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, we’re focusing on religion and spirituality.

Jacob Hibel, professor of sociology in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis, has just received a $1.69 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to study how special education across Oregon public schools affect lifelong outcomes for students with disabilities.

Seven early career faculty members at UC Davis are being recognized with awards from the university and the UC Office of the President that highlight their research and creative exploration.

Recently, the UC Davis Center for Poverty and Inequality Research convened a crosssector conference to examine the current impacts of AI in our lives — and how researchers, policymakers and industry leaders can respond.

With support from a UCOP Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Award, sociologist Tina Law is constructing and analyzing a database of more than 50,000 YouTube videos to learn how they contribute to the general public’s understanding of AI and the potential for broader oversight.

The UC Davis Library has honored Rianna Herrera, a major in sociology, with a 2026 Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Information Research. She placed third in the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences category for her honors thesis that explores the college experiences and aspirations of Filipina and gender-non-conforming Filipinx Americans.

While structural racism can be measured across an entire neighborhood, city or county, its impact on people’s lives might be more localized. A recent study in sociology found that people most impacted by structural racism died more than two years sooner than the average American adult.

On January 27, a UC Davis Global Migration Center expert panel discussed Solito, the 2026 UC Davis Campus Community Book Project Selection, and how different research disciplines explore complex questions about immigration in the U.S.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a global crisis that showed the fragility of democracy in Taiwan, where misinformation threatened the three pillars that define the nation’s government and civil society.

Welcome to Books of the Month, where once a month, we select works from our Bookshelf of authors within the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. January is often a time for self-reflection and goal setting, so this month’s list features books that touch on both.