« All Events

Virtual Event

It Takes an Ecosystem: Staff and Faculty Perspectives on Collaboration at UC Santa Cruz

May 20 @ 3:00 pm – 4:15 pm
Virtual Event
Event Series (See All)
Digital flyer for an “HSI Equity Talk.” The background is beige with subtle tree silhouettes and an orange border along the top and bottom. Large orange text reads: “IT TAKES AN ECOSYSTEM: STAFF AND FACULTY LEADERS DRIVING EQUITY AT UCSC.” On the left are four logos stacked: “UCSC HSI Initiatives,” “El Centro Chicanx Latinx Resource Center UC Santa Cruz,” “Collaborative Research for Equity in Action (CREA), University of California, Santa Cruz,” and a “YOU BELONG HERE – All are welcome to attend – Division of Student Affairs and Success” banner. On the right are two circular headshots: Rebecca Covarrubias, smiling and wearing a white blouse, and Xiomara López, smiling and wearing a dark blouse. Beneath their photos are captions: “Rebecca Covarrubias, Professor of Psychology, and Faculty Director of the Collaborative Research for Equity in Action (CREA)” and “Xiomara López, El Centro and Latiné Student Success Director.”

Funded through a Department of Education Title V grant, a team at UC Santa Cruz launched CULTURA (Centering Undergraduate Latine Thriving with University Racial-Equity Action) in 2024 as a bold, campus-wide effort to reimagine how we can collectively advance student success and equity. At its core, CULTURA asks: What becomes possible when we intentionally invest in and connect the people, relationships, and infrastructures already engaged in transformative work?

Different from past Title V HSI grants, which have rigorously tested and sustained single interventions, CULTURA embraces an ecosystem approach. This approach recognizes that meaningful, sustained change depends on the investment in and coordination of those leading equity work every day: campus staff and faculty. The HSI Equity Talk centers their voices.

In June 2025, we launched the HSI CULTURA Staff and Faculty Survey, a collaborative effort* designed to surface insights from staff and faculty respondents. The survey explored key dimensions of the ecosystem: coordination among campus units, support (or lack thereof) available to equity-focused leaders, and collective and institutional capacity to collaborate, adapt, and transform campus culture.

In this interactive session, facilitators will share key survey findings as an invitation to collective sense-making. Together, we will discuss: What resonates? What is missing? How do these findings reflect or challenge your own experiences? How can we mobilize this collective knowledge to strengthen and coordinate our shared efforts toward student success and equity, especially amid severe financial constraints? Join us as we aim to deepen our coordination, elevate the voices of those leading change, and build a more connected ecosystem for student success and equity.

Please register to receive a calendar invitation and Zoom details.

 

You Belong Here: The programs and services described here are open to all, consistent with state and federal law, as well as the University of California’s nondiscrimination policies. Every initiative—whether a student service, faculty program, or community event—is designed to be accessible, inclusive, and respectful of all identities.

To learn more, please visit UC Nondiscrimination Statement or Nondiscrimination Policy for UC Publications.

Details

Organizers