Social Sciences Dispatch

Vol. 1, Issue 1 | Fall 2025

The Social Sciences Dispatch is our quarterly newsletter, meant to share news from our division with our own community, and our many publics beyond campus—our alumni, friends, and supporters near and far.

The idea for this Dispatch originated during the pandemic, when we felt a pressing need to combat isolation. Now, thanks to the recruitment of our inaugural Social Sciences Communication Director, we can institutionalize the effort. Each issue of the Dispatch will include current reports on activities and accomplishments in the division, as well as reflections and commentary from our divisional leaders.

Please send us your ideas, critical feedback, and suggestions for how this organ can best serve our shared goals of telling our story in the Social Sciences, and of defending the core values of our university. 

-Charlie Hale, Dean of Social Sciences

Dr. Christopher Parker has been awarded a 2025 Carnegie Fellowship from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to continue his research into how polarization affects communities of color. Parker is among 26 distinguished recipients chosen from over 300 nominees for this honor, which includes a stipend of up to $200,000 to support his research. 

UC Santa Barbara officially welcomed 21 new PROPEL scholars in a Sept. 24 orientation ceremony led by director Bryan Zuniga, (above right.) The pioneering, donor-funded program was designed to uplift and empower social science students. PROPEL's inagural class graduated in a special ceremony at Mosher Alumni House on June 4.

On Sept. 25, Governor Gavin Newsom signed sweeping reforms to California’s world-leading climate policy that aim to save Californians billions of dollars on energy costs. Joining him was Kyle Meng (above), a professor of economics at UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School and the Climate & Energy Director of the Environmental Markets Lab (emLab), who provided critical research that will shape the state's future energy policy. 

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. Said Johnson, “I hope that people will come to know the Blum Center as a place that creates possibilities for democratic collaboration, in which community knowledge is understood as critical to social science research.

The Division of Social Sciences welcomed 19 new faculty members this year. Look forward to meeting more of these colleagues in future newsletters. Our first shoutout goes to Dr. Guadalupe Madrigal, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication. Dr. Madrigal's research and teaching focuses on topics related to political communication with a particular interest in media, Latinx/a/o populations, race, information, social identity, and immigration.

"As a first-generation Latina communication scholar, I am uniquely positioned to not only understand the challenges and barriers that Latinxs face in higher education, but I have lived them myself. I am also immensely excited about UCSB’s recent Hispanic Serving Institution status, as well as the programming that will continue to come from this status. I am looking forward to continuing to teach classes on race, immigration, and identity--especially in this current moment in our country. And, as a Californian and product of the UC system myself, I am looking forward to having my career flourish at a UC campus and in an incredible department."

Bridget Kyeremateng utilizes her double major degree of Black and Feminist Studies as the senior manager for inclusive marketing for Twitch, a popular live streaming social app. At the time, she could have never imagined such a role, let alone the way in which it has pushed her creativity and work ethic to be recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 2024 list.

Otieno Okatch ’92 is the president and CEO of PALS, Inc., a behavior management day services provider in Southern and Central Coast California. He serves on the Division of Social Sciences Dean’s Cabinet and the Board of Trustees for the UC Santa Barbara Foundation, and has been a longtime supporter of UC Santa Barbara. In honor of his grandmother, who passed in 2021, Otieno has established the Mable Iola Brown Fuller Endowment to support student scholarships in the Department of Black Studies.

In its Spring/Summer 2025 issue, UC Santa Barbara Magazine ran an in-depth profile of Asian American Studies Chair Sameer Pandya, delving into how he found inspiration for his most recent novel, Our Beautiful Boys, which received a rave review in the New York Times. From the story: "Sameer Pandya’s literary thriller “Our Beautiful Boys” is a slow-burning, intimate look at how secrets shape boys — and the families trying to raise them."