The newly launched Maria Manetti Shrem Institute for Sustainable Design, Fashion and Textiles will serve as a first-of-its-kind hub dedicated to innovation, collaboration and global impact. The institute, housed in the Department of Design, will advance wearable and smart textile technologies and promote sustainability across multiple facets of design.
This month, explore how connections are formed, maintained and shared with letters and science authors. In this collection of books, our authors and scholars mine their own families as their inspiration for memoirs, poetry, fiction and analyses.
Gözde Göncü-Berk, associate professor of design, has been named the inaugural Maria Manetti Shrem Endowed Chair in Design, Fashion and Textiles and the founding director of the Maria Manetti Shrem Institute for Sustainable Design, Fashion and Textiles at the University of California, Davis. Her work focuses on development of soft wearable systems that sense, respond and adapt to the body to enhance health, well-being and performance.
Featuring a small ensemble of select dancers, Control/Shift, explores dance as it intersects with technologies of control and for connection. A highlight of the performance will be a post-show event providing insight into the creative process behind the choreographies and how they developed.
Sandra Riddell Shannonhouse — an artist and University of California, Davis, alum whose generous contributions and advocacy for public art and historic preservation helped shape vibrant art communities — has died. Known as Sandy to friends and family, she was instrumental in sustaining the legacy of her late husband, the artist and professor Robert Arneson.
The Department of Religion, Culture and Society in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis is now accepting graduate applications for the 2026-2027 academic year. The admitted scholars will be the first cohort in the newly announced master’s program.
Just weeks after being named U.S. Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress, Arthur Sze visited UC Davis, sharing his love of poetry and translation with students, faculty and community members. Sze was joined by poet Carol Moldaw.
The Gorman Museum of Native American Art at University of California, Davis, presents a solo exhibition of works by Rick Bartow (1946-2016), a member of the Mad River band of the Wiyot Tribe, indigenous to Humboldt County in Northern California. Bartow primarily created pastel, graphite, and mixed media drawings, wood sculpture, acrylic paintings, drypoint etchings, monotypes and a small number of ceramic works. The installation showcases artworks created from 1979 to 2015.
The exhibition runs through January 18.
Welcome to Books of the Month, where once a month, L&S staff select works from our Bookshelf of authors within the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. This month, in honor of the Taproot New Music Festival, we explore music from around the world. Through ethnographies, essays and analyses, our scholars demonstrate how music, culture and politics influence one another.
Hinduism’s Diwali, or “Festival of Lights,” is California’s newest state holiday. Scholars from the Department of Religion, Culture and Society in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis explain its significance.
