News

Two UC Santa Barbara doctoral students named 2026 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellows

Becca Hamilton and Chelsea Kai Roesch receive prestigious national funding to pursue unconventional humanities research. 

Ph.D. candidates Becca Hamilton (left) and Chelsea Kai Roesch (right) have been named 2026 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellows.

Shaping the national conversation: UC Santa Barbara announces third cohort of Public Voices Fellows.

Through a year-long partnership with The OpEd Project, 21 UC Santa Barbara faculty members will translate their academic research into national impact and shape public discourse.

Department of English Chair co-curates library exhibition exploring the infinite variety of Shakespeare’s texts

UC Santa Barbara Department of English Chair James Kearney has co-curated "Infinite Variety," a new exhibition at the UCSB Library showcasing rare Shakespeare folios, scripts and historical artifacts that highlight the playwright's enduring cultural legacy.

Associate Professor David Novak awarded prestigious ACLS fellowship

Backed by a prestigious ACLS fellowship, ethnomusicologist David Novak is completing a new book that explores how collectors and activists across the Global South use independent archives of physical media to preserve transnational sonic memory.

Department of Art Chair Shana Moulton details creative process at Humanities Decanted

UC Santa Barbara Department of Art Chair Shana Moulton recently presented her surreal, multi-media performance work, including her MoMA exhibition, at the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.

Mad as hell: UC Santa Barbara film experts unpack the prophetic satire of 'Network'

Join the UC Santa Barbara Carsey-Wolf Center on April 4 for a free screening and faculty discussion of the 1976 classic film, exploring its startlingly accurate predictions about today's profit-driven media landscape.

A whisper in the archives: Two scholars rewrite the histories of commerce and revolution

Sweeping a prestigious international historical society award, a pair of doctoral candidates are shifting the focus of the early modern world.

Big Oil’s Role in Cinema

UC Santa Barbara assistant professor Mona Damluji's new open-access book reveals how mid-century Western petroleum companies sponsored documentaries in Iran and Iraq, inadvertently fueling a local artistic renaissance.