General Meetings
Community Connections Fall Gathering 2022
When we meet
We meet on a Wednesday of each month from October through May, 11:30 am to 1:00 pm unless otherwise stated below or on the calendar. These general membership meetings typically feature a speaker or program, as well as a light lunch. Our programs are open to members and guests. Scroll down to view the full academic year program.Where we meet
Meetings are held at the beautiful UCSC Arboretum, Horticulture Building II Classroom. Detailed directions to the Arboretum can be found on the UCSC Arboretum website. After entering the Arboretum, drive past the small kiosk on your left. The road will curve uphill. Follow the road to the right and park in the gravel parking lot. The Horticultural Building II Classroom and gardens are to your left. Park and walk toward the gardens where there are two nondescript entrance ways to gravel paths. Take the lower path with the wrought iron arbor, closest to the entrance to the parking lot. The path runs along another road that leads to two redwood buildings on your right. The larger building is the Horticulture II Classroom.
Potluck Lunch Instructions
Attendees are asked to contribute to the meeting lunches. Potluck instructions.
October 2, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Fall Gathering with Fiat Musica
Meet and greet with Community Connections members as we join together in the large classroom of the Horticultural Building II at the UCSC Arboretum for our first General Meeting of the school year. Learn about our interest groups and hear from our group participants. Fiat Musica, one of our Community Connections Interest Groups, will entertain us.
November 6 , 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. with Speaker Kelly Weisberg
The General Meeting at the UCSC Arboretum features speaker Kelly Weisberg, UC Law San Francisco Professor and wife of former UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal. The topic of her presentation is "Mindfulness for Seniors and Senior Moments." She'll also comment on her favorite moments of being the Chancellor's wife.
Professor Weisberg worked at the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, where she conducted legal research on the rights of children during the International Year of the Child. She taught at Washington University School of Law, St. Louis, and has been a visiting professor at Boston University and at Hebrew University, where she was a Lady Davis Fellow. She is a member of the California Bar. Her research interests focus on issues in family law, juvenile law, and domestic violence. She has participated in federally funded studies of juvenile parole, juvenile prostitution, family violence, and sexual exploitation of children. She served as a consultant for the American Bar Association's Women on Law Faculties Study, and for a study of child abuse conducted by the American Justice Institute's National Juvenile Justice Assessment Center. She also testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention about the relationship between runaway behavior and juvenile prostitution. In 2021 Professor Weisberg received the Hope Rising Journalism Award at the International Family Justice Center Conference.
January 15, 2025, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
General Meeting at the Arboretum with Speaker George Ow
GeorgeOw was born in Santa Cruz in 1943, in the city’s Chinatown that was located just across the San Lorenzo River, near the county office building off of Ocean and Water streets. This location was the city’s fourth iteration of Chinatown, established in 1894 and dismantled in 1955. But, for the first 12 years of Ow’s life, he ingratiated himself in the community, and found a great deal of joy from his upbringing in Santa Cruz. As Ow entered adulthood, he moved around and away from Santa Cruz — attending school at Monterey Peninsula College and UCLA, then entering the draft and heading to Vietnam — before returning to his long-time home. Since returning to Santa Cruz, Ow has delved more into learning about his past, and worked with locally based historians to garner more information about his family and that of the city’s Chinatown.
February 5, 2025, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. - General Meeting with Speaker
March 5, 2025, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. - General Meeting with Speaker
March 26 - InterCampus Exchange Gathering. UCSC hosts UC Campuses from Berkeley, Davis, and Merced for a day of showing off our Santa Cruz campus.
UC Santa Cruz Community Connections invites you to SAVE the DATE for the InterCampus Gathering:
Theme: OUR VOICES WILL DEFINE THE CENTURY – THE REAL CHANGE IS US
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
UC Santa Cruz Arboretum & Botanic Gardens, Arboretum Rd, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
The day promises amazing speakers, valuable networking, music, lunch and campus tours.
Watch in the coming months for a detailed program and registration information.
We hope you will join us for an enlightening day.
April 16 - General Meeting - 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Note change of date to the 3rd Wednesday of April.
May 14 - Scholarship Luncheon - 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
UCSC Community Connections will honor the 2025 Scholarship Recipients at a festive luncheon
Date and Time: Wednesday, May 14, 2025, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Place: The Inn at Pasatiempo, 555 CA-17, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Cost: $40.00 - includes a three-course plated lunch with vegetarian options
Program: Singing by Fiat Musica Choral Group; scholarship recipients speaking about their stories and studies
Invitations: Will be sent to UCSC Community Connections members; guests are welcome
Fall 2024
Winter 2025
