Oct. 13 - Church dancing; UCI award finally comes home
Section 1
Anteater Time Machine: Students groove near the Gateway Plaza steps, circa 1970.
UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
Ariyan Johnson teaches hip hop and jazz dance at UCI. Photo by Skye Schmidt
Exploring dancing in Black churches
Actor, dancer and UCI assistant professor Ariyan Johnson – who has performed with such artists as Queen Latifah, Mariah Carey and LL Cool J – is taking on a new project this year: researching liturgical dance in Black churches. Although “praise dance” isn’t well-regarded, Johnson says churches are a forum where people are learning and developing specific dance movements. With support from a Hellman Fellowship, she plans to capture examples of liturgical dance and make them widely available so people can develop “a reference and a reverence” for the genre.
Tony Cheng is the first UCI winner of an award named after renowned campus criminologist Joan Petersilia.
14 years later, UCI wins award named for campus legend
Until now, the Joan Petersilia Outstanding Article Award, created in 2008 and named after an internationally renowned UCI criminologist, had never been bestowed on an Anteater scholar. Tony Cheng, an assistant professor of criminology, law & society, finally broke the drought, winning this year’s award for an article he wrote on why community meetings held by police often fail to improve relations with residents. Petersilia died in 2019.
UCI applications have soared nearly 400% since 2002
Over the last two decades, UCI’s first-year applicant pool swelled from 30,630 in 2002 to more than 119,000 in 2022. During that span, the acceptance rate fell from 59% to 21%.
Clarification: Samueli Health Institute opening
Today’s 3:30 p.m. ribbon-cutting at the new Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, which was previewed in yesterday’s UCI Digest, is invitation-only.
UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS
As fall allergies intensify, here’s how to cope
Climate change is making allergy season longer and more intense, according to a report in The New York Times. Experts offer tips for coping and telling the difference between seasonal sniffles and COVID-19.
EVENTS
Excelencia: Leadership That Thrives
Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (sponsored by Merage School Latinx Initiative)
Peace Corps: Info Session for Advisors and Faculty
Monday, 1 p.m. (sponsored by Global Engagement Office)
Visit today.uci.edu to see and submit event listings. Events of general interest will be shared in UCI Digest two days before they occur.