Events

Road Trip! Light in the American West, from Baja to the Yukon
2025-11-25 12:00 - 17:00, 2025-11-26 12:00 - 17:00, 2025-11-27 12:00 - 17:00, 2025-11-28 12:00 - 17:00, 2025-11-29 12:00 - 17:00, 2025-12-01 12:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, 11 Cowell Service Rd, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
The photographs in this exhibition, made between 2004 and 2025, span across the American West from the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico to The Yukon territory in Canada. Paul Schoellhamer’s (Cowell ‘69) color photographs invite us to travel with him and reflect on our relationship to land, the light that shapes it, and the freedom – contested but essential – to move across it.
The exhibition draws on voices across time and perspective that frame the American landscape as more than a stage for beauty and awe. For Chief Satanta of the Kiowa Nation, to roam the land freely was life itself. For N. Scott Momaday, land must be “believed to be seen.” For Eliot Porter, light and reflection imparted magic to Glen Canyon’s waters. For Wallace Stegner, saving natural places meant saving fragments of our collective sanity. For Brook M. Thompson, the Klamath River is recognized with personhood. Alongside these perspectives, Paul’s images press us to see public land not as scenery to extract or aestheticize, but as sustenance and history. Land is alive and contested. To see closely is not to linger on a romanticized vision of the American landscape, but to reckon with responsibility: how we safeguard access, how we imagine “wildness,” and how we hold space for futures beyond our own. For Paul, this exhibition is a call for students to encounter land and light firsthand and let those encounters be their teachers.
Opening Reception
October 4, 2025
1-4pm
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Join us every Friday for Art Fridays.
No experience necessary. Supplies and snacks provided.

Sep 26 Snail Mail/Postcards
Oct 3 Souvenir Keychains
Oct 10 Stamp Magnets
Oct 17 Cyanotype Totebags/Pouches/Pencil cases
Oct 24 Candy Around The World Linocuts
Oct 31 Abstract Felt Collages
Nov 7 Phone Photos/Buttons
Nov 14 Travel Related Patches With Upcycled Materials
Nov 21 Thanksgiving Break! No Art Friday
Nov 28 Unexpected Landscape Surrealist Collage

Please note that the date and the project is subject to change.

Macroeconomics & International Finance Seminar Series Presents: Helen Popper
2025-11-25 13:40 - 15:00 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Macroeconomics and International Finance Seminar
Date: Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Time: 1:40-3:00 p.m.
Location: E2-499

Speaker: Helen Popper
Title: Professor of Economics
Affiliation: Santa Clara University
Host: Galina Hale

Seminar title: Artificial Intelligence and Macroeconomic Dynamics: Growth, Pricing, and Distribution

ABSTRACT: This paper builds a simple general equilibrium model in which an AI producer is a monopolist who both learns by doing and uses AI recursively as an input. These mechanisms link today’s scale to tomorrow’s costs, so pricing is dynamic: the firm sets a price below the static monopoly benchmark to expand capacity and speed learning. Final goods are produced by monopolistic competitors with constant returns to scale each period. We first use Cobb–Douglas technologies to solve for a generalized balanced growth path that pins down the condition for stable, nonexplosive growth. On this path, AI output grows faster than final output, the relative price of AI falls persistently, real wages rise with overall output, and the specialized–to–nonspecialized wage ratio is flat. We then analyze CES versions of both sectors and derive a closed form effective demand elasticity for AI that combines input substitution in production with final-goods market substitution across varieties. Finally, simulations link adoption and distribution to elasticities, and they allow us to explore the dynamics. When final-goods inputs are complements, adoption is learning-first and capital-light before scaling; when they are substitutes, adoption is scale-first and the two-phase pattern attenuates. On the distribution side, the specialized–to–nonspecialized wage premium is lowest with complements and rises with substitutes. Greater substitutability in AI production amplifies these patterns without changing their sign.

Yoga as Healing Series
2025-11-25 17:30 - 19:15 | Health Center (Student Health Center), 525 McLaughlin Drive, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Yoga as Healing is an offering for students at UC Santa Cruz who identify as survivors of interpersonal violence. Together, we will practice gentle body movement, breathwork, meditation, and more—all from a trauma-informed lens.
This 7-week program is limited to 8–10 participants in each cohort and is intended to provide a safe and predictable environment for survivors to build community.
At the beginning of each session, participants will have time to share their progress and personal experiences with the class. This will be followed by asana practice (physical postures), and the class will close with journaling, art, and reflection.
CARE will provide yoga mats, blocks, and a blanket for each participant. You are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and bring a water bottle for hydration.
Participants are welcome to join Yoga as Healing for any of the sessions; attendance at the orientation is not required. The sessions run from October 7 through November 25, with no session on November 11.
This event is open to all UC Santa Cruz students. Fill out an interest form to sign up.

Drop-In Figure Drawing
2025-11-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Elena Baskin Visual Arts Center, Baskin Service Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Drop-In Draw provides a live model and room monitor. There is no formal lesson and only dry media is allowed (no paints).
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ADVISORIES
– These events contain mature content and nudity.
– Drop-In Draw is subject to the possibility of last-minute cancellation without notification, and sessions are not guaranteed.
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ADMISSION
– FREE and open to the public
– UCSC Art Department Room L-101
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SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
This series occurs weekly on Tuesday evenings during fall quarter, including the following:
– Tue., Sep. 30, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
– Tue., Oct. 7, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
– Tue., Oct. 14, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
– Tue., Oct. 21, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
– Tue., Oct. 28, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
– Tue., Nov. 4, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
– Tue., Nov. 18, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
– Tue., Nov. 25, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Additional dates to be announced for winter and spring quarter.
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PARKING
– Parking by permit or ParkMobile.
– Arts Lot #126 is the closest parking lot to the event.
– Visitors with DMV placards or plates may park for free in DMV spaces, Medical spaces, or ParkMobile spaces without additional payment, or in timed zones for longer than the posted time.
– More information provided by UCSC Transportation & Parking Services (TAPS).
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This program is open to all members of the public consistent with state and federal law.

UCSC Orchestra
2025-11-25 19:30 - 21:30 | Music Center Recital Hall, 400 McHenry Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Join the UC Santa Cruz Orchestra for a fall concert. Conducted by Bruce Kiesling. Featuring pieces Overture from Orpheus in the Underworld by Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) and Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Maurice Ravel) by Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881).
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ADMISSION
– General admission
– Free for UCSC students (ticket required).
– Tickets available here online through Eventbrite only.
– Follow the Music Dept on Eventbrite for notices and updates.
– Doors are scheduled to open 30 minutes prior to event start time.
– Ticket holders not seated at least 5 minutes before the advertised start time may forfeit their ticket/seat and no refund will be issued.
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PARKING
– Parking by permit, ParkMobile, or $5 cash/credit via the on-site parking attendant
– Arts Lot #126 is the closest parking lot to the event
– Visitors with DMV placards or plates may park for free in DMV spaces, Medical spaces, or ParkMobile spaces without additional payment, or in timed zones for longer than the posted time.
– More information provided by UCSC Transportation & Parking Services (TAPS)
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This program is open to all members of the public consistent with state and federal law.

Operation Unplug! Pledge to Leave Campus Sustainability this Winter Break
2025-11-26 00:00 - 2025-12-25 23:59, 2025-11-27 00:00 - 2025-12-26 23:59, 2025-11-28 00:00 - 2025-12-27 23:59, 2025-11-29 00:00 - 2025-12-28 23:59, 2025-11-30 00:00 - 2025-12-29 23:59, 2025-12-01 00:00 - 2025-12-30 23:59, 2025-12-02 00:00 - 2025-12-31 23:59
UCSC Energy Management and the Sustainability Office are leading the first annual “Operation Unplug” campaign to conserve energy (and reduce greenhouse gas emissions) during winter break. Before leaving your residence hall, apartment, or office, please unplug any fridges or minifridges, computers and/or monitors, power strips, and all other energy intensive appliances or equipment! Take the pledge and/or upload a photo of what you unplugged to the campaign’s google form for raffle entries to win one of two $50 gift certificates. Recruit your friends and coworkers for an additional entry each and try to be the winning building (the building with the most participants is guaranteed one raffle winner)! Operation Unplug is open to all students, staff, and faculty. Be the slug that pulls the plug!

November Coffee With Merrill College Provost Aims McGuinness
2025-11-26 09:00 - 11:00 | Merrill College Office, 641 Merrill Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Grab a free cup of locally owned coffee and chat with Merrill College Provost AimsNovember Coffee w Provost! Most Wednesdays through the quarter from 9–11 a.m.
Meet us for coffee, tea, breakfast snacks and good conversation outside the Merrill College Office, across from the mailroom.

Engineering Teaching Community (Faculty)
2025-11-26 12:00 - 13:00 | Jack Baskin Engineering, Baskin Engineering 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
During the chaos of a quarter, is it hard to find time to reflect and improve as an instructor? Would you like to be a part of an inclusive, supportive group of engineering instructors who do this in community? ETC is for sharing teaching experiences, classroom ideas, research on learning, and methods that support instructors and students. All are welcome, and lunch is provided. Please reach out to Jenny Quynn with questions.

Harvest Meal
2025-11-27 13:00 - 16:00 | College Nine and John R. Lewis Dining Hall
Staying on campus for fall break? Join us for the annual Harvest Meal!
Brought to you by Dining Services and the Dean of Students Office.
Thursday, November 27
1–4 p.m.
College Nine/John R. Lewis Dining Hall
Registration required by Monday, November 24.
REGISTER HERE
All students, faculty, staff, and their guests are invited to attend.
This meal is dine-in only; to-go meals will not be available.
Celebratory menu includes vegan and gluten-free options.
Assistance available for students in need and without a meal plan.
For accommodations, email basicneeds@ucsc.edu
The following payment options are accepted at the Harvest Meal:

Unlimited Meal Plans
Slug Points or Banana Bucks ($13.65)
Flexi Dollars ($14)
Credit Card ($15.60)
Children under 3 are free with paid adult
NO CASH will be accepted
Students without a meal plan can indicate they would like assistance to attend the event on the registration form

Rainbowsgiving
2025-11-27 17:00 - 19:00 | Cantu Queer Center, Crown Lane, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
The Cantu Queer Center is excited to host our 4th annual Rainbowsgiving, a community meal for folks who would like an alternative and inclusive gathering for Thanksgiving / 4th Thursday in November. Our hope is to provide a space for folks to connect with others in an affirming, celebratory gathering in which they can be who they are proudly. We are mindful that traveling can be pricey and that one’s home community is not always safe. We want to provide a space that is welcoming and accessible and for you!
To help us ensure we have enough food and to meet any dietary needs, please RSVP in advance. Friends, roommates, family, partners, and other loved ones welcome!

Dried Wreath Workshop
2025-11-30 10:00 | Hay Barn, 94 Ranch View Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, United States
Learn how to create beautiful, long-lasting dried flower holiday wreaths with instructor Beth Benjamin. She will demonstrate the mechanics of putting everything together and will have a couple examples to guide your inspiration. Personal artistic style is highly encouraged! You’ll be able to choose from a wide selection of dried materials from the UCSC Farm and other sources. With care, your wreath will last for years. Light refreshments will be served and the atmosphere promises to be jovial, creative and social.

Register

Info Session: Global Seminar Eco-Entrepreneurship in the Netherlands
2025-12-01 11:00 - 12:00
Learn more at our upcoming Information Session: Monday, December 1, 2025 at 11:00 am-12:00 pm via Zoom.
Register Here
Earn 10 units on a summer program on the Global Seminar Eco-Entrepreneurship in the Netherlands in Amsterdam this summer. This program is taught by Nada Miljkovic, Entrepreneurship Instructor and Program Manager for UCSC’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurial Development.
Quick Facts:

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Courses: Crown 92G: Social and Creative Entrepreneurship, GE: PE-H (5 units) and Crown 194: Eco Entrepreneurship, GE: PR-S (5 units)
Led by: Crown Lecturer, Nada Miljkovic
Eligibility: Open to students from any major who have completed 90 units by time of departure and have a minimum of a 2.3 GPA
Dates: Summer Session 2 (Exact dates to be announced)
Finances: Financial aid applies, and scholarships are available! Budget will be posted on the website when it is available.
How to apply: Visit here for instructions. Applications open on December 1 and close on March 2.
Get in touch: Email your questions to globallearning@ucsc.edu.

Program Description:
Discover how entrepreneurship can bridge the gap between the Netherlands’ thriving economy and its commitment to environmental sustainability! Based in Amsterdam, this immersive program includes exciting site visits to Rotterdam, Utrecht, and beyond. You will collaborate with local sustainability-focused entrepreneurs, exploring how innovative business models can tackle the challenges of conservation and development. Through hands-on experience and seminars in entrepreneurship and sustainability, you will gain valuable insights into creating businesses that prioritize environmental well-being. Join us to reimagine what it means to value and protect life in a modern, holistic way. Discover more here.

AM Seminar: Denoising: A Powerful Building Block for Imaging, Inverse Problems and Machine Learning
2025-12-01 16:00 - 17:00 | https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/93681175800?pwd=[REDACTED]
Presenter: Peyman Milanfar, Distinguished Scientist, Google
Description: Denoising, the process of reducing random fluctuations in a signal to emphasize essential patterns, has been a fundamental problem of interest since the dawn of modern scientific inquiry. Recent denoising techniques, particularly in imaging, have achieved remarkable success, nearing theoretical limits by some measures. Yet, despite tens of thousands of research papers, the wide-ranging applications of denoising beyond noise removal have not been fully recognized. This is partly due to the vast and diverse literature, making a clear overview challenging. This article aims to address this gap. We present a clarifying perspective on denoisers, their structure and their desired properties. We emphasize the increasing importance of denoising and showcase its evolution into an essential building block for complex tasks in imaging, inverse problems and machine learning. Despite its long history, the community continues to uncover unexpected and groundbreaking uses for denoising, further solidifying its place as a cornerstone of scientific and engineering practice.
Bio: Peyman is a Distinguished Scientist at Google, where he leads the Computational Imaging team. Prior to this, he was a Professor of Electrical Engineering at UC Santa Cruz for 15 years, two of those as Associate Dean for Research. From 2012-2014 he was on leave at Google-x, where he helped develop the imaging pipeline for Google Glass. Over the last decade, Peyman’s team at Google has developed several core imaging technologies that are used in many products. Among these are the zoom pipeline for the Pixel phones, which includes the multi-frame super-resolution (Super Res Zoom) pipeline, and several generations of state of the art digital upscaling algorithms. Most recently, his team led the development of Pro Res Zoom, and Unblur, features launched in Pixel 10 devices and Google Photos. Peyman received his undergraduate education in electrical engineering and mathematics from the UC Berkeley, and the MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from MIT. He holds more than two dozen patents. He founded MotionDSP, which was acquired by Cubic Inc. Along with his students and colleagues, his research work has had deep impact in several areas of computational imaging, and applications of AI thereto – including the introduction of adaptive kernel regression to imaging; pioneering use of learning for fast, content-adaptive image upscaling (RAISR); Neural Image quality Assessment (NIMA), Regularization by Denoising (RED); and most recently (2024) Inversion by Direct Iteration (InDI). All of these works have been recognized with best paper awards. He’s been a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, and is a Fellow of the IEEE “for contributions to inverse problems and super-resolution in imaging”
Hosted by: Professor Julie Simons, Applied Mathematics
Zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/93681175800?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 936 8117 5800
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Community Day: Free Admission at the Arboretum
2025-12-02 09:00 - 17:00 | Arboretum, 122 Arboretum Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
The first Tuesday of each month, the Arboretum is open without charge to visitors. See dates and times UC Santa Cruz Arboretum & Botanic Garden is open. NOTE: Due to limited parking at the Arboretum and the popularity of Community Day, we greatly encourage visitors to carpool, bike, walk or use public transportation as much as possible.

Western Regional Hub: Undergraduate Success Group Meeting
2025-12-02 12:00 - 13:00
Members of the hub’s working group focused on Undergraduate student success will meet to share ideas and strategize.
If you would like to be involved in the hub’s work, please contact Richard Raygoza at riraygoz@ucsc.edu

Women's Basketball Fundraiser at Woodstock's
2025-12-02 12:00 - 21:00 | Woodstock’s Pizza, 710 Front St, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060
Support UCSC Women’s Basketball! Join us at Woodstock’s Pizza on Dec. 2 from noon – 9 p.m. for a delicious way to give back!

How to participate: Just mention the Women’s Basketball fundraiser when ordering in person or use code UCSCWBALL for online orders.

Why it matters: 20% of all proceeds from your purchase will go directly to supporting the UCSC Women’s Basketball team—helping fund travel, gear, and program needs.

Bring your friends, grab some pizza, and help our Slugs shine this season!

Gingerbread House Decorating
2025-12-02 14:00 - 16:00
Create the house of your dreams while hangin’ with friends and Provost Aims McGuinness.

UC Santa Cruz Comprehensive Habitat Conservation Plan Informational Webinar
2025-12-02 17:30 - 18:30
Please join us to learn more about the UC Santa Cruz Comprehensive Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP).
The Campus Planning Department is hosting an upcoming informational webinar about the proposed Comprehensive Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for the Main Residential Campus, Westside Research Park and the Coastal Science Campus on Tuesday, December 2, 2025.
The informational webinar will provide information to the campus and community regarding the proposed Comprehensive Habitat Conservation Plan, its goals, and how it will guide future conservation and planning efforts at UC Santa Cruz. The webinar will include a presentation followed by an opportunity for participants to ask questions.

Event: UC Santa Cruz Comprehensive HCP Informational Webinar
Date & Time: Tuesday, December 2, 2025 at 5:30 pm
Location: Online (Zoom link provided once registered)
Registration: HCP Webinar

Megha Majumdar - A Guardian and a Thief
2025-12-02 19:00 - 20:00 | Bookshop Santa Cruz
Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Megha Majumdar (A Burning) who will share her electrifying new novel that has recently been long-listed for the National Book Award and received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist. A Guardian and a Thief, a piercing and propulsive tour de force, is set in a near-future Kolkata, India, ravaged by climate change and food scarcity, in which two families trying to protect their children must battle one another.
RSVP here!
Megha Majumdar is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel A Burning, which was nominated for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, and the American Library Association’s Andrew Carnegie Medal. It was named one of the best books of the year by media including The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, The Atlantic, Vogue, and TIME Magazine. A 2022 Whiting Award winner, she was born and raised in Kolkata, India, and holds degrees in anthropology from Harvard and Johns Hopkins. She is the former editor in chief of Catapult Books, and lives in New York. A Guardian and A Thief is her second novel.
More information at: Bookshop Santa Cruz – Megha Majumdar
Co-sponsored by The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz.
