Humanities Undergraduate Research

What does it mean to be human, to analyze and construct the human experience? These are the fundamental questions that guide and unite the learning, teaching and scholarship conducted in UC Santa Cruz’s Humanities Division. The exploration and discussion of this query has culminated in some of humanity’s most deeply and widely valued beliefs and teachings about ourselves and the world in which we live. (from About the Humanities Division)

Undergraduates in the humanities at UC Santa Cruz have the opportunity to gain professional experience through paid fellowships, internships, and research opportunities while making a direct impact in our community. Undergraduates participate in research in sophisticated projects that address fundamental questions in the field. Visit the THI Fellowships site for inspiring examples.

Preparing for Undergraduate Research

Finding an Opportunity

The Independent Project Option

Funding Your Project 

Presentation Opportunities

Student Organizations 

Finding an Opportunity

Undergraduates in the Humanities pursue research in classes, by assisting a professor, and by conducting an Independent Project with a professor to extend or develop a topic from a class. 

Finding an opportunity is a process that can take a considerable amount of time and commitment.  The suggestions below can help.

Consider your interests

• What classes have engaged your imagination?
• What causes or topics are you passionate about?

Evaluate your goals and consider practical issues

• What do you hope to gain from undergraduate research?
• Do you need a position to help you get a job after you graduate? To help you get into graduate school?
• Do you need a paid position? Do you need academic credit? (You can't get paid and get credit for a position.)
• Does the position require transportation?

Explore your options

UCSC sites

• Look at The Humanities institute (THI) for Fellowships, Research Clusters, Centers and Projects
• Search the UCSC Research Opportunities Database, including the EOP Pathways Program and the THI Undergraduate Research Fellowhips (formerly HUGRA)
• Look at professor's research in the Humanities Division and then contact the professor
  
  • Feminist Studies Department *
  • History Department *
  • Languages and Applied Linguistics Program *
  • Linguistics Department *
  • Literature Department *
  • Philosophy Department *
    * click on the name to see research interests
• The Independent Study Option
• Academic Options & the Senior Exit Requirement
• Research Related Opportunities on SlugQuest

Additional sites

• Smithsonian Institution, Internships
• Historic Deerfield Summer Fellowship Program in Early American History and Material Culture

Use your resources

• Talk to other students, including graduate students, who are doing research and ask how they got started
• Go to office hours and ask your instructors about their work
• Visit your Department's or Division's Academic Adviser
• Visit the Career Center
• Join a student group

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Funding Your Project

Check with the UCSC Financial Aid Office to see if you qualify for specific funding opportunities.

There are many options to help fund your project, including external funding, funding for UC students, and departmental and college grants.

External Funding

 National Organizations and Clubs/Societies

Check the funding opportunities for undergraduates at any organization you belong to. You should also ask your mentor and graduate students in your field what conferences students go to frequently. Conferences and meetings often provide travel grants for students.

UCSC Sources

The Nancy Pascal Field Study Scholarship is open to any undergraduate student who is planning a field study through a campus department or program. The deadline for applications is in late February. For more information, contact Veronica Lopez-Duran at 831-459-2371.

The Humanities Division, the Department, and your Professor

The Dean's office may provide funding for some projects- contact them for more information. Some departments also provide funding, so check with the department manager, the department webpage, and your academic adviser. If you are working with a professor, ask if there is funding for research expenses, conference travel, or other costs before starting your project. 

Some funding options are listed below:

• Humanities Undergraduate Research Awards (HUGRA) (at the bottom of the webpage)
• Bertha N. Melkonian Award for Undergraduate Research
• Linguistics -Undergraduate Research Funding
• The Student History Scholars Endowment Fund

UCSC Colleges

Below are some links to college pages that list funding opportunities for undergraduates in that college.  Be sure to check with your college adviser, since not all opportunities are posted online.

• College 9/10 Student Project Funds
• Cowell Student Project Funds
• Crown Student Project Funds
• Kresge Student Scholarships and Grants
• Merrill Student Opportunities
• Porter College Student Project Funds
• Porter College Creative & Innovative Grants
• Stevenson Research Project Funding

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Presentation Opportunities

Start by asking your mentor for suggestions.  Also check

• Center for Undergraduate Research's Presentation Opportunities.
• The Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities in January
• UC Berkeley Comparative Literature  Undergraduate Research Symposium in May

Listed below are some opportunities to present your research at UCSC.  Please note the list is not comprehensive.

• Chinquapin Literary Magazine including poetry, photography, illustration, short fiction, prose
• Crown College Social Fiction Conference
• The Linguistics Undergraduate Research Conference
• Literature Undergraduate Colloquium
• Matchbox Magazine is an UC-wide collaborative creative writing project. The magazine publishes prose, poetry, and art created by students throughout the UC system, and distributes copies of their magazine to the literature departments at each UC School.
• The Red Wheelbarrow including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, photography
• TWANAS (Third World and Native American Student Press Collective) including writers, illustrators, photographers, and graphic designers
• UCSC Annual History Colloquium
• UCSC undergraduate research History Annals Research Journal

Journals that Accept Papers Authored by Undergraduates

If the journal is open-access (provided to all readers with no fee), the UCSC library may be able to help with publication fees.  Click here for more information.

Sites that list journals that accept undergraduate papers in all disciplines:

• Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research
• Undergraduate Journals and Conferences Directory
• Undergraduate Journals from the Council on Undergraduate Research

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Student Organizations

Chinquapin Literary Magazine- poetry, photography, illustration, short fiction, prose
Contact: chinquapin@gmail.com

Matchbox Magazine-prose, poetry, and artwork by UC students
Contact: matchboxmagazine@gmail.com

The Red Wheelbarrow including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, photography
Contact:ucscredwheelbarrow@gmail.com

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