Building Belonging Program

The UCSC Building Belonging program offers paid research opportunities for undergraduate students to work with faculty mentors in the Social Sciences on service-learning and research projects. The program was developed to enable and expand engagement between students and faculty, and also give students a firmer sense of belonging and acceptance at a research university. Priority consideration is given to students who are EOP-eligible, first-generation, or from low-income backgrounds.

Award: The program is offered through the Institute for Social Transformation in the Division of Social Sciences. The institute awards up to 100 Building Belonging undergraduate scholarships each academic year. Faculty apply to the program, and if selected, can choose to mentor up to 4 students per academic year. Student fellows receive $1500 per quarter and are expected to contribute approximately 80-90 hours per quarter to the project. Making these opportunities paid rather than volunteer opens them up to students with limited financial means.

Eligibility: This program is open to all students consistent with state and federal law, the UC Nondiscrimination Statement and the Nondiscrimination Policy Statement for University of California Publications Regarding Student-Related Matters.  We encourage students who have EOP status or come from historically disadvantaged backgrounds including: first-generation, low income, undocumented, or students who have experienced foster care, homelessness, or incarceration, to apply for this program. As the goal is to build a sense of belonging among current students, participating students must be enrolled in at least 6 credits at UCSC for the term requested (except summer). Students can not participate in the program post-graduation. We encourage faculty members to recruit students who are not in their final year for these mentoring opportunities. Please note that if the proposed research project is connected or related to a class or independent study where students receive credit, the research must be separate and distinct from the class work. In other words, students cannot receive a Building Belonging scholarship payment for work where they are also receiving course credit. All student fellows will be required to participate in the Building Belonging Research Symposium in the spring (summer fellows can participate the following year).