Associate Professor Bettina Ng’weno, Department of African American and African Studies, has been honored with this year's Distinguished Graduate and Postdoctoral Mentorship Award from UC Davis Graduate Studies and the Graduate Council. This award shines a light on the power of mentorship in shaping the academic and professional journeys of UC Davis graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.
The American Dream as both idea and ideal, for all its complications, has had an undeniably powerful role in shaping values and aspirations in the U.S. and far beyond its borders. We spoke with faculty and students in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis who represent a wealth of knowledge and perspectives that help us think about American society’s past, present and continuing potential.
Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Charlie Hankin spent years studying rap music and community in Brazil, Cuba and Haiti. That research culminated into the award-winning book, "Break and Flow: Hip Hop Poetics in the Americas." He also became an unlikely collaborator with some local musicians he was working with.
The multidisciplinary showcase is on view June 5–22 at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art and features graduate students in art history, art studio, comparative literature, design, English, environmental science and policy, music and performance studies.
The UC Davis Humanities Institute has announced five new faculty research fellowships for the 2025-2026 academic year. All five projects among faculty within the College of Letters and Science are centered around book projects, including one work of fiction.
The Critical Medical Humanities Program at Aggie Square in Sacramento offers undergraduates an immersive, cohesive learning experience looking at medical issues from multiple cultural and ethical perspectives, giving students a more well-rounded baseline to work from. Taking place across just one quarter, the program meets the requirements for the medical humanities minor. The first official cohort and one of the program's creators discuss the importance of humanities in health care.
Arts and humanities students at the University of California, Davis, engage with the world in new, thoughtful and imaginative ways. In the upcoming Arts & Humanities 2025 Graduate Exhibition, students from across the College of Letters and Science are creating public spaces for connection and storytelling, questioning long-held assumptions and histories, and using artistic expression and design to suggest new pathways to a more sustainable future.
Music has played a pivotal role in Jason Chen's experience at UC Davis. An undergraduate physics major, Chen has been a member of the UC Davis Concert Band since his freshman year. During that time, he's composed multiple symphonic pieces that have been premiered at UC Davis. Another piece will make its debut at the May 21 spring concert at the Mondavi Center.
If we could start all over again, what would our food system look like? What would we want it to look like? And can we make that dream a reality? These are some of the questions the Thinking Food at the Intersections: Justice and Critical Food Studies seeks to explore in "Imagining and Enacting Just Food Futures” on May 30 – 31. The colloquium will bring scholars, activists, artists and chefs together with students and community members for a sensory rich, immersive experience imagining the future of food.
Nitheen Ramalingam, a graduate of UC Davis' Art Studio M.F.A. program, speaks about the growth he experienced during his studies — also his first time in the U.S. — and how the legacy of the caste system back home in India continues to influence his art practice. Ramalingam earned the Keister & Allen Art Purchase Prize at last year's Arts & Humanities Graduate Exhibition.
