Humanities Institute

The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz is a hub for academic research, cross-discipline collaboration, and public engagement. We incubate ideas and foster innovation by funding projects, centers, and research clusters that enable faculty and students to work on some of the biggest problems of our day.

The Institute is a source, resource, and force for Humanities-based inquiry and engagement with world events. We’re passionate about expanding the field of Humanities scholarship with digital tools and an interdisciplinary focus. And we believe strongly that the core subjects of the Humanities—philosophy, history, language and literature—should be accessible to everyone. That’s why we’re committed to engaging with the broadest community possible—from first-generation undergraduate students, to local residents, to anyone interested in compelling ideas and making sense of this increasingly complex world.

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Events from this organizer

Today

  • Mary roach banner

    Mary Roach – Replaceable You

    London Nelson Community Center 301 Center St., Santa Cruz, United States

    Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Roach for a discussion about Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy. In this irrepressible new work, Mary Roach explores the remarkable advances […]

  • Julian Brave NoiseCat Banner

    Julian Brave NoiseCat – We Survived the Night

    London Nelson Community Center 301 Center St., Santa Cruz, United States

    Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Julian Brave NoiseCat who will share his stunning debut We Survived the Night. Drawing from five years of on-the-ground reporting, We Survived the Night paints a profound and unforgettable portrait of contemporary Indigenous life, alongside an intimate and deeply powerful reckoning between a father and a son. Soulful, formally daring, indelible work […]

  • Alice waters sitting at a table with her book banner

    An Evening with Alice Waters

    Rio Theater 1205 Soquel Avenue, Santa Cruz, United States

    Bookshop Santa Cruz and The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz are delighted to welcome award-winning chef and food activist Alice Waters for a discussion about A School Lunch Revolution, “A blueprint for the ways in which we should feed our kids organic foods, both at home and at school.” (Epicurious) In this wonderful, multigenerational […]

  • Broadsides banner with girl in a foggy forest

    Broadsides No.2: Pairing Artworks with Poetry – Poetry Reading & Artist Talk

    m.k. contemporary art 703 Front Street, Santa Cruz, United States

    Following the success of its 2023 debut, Broadsides No. 2 returns this fall to MK Contemporary Art Gallery with a compelling exploration of the dynamic relationship between poetry and visual art. The exhibition pairs nine nationally recognized poets with nine distinguished visual artists, presenting collaborative works that reveal the unexpected resonances between image and language. The participating […]

  • Ellen Bass Banner

    Ellen Bass: Morton Marcus Poetry Reading

    Merrill Cultural Center 200 McLaughlin Dr, Santa Cruz, CA

    Join us for the 15th annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading, featuring honored guest Ellen Bass. Poet Gary Young will host the program, and the evening will include an announcement of the winner of the Morton Marcus Poetry Contest (recipient receives a $1,000 prize). Ellen Bass’s most recent collection, Indigo, was published by Copper Canyon Press in […]

  • Megha Majumdar Banner

    Megha Majumdar – A Guardian and a Thief

    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 […]