Events By Quarter
Spiritual Care Club
MCC Lounge
Spiritual Care Club is a recurring space where members will learn how to use and trust divine and intuitive tools for their healing and care, identity development, and dreams and goals formation. It will be an intentional space where we can experience personal and collective growth, joy, and care in a safe and encouraging environment.
FIRST Session 4/9
Thursdays Apr 9th, Apr 23rd, May 7th & May 21st, 2:00-3:30 pm
MCC Lounge
Graduate Writing Retreat
MCC Lounge
All graduate students in need of writing accountability are invited to the MCC’s Graduate Writing Retreat. This retreat aims to provide a supportive and nourishing space for all graduate students to continue (or return to) their writing. The MCC will provide food and beverages to attendees so that they can use the time and the space to focus solely on their writing tasks. Attendees will get the opportunity to write in community alongside friends and colleagues. Writing retreat attendees will also receive a gift card for participating!
Art Exhibition
Welcome to Santa Maria: All Indigenous Migrant City
Helen Yanez
MCC Lounge
Through bold imagery and storytelling, artist Helen Yanez reflects the beauty, complexity, and strength of her people. Her work is created with intention and deep purpose: to illustrate the lived realities of her brown, Indigenous, migrant community. Her art functions as both a mirror and a bridge, offering her community the opportunity to feel seen, represented, and celebrated, while also educating those outside of their lived reality. Grounded in her Purépecha roots, Helen carries immense pride in keeping her community’s traditions, struggles, and spirit alive through every piece she creates. For Helen, art is not only a form of personal expression but also a powerful tool for cultural preservation, resistance, and collective healing. Join the reception for a panel with artist Helen Yanez and Professor Ralph Armbruster to learn about the inspirations behind her works. Helen Yanez is an artist and illustrator from Santa Maria, rooted in the rich cultural heritage of her Purépecha ancestry.
Co-sponsored by the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department.
Conscious Conversations Series
Navigating STEM as BIPOC
Dr. Melanie Adams and Professor Timnit Kefela
MCC Lounge
Join the MCC as we continue to build connections in our STEM fields with a conversation about the importance of building a community that uplifts your identity and experiences. Alums Dr. Melanie Adams and Professor Timnit Kefela will lead a roundtable conversation on the challenges and navigational strategies of being a BIPOC in STEM. We’ll also discuss the strengths and unique contributions that STEM scholars of color can bring to their fields. Following the roundtable, we will have a community dinner where attendees can learn more about Dr. Adams and Professor Timnit Kefela and ask questions. Dr. Melanie Adams is the Academic Program Coordinator at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She earned her Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara, where she focused on using optical and acoustic techniques to characterize and understand the behavior of soft materials nondestructively. Melanie joined Scripps as a postdoctoral scholar, where she integrated her diverse background into the study of granular media while deepening her interests in science communication and policy. Professor Timnit Kefela is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Science and Resource Management with a special focus on Environmental Justice at CSU Channel Islands. Her research focuses on understanding the sources, pathways, and fates of microplastics in urban soils and proximal marine environments and community-informed infrastructural interventions that mitigate their impact. She is passionate about making healthy physical environments for communities of color, regardless of their proximity to the “natural” environment.
