“The Life of a Showgirl” isn’t just an album drop — it’s a cultural event. In Music Professor Nancy Guy's new course, Reading and Writing #TaylorSwift, students decode Swift’s lyrics, fandom, and global impact. 🎶 “The thrill of decoding,” Guy says, “is central to the Swiftie experience.”

Congrats to Rusteen Honardoost, whose film “Kaiju Kid” recently won Best Comics-Oriented Film as a part of the San Diego Comic-Con Independent Film Festival! The live-action and stop-motion story is about a little boy who plays kaiju to terrorize his sister—and how she exacts her revenge.

Tariffs, a form of taxes placed on imported goods, have been used since the 18th century. What function do they serve for consumers, businesses, the markets and the broader global economy? We asked a historian, economist, political scientist and finance professor: bit.ly/3GTyBhM.

Colby Muhammad plays Kat Richardson on CBS’s “Beyond the Gates,” the first new daytime soap opera on a major broadcast network in 25 years. We caught up with Colby, a UC San Diego MFA acting alumna, to hear more about her exciting career, from auditions to fast-paced filming. Q&A: bit.ly/3IjWZJR

Did you know? In Japan, storytelling in silent films was led by a benshi, a professional orator who narrated the movie’s plot and dialogue. “They were actually the first stars of film culture in Japan,” says Professor of Literature Daisuke Miyao, who studies film history. Read more: bit.ly/4luWvP6

Can you witness cognition in motion? UC San Diego’s Ying Choon Wu and artist Rhonda Holberton team up with Mandeville Art Gallery curator Ceci Moss to explore consciousness and AI in the Simons Foundation’s Open Interval Program. #OpenInterval #SciArt More: bit.ly/3FZ6qNR

King Britt has spent more than 30 years composing, producing, and performing electronic music. In 2020, he started teaching a course at UC San Diego called, “Blacktronika: Afrofuturism in Electronic Music." He will perform and discuss the unique class at an upcoming Juneteenth Jubilee celebration.

AI is getting smarter. Will it eventually undermine our sense of who we are as humans? As both a philosopher and data scientist, Professor David Danks is at the nexus of these big questions. Discover his insights in our latest Q&A: bit.ly/3HvY5lb

Congratulations to Associate Professor of Literature Brandon Som on receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship! The grant is based on both prior career achievement—which for Som includes a 2024 Pulitzer Prize in poetry—as well as exceptional promise. Read more on his upcoming book of poetry: bit.ly/42WuLN1

Our students have big dreams: from acting on Broadway to writing a Pulitzer prize-winning novel and playing in the LA philharmonic. This Triton Giving Day, help sustain this success program for future students. Every gift makes a difference: bit.ly/3QJ09YQ. #tritongivingday

We are one week away from Triton Giving Day (April 30)! But if you want to give early to a School of Arts and Humanities program, you can. Help transfer students successfully transition to campus and grow hands-on learning at our gallery. All gifts make an impact: bit.ly/3QJ09YQ #tritongivingday

"Green Memories" is a 20-minute immersive sound and video installation by UC San Diego faculty artists Shahrokh Yadegari (Music) and Memo Akten (Visual Arts). Blending poetry, AI, and 32-channel sound, it invites reflection on our earth. See it as part of the WOW Festival April 24–27: bit.ly/44sxWx0

He’s been described as “a cellist of uncommon gifts.” Peter Ko first enrolled at UC San Diego as a computer engineering student, but soon switched to music. Now a doctoral candidate in contemporary music and cello performance, he is thriving.

At UC San Diego, we're not just imagining the future, we're building it. Innovation requires investment, and without federal support, progress slows. We must protect research funding. Join us in advocating: bit.ly/3FlXQs3 #BehindEveryBreakthrough #SaveResearch #UCSanDiego

The Philosophical Gourmet Report ranked UC San Diego's graduate program in philosophy 16th in the U.S. The program also ranked top 2 for the philosophy of Kant; top 4 for the philosophy of action; top 6 for the philosophy of physics; and top 7 for general philosophy of science. More: bit.ly/4hkLo99.

We are excited to announce that the Mellon Foundation has awarded a joint $3M grant to support the PATH program, an initiative led by the School of Arts and Humanities and San Diego Community College District that prepares transfer students for careers in the arts and humanities.

It’s not merely a form of fashion design, a common misconception. Graduate costume design students take us behind the scenes as they conducted months of research and collaborated with stitchers to bring to life two powerful plays: “Hedda Gabler” & “Vinegar Tom.” See the full video: bit.ly/4jDbI0E

The New Yorker's Alex Ross recently visited UC San Diego's Department of Music to hear Professor Steven Schick and ensemble red fish blue fish perform new compositions by alumni Chaya Czernowin and Sarah Hennies. “Sometimes I think that Czernowin is our greatest living composer,” said Ross.

Professor of Music Nancy Guy is passionate about discovering and sharing the diverse ways music shapes culture and society in Taiwan. She was recently appointed the inaugural Chiu-Shan and Rufina Chen Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Taiwan Studies. More: go.ucsd.edu/4atvp6N.

A series of three events will be held in honor of the 10th anniversary of the Reed Family Concert, including a film screening, a performance by percussion ensemble red fish blue fish and a signature event that merges the talents of faculty, students and alumni. Learn more: https://buff.ly/3DHKYeL.

We recently visited an Introduction to Theatre Design class to explore the 3D scale models of unique stage designs for the play “Eurydice.” In the course, students learn the visual arts of theatre, from play analysis and technical production to scale model making and costume design.

Get a behind-the-scenes look at how the stage was built for the recent production of “Hedda Gabler.” UC San Diego Theatre and Dance MFA students in costume, scenic, lighting and sound design collaborate directly with professional theatre artisans to make their shows come to life.

Congratulations to Associate Professor of Philosophy Eddy Keming Chen, who has been awarded a $325,000 grant by the John Templeton Foundation to investigate big questions about the smallest parts of our universe. Read more: bit.ly/3Zh7nH0