Jan 10, 2023

Dear colleagues,

As part of a recent call for proposals for Confronting Extremism through Community, Thriving and Wellness, 10 projects have been funded to pilot or build synergy using evidence-based strategies that rebuild, reframe, and transform our community members and institutions for inclusive excellence.                                        

The Office of Inclusive Excellence funded nearly $250,000 to support the selected projects, which represent eight units across UCI. The projects include a range of research approaches and creative program interventions designed to enhance best practices for community engagement, educate for thriving in the face of extremism and in the aftermath of impacts from COVID-19, and foster improvements in health and well-being for members impacted by COVID-19 circumstances.

For more information about the program and the proposal awards, please visit: http://inclusion.uci.edu/confronting-extremism.   

 Awardees are:

  • Laura Enriquez (Lead), School of Social Sciences, Department of Chicano/Latino Studies – Thriving in the Face of Anti-Immigrant Extremism: Building a Toolkit for Undocumented Student Well-being – Additional team members: Martha Morales Hernandez (co-PI), Angela Chen, Eloisa Amador Romero, and Shaozhuan Li 
  • Brandon Golob (Lead), School of Social Ecology, Department of Criminology, Law, and Society – Teaching during Trying Times: Training the Future Professoriate in Contemplative & Inclusive Pedagogy – Additional team members: Karma Rose Zavita (co-PI) and Daniel Mann 
  • Sora Han (Lead), School of Humanities, Department of African American Studies – Living Archives of Poetic Justice: Confronting Extremism through Community-Centered Oral Histories and Storytelling – Additional members: Susan Bibler Coutin, Audra Eagle Yun, Richard Matthew, and Krystal Tribbett (co-PI) 
  • Cynthia Haq (Lead), School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine – Thriving in UCI Health – Additional team members: Afshan Baraghoush, DeMarco Bowen, Jaih Craddock, Tessa Daniels, Xavier Hernandez, Michelle Quint, Juliet McMullin, Bobby Sasson, and Ursula Worsham 
  • Alana LeBrón (Lead), Program in Public Health, and School of Social Sciences, Department of Chicano/Latino Studies – Evaluating an Anti-Racism Curriculum to Inform the Development of the Center for Environmental Health Disparities Research (CEHDR) – Additional team members: Jun Wu, Abigail Reyes, Mextli Lopez, and Candice Taylor Lucas 
  • Keramet Reiter (Lead), School of Social Ecology, Department of Criminology, Law, and Society – Confronting Extremism through Trauma-Informed Community Allyship Training Around Incarceration – Additional team members: Jennifer Gomez and Ananda Van Boeyen 
  • Rossella Santagata (Lead), School of Education – Theater of Resilience (“TOR”), Part II: Bringing Together Undergrads and Minoritized High-School Interns for Collaborative Writing and Performance on the UCI Campus – Additional members: Joseph Jenkins, Gustavo Carlo, and Adriana Campos Johnson
  • Sora Park Tanjasiri (Lead), Program in Public Health – Assessing Cancer Health Disparities through a Community Outreach and Engagement Lab (COE Lab) – Additional team members: Brittany Morey, Cevadne Lee and Vy Le 
  • Sydney Torres (Lead), Division of Student Affairs, Womxn’s Center for Success – Reproductive Justice at UCI – Additional team members: Erika Cortez, and Britney Chen
  • David Trend (Lead), Claire Trevor School of the Arts, Department of Studio Art – The Inclusive Course Design Institute – Additional members: Stacey Branham, Megan Linos (co-PI), Meredith Ehrenberg (co-PI), and Andrew Berk  

Congratulations to the project leaders and their teams for their winning proposals!

#ActforInclusion (https://inclusion.uci.edu/action-plan/) 

Take the Pledge (https://uciadvance.wufoo.com/forms/moc3mqp1mfpl7c/)  

Sincerely,

Rodrigo Lazo
Interim Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion