News Archive

July 14, 2017 — UC San Diego researchers are using a Chancellor’s Interdisciplinary Collaboratories Fellowship to explore Augmented Reality. Department of Visual Arts Professor Sheldon Brown and M.F.A. candidate Jon Paden are partnering with scholars in the departments of Neuroscience, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and NanoEngineering on a project entitled, “Tromper soi-même: Fooling the senses with new techniques of combined visual and afferent Augmented Reality rendering of sight and touch.”

July 10, 2017 — Through an initiative called “KNIT,” the University of California San Diego’s Division of Arts and Humanities is crafting collaboration and community on campus — digitally. By offering online tools collectively referred to as a “digital commons,” KNIT will enable university faculty, students and staff to customize websites for courses; research projects or personal academic portfolios; create or join public and private discussion groups devoted to shared interests; and network with communities both on and off campus. In addition to the KNIT online resource, the division has launched a Digital Arts & Humanities website, featuring initiatives of the Institute of Arts & Humanities (IAH) and related projects and resources on campus.

June 29, 2017 — The University of California San Diego’s footprint is growing. This summer it extends to Canada’s Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity where Steven Schick looms large. The distinguished professor of music, Reed Family Presidential Chair holder, and music director and conductor of La Jolla Symphony and Chorus is serving as co-artistic director of Banff Centre’s 2017 Summer Classical Music Series. In the role, Schick, along with flautist Claire Chase, is creating programming under the theme of “Create, Refine, Amplify” that features a strong focus on chamber music plus new approaches to help develop classical musicians’ skills and careers. The program attracts hundreds of individual participants, established groups and renowned composers from around the world.

June 15, 2017 — The University of California San Diego’s Department of Theatre and Dance is among the best: Hollywood Reporter recently listed the acting program #5 in the world. Part of its reputation is due to its unique partnership with the world-renowned La Jolla Playhouse. The UC San Diego-La Jolla Playhouse partnership includes a theater and dance residency program that offers students the opportunity to gain practical experience in acting, directing, design and stage management that sets them up for professional success.

May 31, 2017 — The University of California San Diego takes the stage in many programs — its Department of Theatre and Dance easily commanding the spotlight. Ranked among the top five acting programs in the world by Hollywood Reporter, the department’s students graduate well-prepared for the theater profession. Cast with experience — due in part to a dynamic partnership with its acclaimed neighbor, La Jolla Playhouse — UC San Diego graduates consistently take the lead in television, film and stage careers. Proof positive are three recent Tony Award nominations earned by alumni Michael Greif (MFA directing, ’85), nominated for Best Direction of a Musical, “Dear Evan Hansen;” Jefferson Mays (MFA acting, ’91), nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, “Oslo;” and Paloma Young (MFA, costume design, ’06), nominated for Best Costume Design of a Musical, “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.”

May 26, 2017 — The diversity and talent of graduating University of California San Diego artists is currently highlighted in “A Step Away: Artists from the M.F.A. Program at UC San Diego,” an exhibition showing through May 29 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (MCASD).

May 22, 2017 — When World War II came to a close in 1945, the U.S. Government recruited a few leading German scientists, who it judged could contribute to America’s space and military programs. In addition, the rationale was that if the government hadn't done this, these top scientists, along with their scientific knowledge and military secrets, would have been swept up by the Soviet Union. Journalist Eric Lichtblau, uncovers a series of much more disconcerting findings in his 2014 book, The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler’s Men, which reveals that the U.S. allowed approximately 10,000 Nazis—some of whom were directly involved in heinous and genocidal acts—to immigrate and take up residence in the U.S.

May 17, 2017 — On May 25, the Qualcomm Institute will stage a new work, Song Cycle for Security Camera, by sound artist and Music Ph.D. candidate Joe Cantrell. 

May 11, 2017 — A sampling of the works from artist Ted Meyer’s intriguing Scarred for Life series will be on display, beginning May 15 through September 1, 2017, in the Biomedical Library Building breezeway. The exhibit and an opening reception on May 15 are a collaboration between the UC San Diego Library and Oceanside Museum of Art, which is holding a major exhibition of the artist’s work—Ted Meyer: Scarred for Life— from May 27 through September 17, 2017.

April 28, 2017 — The University of California San Diego’s Department of History is flush with scholars studying the fascinating histories of many parts of the world, from Africa and the Americas to the Middle East. Among them is assistant professor Nir Shafir, whose research explores what he calls “manuscript pamphlets” in the Ottoman Empire. These were cheap, short and handwritten treatises that transformed the religious and intellectual life of the Middle East over the 16th to 18th centuries.