories

Submitted by Alan Christy and Alice Yang, Associate Professors, Dept. of History and Co-Directors of the Center

Proposed by Kristen Marinovic

Approved March 2010

Project:

• To document the story of Akira and Hideko Nagamine in three parts: 1) the couple’s experiences during World War II, including Hideko’s survival of fire bombings in Kagoshima, Japan, and Akira’s survival as a soldier on the battlefield in China; 2) the couple’s immigration to America; and 3) a return voyage to the battlefields of NE China and a reunion with a Chinese friend. 
• To tell the story about what it takes to build a community, both local and global, and to overcome racial and political tensions.
• To serve UCSC’s local community by telling Watsonville’s history in collaboration with the people of Watsonville.
• To create collaborative bonds between divisions and departments while giving students a taste of real world research.

Goals:

1)     To produce a documentary film and a multimedia website.

2)     To create educational modules that will be piloted in local schools and distributed nationally.

3)     To leverage funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Amount funded: $15,000 to offset the costs for the project team’s travel to China in June 2010 to conduct further interviews and research.

Faculty and staff involved in the project:

• Alan Christy and Alice Yang (Associate Professors, Dept. of History), project historians.
• Recent UCSC Ph.D. in History, Xiaoping Sun (Assistant Professor, Dept. of History, Saint Mary’s University in Halifax) specialist in Chinese history and translator.
• Renee Tajima-Pena (Professor, Community Studies) and Chip Lord (Professor, Film and Digital Media), filmmaking consultants.
• Tosh Tanaka of the Social Sciences Media Lab and board member of the Watsonville Japanese American Citizens’ League, documentarian and photographer.
• Benjamin Bunch, third year Film and Digital Media major, cameraman.
• Kristen Tran, a Feminist Studies exchange student and Megan Baier, staff researchers for the Watsonville interviews.
• Students from Christy and Yang’s Memories of WWII in the Pacific class (History 80Y), researchers for the Watsonville interviews.

Community partners

• The Watsonville-Santa Cruz Japanese American Citizens League
• Janet Nagamine, daughter of Akira and Hideko, assistance with project management and scriptwriting.
• Mac & Ava Motion Pictures.

 

Matching Funds for a Post-Doctorate Teaching Fellowship in Jewish Studies

Submitted by Nathaniel Deutsch, Professor of Literature and History, Co-Director of the Center for Jewish Studies

Proposed by Richard Moss

Approved March 2010

Project:

To leverage a significant program-transforming grant from the Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Jim Joseph Foundation by providing matching funds for a Post-Doctorate Teaching Fellowship in Jewish Studies. If the grant is secured, the Post-Doc/Teaching Fellow will teach four courses a year at UCSC for a period of two years and will also help to develop new programming for the Center for Jewish Studies.

Goals

1)     To establish a working relationship with the Jim Joseph Foundation, the largest foundation in the world dedicated solely to furthering Jewish education. 

2)     In partnership with the Jim Joseph Foundation, grow Jewish Studies at UC Santa Cruz through the establishment of an endowed chair, an expanded offering of Jewish languages (Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino), and other outcomes.

Amount funded: $20,000 to provide matching funds over two years for a Post-Doctorate Teaching Fellowship in Jewish Studies. 

Faculty and staff involved in the project:

Murray Baumgarten, Professor of Literature and Co-Director of the Center for Jewish Studies; Bruce Thompson, Lecturer in History and Associate Director of the Center for Jewish Studies; Irena Richter, Assistant Director of the Institute for Humanities Research