Career Prospects

Because of its interdisciplinary program and the practical experience gained from the field study, Community Studies provides its graduates with many pathways for graduate work and careers.

Examples of Graduate Pathways:

• Urban Studies
• Law
• Education
• Policy Studies
• Public Administration
• Health Field/Medicine
• Social Work
• Traditional Disciplines (Sociology, Anthropology, Politics)
• Planning

Community Studies Students Have Become:

• Community Organizers
• Program Directors
• Public Officials
• Lawyers
• University Teachers
• Union Officials and Labor Organizers
• Police Officers
• Nurses
• Social Workers
• Radio, News Directors
• Forest Management
• Consultant Reporters
• EPA Inspectors
• Elementary and Secondary School Teachers

Although graduate training enhances your prospects for a job, many of our undergraduates have gone directly into professional careers. Whether you want to go to graduate school or find a job following your graduation from UCSC, the basic rule is to do your homework. Research jobs and schools, talk with people and explore your options. The following are examples of the careers of some of our graduates:

Jamillah Jordan pursued 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.

Paris Marron worked for Robert Greenspan's Brave New Films after she graduated, 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.

Heather Box is the National Development Director for the League of Young Voters, a national youth organization working to engage young people from underrepresented communities in the political process. 

Shayna H. Hirshfield 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.

Craig Merrilees worked on a field study as an organizer for the Westside Neighbors in Santa Cruz. His thesis was a manual for neighborhood organizers, and he is currently the Regional Director of AFSCME in Oakland.

Miriam Landman is an environmental writer, editor, and advisor with expertise in green building and sustainability. She is the owner of M. Landman Communications and Consulting, and she publishes The Green Spotlight weblog. She was a contributing author for the book Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing (Island Press, 2007).

Elizabeth Freece-Cabrera 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.

Edward Rico works at the Community Foundation for Monterey County, directing a project in the Salinas Valley, Poder Popular para la Salud del Pueblo, which 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.