Write to Change the World

Ignacio Lopez-Calvo
Center for the Humanities
UC Merced

The “Write to Change the World” program built the capacity of UC researchers to translate their work for the public and engage with the media based on their areas of expertise. At the same time, the program expanded the networks of fellows across the UC system, providing them with both physical and virtual spaces for interaction. The program’s focus was on increasing underrepresented voices within the media and to that end, it extended a special invitation to the President’s Postdoctoral Fellows to participate in the program, in addition to UC faculty. In partnership with the OpEd Project, organizers host three one-day workshops at UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, and UC Merced, with 22 fellows in each workshop, drawing from nine UC campuses, for a total of 66 fellows the following year. After the one-day workshop, fellows had access to a yearlong media mentorship.