Dear alumni, faculty, and friends of the History Department,
I want to welcome all the new students who have found their way to the history department and all of our continuing students, faculty, visitors and friends “back” to school. Though many of you are far away from Santa Barbara, you are part of a large community of UCSB historians.
This year the department is taking up three basic initiatives. First, we are following the action plan we approved early in the summer to improve the diversity, equality, and inclusion of the department. Look out for talks, workshops, and other events related to this initiative throughout the year. Many of our courses, including Professor Alice O’Connor’s History of the Present will also be exploring the history of race and racism from multiple perspectives. In addition, we will offer several other courses that will help us better understand these trying times – including on the history of law, poverty and inequality, science, technology, disease, and medicine.
Second, we are continuing our efforts to develop and implement a sustainable program for graduate funding. In the coming months, we will be launching our first annual fundraising effort to help raise funds, build partnerships, and generate support for our amazing graduate students. As you’ll learn, even though many have faced hardships related to the pandemic, they have nevertheless accomplished tremendous things.
Third, we are working to improve communication with our students, alumni, friends, and colleagues. Professor Juan Cobo will be leading revisions of our webpage and adding a community outreach page. In addition to reading our newsletter, we encourage you to follow us on Facebook @UCSBHistoryDepartment and/or Twitter @UCSBHistory. If you are not a social media person, then please visit our news and events section of our department webpage. If you have something to share, please contact Dr. Jarett Henderson, our social media coordinator, at henderson@ucsb.edu. Finally, if you want to set up a zoom meeting with me, to chat, get involved, or help with something….just click on this link. I’m very excited to meet new people and connect with old friends.
Best wishes for a new academic year,
