Director's Welcome Message

Dear CCSRE Community,

We are heading back to campus at a trying, if exciting, time. We are a few months away from a consequential presidential election that will determine the direction of our democracy. Important issues affecting our day-to-day lives are even now being debated by the candidates; they include immigration policy, reproductive freedom, and energy and economic policy. We are returning to campus with no resolution to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas—one that spurred so many of our CCSRE students to activism this past year and has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people along with the destruction of infrastructure throughout Gaza and the West Bank. Closer to home, Stanford graduate students are in negotiations with the university about the high cost of living in the Bay Area and faculty and administrators are being counseled about possible work stoppages. For all these reasons and more it is difficult to speculate about what the coming year will bring. My hope is that, following any participation and activism we are compelled to engage in, we can meet what comes our way with grace. I would like CCSRE to be an intellectual home for all of us—a place where we are guided by our values, strengthened by our convictions, and empowered by insights gained from our ongoing research in classrooms, in labs, in libraries, and in community.

As we head back to campus, please look out for some exciting CCSRE events! We welcome you to the Building 360 Open House on Tuesday, October 1 from 12-2 sponsored jointly by CCSRE, African and African American Studies and the Taube Center for Jewish Studies. CCSRE’s Academic Programs has scheduled a series of get-togethers and teach-ins for our students including a Community Engaged Scholarship Symposium on October 10. And the Research Institute of CCSRE has arranged a stimulating roster of speakers to which the entire CCSRE community—faculty, staff, and students—are invited. Please make sure to read Alfredo Artiles’ welcome message in the Research Institute Highlights section to learn more about the upcoming events.

Because so many of the difficult issues we face in the world today continue to be shaped by processes of racialization, we at CCSRE are more committed than ever to our core educational mission of advancing racial equity through interdisciplinary education, innovative research and community engagement. We will be glad for you to join us!

Sincerely,

Paula M. L. Moya  
Faculty Director of CCSRE