socialecology.uci.edu

If you performed at or simply attended UC Irvine’s third annual Día de los Muertos on Nov. 3, it is quite possible our crack photographers Karen Tapia, Greg Andersen or Steve Zylius snapped a shot of you. Camera roll call, puhleez: https://ow.ly/sxXM50XE5gI

The UC Irvine Winter 2026 Schedule of Classes includes UPPP 50: The Power of Music from the UC Irvine Alec Glasser Center for the Power of Music and Social Change. See the flier for more details.

The Latino Alumni Association at @ucirvine.bsky.social recently spotlighted Vilma Palma-Solana ('06, BA criminology, law & society), who is a supervising deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice's Civil Rights Enforcement Section. Check it out: https://ow.ly/5uFl50XE3lv

"Exonerations nationwide have been steadily rising, from 24 in 1989 to 147 in 2024" - National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at UC Irvine and the law schools of Michigan State University and University of Michigan. https://ow.ly/VwB250XCebu

Image of children sitting at table doing see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil is by Keren Fedida on Unsplash

To track hunger among vulnerable youths, a coalition of Orange County charities is using a tool developed by the nonprofit EverFree and UC Irvine's Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation. https://ow.ly/M3Ar50XCchn

One great scholar deserves another. MedPage Today's Is All Screen Time Harmful? scribe & University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Asst Professor of computer science Koustuv Saha cites the work of UC Irvine Chancellor's Professor of psychology & informatics Candice Odgers. https://ow.ly/M2xU50XCbpM

UCI has a new MPA focused on urban & environmental sustainability! For more: mpa.soceco.uci.edu

Congratulations to National Scientific Council on #Adolescence member Candice Odgers for being one of Clarivate's 2025 “Highly Cited Researchers”! Odgers' research focuses on how technology and social inequality impact adolescents.
Read more below ⬇️

“This is what we call in sociology a moral panic. A moral panic is created when statistics and other things are used to kind of create or socially construct a problem that is bigger than it is” - Charis Kubrin, a UC Irvine professor of criminology, law & society. https://ow.ly/13H650XCaAw

Are you passionate about mental health advocacy and looking to find a truly supportive community at UC Irvine this year? If so, the Wellness Initiative in Social Ecology Peer Advisory Collective (WISE PAC) invites you to join their team. Apply with the QR code or here: https://ow.ly/iWja50Xyrl8

Congrats to Gio Ramosfor recently receiving the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Latinx Special Interest Groups Early Career Rising Star Award. A former UC Chancellor’s and Ford Foundation Postdoc Fellow in UC Irvine's TEAM Lab, Gio is now an assistant professor at UC Berkeley.

Congratulations to Les McCabe ('80, BA social ecology) for being named UC Irvine's 2025 Lauds & Laurels Distinguished Alumni recipient from the School of Social Ecology. https://ow.ly/6emY50XyqxP

Congrats to UC Irvine alum Deyanira Nevarez Martinez ('21, PhD urban planning & public policy) for winning the Nov. 4 Lansing, MI, City Council Ward 2 race. The Michigan State University assistant professor of urban and regional planning got a whopping 72.3% of the vote. https://ow.ly/Mice50XypgZ

The latest Advocate, the UC Irvine School of Social Ecology newsletter, catches you up on a MAJOR award for one of our professors, the newest Young Adult Court graduates, a very special holiday message from our dean and many, many more stocking stuffers. https://ow.ly/7hjr50XypFT

Halloween brought treats, not tricks, to Orange County Young Adult Court's six newest graduates, who are shown with program co-creators Superior Court Judge and UC Irvine School of Social Ecology alum Maria D. Hernandez ('86) and psychology Professor Elizabeth Cauffman. https://ow.ly/fvPC50XyqkS

The man who named the podcast, Mike Madrid: “Orange County is a look into the future. What we’ve learned through this podcast series is that the future is neither a red county, blue county or an orange county. It’s truly a purple county.” https://ow.ly/54Ku50Xymvh

Thayer: “It’s a great honor to be recognized by such an important international organization. It speaks to the high regard that the work of my collaborators and trainees are held in as none of the work could have been done without them.” https://ow.ly/La0Y50Xylk6

Méndez: "The late Professor Edward Blakely embodied the virtues of pursuing equitable planning approaches for the most marginalized communities. I am honored to be given an award named after him." https://ow.ly/S8sP50XykRr

Odgers: “Children are growing up in a rapidly changing and increasingly unequal world. Advancing science to support their success is foundational to our work, and it is encouraging to learn that our research is having an impact on the larger field.” https://ow.ly/MNrC50Xykf4

Illustration of Thanksgiving dinner table by Hanin Abouzeid on Unsplash

🍂🦃 Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Today, we gather around tables filled with love, laughter, and our favorite dishes. There will be no more social posts today because, like you, we are cherishing moments together with friends and family. 🥧💛 #Gratitude

The Wellness Initiative in Social Ecology Peer Advisory Committee hosts UC Irvine psychology Associate Professor Alyson Zalta for the next WISE Wednesday presentation Dec. 3. She'll talk about how sleep connects to wellness and mental health. WISE Wednesday Zoom link: https://ow.ly/nNRg50XxTKM

Rendón: “I know that engaging with these [Center for Liberation, Anti-Racism and Belonging] scholars' important work will enrich my own.” Learn more: https://ow.ly/okve50XxTzh

Kubrin will travel to Stockholm in June – along with co-winner Mark Lipsey of the Peabody Research Institute at Vanderbilt University – for the official ceremony, where the two will share the 1.5 million Swedish kronor prize (about $159,000 USD). https://ow.ly/bR5k50XxTmX

It's free, open to all and you can also watch via Zoom: ow.ly/yUUZ50XxeNs

Psychology and informatics Chancellor's Professor @candiceodgers.bsky.social is the @ucirvine.bsky.social Drury Depression Institute's monthly seminar speaker 10-11 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17, in Gross Hall's Thorp Conference Center. ow.ly/L19K50XxeNv

Support from the VOICE Initiative helps fund dos Santos' UC Irvine project "The Voices of Democracy: A Festival for Ten-minute Monologues," a first-of-its-kind event in the University of California system. https://ow.ly/5RC950XxT95

The Urban History Assn 11th Biennial Conference Latino New Urbanism Revisited panel had a UC Irvine Dept of Urban Planning & Public Policy professor (Dr. Michael Méndez) and two PhD alums (Michigan State University's Deyanira Nevárez Martínez & @csufofficial.bsky.social's Erualdo González, Ph.D).

Andrés Peñalosa Reyna dropped out 3 times before his younger brother convinced him to give college another try. Now a UC Irvine urban planning & public policy PhD student, Reyna won the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers President’s Award for Outstanding Paper. https://ow.ly/wXKs50XxfwH

🌍 UC Irvine School of Social Ecology marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Our disciplines (psychology; criminology, law & society; urban planning & public policy; and social ecology) study the complex root causes and social responses to violence against women. 💜

Congratulations to UC Irvine urban planning & public policy PhD candidate Carlo Chunga Pizarro for being elected to chair the 2025–2026 @baffellows.bsky.social Student Council Executive Committee. Carlo writes about how he first got connected to BAF and his new role here: https://ow.ly/MM8u50XwASX