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.
Melissa Segura is among the 38% of undergraduates enrolled this fall who — when they complete their studies — will be in the first generation of their family to earn a four-year degree. When she crosses the stage at the UC Davis Fall Commencement, the senior from Lakewood, California, will be the first in the family to have a four-year degree: a Bachelor of Arts in sociology with an emphasis in law and society.
As the U.S. government turns its attention to drug cartels in Mexico, new research suggests that violent competition among criminal organizations increases the risks migrants face at the northern border.
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.
Under the leadership of Cecilia Tsu, associate professor of history at UC Davis, students whose fields included sociology, history and English in 2024 began delving into Yolo County history. Tsu sought with her cohort of students to uncover diverse histories of Yolo County to share with K-12 teachers and their students.
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.
For 2025, five of the nine total Lang Prize honors were awarded to students majoring in the College of Letters and Science for their research across the social sciences and humanities.
A new book co-authored by UC Davis sociologist Erin Hamilton charts the lives of 34 women and men who have returned to Mexico in the last two decades after years living in the U.S. Their stories convey the deep sense of loss they feel as they struggle to rebuild their lives.
This month’s "Books of the Month" features works authored or edited by L&S faculty from the arts, humanities and social sciences and have been selected in honor of Asian American Pacific islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. From the poetic to the analytical, L&S scholars unearth untold stories from the U.S., China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and beyond.
Cognitive migration describes when our imagination guides us through potential futures. It’s a process through which we work out the emotional, cognitive and social problems of traveling to a new location by putting ourselves in a future time and space.
