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Oakes Community Building Courses
Oakes Community-Building Courses develop community and communication skills among students in supportive spaces for resilience in academics, life, and any creative endeavors.
Oakes 47: Building an Inner Sanctuary
This course invites the cultivation of one’s internal resources in order to build capacity for solidarity and community-oriented action. In the face of growing concerns around stress, trauma, and mental health on and off-campus, this class offers a framework to guide self-care as a “radical act of resistance to disconnection, marginalization and internalized oppression”
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One thing that delighted me in Oakes 47 was hearing my peers share about their personal lives. I am glad that most people shared personal confessions and stories because I found that I could relate to many people in our class. This made me feel understood, and it made me feel less alone.
In this course we explore what stories are, how they help us learn, how they shape our identity, and how they can foster social justice. Following the theme of Oakes College Core, “Communicating Diversity for a Just Society,” we use journaling and practice storytelling in different forms to express questions and insights about our lives, and connect and learn from each other.
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It is such a pleasure to hear people get real with themselves and others, and to make the audience feel alive–no longer bothered by our phones or fake problems we create, but to truly give a listening ear to someone. Storytelling is super powerful and I plan to utilize it until I die.
Oakes 73B: Mentoring
This 2-unit practicum course supports students who are mentoring new Oakes students. Mentors work as academic peer counselors, providing mentees with support, resources, and guidance as they adjust to college.
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My mentor…answered a lot of my questions about making the transition from high school to college. Especially when living away from home for the first time, she gave me many words of wisdom that I look to.” −Oakes College first year student
OAKES Community Building Faculty
Silvia Austerlic
Learning and teaching has been an ongoing thread in my life; reflecting my love for education (expanding my frames of reference; gaining diverse perspectives), innovation (making new connections, exploring new frameworks) and applied competence (applying knowledge...
Maya Escobar
Maya Escobar is the founder and CEO of Casa Blue, a branding, performance marketing and website development studio for organizations and brands with a DNA rooted in social change. Leveraging her background in community-based arts, popular education, brand...
Lindsay Knisely
Lindsay Knisely has taught writing and social justice at the University of California, Santa Cruz since 2004. She is a two-time winner of the UC Santa Cruz Excellence in Teaching Award. Lindsay is a Continuing Lecturer at Oakes College and in the Writing Program,...