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Featured Faculty

Sarah Sanford

“In this time of unprecedented challenges, I find it’s ok to let go of normal expectations,” advises Sarah Sanford, one of the Art Division’s newest faculty members.

The UC Santa Cruz Arts Division is pleased to announce five new faculty hires who will begin teaching throughout the current 2020-2021 academic year. These professors bring with them a wide range of expertise in their respective fields and the Arts Division is thrilled to welcome them.

West coast debut of 'Lessons of the Hour' offers immersive portrait of visionary writer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass

For the Love of Rutland, a new documentary by UCSC associate professor of film and digital media Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, is an exploration of the multiple problems now faced by rural America—most notably the opioid epidemic, income inequality, racism, and xenophobia... [more]

Yve Chavez

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California as a member of the Tongva tribe, Yve Chavez grew up on the land of her ancestors and has successfully merged her love of art and art history with her profound knowledge of her native culture.

micha cárdenas

For as long as she can remember, Assistant Professor of Art & Design: Games and Playable Media, micha cárdenas has been interested in computers and fantasy. Her first experience with technology involved coveting her brother’s Commodore 64 computer.

L.S. Kim

UC Santa Cruz associate professor of film and digital media L.S. Kim has been selected to participate in the Television Academy Foundation’s 2018 Faculty Seminar Program.

Marianne Weems
Founder and Artistic Director of The Builders Association, Professor Weems will bring an affiliation with her renowned experimental theater company to the campus.
Leanos Portrait

UC Santa Cruz associate professor of film and digital media John Jota Leaños is the recipient of a 2017 California Documentary Project grant from California Humanities.

Kyle Parry

Assistant Professor, History of Art and Visual Culture (HAVC), Kyle Parry works at the intersections of digital media, art and visual culture, and the environmental humanities.

Associate Professor Edward Shanken’s distinguished career in both arts and academia has led him to take on the exciting role of Director of the Digital Arts and New Media (DANM) MFA program.

Professor Elizabeth Stephens

Santa Cruz Arts Division’s Professor Elizabeth Stephens and her partner Annie Sprinkle were recently awarded the prestigious Eureka Fellowship, the largest cash prize for individual artists in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Elizabeth Swensen, photo by Julie Rogge

Elizabeth Swensen’s expertise at producing innovative digital games propelled her career from studying the past to creating the future.

Karolina Karlic, photo by Julie Rogge

Assistant Professor Karolina Karlic is no stranger to adapting to new situations – the Polish born, American educated photographer moved to the states at a very young age.

Cynthia Ling Lee

Being raised in Texas by parents who were immigrants from Taiwan, newly appointed UC Santa Cruz Assistant Professor of Dance, Cynthia Ling Lee, never dreamed as a child that she would one day become immersed in North Indian classical Kathak dance.

John Jota Leaños

As a social activist, filmmaker, artist, photographer, composer, and performer, Associate Professor John Jota Leaños, who teaches Social Documentation at the UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media department, is not afraid to take on hot-button topics via his art – topics that... [more]

Never in a million years did Dee Hibbert-Jones imagine that she would be getting ready to walk down the iconic red carpet at the Academy Awards.

Having recently arrived all the way from Madrid, Enrique Leal, Assistant Professor, Print Media, is getting to know his new home of Santa Cruz and is enjoying the bucolic, natural surroundings here.

In his current course History of Design: The Objects of Technology, 1850-Present, Albert Narath, Assistant Professor, History of Art and Visual Culture (HAVC), has a distinctive way of looking at common items that gives a refreshing and insightful view of how we view such ubiquitous... [more]

As Ted Warburton, Professor of Dance, anticipates his new role as Associate Dean of the Arts Division at UC Santa Cruz, he is looking forward to working on a wide variety of issues including academic personnel, budget and research.

From the beginning of her distinguished career, B. Ruby Rich’s path to success has consisted of a series of incredibly fortunate and interesting connections and circumstances. But as Ernest Hemingway so famously said, “You make your own luck, Gig.” And Rich is no exception.

Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture, T.J. Demos is sitting in his office surrounded by boxes that have yet to be unpacked.

Growing up as an Afrikaner in Johannesburg has given Nicol Hammond a rare perspective on racism, social justice and their impact on many areas, particularly music.

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