The University of California San Diego has been ranked the 15th best university in the world by the 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). UC San Diego was also named the world’s third best public college. The campus was named the world’s fourth best public college and nationally, UC San Diego was recognized as the country’s 13th best university.
The University of California San Diego Department of Literature ranks among the best in the nation for creative writing. Alumna Kaitlin Solimine’s (MFA, ’11) “Empire of Glass” demonstrates that excellence with its inclusion on The Center for Fiction's 2017 First Novel Prize long list. Her premier novel, which emerged from her MFA thesis, is an investigation into the workings of human memory and the veracity of oral history that pushes the boundaries between language and form in profound ways.
It’s early morning and you’re strolling through a grove of eucalyptus trees when you hear the sounds, like bells softly trilling. Or is the wind whispering through the tall branches above? It is not your imagination; you have discovered the “The Wind Garden,” the 19th public art work of the renowned Stuart Collection at the University of California San Diego. In this installation by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams, the leafed choir sings in response to the subtle shifts in light, wind and seasons.
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.”
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.
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.
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