OAKS - Oakes College

OAKS1 Academic Literacy and Ethos: Communicating Diversity for a Just Society

Teaches foundational concepts for intellectual exploration and personal development within an academic community: analysis, critical thinking, metacognition, engagement with others across difference, and self-efficacy. The Oakes core course considers the intersections between reading, personal and social identities, and social justice.

Credits

5

OAKS3L Precalculus Academy Lab

Students use worksheets designed to help them solve problems by thinking critically, and participate in answering project-based questions relevant to the themes of their college core courses. Prerequisite(s): Mathematics 2 or placement (MP) score of 200 or higher. Concurrent enrollment in Mathematics 3 is required. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor.

Credits

2

OAKS10 Academic Success

Provides opportunity to assess and revise methods of and purposes in studying. Critical, effective approaches to reading, writing, participating in lectures and sections, taking exams, balancing competing responsibilities, and utilizing campus resources explored. Enrollment by permission of college adviser.

Credits

2

OAKS11 Foundation of Leadership

Teaches leadership skills to create effective teams, and motivates individuals to communicate effectively with teammates with different styles. Enrollment is restricted to first-year and sophomore college members and by permission of instructor.

Credits

3

OAKS30 Thesis Writing and Editing

Substantial writing and revision for a piece of writing relevant to a student's field. Focuses on academic research, documentation, editing, and revision. Enrollment restricted to junior and senior college members. Enrollment by permission of instructor.

Credits

2

OAKS47 Building an Inner Sanctuary

Through experiential methodologies of self-leadership and mind-body practices, this course encourages students to discover and flex those internal resources which enhance resilience, foster psycho-emotional and community-building skills, and affirm their cultural dignity. Enrollment is by application and permission of the instructor.

Credits

2

OAKS48 Slugs Speak: Our Stories, Our Selves

Students learn about the power of story to make change through this Storytelling for Justice project. Students practice developing personal life stories, learn to create and facilitate community space, and participate in a community storytelling event focused on intersectional identities.

Credits

2

OAKS60 Oakes Literary Journal: Further Reflections on a Diverse Society

For publication in an Oakes College literary journal, students significantly refine an essay from the fall quarter Oakes College core course. Course work includes consideration of a substantive text that engages core course themes and promotes the focus of the essay.

Credits

2

OAKS67 The Politics of Food: Labor and Social Justice

Engages the themes of Oakes College (respect for diversity and social justice) and the interests of UCSC's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. Topics include the racial politics of food, farm labor, organic farming, and activism.

Credits

2

OAKS70 Diverse Voices in Contemporary American Women's Poetry

Students examine issues in the work of contemporary American women poets representing a range of cultural, sexual, socioeconomic, and ideological identities. Discussion focuses on theories of poetics as well as poetry analysis and interpretation within the context of social and cultural identity. Students create a portfolio of their own poetry in response to weekly prompts.

Credits

2

OAKS72 Building the Strength to Love and Dream: Oakes Oral History Project

Students study the founding and development of Oakes College through oral history. Students immerse themselves in thorough background research and build skills necessary to conduct oral histories with previous Oakes affiliates, revising pieces suitable for publication.

Credits

5

OAKS73B Oakes College Mentoring: Service Learning Practicum

Mentors introduce first-year students to campus resources, provide them with academic support, share academic successes and difficulties, and offer guidance on college adjustment. Enrollment is restricted to College members. Please apply to be a mentor or a mentee online on the Oakes College Mentoring website.

Credits

2

OAKS75 Oakes Student Developmentand Leadership Theory

Overview of theories, methods, applications, skills, and special topics focusing on college student development and leadership. Uses a variety of learning modes including lecture, discussion, case studies, small group interaction, and presentations. Interview only: see Oakes coordinator for residential education during spring enrollment period. Enrollment restricted to Oakes College members.

Credits

2

OAKS76 Social Geography and Justice in Santa Cruz

Explores how social identities, life practices, and power are reflected and shaped by the spaces and places we live in. Combines local history and contemporary research with placements in the community focusing on justice for children, youth, and families; topics vary by year and seek to build on the understanding and community relationships advanced through winter quarter research.

Credits

5

OAKS80H Rainbow Theater Cultural Studies

Introduction to multicultural theater and multicultural plays that aims to bring cultural awareness to all students interested in theater discipline. Students are required to read and critically analyze contemporary plays of color with emphasis on race and culture in contemporary American society.

Credits

5

OAKS93 Field Study

Supervised off-campus study conducted under the immediate and direct guidance of a faculty supervisor. To be used primarily by lower-division students doing part-time off-campus study. Prerequisite(s): approval of student's adviser, certification of adequate preparation, approval of provost.

Credits

5

OAKS94F Group Tutorial

A program of independent study arranged between a group of students and a faculty instructor. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

Credits

2

OAKS95 Directed Reading

Directed reading on selected topics in literature. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

Credits

5

OAKS99 Tutorial

Individual study for lower-division students directed by a fellow of Oakes. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

Credits

5

OAKS99F Independent Study

Independent study on various topics to be arranged between student and instructor. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

Credits

2

OAKS130 Writing Resistance: Creative Writing Workshop

Engages diasporic and people of color (POC) writers whose work inspires social justice. Through course materials and creative exercises, students examine and break down the roadblocks that create silence. Focuses on the craft of writing, and revision and performance to create socially relevant and powerful words through community engagement.

Credits

5

OAKS134 Diasporic Central Americans

Engages literature and culture from multiple generations of diasporic Central Americans in the U.S. whose work inspires conversations on politics and identity. Through course materials and oral history projects, examines the (in)visibility of this emergent Latinx group. Focus on oral history, aesthetics, poetics, and projects of representation.

Credits

5

OAKS150 Queer History and Theory in the United States

Gives students a broad overview of the historical and social construction of queer identities in the United States. Through assigned readings and archival research, students contribute to the project of documenting queer history in the present. Students also examine how queer theory addresses the meanings that U.S. politics and culture have placed on sexual orientation over time.

Credits

5

OAKS151A Corre la Voz: Community Literacies and Power Seminar

Required seminar for first-quarter students in the Corre la Voz program. Examines theories, curriculum design, and teaching methods that emphasize social connection, leadership, verbal enrichment, multi-modal literacies, and community empowerment. Taken concurrently with field study. Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements. Co-requisite(s): course 151B. Enrollment is by interview only and successful application to the Corre la Voz program. (Formerly Corre la Voz: Community Literacies and Power.)

Credits

2

OAKS151B Community Literacies Field Study

Field study for Corre la Voz interns. Intensive on-site training and participation in team teaching of dual-language (Spanish English) students (4th-5th grade). Literacies include social-emotional, expressive (artistic/dramatic), collaborative problem-solving, academic, and use of digital tools as well as traditional tools. Enrollment by interview only, and successful application to the Corre la Voz program. Concurrent enrollment in course 151A is required during the first quarter after which course 151B may be repeated by itself.

Credits

3

OAKS152 Transformative Literacies

Combines a seminar on critical inquiry into different theories and practices of transformative literacy work with community-service placement or a creative project to assist a local organization in its mission communicating internally and externally.

Credits

5

OAKS153 Community Mapping

Students study the theories and methods of community mapping, and work in research teams to design and conduct social-research projects. Emphasizes research questions that focus on assets and capacities, as well as on participatory-action research for justice.

Credits

5

OAKS167 Food Systems: Culture, Social Justice, Sustainability

Examines the complexities of food systems with special attention to labor practices, food access, and food production. Students consider the nature of culture in advancing problematic notions of food options and sustainability. A service-learning project is required.

Credits

5

OAKS170F Freedom and Race

Interrogates the relationship between freedom and race in our current political moment by looking to historical and theoretical models that inform the present. Considers how race operates in legal, scientific, and visual discourses to shape individual and collective freedoms.

Credits

5

OAKS188B Legal Field Practice: Professional Skills and Ethics

Offers placement, standards, and support during on-site experiential training in professional skills and ethics for students working in the legal field or with legal information to empower under-served communities. Concurrent enrollment in LGST 188A or OAKS 188A and by permission of instructor.

Credits

3

OAKS192 Directed Student Teaching

Teaching a lower-division seminar under faculty supervision. (See course 42.) Prerequisite(s): upper-division standing in Oakes; a proposal supported by a faculty member willing to supervise.

Credits

5

OAKS193 Field Study

Supervised off-campus study conducted under the immediate and direct guidance of a faculty supervisor. To be used primarily by upper-division students doing part-time off-campus study. Prerequisite(s): approval of student's adviser, certification of adequate preparation, approval of provost. If taking two or more such courses in any one quarter, must obtain approval of academic adviser.

Credits

5

OAKS195 Senior Thesis

Senior thesis related to college-sponsored individual majors. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. Sponsoring faculty must be member of individual major committee.

Credits

5

OAKS198 Independent Field Study

College-sponsored individual study programs off campus for which faculty supervision is not in person (e.g., supervision is by correspondence). Up to three such courses may be taken for credit in any one quarter. Prerequisite(s): approval of the student's adviser, certification of adequate preparation, and approval by provost.

Credits

5

OAKS199 Tutorial

Individual study for junior and senior members of Oakes College directed by a fellow of Oakes. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

Credits

5

OAKS199F Tutorial

Independent study on various topics to be arranged between student and instructor. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

Credits

2