Alumni
Welcome to the Alumni section of the Community Studies website. We would like to feature news items and/or articles about our alumni and the work they're doing. If you would like to be featured, please send us a brief "bio" or article about the work you're doing; email the information to Joanie Peterson at peterson@ucsc.edu.
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Community Studies Alumni Survey
In 2005 the California Campus Compact commissioned a survey of Community Studies alumni. Nearly 600 of you responded; here are some highlights:
About the Community Studies education, you were enthusiastic. “Doing socially relevant work” had been the top draw, “developing critical thinking” or “connecting theory to practice” came second, and “learning my specific subject” was the most common ‘third objective’ listed. Fully 85% rated field study as excellent or very good; 82% said the same for “integration of academic and community-based learning.”
Since graduating, 60% have earned advanced degrees, including nearly 20 PhDs. Teaching certificates or masters’ in education are the most common, and we found many advanced degrees in applied areas (Urban Planning, MSW, MPH, nursing). But, Community Studies students go everywhere. You are doctors, lawyers, and many kinds of social entrepreneur.
Regarding employment and other engagements, 44% described their current employment as “completely socially relevant.” Half have been involved with non-profits “a great deal,” a fifth have directed one, and fully an eighth of you started one.
Over 30% have participated in service projects such as Legal Aid, Americorps, Peace Corps, Doctors without Borders, etc. A whopping 78% rated their levels of socio-political concern ‘stronger’ or ‘much stronger’ than their neighbors’ and 27% have run for or held elected office.
Overall, your responses showed a remarkable and sustained commitment to leadership and involvement in creating better communities, whether that word community is conceptualized as local, regional, national, or global.
Alumni News
If you're listed here and your information has changed, please feel free to send us an update! Or if you're not listed and would like to be included, please send us an email to let us know what you're doing
Multimedia Documentary from CMMU Alum
Molly Chudacoff's multimedia documentary, Coney Island Loves 2007-2009, was featured on the website, You're Beautiful, New York www.ybny.com/ybny/, which also showcased some of her photography.
Alumni Film Featured on Democracy Now
Good news to report on the ongoing work of one of our most talented graduates, Leilani Montes. Leilani's and Victoria Fong's film "Since Salazar" was chosen for screening at the 40th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium in East LA and was recently featured on Democracy Now (http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/31/slain_latino_journalist_ruben_salazar_killed). Leilani was a recipient of the William Friedland Award (2005) and after graduation worked as a union organizer with the Change to Win Federation. Thanks to Paul Ortiz for this news item!
CMMU Alum on You Tube
Check out the YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/user/maurice11#p/u/3/Xqzmk5Gvsg4 from Community Studies graduate Jen Lopez ('07) talking about her career and working as a line producer with The Yes Men on their recent movie.
Guantanamo Video by CMMU Alum
Community Studies alum Sari Gelzer ('05), is Editor and Multimedia Coordinator for truthout, and has created a video on Guantanamo prison:
The Human Cost of Guantanamo
http://www.truthout.org/1203091
In this short video she interviews British Journalist Andy Worthington about the injustice of Guantanamo and the barriers to closing it. Also included are clips of a hard-hitting documentary on the subject.
Recent Community Studies graduate, Jackie Olin (Gordon), was awarded the first prize in the first annual UC Santa Cruz Business Plan Competition on May 29th 2009. Her plan for an eco-friendly local baby food company, Sustainabites, will provide Santa Cruz County with fresh, local, organic, seasonal, handcrafted baby foods.
The UC Santa Cruz Business plan competition connected students, faculty, and professionals from a variety of disciplines to develop and pursue commercially viable business plans. The competition was sponsored by UC Santa Cruz and the City of Santa Cruz department of Economic Development and Redevelopment. Announced earlier this year, the vast majority of the applicants drew from the Computer Science and Engineering departments. The competition began with 47 contestants and culminated in an evening of final presentations by 7 finalists to Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz business representatives. Sustainabites took the grand prize of $12,000, which will allow Jackie to turn the business plan into a reality!
Margot Brown was accepted into the UD Berkeley/UCSF Joint Medical Program. The program admits only 16 people each year, and emphasizes community medicine and focuses on preparing students to be physicians for the medicaly underserved. She will spend three years at Berkeley getting her Masters in Science (which is usually based on community health or clinical research) while taking part in small group problem-based learning classes for her basic science medical curriculum; the last two ears are spent at UCSF where she will eventually get her M.D.
Anna Clayton is teaching gardening an nutrition to kids at Markham Elementary in East Oakland, and is preparing to apply for a Master of Public Health degree.
Chris Wiltsee is the Executive Director of the San Francisco chapter of the Recording Academy, and is involved in the national Grammy Career Day, in which high school students learn about the music business from people in the music industry. Prior to that, Chris was the founder of Youth Movement Records (where he still serves as a member of the Board of Directors), a youth-driven media arts organization which encourages under-served urban youth to learn about positive community involvement through music, mentoring and entrepreneurship.
Steven Wright - I am a proud 1974 graduate of the Community Studies program at UCSC. I spent my six month full time field study project as a volunteer at the Santa Cruz Public Defender's Office which provided me with the incentive and motivation to go to law school. After graduating from Santa Clara Law, I was a Public Defender in Santa Cruz for 16 years. For the past 16 years I have been an attorney in private ractive in this community.
Continuation of the Community Studies program at UCSC is vital. Our grzduates have provided invaluable contributions to social justice and the welfare of people in need throughout the world. The current need for community service and involvement has never been greated.
In Jun, 2010 I am also a candidate for Superior Court Judge in Santa Cruz County. I care deeply about this community and look forward to the opportunity to expand my service and contributions. To learn more, please visit my website: stevewrightforjudge.org.
Judy Berger, 1972 - I am an independent Community Benefit Consultant, serving the nonprofit and philanthropic communities with planning, program design, project management, and outcomes measurement. You can learn more about my business, Judy Berger & Associates at www.judyberger.net. Previously, I worked five years in senior management at Northern California Grantmakers, and 20 years in health care leadership education. I live in Marin County, CA, and am involved with Marin's Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership. I am also on the Board of Rhythmic Concepts, Inc, a nonprofit which produces Jazz Camp West, Jam Camp and other music-related educational activities. The issues which interest me most currently are non-profit planning and capacity building, social entrepreneurship, fostering volunteerism, and supporting the arts. Contact me at: judy@judyberger.net.
Jay Stephens, 1972, lives with his wife, Jackie, in Northern Virginia. He began his working life in a series of odd jobs – community organizer in Chicago, cab driver, mail distribution clerk, grants manager, among others – before obtaining his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. He has been a member of the District of Columbia Bar since 1981, and has served as General Counsel of The American Institute of Architects for more than eight years. In that role, he is privileged to support the AIA’s primary goals in supporting diversity in the design field and furthering sustainability in what architects refer to as the “built environment.” He sends his best to all fellow Banana Slugs.
Franklin CampbellJones, Ed.D, 1973 has addressed audiences around the world including Thailand, The People’s Republic of China, Guam, and Canada, and the United States of America. He works with schools and districts as they meet the challenges of academic and social needs of all students. He has served as high school social science and reading teacher, school administrator, district office director, state director for the California School Leadership Academy, and university professor. His book, The Culturally Proficient School: An Implementation Guide for School Leaders, is used in school districts and universities as they meet the diverse needs of students and families. He is Vice President of CampbellJones & Associates where he consults with school districts as they apply the tenants of cultural proficiency.
Gerald Rodriguez, 1973, is the Director of Education and Technology at the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Cruz. Prior to his current employment Gerald taught at four middle schools in the San Jose, CA area for 25 years. Since leaving the teaching profession he worked for a number of San Francisco Bay area nonprofit organizations—NFTE NorCal, East San Jose Youth Foundation, Mexican Heritage Corporation, and Bayshore Christian Ministries—developing and directing education programs for youth and adults. He earned Master’s degrees in education and in organization & leadership from the University of San Francisco. Gerald is involved in lay Christian ministry at his local church volunteering as a small group leader and instructor. His major interests and involvement are focused on Christian apologetics and urban outreach as it pertains to social justice, the family, right to live issues, and 1st & 2nd amendment rights. He has been married to his wife, Mary Ann (Zoria), for over 31 years and they have two grown daughters.
http://www.boysandgirlsclub.info/
Charity Kenyon, 1974 - I have been a Sacramento lawyer emphasizing protection of freedoms of speech and press for over 30 years. In 2007 Bill Yeates and I formed Kenyon Yeates LLP http://www.kenyonyeates.com/ which also prosecutes environmental law cases on behalf of petitioners. My husband, UCSC American Studies Alum Michael R. Eaton, and I have been active professionally and on a volunteer basis with access to justice and environmental causes in the Central Valley. In 1984 I first began serving on the healthcare ethics committees of various local hospitals and continue to do so. I serve as a community member on multi-disciplinary committees charged with protecting patients’ decision making rights in hospital settings. More recently I have been active with food justice and security issues and am heading up a Slow Food Sacramento Committee working to highlight hunger in Sacramento, advocate for a meaningful urban agricultural policy, and showcase the work of our urban farmers.
Jeanne E. Wolverton, 1978 - Who would have thought that so many years after I graduated ('78), my choice of Community Studies would have been so obviously the right one! My name is Jeanne E. Wolverton, and I live just west of the tiny town of Alberton, Montana. We moved here from Scotts Valley in 1986, but plan to move back to California this year. As soon as we came, I started volunteering for a Battered Women's Shelter in Missoula. Then I became involved with the American Red Cross, and eventually found myself State Chair of the ARC. I was also on the foundation board of the Community Medical Center, one of two hospitals in Missoula, and on the state board of the Montana Community Foundation, based in Helena. These were all volunteer jobs, of course, but the connection to MCF led to a wonderful, well-paying job with The Steele-Reese Foundation, which is based in New York, but gives grants in Montana, Idaho, and Kentucky. (If that is intriguing, one could check out our website, www.steele-reese.org, for the particulars -- and also some great photos of our ranch.)
Jim Jubelirer, 1980 - After UCSC, worked as a forest ranger for US Forest Service in San Juan NF, CO. I got my MBA from Cornell in 1986 and have spent my career in marketing, research, and training. I am active in promoting sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Check my website www.jimjubelirer.com for more information on what I’m up to. I would love to connect with other Banana Sluggers working for a more sustainable and just future.
Susie Bright, 1981 – is a well-known writer, speaker, teacher, audio-show host, and performer, all on the subject of sexuality. She has a weekly program, In Bed with Susie Bright, distributed through audible.com. She is the author and editor of numerous books, among them: The Best American Erotica series, Herotica, Full Exposure, and The Sexual State of Union. Her latest book is Mommy’s Little Girl: Susie Bright on Sex, Motherhood, Porn, and Cherry Pie. She’s also a contributor to the Huffington Post.
Linda "Spike" Kahn, 1984 - Worked 20 yrs with various unions: Garment Workers, Janitors Union, Hospital Workers, AFSCME, IFPTE Local 21... then quit, and recently fought breast cancer (1 yr cancer free). Now enjoying SF in semi-retirement. Have bumped into some of the old crowd at various unions over the years. Looking forward to seeing everyone.
Susan D. Longerbeam, 1984 is currently working as an assistant professor and coordinator of the student affairs preparation program at Northern Arizona University. I am involved in the community with the Southside neighborhood association, with sustainability efforts, and with mentoring young people. I have studied at the University of Maryland in college student personnel, and I’ve served in higher education administrative roles such as a student health services director. My research interests include multiculturalism and college student success
Jana Marcus, 1986 is a well-known documentary photographer in the Santa Cruz area.
Rene Castro, 1987 is Senior Director of Academic Employee Relations at California State University, Long Beach, and newly accepted into the CSULB’s EdD Program. Since his days as a student at UCSC, Rene has been active in issues of social and economic justice. When he arrived at UC Santa Cruz, Rene says he immediately gravitated toward the “Community Studies” major because of its emphasis on creating social change. While at UCSC, he became active in campus and community issues, particularly labor issues. One particularly memorable experience for him was his involvement in a local cannery worker strike and experiencing his first arrest for civil disobedience (many more came later in his professional work as a labor organizer).
Immediately upon graduation, he began his career working in the labor movement. After graduating from UCSC, he worked for the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union, a union that represents a working-poor and immigrant workforce. He spent the next 18 years working in the labor movement in various capacities representing workers in slaughterhouses, sanitation plants, hospitals and even state universities. After working in the labor movement for a few years, He pursued a Masters degree in Urban Planning at UCLA. After completing his masters degree, he returned to the labor movement and represented public employees including healthcare workers at the LA County-USC Medical Center, the largest public hospital in the western United States. During this time, he became active in the fight for access to healthcare and the improvement of our public health system. More recently, and just prior to his current position, he served as the Southern Region Organizing Director for the California Faculty Association, the union representing faculty in the CSU system.
Rene credits his academic preparation and experiences in the Community Studies program for preparing him for a truly a rich and unforgettable professional life.
Dan Swerbilov, 1987 - My Community Studies thesis was a 4-part radio documentary on the Latin American Debt Crisis. My fieldwork was at the Resource Center for Nonviolence. The thesis project took me longer than it should have to complete, which I did in 1989, although I had gone through the graduation ceremony in 1987. Right after, I worked at Blue Heron organic farm in Corralitos for 3 seasons and graded Indiana ISTEP standardized test essays for McGraw-Hill in the winter months. I programmed music and public affairs radio shows at KZSC from 1986 to 1992. I also volunteered with the local Conflict Resolution program. I then made the big jump to San Francisco where I found work at the California Academy of Sciences in the exhibits department. I enrolled in the Master of Public Administration program at San Francisco State and completed 3 years of classes but did not finish my thesis project on toxics in San Francisco. Thus I did not get my MPA. But I did get married (artist Diane Jacobs of College 5), traveled to India and Nepal, and had a couple of kids (boys - Max and Zusse). I worked at Macromedia (the software company that eventually was acquired by Adobe in 2004) from 1994 to 2002 as a Facilities Manager. We then moved to Portland, OR and I found operations work at SAS Institute, Inc where I have been since 2003. I have to figure out how to get one of those new green collar jobs
Sharon (Schalit) Dahl, 1988 - I moved to Israel in 1988, married an Orthodox man in '90 and have been raising our three children since then in a town called Rehovot. Since then Sderot has blossomed into a suburb of Tel-Aviv with many people building gorgeous single family dwellings. For the past eight years, they have been living under the constant threat and often-daily barrages of Kassam missiles. Several people have been killed.
Presently, I work as a preschool teacher (as I had trained at Cabrillo college after completing my BA) in a preschool of Russian speakers. I find the ironies of life sometimes very funny: In the 1970's, I participated in the demonstrations in San Francisco in front of the Soviet embassy demanding to allow Soviet Jews out of the USSR. In 1983, I got arrested in a demonstration in my hometown of Livermore, CA against "Star Wars." Who would have ever believed that the Soviet Union would collapse because of the mutual nuclear build up against the States and that we would see the fall of the Berlin Wall in our life time? During the course of my BA, I wrote a research paper on bilingual education. But I never expected that a million Russian speakers would move to Israel or that I would feel badly for not knowing what was once considered the language of the enemy.
Cindy Arvanites, 1989 - Cindy lives in Santa Cruz with her partner Mary and their daughter and son. Cindy works in-house as a litigation paralegal for a local corporation. Cindy is active in the paralegal community and enjoys giving presentations from time to time on topics relating to her specialties. In spare time not spent with her kids, Cindy works on toward securing marriage equality for everyone in California and, hopefully soon, the entire country. Cindy invites her old Community Studies pals to visit her on Facebook.
Dennis Speer, 1989 - Retired from UCSC in 2002 and went to work in my new wife's business, Ferguson Safety Products, Inc. www.preventsuicide.com is our website with yours truly modeling some of the products. I am managing a small business and controlling the means of production, so I guess I am a capitalist now. Our life saving products are exclusively sold to jails and prisons to protect suicidal inmates and this has expanded my understanding of the corrections industry and those that run it and those that are subjected to it. If you are not in the business you have no idea what it really is about or really is like. My community work focuses on men's issues and development of means and methods to initiate young men into adulthood and the responsibilities they take on as men. See www.YMUW.org for more info on that. We also rent out rooms in our 7-bedroom house in Santa Cruz and usually have a few students on board that I can tease about their erroneous views on gender and their ridiculous ideas about relationships between men and women.
Edward Rico, 1990 - Since leaving UCSC with degrees in Biology and Community Studies in 1990, I have continued to work in a wide variety of areas. I spent a few years right out of college being a “paid activist” doing environmental and animal rights work for international organization, then founded and directed a project doing educational work with children, focusing on issues of animals and the environment. I returned to school to pursue a law degree and during that time I worked doing enforcement work for the Environmental Protection Agency.
I continued to do anti-war, anti-racist and Latin American solidarity work (amongst other things) that I began at UC Santa Cruz, and after graduating from New College of California School of Law, began doing immigration case work at the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project in Watsonville (http://www.cabinc.org/SCCIP/index.htm). In 2000, I moved from Santa Cruz to Watsonville. After nearly five years at the Immigration Project, I went on to direct La Manzana Community Resources (LMCR), an immigrant family resource center in Watsonville (http://www.communitybridges.org/manzana.htm).
Facing burn out, I quit my job at LMCR, and spent the next few years doing occasional legal case work (mostly immigration), fixing up the old Victorian house that I bought in Watsonville and traveling (I’ve been to approximately 50 countries thus far, many of them several times). I also began focusing more on dancing and performing with a group doing Cuban style salsa and singing in an international folk choir.
In 2006, feeling disconnected from doing social change work, I decided to return to the “normal” work force and was hired on at Community Foundation for Monterey County (http://www.cfmco.org/), directing a project in the Salinas Valley, Poder Popular para la Salud del Pueblo (http://www.poderpopularca.org/index.html). This project focuses on improving farm worker health through resident leadership development, the building of multi-sectoral alliances and focusing on improving farm worker well-being through policy and systems change work on a local, regional, state and national level.
My connection to UCSC, in particular to Community Studies, has been maintained through TAing Mike Rotkin’s Introduction to Marxism (which I’ve done every year since 1986) and occasional other classes in Community Studies and Latin American/Latino Studies.
Jane Parks-McKay, 1992 - After graduation, I ran a public relations company specializing in the hospitality industry until the dot-bomb occurred. Concurrently, I became a freelance journalist for various newspapers, a lifelong love and still something I do. I have written anything from features, to news, religion, real estate, sports, etc. I was awarded a Pulitzer Prize nomination for a piece I did on post traumatic stress.
This decade has been one of challenges as with many others in the baby boomer generation. Family illnesses and responsibilities have taken up much of my time. Two years ago, I became a caregiver for my husband who suffered a traumatic brain injury. I hope to write about this.
We still live in Paradise in the same home we purchased prior to returning to college and UCSC and love it!
Kim Davis, 1993 - For the past 6 years I have been working for the FDNY as the Program Director of “Stay Connected,” a program that provides services for firefighters who retired prematurely after 9/11. As their retirements were unexpected they are coping with a lot of loss, identity transition, depression, substance abuse etc. The program combines vocational training with mental health, wellness and substance abuse treatment.
I also have a psychotherapy practice where I deal with an eclectic group of people coping with a range of issues. Currently I am working on a project where participants do an hour of yoga with a certified instructor, followed by an hour of group psychotherapy led by me.
Kathleen Hylen, 1994 – is the Director of the AAIEP ELS Language Center in Santa Monica.
Takahiro Kitamura, 1994 - is currently working as a tattoo artist specializing in Japanese traditional designs, has written and published books on tattoo art and culture, has lectured about Japanese tattooing at the Asian Art Museum San Francisco as well as UC Santa Barbara and is owner and operator of State of Grace tattoo shop in San Jose, California. More information at horitaka.com.
Donna Kenney, 1995 - After graduating from UCSC in 1995 in Community Studies and taking a year off, I accepted a Regents Scholarship to enter the Master of Community and Regional Planning program in the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. I graduated in 1998 with my MCRP and a focus in Land Use/Environmental Planning. I climbed the ladder (Assistant Planner - San Carlos and Half Moon Bay, CA; Associate Planner - Galt, CA; Senior Planner - Livingston, CA) to my current position of Community Development Director of Livingston, CA. I supervise the Building and Planning Departments in Livingston and head its Development Review Committee. I am a long time member of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Certified Planners. I was a member of the 2000 San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury. I have been the Secretary of the Livingston Rotary Club for two years and will be the Club's 2009-2010 President. I support polio eradication, Planned Parenthood, Relay For Life, National Arbor Day Foundation and Patients Out of Time.
Miriam Landman, 1995, is an environmental writer, editor, and advisor with expertise in green building and sustainability. She is the owner of M. Landman Communications & Consulting (www.MLandman.com), and she publishes The Green Spotlight weblog. In the past, she was a producer and reporter for the national public radio program Living on Earth. She has also worked for Simon & Associates Green Building Consultants, Global Green USA, Mostue & Associates Architects, and ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability. She was a contributing author for the book Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing (Island Press, 2007). Miriam has a master's degree in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University. She lives and works in northern Marin County, California.
Kelly Whalen, 1996 is a San Francisco-based documentary filmmaker. Her documentaries have broadcast nationally on PBS, MSNBC, TechTV, and the Independent Film Channel. Ms. Whalen’s most recent documentary, “Tulia, Texas” about a miscarriage of a justice in a small West Texas town, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival and broadcast nationally on the PBS series "Independent Lens" in 2009. Through the Community Cinema outreach program, the film was also traveled to more than 50 cities nationwide and shown in town hall style screening. Whalen’s previous documentaries include “Rising From Ruin,” featuring the lives of Hurricane Katrina survivors in New Orleans; “The Fire Next Time,” documenting the threat of hate radio in a Montana community in conflict over the environment; and “Not In Our Town: Northern California,” representing stories of local communities standing up to hate crimes and violence. Whalen is a past recipient of the prestigious International Reporting Project fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, which supported her work documenting the rise of Neo Nazis and ultranationalist groups in Russia. Her culminating documentary “Murder in St. Petersburg” was featured on FRONTLINE/World Interactive. In addition to her work in more traditional media, Whalen has helped launch web-based video enterprises, including Turnhere, Inc, where she previously worked as senior filmmaker, and now as a contributor, producing short films for its online book channel www.bookvideos.tv. Whalen has collaborated with a number of high profile authors including Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner) and Martin Cruz Smith (Gorky's Park.) She also is a frequent video contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com. Ms. Whalen received a Master’s in Journalism from U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.
www.tuliatexasfilm.com
www.niot.org
Eva Rubin, 1997 now works as a social worker.
Anji Buckner, 1998 has a Master’s degree in Public Health from San Jose State University, and has been working in public health and health education in Santa Cruz County for fifteen years, currently in the Department of Western Medicine at Five Branches University.
Beth Love, 1998 - Since graduating in 1998, Beth Love has been active in the nonprofit world addressing the issue of child abuse, including serving as the Executive Director of two Santa Cruz County agencies which address this issue. During this time she has simultaneously been involved in various aspects of ministry through her spiritual community: Inner Light Ministries (http://www.innerlightministries.com). She is now involved in ministry full time. Current roles include being the founding Families Minister (since 1996) of Inner Light, the Interim Education Minister, and the Co-chair of the organization's Board of Directors. The move to full time ministry as opposed to splitting time between the secular world and ministerial work has provided a welcome relief for Beth, who sees herself as a spiritual revolutionary directing energy toward addressing and countering the oppression of children. A 2006 graduate of Inner Light Ministries' Practitioner of Higher Consciousness training, Beth is planning to further her education by participating in the Master of Divinity program at Pacific School of Religion. She has been accepted into the school and will begin her graduate studies there in Fall 2009.
Basho Mosko, 1999 - is currently the Program Manager for the Flip Video Spotlight Program. Flip Video Spotlight is the charitable outreach of Flip Video and our mission is to help nonprofits and charitable organizations share the stories of their work through video. We provide a deep discount on camcorders, and I work daily with organizations ranging from the World Food Programme and Witness to local chapters of Habitat for Humanity and Kiva, to help them leverage the power of video to support their programs. In addition, I have been volunteering at Kiva for over a year to deepen their use of video on the website and help lenders feel more connected to the entrepreneurs they are lending to. The sites are:
www.flipvideospotlight.com (I created much of the content here)
www.youtube.com/flipvideospotlight (I created and manage this)
www.kiva.org
www.youtube.com/kivamicroloans (I updated and manage this as well)
I am also a childrens musician and have been writing, recording, and performing bilingual children's music for the past year. My website is www.bashomosko.com and CD's are available at www.cdbaby.com/cd/basho or on itunes. I'm also working on a children's television program that will launch online later this year.
I am a graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs with a California bilingual teaching credential, basho is a teacher, storyteller, musician and media consultant. I write dynamic, adventure stories for children, and music for the whole family. Teaching kindergarten taught me about love, joy and simplicity, and he is thrilled to share his music and media in hopes that they will continue to lighten hearts, bring people together, and generate dance, laughter, and joy for years and years to come. His music is international, hip hop, joyful, ska, silly, shake it up, Latin, funny, innovative, educational, party music for the whole world!
I am also passionate about the power of film/video in social change movements and have produced documentary pieces ranging in content from Sudanese refugee programs in Ethiopia to an adult learn to swim class at Columbia University. Most recently I have shot for Point Made productions, ABC and NBC News, and worked as a media consultant for Kiva.org and Peekadoodle Kids Club.
Bethann Mangel Pflugeisen, 1999 - managed the mentorship program for GEAR UP, earned her M.Ed., and is now pursuiing a graduate degree in statistics at Ohio State University.
Sonya Blesofsky, 2000 - www.sonyablesofsky.com - I currently live in Brooklyn, NY and work as an artist, teaching artist and educator. After working as an AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer at CELLspace, a non-profit art and performance space in San Francisco, I attended the San Francisco Art Institute where I received my MFA. In New York I have held Artist Residencies at the CUE Art Foundation, Smack Mellon, Dieu Donne Papermill, Chashama, LMCC’s Workspace:120 Broadway, and Plane Space. My work has been shown at venues including Mixed Greens Gallery, Plane Space, and Smack Mellon. I work in the Education Departments at both the Museum of Arts and Design and the Jewish Museum, where I conduct a variety of educational programming for school-age youth, families and children with disabilities.
Kathryn Kramer, 2000 (formerly known as Kathryn Colver) graduated from UCSC with honors in the major. Upon graduation, she was a health educator for high-risk youth through the Bill Wilson Center in Santa Clara, CA. After that, she worked as a program manager for the Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County. Then she got off the fast-track and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, West Africa assisting non-profit health organizations, mother-child projects, and HIV/AIDS programs. While pursuing her master’s degree in public health (MPH) at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, she worked as a program manager overseeing public health programs in Kenya, Ghana, and domestically through Global Health Action. She currently works in health education for Kaiser Permanente and resides in the East Bay with her husband Eric (another UCSC alum) and her daughter Evelyn.
Amber Turpin, 2000 - Since graduating from the Community Studies program in 2000, Amber Turpin has been immersed in the support of ethical and delicious new food systems. A stint as a baker on a farm and eco-resort in Northern California sparked her own wholesale business, the Sweet Pea Cookie Co. Cookbook development, the weekly "Dish" column in Metro Santa Cruz (2007-2009), feature articles in various publications, and contributions to the food activist blog, Civileats (www.civileats.com), have maintained her current career in food writing. She was Operations Manager for Slow Food Nation (www.slowfoodnation.org), the largest celebration of food in the United States that took place over Labor Day weekend 2008, followed by acting as a delegate at Terra Madre in Turin, Italy. Meanwhile, she is involved in homesteading experiments on her property in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Christina Varner, 2000 I have worked at one immigration law firm with working immigrants, members of Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Local 2, and with three immigration legal non-profit organizations – La Raza Centro Legal, International Institute of the Bay Area, and Bay Area Legal Aid. I have met several Community Studies students who came with new energy and open minds to work in those and similar organizations in the same communities. I have met lifelong friends in Community Studies. Some of the people I have met are Jeanette Aguilar, a filmmaker, Melissa Ramos, who works in public policy, Sonya Blesofky, who is an accomplished artist in New York City, Abigail L’Esperance, an immigration attorney, and Shanti Manzano, who is now a social worker in the Bay Area, as well as meeting several Community Studies alums post-college who work in public health, community organizing, and nonprofit legal work. I do not know if they have been able to write to you about how concerned they are about Community Studies closing. What I do know is that they would probably say that they got their start in Community Studies, and how much that influenced them in those years making big decisions such as where you want your life to go so that you can give and share and make change with others, so that our people will be able to live vibrant, purposeful lives, rather than just survive daily reality as marginalized people in the U.S.
I pursued what I had learned and built my career from the ground up: I went to law school and in 2007, received my J.D. from New College of California, School of Law. and today I am working at Bay Area Legal Aid, the Bay Area’s largest provider of civil legal services.
Carolyn Swift, 2001 - I haven't done much with social causes in the last six years since I graduated, except historical ones. The Capitola Museum does have a website: www.capitolamuseum.org, which also connects to a site we've done on the Soquel Pioneer and Historical Association.
Kiea Spake Wright, 2001 - lives with her husband in Mill Valley. She is finishing a Masters in Education program, focusing on Environmental Education. Kiea manages an environmental education program at a local elementary school and has started a nature awareness program for homeschool students. After UCSC, she spent many years working in the Mojave Desert on conservation biology projects.
Allison Bird Allbee, 2002 – has been teaching at the June Jordan School for Equity. In the fall, she’ll be entering the Architecture School at UC Berkeley, with a focus on school design.
Shayna H. Hirshfield, 2002 received that year’s Friedland award, earned an MSW in community social work and public policy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and now manages the Silicon Valley Energy Watch, a county-wide energy-efficiency, market-transformation program under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission.
Molly Pencke, 2002 - My name is Molly Pencke and I graduated in 2002 with a major in Community Studies (focus on youth empowerment) and a minor in Education. After graduation I moved back to Seattle, which is where I am from. In 2003 I went to vocational school and got my cosmetology license and have been a part time hair stylist ever since. While in cosmetology school I got a job at YouthCare as a youth counselor. I ended up working at a homeless shelter for youth ages 12-17 for three years (www.youthcare.org). During that time I was also a board member for the Seattle Young People's Project (SYPP) which is a youth empowerment, social justice organization.
In 2006 I got a job at the Lutheran Alliance to Create Housing (LATCH) which is an affordable housing non-profit agency. I was a program manager there for two and a half years and worked with the low income families that lived in their housing (www.latch.org).
Since November of 2008 I have been working as an Instructional Coordinator with Powerful Voices. Powerful Voices improves the lives of girls in Seattle through innovative evidence-based programs in public middle schools, high schools, and in the juvenile justice system. The organization was formed to address issues at their root, by instilling leadership skills, fostering the development of critical thinking, and promoting the individual potential in adolescent girls. Our mission is firmly rooted in our belief that strong girls become strong women. I work with high school aged females at alternative high schools and run a summer employment program (www.powerfulvoices.org).
Will Scott, 2002 - Since graduating from Community Studies in 2002 I have been engaged almost entirely in working with the human-nature relationship. This work has taken many forms and continues to emerge in new and exciting ways through my own ongoing education. I've been teaching and mentoring individuals (in environmental studies, ecopsychology, wilderness and survival skills, and nature awareness). I've continued working in the wilderness (www.wildernesswithin.com), leading excursions and diving deeply into the work of facilitating rites of passage (www.schooloflostborders.org, www.wildernessreflections.com). My learning journey has gone on to include years of natural history and nature-based mentoring, as well as graduating form a permaculture and regenerative design program (www.regenerativedesigninstitute.org), which I continue to work with currently. To put it simply, my passion and fascination has continued to be closely aligned with the large-scale cultural and ecological questions of our times, and my curiosity is never more alive then when I am pondering solutions and the necessary steps for human beings to move forward on the planet in a healthy, connected, and regenerative way. I am currently living in the Bay Area, pursuing a Masters in Adventure Education through Prescott College.
Andrea Williams, 2002 I am currently in medical school in Portland studying to become a Naturopathic Doctor. While my studies at UCSC focused on sustainable agriculture (primarily Permaculture), the idea of living sustainable upon the earth has never left my mind, nor has the desire to serve marginalized populations. For these reasons I am also involved in an organization called Natural Doctors International (NDI.org) and will be traveling to Nicaragua to volunteer in a medical clinic in Omatepe.
Audrey Bethel, 2003 - After I graduated I ended up moving back to where I am originally from in New Hampshire to help run an organic, miso-based sauce company with my family. It was an interesting entrepreneurial experiment, in which I got an entirely different sort of hands-on business education; ordering ingredients, producing and marketing in the natural foods world. The sauce was a big hit, but we were not able to get the math equations right to keep the sauce affordable for all to access it, and realize profits... so, our ideals informed our decision to stop making the sauce after six years of good faith trial-and-error. Meanwhile, to make money, I waitressed and substitute-taught at my local middle school. I thought maybe working at the school would give me some insight as to what subject I would like to teach as a "real" job. Instead, while working in the school I became aware of the less well known world of school guidance counseling and student support services. I discovered my background in community studies to be the perfect foundation to build upon in this exciting field, and now I am just finishing up my master's at a local NH state college. I am very enthusiastic about the possibilities for positive social change within our public school systems through this avenue of connecting with students, families and the different levels of community that influence and are influenced by the way we all interact and understand one another.
I am also enjoying the beautiful rural nature I live surrounded by and practice Jivamukti yoga. I have continued to be connected to the island of Hispanola, where I did my field study, and have been back to both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The last time I went, Summer 2007, I went to Haiti with two friends, and we brought back a bunch of artwork to do a silent art auction/music festival benefit for The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (ijdh.org). I keep connected with my friends there, and hope to continue to make more bridges between our countries as long as I live.
Heather Box, 2003 is am now the National Development Director for the League of Young Voters (theleague.com), a national youth organization working to engage young people from underrepresented communities in the political process.
Inger Christenson, 2003 - is the Program Coordinator for Voter Registration and Outreach in the County of Santa Cruz so I use my position to create social change through prefabricated channels so to speak. I strive to reach historically underrepresented voters and work with them to build the desire to use their voice in local and national government. I approach a variety groups in different ways. Most of the work I do is through events that are planned in the community. Additionally, I speak to youth at any venue I am able to engage. (Youth empowerment events, schools, etc.) I discuss how important their involvement is in local politics and government. I approach policy and lawmaking as something that truly affects their daily lives and facilitate their awareness that personal involvement is important when it comes to local offices and measures. In that way, it builds on the individuals’ ability to more fully understand they do have the capability to change the world they live in.
On a personal and professional level I am still working when I can to educate people about domestic violence and strive to defend equality and make same sex marriage legal again. I am still reeling that I live in a state that now has a constitution that discriminates against people.
Lynz Floren, 2003 Since graduating in 2003, I have been a teacher, a sales-person, a manager, and a technician. In all of these positions I have employed the care, education, and social change values that I fortified while taking Community Studies classes. I have also returned to school and completed my MBA in 2007. In my classes for that advanced degree I applied business principles to non-profit organizations and scenarios so that I may combine my strengths to build communities and people to their full potential.
Shiri (Li-Ron) Gradek, 2003 - Since graduating in 2003, I have traveled through Mexico on 3 separate occasions as well as traveling to Thailand, Israel and Italy. I briefly lived in Portland ,Oregon where I had too much fun and got nothing done. A year later I moved to the island of Kauai to help my boyfriend build a house. After a year and a half, and severe island fever, we returned to Santa Cruz, got married and immediately got pregnant. Today our daughter Theo is 9 months old and I stay home as a domestic goddess.
Caroline Hawkins, 2003 - In 2008 Caroline joined Ecology Action as their General Services Administrator where she combines her career of human resources with her interest of sustainable business practices. Her background runs the gamut of working in the dot-com world at Ticketmaster-CitySearch.com, to community organizing in South Central Los Angeles, to drafting developmental disability legislation for S.E.I.U. She graduated UC Santa Cruz in 2003 with a B.A. in Community Studies focusing on Labor and Disability Rights. Caroline has several years experience in human resources, working in the manufacturing and nonprofit sector. She is currently pursuing a GreenMBA in Sustainable Enterprises at Dominican University. In March of 2009 she presented a paper in Las Vegas, NV on “A Feasible Solution to California’s Economic Crisis: Renewable Green Energy Jobs.” Her MBA capstone business proposal will encompass staffing solutions to California’s renewable energy markets.
Amy Marsala, 2003 - After graduating I worked for Planned Parenthood in SC as an educator and in the clinic. Then I went to Tulane doing the MPH in International Health and worked and traveled in South Africa researching HIV/AIDS. After my MPH, I returned to PP as the Center Manager in Seaside and worked for a year there. I decided to go back to school to complete my nursing prerequisites. After finishing the classes I have been working for an HIV/AIDS research organization in Zambia and will begin my direct entry nursing program at UCSF in June. Also I have been traveling in Central America, UK, Italy, Australia and Southern Africa. Oh, and I found the love of my life, my two year old pit bull whom I adore.
Jay Melena, 2003 Operations Analyst/ Energy Program Manager, Energy Group, Ecology Action. Jay joined Ecology Action in 2007 with a background in non-profit management, education, and residential building. She enjoys a dual role within the Energy Group, supporting operations and development of current and future Energy Programs, and managing the City of Palo Alto Utilities RightLights program.
Jay began her environmental career as an intern with Bay Area Action, a Palo Alto-based environmental organization, now Acterra. Her initial interest in energy and lighting was sparked by a college-age gig as an electrician with the New York Shakespeare Festival. At Ecology Action, Jay is able to parlay two passions – for the built and natural environment.
Jay graduated from UC Santa Cruz with 2 degrees: B.A. in Community Studies - focus in Economics – and B.A. in Art. She also attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York, prior to transferring to UCSC. She served 3 years on the Board of Directors of Triangle Speakers, a Santa Cruz non-profit organization.
Anne Shaver, 2003 went on to Berkeley Law School, graduating Order of the Coif in 2007. She is currently a law clerk to the Honorable Betty Fletcher on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Abby Bell, 2004 - Since graduating I spent 4 years farming and teaching cooking and nutrition in various programs and farms on the East and West coasts. In 2007 I helped start a youth empowerment farming program for high school teens in Santa Cruz called, "Food, What?!" We partner with teenage youth to grow, cook, eat and distribute healthy sustainably raised food. These revolutionary acts serve to empower youth to realize their full potentials, to enjoy life, and serve as grounds for hard skill and leadership development.
Foodwhat.org
Ariel Deva de Leon, 2004 - After my graduation in 2004, I was working for a media arts organization in my hometown of San Diego, and feeling pretty restless. The organization folded suddenly and I quickly made the leap to "buscar la vida" (find my life) in New York City. I never went back to my media focus from school but I am currently pursuing a MS in Acupuncture, which I find is inherently political and at the same time satisfies my desire to work at a grassroots level.
Kolleen Duley, 2004 is a law student at UCLA Law School, with prior graduate work in the UCLA Women’s Studies department.
Shannon Jeffery, 2004 - After graduating UCSC in 2004 I headed to San Diego, CA and was hired on as a reproductive health assistant and later as a surgical services assistant with Planned Parenthood. After 5 years of difficult but fulfilling full time service provision and night classes at community college (as well as a very helpful letter of rec. from Nancy Stoller!) I was accepted into the University of Illinois-Chicago's graduate entry program in Nursing to become an Adult N.P. I won't be graduating until 2012 at the earliest, so come visit! slanted13@hotmail.com.
Jamillah Jordan, 2004 is currently pursuing her Master’s in Urban Planning at UCLA, building on her field-study experience as an undergrad in the urban communities of Mexico. She’s also a Bohnett Fellow, based in Mayor Villaraigosa’s Housing and Economic Development Policy Unit.
Max Krochmal, 2004 – is a Ph.D. student at Duke University, working on his dissertation: “The View from the Ground: Class, Gender, and Organizing Traditions in the Black and Chicano/a Freedom Struggles in Texas, 1935-1975.
Camilo Landau, 2004 - Camilo began playing guitar and tres at the age of twelve when his uncle Greg Landau returned from Nicaragua and taught him. During his studies of music and film at School of the Arts in San Francisco under the direction of Wayne Wallace and Malecio Magdaluyo, Camilo performed with Carlos Santana at the age of sixteen. He studied guitar and tres in Cuba with Gorge “Chino” Triana and Palo de Mayo in Nicaragua with Philip Montavalo. While attending the University of California, Santa Cruz, he started a Latin and Caribbean band, Carne Cruda, and played in the UCSC Jazz Ensembles with trumpeter Ray Brown, and he graduated with a degree in Community Studies and a minor in Music. Camilo "con su estilo" Landau lives in Oakland and plays with many bands including LaTiDo, AguaLibre, Carne Cruda, La Mixta Criolla, Dave and the Diamonds, The Los Shoegazers, and more. He has performed or recorded with Susana Baca, Omar Sosa, Dr. Loco's Rockin' Jalapeño Band, Quetzal, Ozomatli, Los Lobos, Benito Sereno, Batista, Sambada, Los Mocosos, Fito Reynoso, Arturo Ortega, Santero, Los Compas, John Santos, The Ska Messengers, Medusa, Edgardo y Candela, Bobi Cespedes, Maldita Vecindad, Vission Latina, Los Cojolites, Domingo Siete, Jesus Diaz, Francisco Herrera, Azabache, Nina Serrano, Pamela Rodriguez, Burning Star, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, and many more.
Brianna Moulton, 2004 - I have begun a new business as a Health Counselor and will be working with people on how to improve their diet and lifestyle. I have always had an interest in health and nutrition and have enjoyed sharing this knowledge with my friends, colleagues and family. I decided that I wanted to increase this knowledge and learn, in a formal training program, how to live a better life through eating well and taking care of myself.
About a year and a half ago I enrolled at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City and it has been an exciting journey I feel really passionate about. I am not only learning how to take care of myself, I am also learning so much about food, dietary theories and nutrition and how to counsel others on food and lifestyle choices.
I look forward to sharing more with you about my new career path and all of the benefits of this work. I am now beginning to invite people to a free confidential health consultation, to have the opportunity to support them to create a happier, healthier and more fulfilling life.
Also in the very near future I will start sending out my monthly Newsletter. Let me know if you want to be on my mailing list. In the meantime you can check out my new website to learn more about what I am doing www.briannamoulton.com
Dana Neufeld, 2004 - I am helping run an artisan gluten-free baking company in Oakland (Mariposa Baking Co.). I'm technically the Director of Sales & Marketing, but we're a small company so I get to be involved in many other different aspects of the business, such as photography for our website & website design, graphic design for our labels, order fulfillment, working in our cafe/bakeshop, etc.. It was a very unexpected job choice for me, but an extremely fun & challenging one! I actually started baking with the owner as her first employee about 3 1/2 years ago, so I've gotten to be involved in the growth of the business from the ground up. It's been a fun ride & I plan to keep going until my heart takes me elsewhere... You can check out our website at www.mariposabaking.com.
Patrick O’Donnell, 2004 – is in his first year of teaching at Crenshaw high School in Los Angeles, and about to complete his Masters in Education degree at UCLA.
Nicholas DiCostanzo, 2005 is currently a producer at ItaLion Productions, a small music production company open to working with anybody and any organization under the sun. The company's current musical credits include producing music and editing arrangements for world music artists such as Kaveri Agashe and Anthony Ackee. They have also worked with and produced several independent hip-hop and rap artists such as Illicit, Circle Jones, and Cali oSo Fresh.
Tim Galarneau (College Eight, psychology and community studies, 2005)As a student, Tim helped lead a successful push for food sustainability and waste reduction on campus. Today he works full time as a food systems education and research program specialist at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systemsand helps coordinate a campus working group on sustainability, energy, and waste issues. Galarneau recently talked about his work with a higher-education sustainability publication.
Mandana Mofidi, 2005 has been a reporter, producer, and broadcast associate for CBS’s 60 Minutes, CBS News Radio Network, Pacifica Radio Netwaork and Free Speech Radio. She is the recipient of a 2009 Fullbright award to go to the UK.
Leilani Montes, 2005 - Leilani graduated with honors in 2005 in Community Studies. She was the 2005 student team leader of Reel Work, and the recipient of the William Friedland Award. The film that Leilani produced (along with UCSC alumna Victoria Fong) "Since Salazar" will be screened at the unveiling of the Ruben Salazar U.S. Postal Stamp this week in Los Angeles!
"Since Salazar" premiered at the 2005 Reel Work Film Festival, and became an important element in the campaign to lobby for the stamp honoring the slain Chicano leader and journalist Ruben Salazar. The film has been screened before diverse audiences that eventually supported adopting the Salazar stamp including the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Panelists at the unveiling included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Felix Gutierrez, and Julio Moran, the Executive Director of the Chicano News Media Association.
Leilani is a first-generation college graduate. She is currently working as a union organizer with Change to Win in Los Angeles.
Emilia Villagomez, 2005 is currently employed with the UC Merced Center for Educational Partnerships in Fresno, CA. She has returned to her home town in rural Tulare country and through her position as a GEAR UP program counselor she has been encouraging high school students to pursue a college education. Emilia is currently working on her master’s degree in school counseling. She is an active board member with the Advocacy Coalition of Tulare County for Women and Girls (ACT), a non-profit 501(c)3 organization which provides leadership opportunities to women of all ages. Emilia is also a mentor for the Female Leadership Academy, a project of ACT, which promotes social and personal change by providing girls with leadership and activism skills. The focus of the organization is reproductive justice, women's health, GLBT Issues, and immigrant rights and issues. More information can be found on the web at www.actco.org/ or www.myspace.com/actforwomenandgirls
Elizabeth Freece-Cabrera, 2006 is currently an assistant producer for Global Pulse at Link TV and previously worked at ITVS. She was a Reel Change Agents Media Fellow in 2007 and, in 2008, a finalist in the Toyota Matrix and Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) video competition. Liz is now at work on a new documentary Shigeo Naito, an exploration of her great-grandfather’s 1942 disappearance in Baja, California.
Ventura Garcia-Ortiz, 2006 - I am now a teacher teaching in the Menlo Park area for the East Palo Alto community.
Arthur Grau, 2006 is now a Senior Producer at the One Economy Corporation in San Francisco, where he had his original field-study placement.
Jen Lopez, 2006 is the Administrative Coordinator for the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and has just been accepted at Johns Hopkins University for fall. She makes a cameo appearance in the documentary, The YES Men Fix The World, assisting them at a New Orleans conference.
Paris Marron, 2006 has worked for Robert Greenspan’s Brave New Films, as an online campaign producer as well as production coordinator on Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers. She launched and produced the web weekly Meet The Bloggers and is currently Online Organizer at CODEPINK’s Women for Peace as well as the Social Networking Manager for the Trouble the Water release campaign.
Skylar Ritchie, 2006 is carrying out a field study in Ramallah after completing her M.A. in Peace and Justice Studies at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego.
Amara Schrager, 2006 just finished up her second year of a combined masters in Public Health/Social Welfare degree at UCLA.
Brett Uhler, 2006 has traveled the world and is now applying to medical schools.
Margot Brown, 2007 was accepted into the UC Berkeley/UCSF Joint Medical Program, where she will spend the first three years at UCB getting her Masters in Science, which is usually based on community health or clinical research) while taking part in small group problem-based leraning classes for her basic science medical curriculum. The program emphasizes community medicine and teaches students to be doctors for the medically underserved. The last two years are spent at UCSF where she will eventually get her M.D. Margot was published in the New Physician; the link to article is https://www.amsa.org/tnp/articles/article.cfx?id=448 .
Libby Lok, 2007 is the Resource Coordinator for the Nonprofit Support Center in Santa Barbara, a resource center for non-profits in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, and has recently joined the board of Just Communities, empowering youth on the Central Coast.
Dan Phelps, 2007 - After completing the Community Studies major (focus on the Food System) I did the apprenticeship program at the UCSC Farm (aka CASFS). After the six month apprenticeship I was hired on for an additional year as Propagation Manager. Winter 2008 my ladyfriend/fiance and I packed our car and headed to the Appalachian/ Blueridge Mountains of SW Virginia in search of a new life and farmwork. We have found a home in Floyd and will be working with Full Circle Farm. I will be the assistant farm manager.
Since graduating I spent 4 years farming and teaching cooking and nutrition in various programs and farms on the East and West coasts. In 2007 I helped start a youth empowerment farming program for high school teens in Santa Cruz called, "Food, What?!" We partner with teenage youth to grow, cook, eat and distribute healthy sustainably raised food. These revolutionary acts serve to empower youth to realize their full potentials, to enjoy life, and serve as grounds for hard skill and leadership development.
Foodwhat.org
Mira Rao, 2007 is attending Columbia University School of Public Health.
Anupe Sandhu, 2007 is Case Manager at the International Rescue Committee, an international humanitarian aid organization focused on the resettlement of refugees.
Chris Sentieri, 2007 is completing his degree at the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, California State University, Monterey Bay, and recently won the Clark Foundation’s Investment in Community Fellowship Award, in between fighting cuts to Central Coast music programs and preparing for a capstone with the Monterey County Resource Management Agency to update the general plan for water resource compliance.
Luisana Victorica, 2007- I am currently living in New York, working with an AmeriCorps organization called CITY YEAR. They have literacy programs, after-school and middle school programs focused on community/social justice programs. I am a Program Manager in two elementary school partnerships in Harlem. I manage two teams of AmeriCorps volunteers that commit to 10 months of service, completing 1,700 hours and earning weekly living stipend. This is my second year working for City Year.
Sophia Gottlieb, 2008 - Here it is: all my carefully planned post-grad dreams having fallen through, I paid off my student loans and used my last pennies for a one way ticket in Italy with a loose plan to arrive at a co-op I found on the WWOOF list. I ended up loving the co-op and asking them if I could work for them making wine, cooking in their country restaurant, etc. I subsequently got fed up with the pace of the return to my country roots and headed off for the big city. I'm now living in Rome, teaching English at a private adult school. I'm planning to take my wonderful community studies education in food/agriculture with Julie Guthman and throw it away on something completely unaltruistic or activistic. I'm thinking of going to culinary school and then perhaps doing a master's in 'food studies.' But, as you may have judged by my tendency to buy one way tickets to foreign countries, I can't necessarily be trusted to execute all those grand plans. You'll have to check back in at the 50 year reunion. Buona fortunata tutti!
Margo McBane - I married another Community Studies graduate, David Foster. We live in Santa Cruz and we have two children, ages 20 and 16. For work, I entered the academic field of history and public sphere of public/oral history. In 2001 I completed my Ph.D. in history at UCLA, with my dissertation "The House of Lemon Built By Oil: The Role of Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Citizenship in the Development of the Limoneira Company, 1891-1917." During my M.A in History (UC Davis) and Ph.D. in History (UCLA) I produced a radio documentary for Pacific Radio/Archives called "Talkin' Farmwork Blues: An Oral History California Farm Labor" (1984), worked as the LA Program Officer for the California Council for the Humanities (1996), and directed the Oral History Institute and served as assistant professor of history and public history at the University of Texas at El Paso (1999-2000). Currently I am a lecturer in history at San Jose State University, a consultant in public history, and director of a history non-profit,
Article About Community Studies Alumni Shakina Nayfack is Featured in the Los Angeles Times
February 29, 2008
On February 26, 2008, the Los Angeles Times Online ran an article by columnist Sandy Banks titled "Why the Hostility Toward Differences?" This article features an interview with Shakina Nayfack, a Community Studies alumni who focused on cultural work and social change during his time with the program. The full text of the article featuring Shakina can be viewed through the Los Angeles Times news archive by clicking on the title above.
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