Classes and talks in Santa Cruz County

In person and via Zoom ( Meeting ID : 978 5545 8946, Passcode : 454736) . If you are unable to stream the talk live and need to access a recorded version, please contact Stacy Philpott at [email protected] . A UC Santa Cruz email address is required to access the recording. Host: Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela Speaker #1: Hannah Waterhouse Title: Building Cover Cropping Communities of Practice on California’s Central Coast Abstract: California’s agricultural communities face the dual challenges of increasingly variable and limited irrigation water supplies, alongside persistent groundwater quality degradation from nitrate leaching that has imperiled drinking water for nearly one million residents of rural communities in the state. These challenges come together most acutely in California’s Central Coast region, the “Salad Bowl” of the U.S., where intensive, high-value vegetable and berry production dominates. The benefits provided by adding winter cover crops to these annual cropping systems are considered essential to improving groundwater quality, but perceptions among farmers and policymakers that cover crops consume too much water make a formidable barrier to adoption in this Mediterranean climate. Indeed, less than 5% of cropland on the Central Coast is cover cropped, with the majority left fallow over the winter season to devastating effects including erosion and loss of fertility, pollution of surface and groundwater, and flooded fields which can delay agronomic operations. In this research we address the question of how farmers in Mediterranean, semi-arid climatic regions can implement cover cropping in a water scarce environment while meeting water quality regulatory goals. Through both controlled trials and on-farm, participatory research, we aim to determine how different cover crop management practices affect the balance between water regulation and provisioning and water quality protection, as well as the supply of nitrogen (N) for cash crops. We have formed a

An interdisciplinary department that centers the interconnected experiences and perspectives of Latin American and Latinx communities. This program provides rigorous training in disciplinary and interdisciplinary theory and research methods to investigate transnational processes that link the Americas. We especially invite applications from students interested in: Transnationalisms, Migration, and Displacement Intersectionality, Identities, and Inequalities Culture, Power, and Knowledge Collective Action, Social Movements, and Social Change Session 1: Tuesday, September 29, noon-1pm Learn about our interdisciplinary and hemispheric approach and major research areas Hear from faculty and graduate students about their scholarship Ask questions about the program and UC Santa Cruz Session 2: Tuesday, November 17, noon-1pm Learn about the Ph.D. program curriculum and structure Hear from the Graduate Director and Graduate Program Coordinator Ask questions about the application process RSVP to one or both sessions using our Google Form >>

Welcome to UCSC! Explore UCSC Student Health Services (SHS), collect stamps at each department, and win free swag plus entry into a grand prize drawing! Drop by the Student Health Center for an interactive Scavenger Hunt to get familiar with all the health and wellness resources available to you on campus. Pick up your official Scavenger Hunt Passport at the Welcome Table, then tour stations across the facility—including the Medical Clinic, Pharmacy, CAPS, Insurance Office, Lab, and X-Ray. Meet our staff, learn how to access services, and get your passport stamped along the way. Event Highlights • Free SHS Swag: Complete all stations to take home water bottles, chapstick, lens cleaner, toothbrushes, stickers, and stress balls. • Grand Prize Drawing: Every finished passport earns an entry to win a $50.00 Amazon gift card ! • Open to All: Available to all UCSC students with no advance registration required. Event Details • Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2026 • Time: 12–2 p.m. • Location: UCSC Student Health Center (Welcome Table at Main Entrance) • Cost: Free! You Belong Here: The programs and services described here are open to all, consistent with state and federal law, as well as the University of California’s nondiscrimination policies. Every initiative—whether a student service, faculty program, or community event—is designed to be accessible, inclusive, and respectful of all identities. To learn more, please visit UC Nondiscrimination Statement or Nondiscrimination Policy for UC Publications .

Meet Provost Aims and Poppy the Chihuahua outside of the Crown College Office for yummy cookies and conversation. Stay and chat or grab and go.

Join us for the second session in Living on Your Terms, a four-part series presented by Heart Centered Transitions on smart planning for the next chapter. Each session stands on its own, so come to one or join us for all. Handouts from previous sessions will be available at the Senior Center. Downsizing Without the Overwhelm: 10 Simple Steps to Start Today Downsizing can feel overwhelming—especially when you don’t know where to begin. In this practical, interactive session, we’ll break the process into manageable steps to help you get started and keep moving forward. You’ll learn: Where to begin when you don’t know where to start Practical strategies for deciding what to keep, give, donate, or let go How to make steady progress without becoming overwhelmed You don’t have to be planning a move to benefit. Downsizing now can help simplify your home and your life—and make future decisions easier.

Wing Chun martial arts classes with instructor Marcus at The 418 Project in Santa Cruz, meeting multiple times per week.

Grab a free cup of coffee* and chat with Provost Aims at Coffee with the Provost! Most Wednesdays through the Fall Quarter! 9:00-11:00am Meet us for (free) coffee, tea, breakfast snacks and good conversation outside the Merrill College Office, across from the mailroom. *Fair trade, organic, local women owned Alta Organic Roasting Company

During the chaos of a quarter, is it hard to find time to reflect and improve as an instructor? Would you like to be a part of an inclusive, supportive group of engineering instructors who do this in community? ETC is for sharing teaching experiences, classroom ideas, research on learning, and methods that support instructors and students. All are welcome, and lunch is provided. Please reach out to Jenny Quynn with questions.

The Mindful U: Finding Calm, Clarity + Connection in a Chaotic World With Jessica Sanam Hekmat Thursday, Sept. 30, 2025 | Noon PT Virtual via Zoom Hosted by the UCLA Alumni Association, open to all UC alumni This interactive session, led by career coach Jessica Sanam Hekmat, invites participants to pause and reset to cultivate presence and self-awareness as they navigate professional and personal demands. We’ll explore practical mindfulness tools and reflective prompts designed to foster resilience, regulate stress and re-energize focus. The conversation will balance strategy and self-inquiry, and we’ll ground ourselves together in real time through guided breathwork, reflection, and visualization. Participants will leave with practical ways to reconnect to their values and sense of purpose, even when the external environment feels unpredictable. LEARN MORE & REGISTER

The World Café — food, tea, and conversations that matter. Every other Wednesday, 5–7pm, RCC Dining Hall. All students welcome, every college and major. Free with a meal plan, or pay at the door. This quarter: Sept 30 — Conversation Café: What conversations matter to you this year? Oct 14 — Activism Café: How can we be more effective agents of social change? Oct 28 — Mental Health Café: How can we thrive together? Nov 11 — Immigration & ICE Café: What do we owe each other when neighbors are at risk? Hosted by the Right Livelihood Center at UCSC.

Hear directly from the candidates running for city council. Presented by Lookout Santa Cruz and the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce

Butterflies are known for intricate wing patterns and flitting flight patterns. They are also indicators of the health of our environment and ecosystems, especially those that migrate across our state and region. Join Megan Gnekow, a local scientific illustrator, for an evening exploring the beauty and resilience of some of our most famous flying friends as you sip on wine, beer or seltzer water of your choice. With materials provided by the instructor, you will practice techniques for illustrating them accurately in colored pencil. For your illustrations, Megan will provide specimens and photographs to help illuminate the details needed to create accurate and life-like illustrations. PROGRAM FULL – Email [email protected] to join the waitlist About the Speaker Megan Gnekow is an artist and scientific illustrator whose work focuses on ecological relationships that support special-status species in California. She represents the 7th generation of her family with deep ties to Santa Cruz. She has supported the Art of Nature exhibit as both a juror and participant since 2010. Megan is the Chair of the Collections Committee and a member of the Governance Committee, where her work in civil rights for the University of California helps support the museum’s ongoing efforts to build an inclusive, welcoming museum for all. Capacity : 20 Ticket Price: $40 General Discounts : $5 Off Members Age limit : 12+, Kids must be accompanied by adults Accessibility and Logistics This program will take place indoors at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Refreshments will be provided. Parking is available on Pilkington and street parking is available in the surrounding neighborhood. Please allow a few extra minutes to find parking and get settled before the program begins. Cancellation Policy

These hands-on science workshops introduce Next Generation Science Standards skills through interactive projects. Led by Barrio Science Workshop's Salvador Lua and his team of dedicated volunteers, each week will feature a different theme-focused project, covering subjects such as biology, ecology, engineering, art, chemistry, physics and more. Bring your curiosity and prepare to be inspired! All materials and instructions will be provided. Register here: https://santacruzpl.libnet.info/events?term=explore&l=Capitola+Branch&r=range&start=2026-09-01&end=2026-10-31

Girls Who Code is a nation-wide organization dedicated to teaching girls not only the language and skills of coding, but about finding their confidence, learning teamwork and the drive to succeed in the world, especially in science and technology. Girls and non-binary youth will be invited to get together and learn coding skills while having fun, challenging themselves and creating friendships. https://santacruzpl.libnet.info/events?term=girls+who+code&r=range&start=2026-09-01&end=2026-12-31

Bookshop Santa Cruz and The Humanities Institute welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Miriam Pawel for a reading and signing of her new book California Dreams: The Making and Remaking of the University of California —an epic story of one of the world’s elite public universities, its sweeping social impact, and hopeful lessons about endurance in troubled times. Your RSVP helps us plan for your arrival and keep in touch with any changes. Thank you for registering! Distinguished by its founding mission as an engine of upward mobility, the University of California—a constitutionally independent public trust—is a great American experiment that has persevered through fraught battles over access, funding, and leadership. The University has been at the nexus of nearly every public policy debate and social movement since the Civil War, from women’s rights to student protests, from academic freedom to affirmative action, shaping policies that reverberate throughout the United States. California Dreams narrates UC’s rise and resilience through the lens of those whose lives it has transformed-in particular, five pioneering graduates whose diverse paths underscore why the University remains, in the words of Berkeley graduate Joan Didion, “California’s best idea of itself.” At a time of staggering inequality and uncertainty, as higher education faces unprecedented threats, that role has never been more crucial. Drawing on extensive research in ten archives and dozens of interviews, California Dreams weaves together the linked history of the school and state in all its drama, significance, and humanity; the result is a magisterial narrative of both a remarkable public institution of higher education, and also California itself. Miriam Pawel is an award-winning reporter and editor who spent twenty-five years working for Newsday and the Los Angeles Times . She is the author of The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation , which was

Produce Pop-Up is a twice-weekly organic farmstand open to all members of the UC Santa Cruz community. The program is dedicated to increasing access to fresh, healthy, and affordable organic produce, with offerings sourced from the UCSC Farm and other local organic growers. Academic year hours and locations: Beginning Oct. 2 Wednesdays: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at McHenry Library Fridays: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Science and Engineering Library How does it work? Just stop by during open hours to browse and pick up fresh produce! Items are available at low or no cost to support student food access. Stay updated on produce availability and locations by following Produce Pop-Up Instagram . For questions, email [email protected] or visit the Center for Agroecology website .

Carlos Motta’s When Time Stands Still, the artist’s second solo show with the IAS , features new and recent installations, videos, and sculptures highlighting the artist’s preoccupation with the historical and aesthetic productions of difference and marginalization that shape the present. The selection of artworks in the exhibition explore the unsettling experience of living in a time that seems violently stuck on repeat. Archetypal figures from art history (a fool, a siren, a witness, a victim) reappear in the current moment as containers of time, bringing the past of imperialism, colonization, and displacement into a present marked by the rise of anti-immigration politics, climate injustice, and other forms of disposability. Some works challenge this violent repetition of time. The clock moves, if gruelingly, in an endurance-based video performance, No One , 2025. For forty-six minutes, the artist undertakes to keep his eyes open, witnessing, withstanding, confronting, and resisting the bombardment of images, both historical and otherwise, that normalize harm. In another video work, Gravity , 2024, performers enact rescue carries, supporting each other until they can’t bear the weight. Together, the artworks act as a proposal about how to rethink time—how to slow time—with a poetic and aesthetic cadence that might counter the numbing reverberations of living in the present. When Time Stands Still is organized as part of Visualizing Abolition, an arts-based initiative that reaches across prison borders to create a future free of prisons. Carlos Motta (b. 1978, Colombia) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been shown widely nationally and internationally. Solo exhibitions venues include the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona; Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen; Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH ; Röda Sten Konsthall, Gothenburg, Sweden; Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo; Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM); Tate Modern, London; and

Organized in partnership with the Center for Art and Advocacy, located in Brooklyn, New York, Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá ( Not From Here, Not From There ) by multidisciplinary artist Victor ‘Marka27’ Quiñonez features a wide range of artworks that issue a bold declaration of dual belonging, including altars, an elaborately immersive botanica, paintings referencing visual symbolism drawn from textiles, graffiti and community traditions, and, in a series called I.C.E. Scream , large, brightly colored resin sculptures in the shape of melting Mexican paletas (popsicles). As the exhibition title suggests (a phrase widely used in bilingual and bicultural communities), these artworks reflect the artist’s interest in the experience of living between worlds even as violent notions of nationalism and identity pervade. Accompanying the exhibition, Elevar la Cultura , an immersive sculptural installation featuring a twenty-two-foot-tall pyramid built from ice coolers adorned with ancestral textiles, sacred symbols, and mural work will be on view at Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos (1817 Soquel) November 7, 2026- March 7, 2027. As Quiñonez explains, this sculpture epitomizes the contradictions of living—and laboring—as an immigrant in the United States: “Most people see the cooler as a tool for leisure…for barbecues, tailgating, and celebrations. But for immigrant communities, the cooler is a tool and symbol for opportunity and independence. In every major city, you see families and vendors selling fruit, food, and water out of these coolers on the streets and in subway stations. They’re a necessity for survival and a way to start an honest living,” the artist shares. The Institute of Arts and Sciences will be the second venue to successfully present Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá to the public. First organized by Boston University Art Galleries and curated by Kate Fowle in September of 2025, the exhibition debuted to critical acclaim before gaining national attention after its abrupt removal from

Join us as we kick off Museum of the Macabre, a month where we explore the strange, the eerie, and the curious side of nature. Enjoy a special Cabinet of Curiosity exhibit alongside live taxidermy demos, real snakes, spooky crafts and more! Enjoy FREE admission to the Museum all day with special activities indoors from 5-8pm. Costumes welcome! Featuring: Partners : The Center for Monster Studies, UCSC | The Norris Center for Natural History | Bay Area Herpetological Society Activities : Special Exhibit | Face Painting | Spooky Crafts! Food : Areperia 831 Drinks : Donation-based bar with wine, beer and non-alcoholic options

Friday, Oct. 2nd – 7:30 PM – SMALL THEATER Illustrated Lecture: “HOW THE VISIONARIES OF EVERGREEN CEMETERY SHAPED SANTA CRUZ'S CREATIVE SOUL” – by Dr. Traci Bliss How did an isolated seaside town of only 3,500 residents become an unlikely cultural powerhouse? The answer lies at Evergreen Cemetery, where remarkable early artists, musicians, and educators rest within a stone's throw of one another. Discover their extraordinary, interconnected stories of sacrifice, heartbreak, bold ambition, and an unwavering belief that the arts could transform a community. Their influence not only endures but thrives in today's Santa Cruz. Award-winning professor, historian, and author Dr. Traci Bliss brings a uniquely personal perspective to Evergreen Cemetery. Her ancestors donated the land that promised Santa Cruz a burial ground welcoming to all, and more than two dozen relatives are buried there—including a beloved opera star who helped make Santa Cruz a center of musical life. Bliss's lifelong interest in cultural history solidified while an Art History major at Stanford University, which included extended study in Florence, Italy. She is the author of Evergreen Cemetery of Santa Cruz, designated a Goodreads Book, co-author of Santa Cruz's Seabright, and author of Big Basin Redwood Forest: Santa Cruz's Oldest State Park. As President of the Santa Cruz History Forum at the Museum of Art & History (MAH), she is dedicated to preserving and sharing the remarkable stories that shaped our community. Bliss will sign copies of Evergreen Cemetery of Santa Cruz at the conclusion of the event. The book is available at a 20% discount: $20 cash or check only. Tickets: $10 advance / $15 at the door. Doors open at 7:00 PM, lecture at 7:30 PM at The 418 Project, 155 South River Street, downtown Santa Cruz at the Dragons Gate.

Come enjoy picking your own organic strawberries and/or flowers at the campus farm! When : U-picks will take place on Saturdays from 9am to 12pm, July 11–August 22, or while supplies last. PLEASE NOTE that u-pick will not occur on Saturday, July 4. Where : Free parking will be available in the Hay Barn lot or lot 115/116 during u-pick hours. Please do not park in the dirt lot at the farm’s back gate. Please walk to the check-in table near the strawberries/flowers at the farm to pre-pay and collect your u-pick container(s). We will have directional signage displayed. There is one ADA parking spot on the farm. The UCSC Farm has uneven, hilly terrain. If you require accommodations to fully participate, please email [email protected] and we will do our best to accommodate. Cost: UCSC students with valid ID get 25% off produce. Strawberry pints – $4 each Strawberry flats (12 pints) – $44 Flowers – $25 for 32oz deli container Flower buckets – $75 Payment : Credit card payments only (you will need a smartphone to scan a QR code and enter your card info manually). Dogs are not allowed on the UC Santa Cruz campus (service animals are OK).

Take a free, guided tour of the 30-acre organic UCSC Farm. Visitors can enjoy touring the organically managed greenhouses, hand-worked garden beds, orchards, row crop fields, and children’s garden, while learning about the history of the site and the basic concepts of organic farming and gardening. Perched on a meadow near the campus entrance, the farm also offers spectacular views of the Monterey Bay. Heavy rain cancels. Tours will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on the following dates (please RSVP for the tour of your choice): Saturday, July 11 Saturday, August 1 Saturday, September 12 Saturday, October 3

First Saturday Tours are a wonderful way to introduce yourself to the Arboretum or to deepen your knowledge of the Arboretum’s plant collections. Each tour is a little different depending on the time of year, the interests of the tour guide, and the people who join in. For example, you might learn about the birds and mammals that make this land their home or about the amazing physical adaptations that plants have evolved to better deal with our extreme weather and climate conditions. Tours are free with paid admission. Admission is always free for current UCSC Students and Arboretum members.