Eye on the IHR: 50 for 50 Service Challenge About the Institute for Humanities Research (IHR) Established in 1999, the IHR has grown dramatically since its inception and now serves as an umbrella for a multitude of research centers, research clusters, and multi-campus research projects. With these and other initiatives, the IHR serves as an incubator for new ideas and provides crucial support to faculty and students at every stage of the research process. One of its key functions is to identify promising graduate students and to help them become productive researchers through mentorship programs, fellowships, and internship opportunities. As the designated University of California, Santa Cruz Humanities Center, the IHR is part of the University of California system-wide Humanities Network and is able to leverage the human and intellectual resources of the finest public university system in the world. In honor of the 50th anniversary of UC Santa Cruz, students, staff, faculty, and alumni were invited to donate 50 hours of service to the community. The Institute for Humanities Research, no stranger to the joy of giving, enthusiastically accepted the challenge as a team effort and has logged well over 50 hours of service, to date. In this issue, we feature an interview with IHR Program Manager Courtney Mahaney, who describes her experience as a “50 for 50” champion. For more information, visit 50for50.ucsc.edu.
Pause for Paws Courtney Mahaney’s therapy dog Millie. 4
Save Our Shores (L to R): Courtney Mahaney, Irena Polic, and Evin Guy