From the Stage to the Page

Professor Emerita Halifu Osumare returns to campus this month to read from and celebrate her new memoir, "Dancing the Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop and the Dunham Legacy," with the UC Davis Department of African American and African Studies.

Malaquías Montoya’s Multi-Generational Impact

Malaquías Montoya, a professor emeritus of Chicana and Chicano studies at UC Davis, is being widely celebrated with two major exhibitions at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis and at the Oakland Museum of California. But he is much more than an artist. Montoya, 85, has influenced several generations of students who went on to make art or make a mark on the world in other ways.

Maurice Prize Winner’s Novel Produced During Pandemic

Jessica Guerrieri (B.A., English, ’07) is this year’s winner of the Maurice Prize for Fiction. The prize, which includes a $10,000 award, is given to a UC Davis graduate who has not yet published a novel.

Guerrieri wrote the novel she submitted, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, during the COVID pandemic lockdown. The book chronicles the highs and lows of a large family living in Half Moon Bay, California. It is about coming to terms with family, addiction, recovery, children and, not the least, motherhood.

Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize Comes to UC Davis

The Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize is open to Latinx poets residing in the United States who have yet to publish a full-length poetry collection. Submissions for the prize open Nov. 1 and close Feb. 16, 2024.

Gorman Museum of Native American Art at UC Davis Reopening in New, Expanded Home

The Gorman Museum of Native American Art at the University of California, Davis — unique in focusing on, exhibiting and collecting contemporary Native American art — will reopen in a new, greatly expanded location with a celebratory weekend Sept. 22 and 23 (Friday and Saturday). The occasion also marks the museum’s 50th anniversary. 

A Floating Opera: Music Professor Part of Trio Behind Opera About Toxic Waterway

“Black mustard” is what people call the thick oil that is often visible — particularly at sunset — on the surface of Newtown Creek, which borders Queens and Brooklyn in New York City. The estimated 30 million gallons of oil is one of many toxins in the creek, an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. This would seem an unlikely place to not only inspire, but to also be the venue, for an opera, but it is. The opera "Newtown Odyssey," by UC Davis professor Kurt Rohde, visual artist Marie Lorenz and writer Dana Spiotta, is being premiered this weekend.

Art History Student Gets Backstage Look During London Art Week

Alumnus Alan Templeton (B.A., art history and psychology, ‘82), a longtime supporter of arts and humanities programs at UC Davis, recently started a program to give an art history graduate student a behind the-scenes-look at the art world. Second year master's student Lawrence Stallman joined Templeton for London Art Week, visiting museums and galleries, meeting with curators, collectors and professors, and attending art auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.