Issue: Spring 2025

From the Chancellor: Hands-on research, real-world impact

At UC Santa Cruz, our students don’t just learn about the world, they help shape it. More than half of our approximately 18,000 undergraduates participate in some type of hands-on research, an experience both central to a UC Santa Cruz...

May 2025

Features

Researchers in training

Undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz have unique opportunities to participate in research, which not only provides experiential learning, but also paves the way for careers as future scholars

By Lisa Renner, May 2025

Features

UCSC at 60: A legacy of Slugs

A deeply connected Slug family recounts how UC Santa Cruz has played an important role in its story, from the campus’s very beginning to the present day

By Lisa Renner, May 2025

Alumni profiles

Alo Slebir: Moving mountains

When alumnus Alessandro “Alo” Slebir slid down the face of a massive wall of water at the famed Mavericks surf break in December, he didn’t know his ride might be a record-breaking 100-foot wave

By Jim Seimas, May 2025

Alumni profiles

Cristina Valencia: Unlocking the past

Forensic anthropologist Cristina Valencia uses ancient DNA techniques and direct genome sequencing to help solve cold cases—bringing resolution to families who have waited decades for answers

By Haneen Zain (Rachel Carson ’21, politics), May 2025

Travel with us!

Join us on one of our Inspired Expeditions! We have some amazing destinations in 2025–26.

May 2025

Giving

Written in the stars

A visit to Lick Observatory as a child changed his life; now, after 16 years of volunteering at the observatory, Gary Vosters has added Lick to his will