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(H)ACER Faculty & Staff

Faculty Chair

Flora Lu

Flora Lu is the Pepper-Giberson Endowed Chair and Professor of Environmental Studies at UCSC and Provost of College Nine and John R. Lewis College. She earned her A.B. in Human Biology from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As an ecological anthropologist, Flora is interested in human/environment dynamics in tropical rainforests, the political economy of oil extraction, resource governance, household economics, and environmental justice. She is committed to forging stronger and more equitable campus/community relationships and collaborations. A faculty member at UCSC since 2008, Flora is the recipient of the Division of Social Sciences “Golden Apple” Distinguished Teaching Award (2010); Committee on Teaching's Excellence in Teaching Award (2011); and Chancellor’s Diversity Award (2016, for the People of Color Sustainability Collective). She has served on the Board of Directors of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice since 2011.

Linnea K. Beckett

Linnea Beckett received her Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Context of Education, with a designated emphasis in Feminist Studies from UC Santa Cruz. As an anthropologist of education, Linnea uses critical ethnography and participatory methodologies to examine settler colonial and white supremacist practices often normalized in school and community relations. Her dissertation research documented a long-term, popular educationand digital storytelling effort in a predominately Latinx, California farm-working community with a rich history of resistance. Linnea is the Co-Founder and Director of the Apprenticeship in Community Engaged Research program in the Division of Social Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. There, she works with undergraduate students in conducting their own critical ethnographies in addition to other research projects directed toward understanding the complexities and potential impacts of community-engaged research. She teaches CLTE 135: Social Justice, Institutions & Power (Fall Quarter), (H)ACER Practicums (Spring Quarter) and supervises 2-unit internships.

Michelle Hernández

Michelle Hernández is a recent UC Santa Cruz graduate where she received her B.S. in Cognitive Science. In 2016 she became a Supporting Undergraduates by Promoting Education, Research, Diversity, and Agricultural Resilience (SUPERDAR) Research Fellow, under the mentorship of Flora Lu and Linnea Beckett. Through their mentorship she was introduced to and trained in community engaged ethnographic research methodologies. While promoting food and environmental justice in a low income community, Michelle began studying parent perceptions of the function and value of a community garden in an elementary school in Watsonville, CA. She continues to support this research by working closely with parents of the community, facilitating community meetings and events in the garden. Michelle hopes to bridge the gaps between UCSC and the rest of our county community and help strengthen current relationships. Being a first generation, AB540 college graduate she also hopes to support empower and center students of color in community engaged research and community learning projects.

Robert Majzler

Bob Majzler holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz and his research interests include racial and gender identity development; social psychology of social movements; and critical, feminist, and liberation psychologies. In addition to teaching CLTE 136 Methodologies of Critical Practice, he also teaches the John R. Lewis College Core course and other undergraduate research courses at College Nine and John R. Lewis College, utilizing the Slug Stories Project. Bob enjoys travelling, learning languages, and sports.

Luna Ramirez Hernandez
Luna Ramirez Hernandez is of Otomi ancestry born on the traditional territory of the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok Peoples, which today is known as Santa Rosa (CA), that was first occupied, and continues to be occupied by colonial and capitalist violence. Luna began her higher education at her local community college, and now, ten years later, she is completing her last undergraduate year at UC Santa Cruz where she is double majoring in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies and Anthropology. Currently Luna is the (H)ACER program undergraduate researcher, examining garden-based science education through a decolonial framework, which includes the development of an anti-colonial, anti-racist garden curriculum.

Kayla Gomez
Kayla Gomez is a second year majoring in Politics. Participating in last year's Alternative Spring Break reminded her of home in the Central Valley and it helped her find a sense of community in Watsonville. As Co-Lead, her goal is to plan activities and facilitate conversations that will leave a meaningful impact on the lives of students and community members.

Sean Butawan
Sean Butawan is a second-year majoring in Computer Game Design from the North San Francisco Bay Area. He participated in Alternative Spring Break last year and was inspired by the power of community to lead it. One of his goals is to encourage and inspire students to step outside of their comfort zones through ASB. As Co-Lead, he hopes to engage participants and communtity members in conversations about the importance of community building.

Fuey Saefong
Fuey Saefong is a 4th year senior majoring in Biology. She is originally from South Sacramento. In her first year at UC Santa Cruz, she joined Praxis and has been an active member since. Besides her participation in Praxis, she has participated in the Practical Activism Conference and has taken the CLTE 85: Social Justice Issues Workshop class. She will be the (H)ACER CUIP for Praxis 2019-2020. As the (H)ACER CUIP, she hopes to foster a connection between Santa Cruz and its surrounding communities through the execution of various community service opportunities for College Nine and John R. Lewis College students.