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Featured Faculty

Martin Rizzo-Martinez

When he was just seven years old, Martin Rizzo-Martinez started wondering about colonialism and Indigeneity after learning about grandfather’s heritage. 
 

Dean Celine with her husband Dan Shimizu

Celine Parreñas Shimizu, Dean of the Arts and Distinguished Professor of Film and Digital Media was inducted into the Stanford University Multicultural Hall of Fame on October 20, 2023.

Irene Lisztig

While making Yours in Sisterhood, UC Santa Cruz professor and documentary filmmaker, Irene Lusztig, went to 32 states to film people reading and responding to letters sent to Ms. Magazine in the 1970s. 

Don Willilams

When Don Williams was in seventh grade, he signed up to be Michael Jackson singing “ABC” in a talent show. He looked forward to singing it before school. But then the boys who were going to play the Jackson 5 backed out.
 

mattie brice

mattie brice got into tech journalism in an unlikely way. She wanted to write about food, but she couldn’t afford a camera to take pictures of all those beautiful meals, so she started blogging and reviewing video games to get some practice.
 

Yi Yi Mon (Rosaline) Kyo

Yi Yi Mon (Rosaline) Kyo is very happy to be a new assistant professor of History of Art and Visual Culture at UC Santa Cruz. She’s pleased to be back in California near her family.

Lisa Marie Rollins

Writer, director and new play developer Lisa Marie Rollins lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years and worked on new plays at many theaters there, including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Shotgun Players, and Magic Theatre.
 

Marina Magalhães

Marina Magalhães started taking dance lessons when she was five years old. She loved to dance and planned to make it her career. So, when her 7th grade teacher, Ms.

Jay Afrisando

Growing up in Indonesia, Jay Afrisando heard his mother singing karaoke almost every day. He partly credits this experience for him becoming a composer and sound artist.
 

Jon Ayon Alonso

Jon Ayon Alonso, a new professor in the Film & Digital Media Department, has taught at Stanford University, San Francisco State, the California College of the Arts, and City College of San Francisco, and he’s excited to bring all this experience to UC Santa Cruz.

Ruth Solomon

The UC Santa Cruz Arts Division community is so sorry to hear of the passing of Ruth Solomon, one of the legendary professors and original founders of the UC Santa Cruz Theater Arts Department... [more]

Claudio Bueno

Cláudio Bueno, a new Acting Professor of Art who recently arrived from Brazil, sees the university as a place where can collaborate on a world-changing level. 

Grant Whipple

It’s been six years since Grant Whipple, with his partner and six-month-old twins “stuffed under each arm,” arrived in Santa Cruz, excited at the prospect of living in a magical place between the redwood mountains and the sea. 

James Gordon Williams

For James Gordon Williams, music is a calling, not a choice. It’s a sonic art that can close distances between people in a divisive world. 

Patrick Michael Ballard

Patrick Michael Ballard, a “fool magician” with a poet’s sensibility, pursued creative endeavors spanning visual arts to performance before landing at UC Santa Cruz this year as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Performance, Play and Design. 

Rebecca Wear

A performance director who has directed new plays all around the country, Rebecca Wear is inspired by the new, open-minded pedagogical approaches of her colleagues at UC Santa Cruz.

Joseph Erb

The son of a Cherokee mother and a white father, Joseph Erb gained an appreciation for his rich indigenous heritage from family, friends and community people.

Professor Anna Friz

Advised by her teachers when she was a child that she didn’t have what it took to be an artist, Anna Friz took matters into her own hands and decided to do DIY art-related projects that later included street performance, cabaret and drag shows.

Kristen Gillette

Kristen Gillette’s first encounter with UC Santa Cruz happened when she made the trek up from UCLA to UCSC for a one-quarter UC Intercampus Exchange Program. The school and its beautiful surroundings turned out to have an impact that would charter the course of her future career.

Assistant Professor in Music, Matt Schumaker

Connecting the recording of a Formula One racing car together with a Cathy Park Hong poem about a drive in California might not seem to most people like musical components, but for composer and Assistant Professor in Music, Matt Schumaker, these are the epitome of musical sounds... [more]

Acting Assistant Professor of Costume Design, Pamela Rodriguez-Montero

Citing nature as her inspiration, Acting Assistant Professor of Costume Design, Department of Performance, Play & Design, Pamela Rodriguez-Montero, grew up near the lushness of the rainforest in Barva de Heredia, a small town in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, where most... [more]

Growing up in Cebu, the Philippines surrounded by a close-knit extended family, Clint Ramos has fond memories of his childhood there.

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