CAMPUS NOTICE

 
OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR - RESEARCH

October 16, 2013


ALL ACADEMICS AT UC SAN DIEGO

SUBJECT:    Establishment of the Blum Cross-Border Initiative: A Project on Poverty Research and Practice at UC San Diego

I am pleased to announce the establishment of the BLUM CROSS-BORDER INITIATIVE: A Project on Poverty Research and Practice at UC San Diego. Teddy Cruz, Professor of Visual Arts and Fonna Forman, Associate Professor of Political Science will serve as founding co-Directors.

The project is a partnership between the UC San Diego Center on Global Justice and the Center for Urban Ecologies in the Division of Arts and Humanities, in collaboration with Calit2/Qualcomm Institute, the Urban Studies and Planning Program in the Division of Social Sciences, and the Division of Global Public Health in the UC San Diego School of Medicine.

The Blum Cross-Border Initiative at UC San Diego is affiliated with the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley, enabled through the generous support of Richard Blum, former President of the UC Board of Regents. The Cross-Border Initiative will develop new programming and curricula on regional poverty research and practice in the San Diego-Tijuana region, promoting interaction and collaboration between demographically diverse neighborhoods and the classroom, enriching the educational experience of our students while deepening UC San Diego's partnerships with community-based organizations and the municipalities of San Diego and Tijuana. The goal is to co-produce new knowledge and action, for the betterment of our bi-national region.

The Blum Cross-Border Initiative is an opportunity for the campus to visualize and elevate its present commitment to community engagement, by integrating the many existing projects and Community Stations across the campus that embed graduate and undergraduate students in community-based education, research and outreach.

Interested faculty members and research scientists / scholars are encouraged to contact Professors Forman (fonna@ucsd.edu) and Cruz (etcruz@ucsd.edu). We look forward to a formal launch event with Mr. Blum in Spring of 2014.



Sandra A Brown
Vice Chancellor for Research