Maria Sestito

Maria Sestito - Department Editor

Maria Sestito writes about all things arts and humanities as part of the College of Letters and Science’s marketing and communications team. She is an award-winning writer and journalist. Prior to joining UC Davis, she worked for a decade in newsrooms across California and in North Carolina as a photographer, reporter and columnist. She’s also taught journalism to high school students through TRIO Upward Bound and Oregon State University.

Sestito earned her bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies with a Women and Gender Studies minor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. She earned her master’s degree in journalism at UC Berkeley.

She is an alumna of AmeriCorps and Report for America. Some of her past fellowships were through the U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS), Columbia Journalism School, USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and the Bloomberg Journalism Diversity Program.

Two people stand in a field of corn

Reimagining the Past Through Food Justice

  • by Maria Sestito
With flavor and flair, a community of academics, chefs and food justice advocates are sparking conversation at UC Davis and beyond through the new seminar Thinking Food at the Intersections: Justice and Critical Food Studies. The seminar series is supported by a $225,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation received earlier this year.
A sign on a building reads "UC Davis Humanities Institute."

Reimagined Davis Humanities Institute Slated for 2025 Launch

  • by Maria Sestito
The Davis Humanities Institute is on track to start anew. By fall 2025, it will become the campus hub for making connections and sharing ideas across the arts, humanities and beyond. Its goals include making a deeper impact on campus and in the community, providing more research opportunities for undergraduate students and supporting cross-collaborations between disciplines within the College of Letters and Science as well as other colleges within UC Davis.
A woman sits across from a man, both on a stage, speaking to one another. The background is dark.

‘The Question is the Point’

  • by Maria Sestito
The imaginative life of 15th century artist, inventor, scientist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci takes center stage in Ken Burns' latest documentary. The two-part documentary titled Leonardo da Vinci premiered Nov. 18 and 19 on PBS stations. UC Davis Associate Professor of Design James Housefield and art studio alumna Julia Couzens (M.F.A. ‘90) led a discussion on da Vinci at an advanced partial-screening of the documentary at PBS KVIE in Sacramento on Nov. 14. 
Black and white photo of Sanora Babb looking into a bookstore window where her image is posted.

History Doesn’t Sleep Forever

  • by Maria Sestito
Telling women’s stories is what excites writer Iris Jamahl Dunkle. Since 2019, the biographer, poet and creative writing instructor has been shedding light on these previously underappreciated women in two books as well as a weekly online newsletter.  Her latest book, "Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb," is about a female writer who, while living among Dust Bowl refugees in California.
The chest of a metal suit of armor in warm, dramatic lighting

Globalizing the Middle and Early Modern Ages

  • by Maria Sestito
Scholars in the Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) program are working to dispel the caricatures of this era by de-centering European history from the discourse and showing how, in fact, much of the world was experiencing acculturalization, or borrowing, adapting and mixing traits from various cultures.
A portrait of Michael Dylan Foster in black-and-white.

Monster Hunting with Michael Dylan Foster

  • by Maria Sestito
Michael Dylan Foster, a professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, has been researching yōkai, the mythical creatures of Japan, for years. Now he's hosting a mini-series about them.