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March 8, 1999
Associate professor of history Pedro Castillo has been appointed a board member of the California Council for the Humanities. Castillo is former codirector of UCSC's Chicano/Latino Research Center. His teaching and research focus on the history and politics of Mexican Americans in the U.S. His most recent book is The American Nation (Prentice Hall, 1998). The California Council for the Humanities is a granting agency of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Board members review proposals for funding and set the policy for the council.
Jennifer Gonzalez, assistant professor of art history, has received a University of California President's Research Fellowship in the Humanities. The $25,000 fellowships support independent research by individual faculty in their areas of expertise. Fellowships are granted by a nine-member panel of UC humanities faculty. Gonzalez's project is titled "Concrete Objects, Invisible Subjects: Contemporary American Portraits" and will address the relationship between art and museum exhibition, focusing on the role of material culture in defining national citizenship.
J. Michael Thompson, associate vice chancellor for outreach, admissions, and student academic services, gave the keynote address at a conference on Admissions and the Internet held last month at the University of Chicago. He presented the address, titled "The Road Ahead," to an audience of about 250 admissions and computer professionals from 33 states. Thompson discussed effective uses of the Internet by universities.
Kim Heinemeyer, a graduate student in environmental studies, has been selected to receive a David Gaines Memorial Award of $1,000. She will use the award to pursue her work identifying potential wolverine habitats in the southwestern Yellowstone ecosystem. The Gaines awards, which support field projects in environmental studies, were established in 1989 in honor of alumnus and environmentalist David Gaines (Crown '69) by his aunt. Gaines, who led the fight to save Mono Lake, was killed in an automobile accident in 1988.