2025-2026 THI Directors’ Letter
Dear Friends,
After celebrating 25 years of THI, we are stepping into the 2025-2026 academic year with renewed energy and vision. Last year, we welcomed leading thinkers to Santa Cruz including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Percival Everett, National Humanities Medal winner Marilynne Robinson, and prominent trans rights advocate Jennifer Finney Boylan. Thousands of people in Santa Cruz and around the world participated in THI events and programs. We launched a refreshed website and anniversary campaign, premiered a 25th anniversary video, and were featured in UC Santa Cruz magazine with an introduction from Chancellor Larive. We also received a certificate from Assemblymember Gail Pellerin in recognition of our support for research, student success, and public scholarship that connects the university to the world.
This year, we are focusing our annual theme on Nourishment to help cultivate the intellectual, spiritual, and social resources needed to sustain ourselves as individuals and as a collective. To center nourishment is to focus on our wellbeing and the need to replenish our inner reserves and social connections. Nourishment offers a counterforce to the challenges we face: practices of care, community, and creativity make resilience possible and flourishing imaginable. It is found in the poem that carries us through despair, the class discussion that sparks new ways of thinking, and the museum exhibition that inspires community relationships and belonging.
Our Fall Highlights email spotlights a few events in the weeks and months ahead that we encourage you to mark on your calendar. More exciting announcements are on the way, including the launch of our next Deep Read and our ± AI Initiative. At THI, we are a dynamic hub where ideas are tested, knowledge is created and shared, and new perspectives emerge.
Join us this year for our focus on nourishing not just our bodies but our minds, spirits, and communities, as we engage in the deep reflection and exchange that enables us to thrive together.
We look forward to connecting with you,
Pranav Anand, Faculty Director
Irena Polić, Managing Director
Learn more about THI’s 2025-2026 theme on our Nourishment page