In Their Words: Noa Lewin

Name: Noa Lewin

Department: Psychology, Sociology Minor

What Award/ Scholarship did you receive? Dean’s Undergraduate Award for the Division of Social Sciences

What year do you expect to graduate? June 2018

College: Kresge

Where do you call home? Nevada City, California.

With all of the choices for college, what made UC Santa Cruz stand out? I liked the location. Also, I was interested in social psychology at the time I was looking to transfer, and I heard UCSC had a good program for that.

What is your field of focus? I’m particularly interested in disability representation in the media and being critical of the stigma surrounding disability that many types of media often reflect and perpetuate. The study for which I received the award was about autism representation in news articles on The Washington Post website. I’m also very interested in examining negative, normalized ways of conceptualizing disability and criticizing therapies used on autistic people (e.g., whether a therapy promotes well-being or normalization at the expense of the autistic person’s mental health).

What do you hope to do once you graduate from UC Santa Cruz? I’m interested in exploring different ways I can give back to my community, specifically through areas like public policy and grassroots organizing. I would eventually like to go to graduate school and spend more time doing research and writing papers. At the moment I am considering returning to school to get a degree in disability studies or a similar field and teach at a university, although another option I have been thinking about is going to law school to study disability or special education law.

What is one memorable moment that stands out for you as a student here? Although this isn’t one moment, I would have to say all of the memories I made with different people I connected with have made a huge impact on the person I have become during my time as a student at UCSC.

What is your one piece of advice for incoming students about life at UC Santa Cruz?
Take the opportunity to explore a variety of subjects. Consider all of the different perspectives you can take when exploring one particular topic.

How will this scholarship impact your academic life /research? It will give me It will give me funds to buy journal articles, books, and other material to pursue future research, and help with covering travelling and admission expenses for presenting research.