Scholarships, Awards, and Funding

Dr. Barton “Bart” Rubin (1957-2021) graduated from Kresge College at UC Santa Cruz in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. A native of Philadelphia and first generation college student, Bart fell in love with the UCSC campus and was deeply moved by his time here. Bart’s career interests focused on family therapy, and helping those with ADD and ADHD. In his last years, he became focused on advances in the field of psychedelic therapy and MDMA therapy. The Rubin family has a strong connection to UC Santa Cruz. Bart met his wife, Carol Odsess (Kresge ‘79, Psychology), in an Introduction to Marxism class in the Community Studies Department, and along with their sons, Josh and Adam Odsess-Rubin, they returned often to visit the campus. Adam attended Porter College and graduated with a degree in Community Studies in 2014.

Dr. Rubin was a believer in tikkun olam, the Jewish concept of healing the world, and would put positive outcomes for his clients above all else. Dr. Rubin was always focused on others–making his clients, students, friends, and family feel listened to and encouraged.

Dr. Rubin’s clients and peers described him as “compassionate,” “gutsy,” “kind,” “crazy creative with a huge heart and an incisive mind,” “full of humor and infectious enthusiasm,” and “a person of tremendous energy, endless intellectual curiosity, a natural leader” who “modeled passionate, unconditional, and diligent dedication to the cause of helping and healing…and he did that by giving himself completely.” 

Dr. Rubin also believed in community, whether creating it at his Institute or building it amongst his community of practitioners in Northern California and through talking to experts around the world. 

Finally, Dr. Rubin had a strong mischievous and rebellious side that wasn’t afraid to challenge conventional wisdom or social mores. Dr. Rubin loved the “hippy” side of Santa Cruz, and certainly brought that nonconforming spirit into his life and work. He personified the quintessential 70’s UCSC student.

Dr. Aaronette White, a professor of social psychology and associate dean of equity and social responsibility in the Division of Social Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, was an accomplished scholar and fierce social justice activist whose interdisciplinary work impacted many fields, including psychology, women’s studies and African studies. 

Dr. White earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri and her masters and doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis. She joined UC Santa Cruz as an associate professor in 2008, after teaching at Pennsylvania State University. She had affiliations with a variety of institutions around the world. She passed away in 2012 at the age of 51.

Some of her principal areas of scholarship include political violence and peace building, Black feminist theory and practice, and social justice pedagogies in higher education.

One of her primary goals was to center the choices of marginalized or silenced groups. She adopted a nuanced intersectional perspective to highlight how diverse social identities interact with race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, and gender to shape lived experiences. It is this ethos we would like to honor with the endowed award in her memory.

The Aaronette White Library and Reflection Room (Social Sciences 2, Room 342) was created to keep Professor White’s books and other materials together in one space.

Frank X. Barron, professor emeritus of psychology and one of UC Santa Cruz’s most distinguished faculty, was internationally renowned for his study of creativity and personality. He was a major contributor to the development of UC Santa Cruz and its Psychology Department.

In 2005, an endowment was established in Professor Barron’s honor to fund the Frank X. Barron Memorial Award in Creativity Research. 

Professor Barron came to UC Santa Cruz in 1969 and taught courses in personality and human creativity. He helped establish UC Santa Cruz as a campus where serious courses in the psychological study of creativity are routinely offered to undergraduates, where creativity research is a respected enterprise, and where students and faculty alike understand that human creativity can contribute to psychological health, personal freedom, and social well-being. He was a fellow of Porter College and served as chair of the Psychology Department. Professor Barron died October 6, 2002, at the age of 80.

Professor Barron received his Ph.D. in 1950 from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to coming to UC Santa Cruz, he taught at Harvard, Bryn Mawr, University of Hawaii, and Wesleyan. He developed much of his work as a founding member of the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research at UC Berkeley from 1949 to 1968. His pioneering studies of creative writers, architects, research scientists, and mathematicians still stand as classics in the field of creativity research. His work played a crucial role in helping to shift personality psychology’s focus away from psychopathology toward psychological health and personal vitality.

Professor Barron was a Guggenheim Fellow, Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and SSRC Faculty Research Fellow. In 1969 he was awarded the American Psychological Association’s Richardson Creativity Award, and he was president of the APA’s Humanistic Division from 1989 to 1990. In 1995 he was honored with the Rudolf Arnheim Award for outstanding contribution to psychology and the arts.

Professor Barron’s publications included Creativity and Psychological Health (considered one of the world’s major works on the topic of creativity), Creativity and Personal Freedom, Creative Person and Creative Process, Scientific Creativity (with C. W. Taylor), Artists in the Making, The Shaping of Personality, No Rootless Flower: An Ecology of Creativity, and an anthology, Creators on Creating. He contributed to Scientific American, Encyclopedia Britannica, Science, Contemporary Psychology, Journal of Personality, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, and other scholarly journals in psychology and education. Read more about Professor Barron’s incredible life. 

Federico Perlino died in 1981, and Rena Perlino died on October 20, 2003. Together, they had owned and operated Perlino’s Poultry Market on Front Street in Santa Cruz, the current site of the Santa Cruz Community Bank, from 1930 to 1960. The Perlinos bequeathed their estate to be used to benefit the local community, and the UC Santa Cruz Psychology Department is one of several local beneficiaries. John R. Biondi, the Perlinos’ friend and financial consultant, was their estate’s executor. 

Professor Bridgeman will be remembered for his sharp intellect, genuine sense of humor, intellectual curiosity, thoughtful mentorship, gentle personality, musical talent, and as a committed peace, social justice, and environmental advocate. 

His research centered on spatial orientation by vision and perception/action interactions. His intellectual interests also included the functions and neural basis of consciousness. He was the author of Psychology and Evolution: The Origins of Mind (Sage Press, 2003), and more than 350 articles, chapters, and other publications. At the time of his death, Bridgeman had numerous papers in process and in press. He was also highly dedicated to his role as editor-in-chief of the international journal Consciousness and Cognition.

He enjoyed teaching and taking an active mentorship role with both undergraduate and graduate students. For decades, students in his lab received a hands-on understanding of experimental research, and frequently published articles and presented at conferences with him. 

Bridgeman also had an enormous depth of knowledge and interest in history, music, the environment, and, of course, science. 

Bridgeman was an eager advocate of his wife Diane’s work, including her clinical psychology practice, and her efforts with various professional and community organizations, such as the Monterey Bay Psychological Association, the American Psychological Association, and the Santa Cruz Red Cross, as coordinator of its disaster mental health team and its international services committee. He and Diane participated in and were supporters of many professional and community organizations. Read more about Professor Bridgeman’s life.