Brian Thorstenson's (Theatre and Dance) Spring sabbatical took him to London, the Biennale Arte in Venice, and then to Obras Artist Residency in Portugal where he has been working on the second draft of his new play, working title "Margaret's Listing."

Dear College Faculty and Staff,

I hope you are having a productive and enjoyable summer. We certainly are here in the Dean’s Office. Last week, we wrapped up the sixth session of our annual summer orientation for incoming first-year students. We had about 650 students attend throughout July and expect 230 more between our upcoming transfer and first-year make-up sessions. We completed 2,400 pre-enrollments, 750 of which were beyond the standard CTW and C&I courses, and some of which were facilitated by Katie Heintz and Duane Voigt in China!

Our CAS deposits are strong this year—we have had very little melt to date. I attribute that to a number of things including the efforts our faculty and staff are making to ensure we stay top of mind throughout the summer and that students feel supported as they prepare for college in the fall. That makes a huge difference on retention, which is imperative in today’s admission landscape.

CAS Student Ambassadors Finn Bussiere ’27 (Neuroscience), Sienna Pearson ’27 (Theatre Arts, Computer Science), Scarlett Moore ’28 (Political Science, Economics) and Danica Bagayna ’27 (Biology), representing the College at summer orientation.

Next up, we have Transfer Orientation on August 25 and August 28, and then a number of events for faculty and staff in early September, including Convocation — Please save the date for September 15 this year.

This week’s poem is from Wendell Berry – it was featured by the Poetry Foundation as the “poem of the day” this week. I like it for the interplay of silence, humility and presence that Berry asks of us. I hope it resonates with you too!

Sincerely,

Daniel

How to Be a Poet
By Wendell Berry

(to remind myself)

i

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.

ii

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

iii

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.

Highlights

On July 7, Chad Raphael (Communication, Environmental Justice & Common Good Initiative) gave an invited presentation on science communication and democracy to the Standing Committee on Advancing Science Communication of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). Chad spoke about how NASEM could strengthen democracy by promoting community-engaged research and public deliberation on science and technology policy issues. He offered examples of how involving community members directly in research and policy deliberation can overcome public mistrust of science and experts, polarization, and misinformation and disinformation.

Image: Model of Public Science Communication.

David Popalisky (Theatre and Dance) recently published his article "Gaétan and Auguste Vestris: Ballet Father and Son Negotiate Fame, Fortune, and Fatherhood" in the journal Dance Chronicle. This article investigates the complicated relationship between Paris Opera stars Gaétan Vestris and his celebrated son Auguste whose careers bridged the politically tumultuous late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in France when family lineage was a common aspect of male dancers’ success, and fatherhood itself was in flux. Perceptions of masculinity and the implications of Auguste’s illegitimate status influenced Gaétan and Auguste’s simultaneous coexistence as performing artists and father and son. Evidence suggests that amidst career fame and fortune, Gaétan navigated contemporary fatherhood expectations while also anticipating future positive fatherhood models that emerged from the French Revolution.

Image: Gaétan Vestris as the Prince in Maximilien Gardel’s Ninette à la cour, which depicts the upright posture that conveyed his aristocratic civility as a noble dancer, which his son Auguste later defied with his exuberant and virtuoso off-centered demi-caractère style.

Molly M. King (Sociology) recently presented at the International Conference on Science of Science and Innovation in Boulder, Colorado. Together with postbac research assistant Malen Cuturic and coauthor Kjersten Bunker Whittington (Reed College), they presented a poster looking at new methods for disentangling specialization and interdisciplinarity in studying science career outcomes. Molly also presented a formal presentation on collaborative work with Jeffrey Lockhart on “Sharing Knowledge Openly: Gender, Race, and Feminist Scholarship in Open Access Publishing."

Image: Malen Cuturic, Kjersten Whittington, and Molly King with their poster.

Jesica S. Fernández (Ethnic Studies) traveled to Ireland to participate at the 12th Biennial International UNESCO Conference on Child and Family Research at the University of Galway. Centering the theme of youth participation, “Shifting Power: New Frontiers in Youth Participation,” Jesica presented her work, "The Youth for Justice Project (YJP): Uplifting Youth Voices and Vision(boards) for Change," which draws from her collaborative YPAR afterschool program with students/co-researchers Linda Soto ’27 (Child Studies, Sociology), Milagros Cruz-Jimenez ’27 (Child Studies, Ethnic Studies) and Ashley Orozco-Plata ’27 (Ethnic Studies, Child Studies). An aspect of the presentation featured the development of a “Vision Board Making” activity, which supports youth reflection and dialogue about the interconnected challenges, hopes and dreams they witness in their living and learning environments.

Jesica also published her work on youth sociopolitical development in a recent special issue in the Journal of Social Issues (JSI) edited by leading scholars in the field of critical consciousness and critical action, Matthew Diemer, Josefina Bañales, and Aixa Marchand. The special issue focuses on "Cultivating Critical Action in Children and Youth: Best Practices and New Directions." Jesica's article, "Sociopolitical Practices Supporting Youth Critical Action: Reflections on Play, Performance and Protagonismo," utilizes an auto ethnographic approach to describe three case studies —Muñecas Negras, Children Making a Change (CMAC), and Sophie Cruz. Each case study examines sociopolitical development via practices of play, performance, and protagonismo, which Jesica argues can support youth critical action. She concludes the article with insights for how these practices can be leveraged to facilitate, support and sustain youth wellbeing in context where they are engaged in critical actions.

Image: Jesica S. Fernandez with Professor Cath Larkins (University of Lancashire, UK).

Image: Investigative journalist Ida Tarbell, the most famous woman in American in 1901.

Lee Panich (Anthropology) and Gustavo Flores (San José State University) have coauthored a new book published by the University of Nebraska Press: We Will Receive Justice: Native Histories of the Collapse of the California Missions.

The book examines how Ohlone people from Mission Santa Clara and Mission San José navigated the slow demise of the Franciscan mission system during the quarter century between Mexican independence in 1821 and California's annexation by the United States in 1846. The text draws from Native petitions for land and freedom, mission sacramental records, as well as a range of colonial documents, together revealing the ways that Ohlone ancestors fought for their rights and sought ways to reconstitute their communities. During their research for this project, the authors collaborated closely with members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and the Ohlone Indian Tribe, linking Native people's efforts to receive justice in the nineteenth century to those of their descendants today.

Undergraduates Malia Hardy ’27 (Psychology, Child Studies), Sydney Kostal ’27 (Psychology), and Ashna Nayak ’27 (Child Studies, Psychology), working under the mentorship of Michelle Rivers (Psychology), published “Beyond the Bubble: Answer Justification, Metacognitive Monitoring, and Revision in Multiple-Choice Testing” in Behavioral Sciences.

Across two experiments with SCU undergraduates, the researchers examined whether requiring students to explain their multiple-choice answers affected performance, confidence, metacognitive monitoring, and answer revision. Written justifications substantially increased the time students spent on questions but did not reliably improve these outcomes. However, changing answers was generally beneficial, and explanations demonstrating conceptual understanding were associated with greater accuracy. The findings suggest that written justifications may be especially valuable for revealing students’ reasoning and identifying misconceptions, rather than as a required addition to every multiple-choice question.

College of Arts and Sciences Calendar