Join the Science & Justice Research Center with the Division of Graduate Studies and the Office of African, Black, Caribbean Student Success at UC Santa Cruz on Wednesday, November 20th, 2024 for Giving Day, a 24-hour online fundraising drive!

Help support the next cohort of student researchers by giving through the Experience Sciences at HBCUs: Building Just Genomics with HBCUs campaign. Incentives to give include matching funds: let us know if you are interested in matching funds.

Together, we are building intentional collaborations with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in order to improve the training and development of future scientific leaders. Currently, we are working with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCATSU) to provide UCSC and NCATSU undergraduate and graduate students and faculty with important opportunities to gain valuable professional development experiences in the pursuit of research, community, and knowledge exchange.

Last year, through a grant secured by the Graduate Division from the University of California, SJRC Co-Director James Doucet-Battle seeded a research-focused collaboration with Dr. Joseph Graves, Jr. and Dr. Checo Rorie of Biological Sciences at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCATSU). In June 2024, the grant enabled Doucet-Battle to bring 8 undergraduate STEM students, 2 graduate STEM students, and three ABC staff to NCATSU for one-week. Participants learned about the history of Black science at HBCUs, experienced the environment at NCATSU, participated in research collaborations, and connected with UCSC and NCATSU students and faculty. Students not only found the experience productive and challenging, they urged us to find ways of making this a two-week trip in the future, even offering to help raise funds and recruit future applicants. To support these efforts, we have launched this Giving Day 2024 campaign and are plotting Summers 2025 and 2026.

With your support, we can: 

• Expand this project to more HBCUs and more academic disciplines.
• Invite more students and faculty to participate.
• Extend the program schedule.
• Provide continuity, mentorship, and graded levels of expertise supportive of UCSC / NCATSU student acculturation and retention.
• Develop more mechanisms for co-teaching and learning exchanges.

We’d love to maximize the impact of this campaign by getting as many individual donors as possible during the following time slots. This will help us compete for additional funds by winning challenges. Even just a few dollars helps!

• Early Riser: 7 – 8 AM
• Mid-day Motivator: 12 – 2 PM
• Mad Dash: 6 – 8 PM
• Final Frenzy: All Day

Share our Campaign for Justice!

Thank you for making a more just world possible!