News Archive - Erika Johnson

UC San Diego’s “Divine Nine” Plaza Is a First in California

Unveiled in October 2023, the National Pan-Hellenic Council Plaza is a gathering space that honors the legacy of historically Black fraternities and sororities.

Acting Student and Bioengineering Alumna Awarded Soros Fellowship for New Americans

A University of California San Diego current graduate student in the Department of Theatre and Dance and an undergraduate alumna from the Department of Bioengineering are are among 30 recipients of the 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

2024 Wagner New Play Festival World Premieres Five Works

UC San Diego’s Department of Theatre and Dance graduate student playwrights present five bold stories that will world premiere from Apr. 26 to May 18 at the Wagner New Play Festival.

Creating AI That Helps, Not Harms

There are plenty of reasons to love artificial intelligence (AI). But what happens when helpfulness turns into harm? This is one of the big questions that occupies David Danks, a professor in UC San Diego’s Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute and Department of Philosophy.

Q&A: Robert Brill on Designing the Stage for Alicia Keys’ Musical ‘Hell’s Kitchen’

Robert Brill, professor of design and an alumnus of UC San Diego’s Department of Theatre and Dance, shares his experience designing the set of a new Broadway musical by Alicia Keys called 'Hell's Kitchen.'

NEH Grant Propels Quest to Uncover the Lost Histories of the Chichimeca

UC San Diego Professor of History Dana Velasco Murillo is searching for traces of the neglected voices of the nomadic Chichimeca peoples. The six-year research project is nearing completion, thanks to a recent $60,000 grant received from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

A Standing Ovation for Opera Icon Anthony Davis

UC San Diego Distinguished Professor of Music Anthony Davis has been inducted into the Opera Hall of Fame. The honor comes on the heels of an immensely successful production of “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at the Met Opera, a work he composed 37 years ago, and which drew packed houses.

A Two-Decade Journey of the Heart is Mapped in Poetry

Professor and Chair of Literature Kazim Ali presents a retrospective book of poetry traversing ideas of home, spirituality, love and loss.

Media Artist Lauren Lee McCarthy Confronts the Boundaries of Bio-Surveillance in New Exhibit

A solo exhibition of media artist Lauren Lee McCarthy’s work will open at UC San Diego’s Mandeville Art Gallery on March 2—the largest presentation of the internationally acclaimed artist’s work to date in the United States.

Acclaimed Director Lisa Portes Named Chair of Theatre and Dance at UC San Diego

Lisa Portes recently joined UC San Diego to become chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. A highly regarded Cuban American director, educator, advocate and leader, Portes’s aim is to promote a new theater narrative that expands our understanding of what it means to be human.