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Barbara Van Nostrand

Asian languages and cultures professor recognized as distinguished alumna

Shu-mei Shih, professor of Asian languages and cultures, has received a distinguished alumnae award from her alma mater, National Taiwan Normal University. Shih was recognized for her influential work in Sinophone studies. The award recognizes lifetime scholarly, artistic or professional achievement, as well as contribution to the university and to the society. At the same time, Shih was appointed an honorary chair professor in the department of Taiwan languages, literature and culture at National Taiwan Normal University for a term of two years. She will lead collaborative research activities with the UCLA-NTNU Taiwan Studies Initiative that she directs at UCLA’s…

Associate Professor of English and Chicana/o Studies Marissa Lopez receives a Chancellor’s Award for Community-Engaged Research

The inaugural Chancellor’s Award for Community-Engaged Research, which is supported by the Chancellor’s office and the UCLA Center for Community Learning, has allocated six $10,000 research grants to develop new undergraduate research courses.In each course, students will carry out research activities in partnership with local community organizations. The course will advance their professor’s research goals and also benefit the communities that the partners serve.The inaugural 2019-2020 cohort and the courses they will develop are: Maylei Blackwell, associate professor of Chicana and Chicano studies. In her course, Blackwell plans to use community archives and oral histories to map the Latin American indigenous…

Late RSVP Request- Humanities I

Unfortunately, there are a few limited seats to the Humanities I ceremony, so the only requests that will be granted for this form is if a student forgot to RSVP, is eligible to walk, and would like to attend the ceremony.  Additional tickets for Humanities I extra guests are not available. 

UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture Announces Appointment of Sharon E. J. Gerstel as Director

The UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture today announced the appointment of Sharon E. J. Gerstel as its inaugural director, effective July 1, 2019. Gerstel has served as the acting director of the Center since 2017. In her role as director, Gerstel will develop a long-term vision for the Center, building on the university’s research and teaching strengths in Hellenic studies, including the expansion of courses in Modern Greek language and culture. Under her guidance, the Center will continue to forge strong partnerships with Hellenic organizations in Southern California. “As someone who has worked in…

New Professional Writing Minor Drafts Curriculum to Teach Career-Specific Skills

UCLA Daily Bruin BY JACQUELINE ALVAREZ Posted: April 7, 2019 at 11:45 pm UCLA will offer a professional writing minor for students to improve their practical writing skills. The minor offers an array of specialized writing courses in topics including web literacy, entertainment, business, science and technology, nonprofits and public engagement. Students can enroll in the minor after satisfying their Writing II requirement and submitting a brief application essay. UCLA Writing Programs and the English department began developing the minor in 2015 to address the lack of a coherent, intensive writing program for students across all disciplines, said Lowell Gallagher, the English…

Silence is the failure to do things with words

While delivering her vision of how we might “reimagine free speech,” philosopher Rae Langton outlined four required conditions for a healthy free speech environment. First, free speech is for people not for corporations. Second, a successful free speech culture depends upon equality — everyone should feel empowered to participate without fear of reprisal from whomever — whereas forced silence is the result of hierarchy. Third, it requires a supportive community that provides people the training and education necessary to pursue and insist upon the truth. A society that is serious about free speech, Langton said, needs to be serious about…

The parallels of female power in ancient Egypt and modern times

Over the course of 3,000 years of Egypt’s history, six women ascended to become female kings of the fertile land and sit atop its authoritarian power structure. Several ruled only briefly, and only as the last option in their respective failing family line. Nearly all of them achieved power under the auspices of attempting to protect the throne for the next male in line. Their tenures prevented civil wars among the widely interbred families of social elites. They inherited famines and economic disasters. With the exception of Cleopatra, most remain a mystery to the world at large, their names unpronounceable,…

Establishment of Peter J. and Caroline B. Caloyeras Endowment for the Arts at UCLA

The UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture announces the establishment of the Peter J. and Caroline B. Caloyeras Endowment for the Arts. The Caloyeras endowment will support the presentation of fine and performing arts related to Greece, from the ancient period through the modern day. Funds from the endowment will bring distinguished lecturers to speak on topics related to the art, history or archaeology of Greece The endowment will also support theatrical and musical performances. In the last year the Center has presented lectures by the President of the Acropolis Museum, Demetrios Pandermalis, the Cypriot “Icon…

UCLA receives two new endowments for Iranian Studies

UCLA Iranian Studies and the Pourdavoud Center are proud to announce two new endowments, the Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Contemporary Iranian Studies and the Morvarid Guiv Graduate Fellowship in Zoroastrian Studies. UCLA has launched a national and international search for a top post-doctoral scholar who will be the inaugural recipient of the Jahangir and Eleanor Amuzegar Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Contemporary Iranian Studies. Read more about the post-doctoral fellowship on the UCLA College website. Thanks to a gift in 2018 from the Trust of Morvarid Guiv, the Morvarid Guiv Graduate Fellowship in Zoroastrian Studies has been established in…