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Welcome to the July 2012 issue of the Social Sciences
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Congrats, class of 2012!

Social sciences grads celebrate degree accomplishments at UCI's 47th annual commencement ceremonies

June 15 was a day of celebration for the 1,662 social sciences undergraduates who walked in the university’s 47th annual commencement ceremonies. The newly minted grads marked the occasion in true anteater fashion with cleverly hand-crafted caps and loud “Zot! Zot! Zot!” rally cries as they vied for bragging rights to the coveted Best Zot! Zot! Zot! Commencement Award (winner to be announced). Prior to the afternoon ceremonies, which included recognition of the demographic and social analysis master’s recipients, the school hosted its annual Order of Merit celebration to honor the very top graduating students in social sciences for excellence in scholarship, research, service and leadership. John Sommerhauser, social sciences graduate office manager, also received special recognition when the UCI commencement staff presented him with a plaque for his 25 years of consecutive volunteer service at graduation.

In total, more than 2,400 degrees were conferred to social sciences students, including the school’s doctoral recipients who were recognized in a traditional hooding ceremony on June 9. The graduating class brings the school’s alumni count to more than 35,000 anteaters strong, a network which includes top corporate, political and community leaders as well as internationally recognized Olympic athletes.

Congratulations, class of 2012, on all of your accomplishments!

UCI to lead national social computing research center

Intel gives $12.5 million for five-university collaboration

UC Irvine will anchor a new $12.5 million, Intel-funded research center that applies social science and humanities to the design and analysis of digital information. "Technology is profoundly entangled with our everyday lives. As researchers, we can't get a handle on what's going on by looking at technical factors alone. We have to study them in concert with human, social and cultural aspects," said UCI informatics professor Paul Dourish. He and Scott Mainwaring of Intel Labs will co-lead the center, dubbed the Intel Science and Technology Center for Social Computing, along with UCI anthropology and law professor Bill Maurer.

Olympic anteaters

Social sciences alumni part of London-bound USA Men's Water Polo and Men's Volleyball teams

Ryan Bailey, Tim Hutten, and Jeff Powers are part of the recently announced 13-member USA Men's Water Polo team headed to the 2012 Olympic Games this summer in London, England. The trip marks the fourth Olympic return for team co-captain Bailey who competed in 2000, 2004 and 2008 in Beijing where he, Hutten and Powers helped the team bring home a silver medal. The 2012 games will be Powers' third Olympic appearance and the second for Hutten. Bailey graduated from UCI in '06 with a bachelor's in social science, Hutten in '08 and Powers in '03, both with degrees in political science.

Brian Thornton, sociology '08, is one of two anteater alumni who have been named to the U.S. Olympic Men's Volleyball team. David Smith, '07, will be joining him as the games kickoff July 29, marking the first Olympic appearance for both athletes who were part of UCI's first national championship team in 2007.

Another reason to visit London this summer

UCI's IMTFI helps curate mobile money exhibit at the British Museum

If you're thinking of heading to London this summer for the Olympics or just on a holiday, your trip shouldn't be considered complete without a visit to the British Museum. There, you'll see the Rosetta Stone, the famous Discobolus sculpture, and artifacts from ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt... and UC Irvine? That's right: if you wander into the Citi Money Gallery, the placard on the wall recognizes the curatorial contributions from the Bank of England Museum, the Royal Mint Museum, and UCI's Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion (IMTFI).

Read more...

Cancian receives UCI Outstanding Emeritus Award

Honor recognizes retired anthropologist and documentary photographer for continued commitment to university mission

Frank Cancian, anthropology professor emeritus, is the recipient of the 2012 Outstanding Emerita/us Award. Awarded by the UC Irvine Emeriti Association, the honor recognizes Cancian for his continued commitment to the university's mission of teaching, research and service since his retirement in 1999.

A proud moment

Sociology honors student Jocelyn Valencia receives the Social Sciences Outstanding Undergraduate Thesis award

Jocelyn Valencia's best memory as a sociology undergrad at UCI is hearing her parents scream for joy when she told them she was receiving the 2012 Undergraduate Honors Thesis and Robin M. Williams awards. Immigrants from El Salvador, her parents fled to the U.S. to escape civil war and poverty in their home country.

Inaugural recipients selected for Caesar Sereseres Outstanding Service Award

Vanessa Chavez, Margaret Chang Liao and Aaron McCullough honored for campus and community leadership

The Caesar D. Sereseres Outstanding Service Award was established this year in the School of Social Sciences to commend graduating seniors who have demonstrated outstanding service within key educational, leadership, and outreach programs in the School of Social Sciences and campus community. The award honors the more than two decades of outstanding service given to the school and the campus by Caesar Sereseres, political science associate professor and associate dean. The inaugural recipients are Vanessa Chavez, international studies; Margaret Chang Liao, international studies; and Aaron McCullough, sociology.

Staff service

Social sciences staff among those honored for hitting university career service milestones

The university honored staff on June 14 for hitting career service milestones within the University of California system. Staff with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years of service received recognition along with a number of supervisors - including Helen Morgan, social sciences undergraduate student affairs director - who were nominated by their staff for the 2012 Excellence in Leadership award.

SPOTLIGHT EVENT: Learning by Doing at the Farm

June 7-July 20, UCI Contemporary Arts Center Outreach Gallery, Room 3100A

Beginning in 1968, UCI was host to an experiment in intercultural exchange and artistic and social scientific learning through practice. It brought indigenous people from Guatemala, Mexico, and Samoa to an undeveloped plot on campus known as the Social Sciences Farm, a space for these visitors to demonstrate their crafts, as well as a laboratory for new methods in education and research. As faculty and students developed new theories for understanding human difference, the Farm also served as a gathering site for members of the sixties countercultural movement. Learning by Doing at the Farm, an exhibit of photographs and documents from UCI Special Collections, demonstrates the intimate proximity of "traditional" craft and countercultural communalism to the construction of the institutional structures of the new California university. The exhibit illuminates a forgotten history of UCI and Orange County: one of utopian experimentation, of ethnic and racial diversity, and of experimental scientific and artistic practice.