Victor Rios and Jeffrey Stewart

Victor Rios and Jeffrey Stewart in Isla Vista

Jeffrey Stewart, affiliated faculty member with the Gevirtz School, and Victor Rios, co-founder of the Center for Publicly Engaged Scholarship, partially housed in the Gevirtz School, have been named to John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Chairs.

Stewart is a professor of Black Studies and Rios is a professor of sociology. Each professorship will be supported by a $1 million endowment for a five-year term, and the annual earnings on those funds will finance a range of activities.

Their project, “A New Eden in Southern California: Promoting Black and Brown Futures in Resilient Communities,” will include scholarly research, artistic projects and performances, and inclusive off-campus programs. The aim, they said, is to create interdisciplinary dialogues about racial and social justice, as well as public policy issues such as policing and criminal justice, that develop new models of community engagement and social sustainability for Black and Brown urban youth.

To learn more, read the full story “Building Futures” on UCSB’s The Current.