A diverse group of scholars have chosen to pursue the next phase of their academic careers at UC Santa Barbara — and they’ll do so as prestigious UC President’s and Chancellor’s postdoctoral fellows.
“These fellowships are extraordinarily competitive, so we are delighted to welcome such a strong cohort to campus this year,” said Interim Graduate Dean Leila J. Rupp. “As their stories make clear, these are incredibly accomplished scholars whose diverse interests and experiences add to the richness of our community. Along with our many faculty members who started their careers as President’s Postdoctoral Fellows, they model giving forward in their research, teaching and mentoring.”
Established in 1984, the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) was created to encourage Ph.D. recipients from underrepresented communities to pursue academic careers at the University of California. The Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (CPFP) selects awardees from the PPFP pool of applicants to offer postdoctoral research fellowships and faculty mentoring to outstanding scholars in all fields.
“The PPFP reflects the UC’s commitment to advance opportunities for underrepresented scholars by identifying outstanding talent early, building community and providing supportive career mentoring,” said Maria Teresa Napoli, who serves as the director of strategic research initiatives in the UCSB Office of Research. “UC Santa Barbara is excited to welcome our new fellows, whose research will enhance our campus and scientific community.”
Originally from Los Angeles and a UCLA alum, Baig was working on his advanced degrees at Yale before returning to California. He hopes to adapt his dissertation into a book manuscript under his mentor Sherene Seikaly’s guidance. “I am particularly eager to contribute to institutional initiatives that increase access to higher education for historically underrepresented learners as well as courses, mentorship and programming designed to expose students to topical issues of race, gender and class from a global perspective,” he said.
“Baig’s position as a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCSB opens new horizons on revolutionary thought and practice in Middle East and African history,” said Seikaly, an associate professor and director of the UCSB Center for Middle East Studies. “His long experience and engagement with US-based abolition movements, his anti-imperial commitments, and his work on Algeria as a crossroads of Arab, African and South Asian politics, position him to be an exceptional partner and leader in initiatives that critically imagine what an internationalist abolitionist agenda might look like.”
Last year’s Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Eupha Jeanne Daramola, a postdoctoral scholar at the Gevirtz School of Education, was able to renew her placement and continue her research on how racism and racial dynamics shape K–12 policy design and implementation.