Careers of distinction, UC Santa Cruz Distinguished Graduate Student Alumni
The recipients of this year’s UC Santa Cruz Distinguished Graduate Student Alumni awards are out in the world inspiring change and advancing science.
These outstanding scholars are leaders in their fields, advocating for the humanities, pioneering sustainable food practices, making breakthroughs in biology and statistics, and nurturing the careers of future composers.
Under normal circumstances, this year’s group of honorees would soon be returning to the campus that helped launch their careers as part of the Alumni Weekend celebration, which would have included an all-star panel and awards luncheon for these outstanding alumni.
However, this year’s celebration has been postponed to a future date after a review of the impacts of the coronavirus. In the meantime, UC Santa Cruz’s Graduate Division wants to share the stories of these far-ranging talents who have inspired their colleagues on campus, and gone on to contribute their skills and insights to the world.
The five graduate alumni honorees and the academic divisions they represent include:
William “Bro” D. Adams
Ph.D. history of consciousness ’82
Humanities Division
William D. Adams has become an influential champion of the humanities since graduating from UC Santa Cruz. Looking back, he can see the way his time in graduate school has helped him in his career as an academic administrator.
“In particular, the breadth of my studies in the History of Consciousness program made it possible for me to understand and speak to individuals in all parts of the university—in the humanities, of course, but also in the social sciences and the natural sciences, as well,” Adams said.
“I’ve also found that interdisciplinary thinking and competence are valuable not only for understanding various problems in the world. They’re also a wonderful platform for working with groups of people from all kinds of backgrounds on all kinds of practical issues.”
Adams was chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 2014 to 2017.
While serving in this role, he initiated several new grantmaking programs under the banner of The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square. Upon leaving NEH, Adams was named a Senior Fellow at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where he continued his national advocacy on behalf of the humanities.
Prior to NEH, Adams served as president of Colby College from 2000 to 2014, president of Bucknell University from 1995 to 2000, and vice president and secretary of Wesleyan University from 1988 to 1995. He taught political philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and at Santa Clara University, and coordinated the Great Works in Western Culture Program at Stanford University.
Adams received his Ph.D. in the History of Consciousness Program at UC Santa Cruz and his B.A. in philosophy from Colorado College. He is currently working on a book about the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the painter Paul Cézanne.
He has gone far in his career since leaving UC Santa Cruz, but getting this recent honor has made him look back on the place where he got his start.
“I have very good memories of my time at UCSC, and to be recognized for my professional work by an institution I admire is very meaningful,” he said.