FY19 Projects
Unique Multiples: Teaching with the Parkett Collection
Submitted by Shelby Graham, Co-curator of the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery
Sponsored by Randy Wedding
Approved November 19, 2018
Project:
The Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery at the University of California, Santa Cruz presents Unique Multiples: Teaching with the Parkett Collection during fall quarter 2020, co-curated by Gallery Director Shelby Graham and Professor Enrique Leal. This exhibition will feature approximately 60 selected works from the over 200 works that make up the Parkett Collection* housed at the University of Castilla -‐ La Mancha School of Fine Arts’ Contemporary Art Archives & Collections, located in Cuenca, Spain. This is a unique opportunity to host a traveling exhibition and the largest collection of objects and prints ever compiled outside of Spain from the Parkett Collection, a literary arts magazine of leading international artists.
The opportunity to present the first public exhibition filled with limited editions of objects and prints by influential 21st century artists bursts open the doors of theory creating new experiences for students and the public. The singular artifacts and graphic works included in the renowned Parkett Collection, offer an unparalleled opportunity to explore the very premises of “unique multiples” as practiced by internationally influential contemporary artists. The exhibition draws attention to the democratization of contemporary art provided to the public through a subscription to an art journal. Unique Multiples: Teaching with the Parkett Collection highlights non-‐traditional mediums, fostering the engagement of students, scholars, and diverse publics with the works of the century’s most acclaimed contemporary artists. Included in this particular selection of the Parkett Collection are Ai Weiwei, Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, Fischli/Weiss, Katharina Fritsch, Jenny Holzer, William Kentridge, Ellsworth Kelly, Yayoi Kusama, Meret Oppenheim, Gabriel Orozco, Sigmar Polke, Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker, Gillian Wearing, Andy Warhol, and many others. The exhibition at the Sesnon Gallery will be the first presentation of the collection at a public university outside of its home at University of La Mancha.
*Parkett was a critical arts journal (1984-‐2017) published in Zurich and New York that commissioned internationally renowned artists to not only to create signed, limited edition works of art specifically for the journal, but also to select writers and develop the publications graphic design. The works from the Parkett Collection, donated by the Spanish art collector Helga de Alvear to UCLM Spain, cover a wide range of media including magazine inserts, prints, photography, sculpture, video, DVDs, and sound art works.
Goals:
Funding for the Unique Multiples exhibition will provide the following activities:
- Faculty developed studio and written curricular assignments as part of on-‐site visits to the exhibition.
- Lecture series by scholars calling attention to the democratization of art by printmaking and new media.
- Workshops at Porter College facilities and Baskin Visual Arts studios in self-‐publishing booklets (Zines), Recycling as Readymade Art, and Silkscreen Printing as socially engaged graphic art.
Amount funded: $20,000 to underwrite the cost of shipping the collection from Spain to UC Santa Cruz
Key UCSC faculty and staff:
UC Santa Cruz Center for Print Media Research Center, Professor Jimin Lee
Arts Division, Dean of the Arts Susan Solt
Art Department, Prof. Elizabeth Stephens, Chair; Professor Dee Hibbert Jones, Professor Karolina Karlic
History of Art and Visual Culture, Professor Jennifer Gonzalez and Derek Murray
Institute of the Arts and Sciences, John Weber and Rachel Nelson
Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz. Participant in Maker’s Night, Stacey Garcia.
University of Castilla, La Mancha in Cuenca Spain (UCLM)
Office of Global Engagement at UCSC
SEACoast: The Southeast Asian Coastal Studies Initiative
Submitted by Anna Tsing, Professor of Anthropology and Megan Thomas, Associate Professor of Politics
Sponsored by Rob Holo
Approved January 16, 2019
Project:
Proposal to the UC Santa Cruz Foundation is one element of a project pitched to the Henry Luce Foundation to open a Center for Southeast Asian Ecologies at UCSC. This Center, were it to be successfully seeded by a nearly $1.5 million, five-year Luce grant, proposes a field-building collaboration across the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities to bring new problems to light that can only be understood through the intersection of human and nonhuman histories. Why have salt water crocodiles recently started attacking people in eastern Indonesia? How have aquaria across the world unintentionally imported so many tropical marine sponges? Why did it take so long for Harmful Algal Blooms to reach the long-polluted Singapore Straits? These are the kinds of environmental questions the scholarly collaborations at the center will uncover and address. Each requires specialized knowledge about both social histories and natural histories. In the past, it has been difficult to combine such forms of knowledge because of the separation between human and natural sciences in the academy. The Southeast Asian Ecologies Center works to overcome this 20th century gulf by a focus on addressing on-the-ground problems in the ecologies of the landscapes of Southeast Asia that result from human activity.
Goals:
As seed funding for the Center, the Luce Foundation grant would support a new faculty line in environmental history, while also supporting graduate and faculty research in the Social Sciences in collaboration with faculty from the Physical and Biological Sciences Divisions. The opportunity with the Luce Foundation has advanced in part because of the strength of a current cohorts of students working on Southeast Asian coastal ecologies. We already have students, for example, studying cross- disciplinary questions such as those mentioned above, and we have faculty dedicated to working with these students. With the addition of an environmental historian, UCSC would have a distinctive and original program here. UCSC is at a turning point where institutional development in this field can lead to big breakthroughs, especially by allowing us to develop richer research collaborations with Southeast Asian universities and other international partners.
A one-time BOF investment in this first-year graduate fellowship will make a big difference. Most immediately, it will seed the recruitment of a highly talented graduate student by allowing us to offer enticing first-year funding as part of an admissions package. First-year funding is critical to attract incoming Ph.D. students, especially students from abroad. UCSC, and in particular the Department of Anthropology which is currently at the heart of our graduate training for this project, is at present facing institutional challenges providing this sort of funding. A single year of funding can make a big difference, and that the Anthropology department will have the ability to support that student beyond their first year, while further funding opportunities are arranged.
In sum, BOF funding would make a big difference on its own, even while it will also strengthen the proposal to Luce, making it more likely that UCSC will receive that major award. Even were the request to the Luce Foundation not awarded, a BOF Southeast Asian fellowship will support one of the strongest and most important programs at the university which is experiencing new challenges in funding Ph.D. students.
The desired impact for establishing a graduate studies fellowship for a first-year Southeast Asian PhD student is to help build the scholarly capacity within the growing field of Southeast Asian human, ecological, and environmental studies.
Amount funded: $24,468
Key UCSC faculty and staff:
Anna Tsing, Professor, Anthropology
Megan Thomas, Associate Professor, Politics
UCSC project team members (including faculty and graduate student members from Anthropology, History, Marine Sciences, and Chemistry)
Collaborators from Aarhus University (Denmark); Kyoto University Center for Southeast Asian Studies; University of Indonesia
Professor Nancy Chen, Chair
Professor Melissa Caldwell, Graduate Director (Fall 2018)
Associate Professor Andrew Mathews, Graduate Director (starting Winter 2019)
Social Sciences Dean Katharyne Mitchell
Digital Scholarship Innovation Studio (DSI)
Submitted by Kristina Golubiewski-Davis, Digital Scholarship Commons Interim Director
Sponsored by Paul Hall
Approved March 4, 2019
Project:
The University Library aims to create a dynamic, student-centered lab that responds to demonstrated enthusiasm for new technologies and opportunities to experiment with visualization methods and printing practices through the creation of a Digital Scholarship Innovation Studio (DSI). To jump start this initiative, a $15,000 seed grant to run a pilot that will place three 3D printers on the ground floor of the Science and Engineering library is being requested. The space would invite students and faculty from all disciplines to experiment with 3D printing in their teaching, research, and learning experiences.
A soft launch during the Spring Quarter is being planned where events for training and safety will be held, an open house, an event for faculty interested in integrating 3D printing into their course, and an event for students that result in the design and printing of a 3D part. If the pilot is successful, a project showcase in the Spring Quarter of 2020 will be held to showcase student work. At least one event will be a collaborative event with the Cabrillo College Makerspace (https://www.cabrillo.edu/services/extension/makerspace.html).
Goals:
The primary goal is to increase access to technology for all of our UCSC affiliates in a discipline-agnostic space that encourages experimentation and learning through an iterative process that supports constructive failure in a low stake environment.
Amount funded: $15,000
Key UCSC faculty and staff:
Kristina Golubiewski-Davis, Digital Scholarship Commons Interim Director
Laura Meriwether, Information Services Coordinator
Incoming Digital Scholarship Librarian
Tinker Foundation
Submitted by Sylvanna Falcon, Associate Director of Latin American & Latino Studies / Director, Research Center for the Americas
Sponsored by Brandon Allgood
Approved April 1, 2019
Project:
With support from University Relations, the Office of Research, Graduate Division, and the Division of Social Sciences, the Research Center for the Americas (formerly the Chicano Latino Research Center/CLRC) and the Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) Department are proposing to establish a formal relationship between UC Santa Cruz and the Tinker Foundation, Inc. by reapplying for a Field Research Grants funding opportunity for graduate students in the fall of 2019. Founded in 1959, the Tinker Foundation strives to promote the development of an equitable, sustainable, and productive society in Latin America and to enhance understanding of Latin America in the United States and how U.S. policies impact the Americas. The Tinker Foundation supports research on and in Latin America. However, only scholars at participating institutions are eligible to apply for Tinker funds. Our goal is to make UC Santa Cruz a participating institution in order to first expand funding opportunities for research for graduate students and then extend those opportunities to faculty in every division on campus.
Goals:
Should our campus become a participating institution, UCSC graduate students and faculty in any division would be able to apply for grants the Tinker Foundation awards on an annual or biannual basis, such as Field Research Grants, which underwrite graduate student field work in Latin America; Institutional Grants, which promote research on democratic governance, education, and sustainable resource management in Latin America; and the $100,000 Tinker Muse Prize for the study of Antarctic science and policy. Additionally, the Tinker Foundation grants visiting professorships to 5 host institutions in the United States: Columbia University, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Once UCSC has established a formal relationship with the foundation, we intend to explore how to become a host institution so we can welcome visiting distinguished scholars from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal to our campus. Finally, affiliating with the Tinker Foundation will enhance UCSC's prestige and help attract and retain superior graduate students and faculty.
Amount funded: $10,000
Key UCSC faculty and staff:
There are 93 faculty across multiple academic divisions affiliated with the RCA and 10 core faculty in LALS.
Other key partners include University Relations, the Office of Research, the Division of Graduate Studies, divisional research development offices, the Office of Global Engagement, and the Graduate Student Association.
Teaching Global Environmental Politics: Strategies to Promote Engagement, Enhance Learning, and Prepare Future Leaders
Submitted by Sikina Jinnah, Associate Professor of Politics
Sponsored by Kathleen Rose
Approved May 15, 2019
Project:
This proposal seeks a conditional grant to help leverage a larger workshop grant. The proposed workshop aims to facilitate our development of a book entitled, “Teaching Global Environmental Politics.” Specifically, we seek support to organize and run an interdisciplinary workshop aimed at collaboratively developing several pedagogical projects, which will form the foundation of this book. Any funds received from the Board Opportunity Fund will be used to further student interaction with the proposed workshop (see section 3 below for more detail on student interaction).
Global environmental politics is a multidisciplinary field of study, which, at its core, aims to understand the drivers of, and responses to, environmental problems that cut across national borders, yet have profoundly local impacts. Depending on an instructor’s areas of expertise, courses in global environmental politics can cover a wide range of topics, including climate change, biodiversity loss, toxics trade, marine pollution, fisheries management, food and agriculture issues, forest and land degradation, and others. The proposed workshop will produce a book, which aims to help instructors from any area of disciplinary or empirical expertise teach global environmental politics using flexible, evidence-based, proven pedagogical approaches that stimulate student engagement and enhance student learning.
Goals:
The proposed workshop will bring together highly accomplished pedagogical experts with leading thinkers in the interdisciplinary field of global environmental politics to discuss evidence-based pedagogical techniques for teaching global environmental politics. Importantly, experts from wide ranging fields of study, such as astrophysics, literature, and geography, will also attend the workshop to push participants in exploring how global environmental politics can adapt strategies from other disciplines. The end product will be an edited collection on this topic, which is currently under contract with Edward Elgar Publishing with a delivery deadline of Dec 31, 2021.
The proposed workshop will bring together all book contributors to California for a 2.5-day multidisciplinary pedagogical inquiry in the summer of 2020. Our proposed participants are seeking to improve pedagogical projects that they are already deploying in their classrooms. These projects include, simulations, games, role-playing exercises, involving students in research, art projects, and collaborative projects crossing science and policy. Nonetheless, we know that while academics communicate and collaborate as a matter of course concerning their research, we rarely come together to compare notes, share practices, and learn from each other when it comes to our teaching, especially across disciplines. At the workshop, contributors will present their projects for the volume and receive detailed feedback from the interdisciplinary team of co-editors and other participants, with a view to catalyzing interdisciplinary collaborations and improving pedagogical practice.
The proposed workshop is the centerpiece of our book project. It is the forum through which contributors will engage in deep discussion and iterative feedback about their pedagogical projects, with a view towards substantially improving their projects based on these interactions prior to writing them up as chapters for the book. The interactions and opportunities to improve pedagogical projects through this workshop will be what sets this pedagogical book apart from any others we are aware of in this field (or beyond it). In this way, this book project has the potential to transform the way we teach global environmental politics and put UC Santa Cruz as the center of that transformation. Without the workshop, we will be unable to write this type of transformative book.
Amount funded: $10,000 conditional grant award. Conditions met.
Key UCSC faculty and staff:
Sikina Jinnah is an Associate Professor of Politics and Environmental Studies
Jody Greene is Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Professor of Literature
Jessie Dubreuil is Associate Director for Learning at the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning
