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.

An image of an embroidered mermaid, very colorful with a black background, fish swimming below her.

Textile Exhibit Weaves Story of Shared Human Existence

  • by Maria Sestito
From ancient sewing needles and woven baskets to wearable technology, textile production is a uniquely human endeavor. As part of a co-curated exhibit pulled from the Jo Ann C. Stabb Design Collection at UC Davis, "Textiles: The Art of Mankind," puts this shared history — and future — on display at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.
A view of a city and its holy sites, including a church, mosque and wall, as well as people gathered in the area.

UC Davis Scholars Tackle Antisemitism and Islamophobia

  • by Maria Sestito
When the most recent war broke out between Israel and Palestine's leaders in the Gaza Strip, UC Davis Associate Professors Sven-Erik Rose and Mairaj Syed decided to confront the controversial topic head on, facilitating talks on campus and teaching a class on antisemitism and Islamophobia. Students were asked to think critically about the past and to question narratives that use stereotypes to pit people against each other.
A little person woman with long curly hair (Soifya), very pregnant, is seated on a scooter beside a taller LP woman with turquoise hair (Julie). They are looking at a video monitor and surrounded by lighting and film gear.

Julie Wyman's "The Tallest Dwarf" Premieres at SXSW

  • by Maria Sestito
Julie Wyman, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and associate professor of cinema and digital media at UC Davis, finds belonging and an unexpected history within the dwarf community whilst working on her documentary, "The Tallest Dwarf." The film is premiering at the South by Southwest film festival in March.
A man stands in front of a museum exhibit which displays shoes made by him and some of the materials that went into the process.

Designing a Better Future

  • by Maria Sestito
Damien Mitchell made a splash with his innovative, sustainable, thoughtful and stylish footwear designs during his time as a graduate student in the Design M.F.A. program at UC Davis. Now, as a faculty member himself, he is making an impact on design students in his home state of Louisiana.
Different colored tomatoes gather on a table, shot from above

What Is Processed Food? It Depends on Who You Ask

  • by Maria Sestito
In her new book, "Real Food, Real Facts: Processed Food and the Politics of Knowledge," Charlotte Biltekoff explores friction between the U.S. public and food marketers when it comes to food processing.  She and others at UC Davis are making these types of conversations real and accessible to people both in and outside of the food industry. 
Cropped images of students holding open a page of their visual journal, each image cropped to show just hands and the journal pages, form to make a collage.

‘Visual Journals’ Exhibit Brings 'Design in Europe' Experience Home

  • by Maria Sestito
Since the first iteration of “Design in Europe," a study abroad program at UC Davis, students have kept visual journals of their travels – six to eight pages per day – that are a mix between a scrapbook, sketchbook, travelogue, collage and diary. The journals have been exhibited in Iceland, Scotland, England and the Netherlands. Now, for the first time, these journals are being exhibited all together right here in Davis, Calif.
A black teapot with floral painting on it

Global Tea Institute Brings Communities Together

  • by Maria Sestito
The Global Tea Institute celebrates its 10-year anniversary this year. In the last decade, what started as a group of 12 like-minded scholars gathering together has turned into a hub for the study of tea across the disciplines. Every year its annual colloquium brings between 400 and 800 people from all over the world to UC Davis. 
A beige building sits between a tree and a burst of sunlight. The grass in front of it is covered in yellow leaves.

Embracing AI in the Classroom

  • by Maria Sestito
A collaborative project led by UC Davis, working with four California Community Colleges and three California State University campuses, has won a $1.5 million grant to help address equity gaps in writing support and AI literacy.