The AdCRC educates, promotes, and encourages interaction and dialogue among the diverse ethnic and cultural groups within the African diasporic communities of UCSB.
It promotes cross-cultural learning and interaction amongst all student identity groups. The AdCRC is an environment for students, staff, faculty and community members to develop an understanding of and appreciation for the diverse African diasporic identities represented by Black Gauchos at UCSB and beyond. AdCRC staff members and partners strive to create and maintain a welcoming atmosphere for all to acquire and exchange knowledge of African diasporic identities and cultures.
The AdCRC promotes the holistic development of diverse Black and African Gaucho students by addressing specific areas: academic excellence, cultural awareness, leadership development, social involvement, and proactive civic engagement. As a result of its legacy in developing Black and African Gaucho students in these areas, the AdCRC ensures their successful retention, graduation, and matriculation to advanced degree programs and to desired career paths.
A Letter from the AdCRC
Tara Jones, PhD
AdCRC Coordinator
Academic Counselor III
Welcome to UCSB, Black Gauchos! I hold a PhD in Depth Psychology, specializing in Community, Liberation, & Eco-Psychologies at Pacifica Graduate Institute. I hold a Masters in the Science of Teaching, a Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology, a Master’s of Arts in Depth Psychology from PGI, and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Sociology and Black Studies from UCSB, and graduated with honors and distinction in my major. I have served as a: public school teacher, teacher educator, social-emotional learning facilitator for teens and young adults, psychotherapist, community mental health expert, and employment specialist. As a scholar, I research the ecology of well-being in U.S. public education, cross-professional applications of counseling to teaching, Pan-African traditions of fugitivity in education, Black womxn’s activism as a response to Black maternal necropolitics, and Black university womxn’s wellness. My scholarly work has been published in the journal, Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, and my visual art has appeared on covers of the National Conference of Black Political Science’s journal, National Political Science Review and been on exhibit at UCSB’s Multicultural Center. I am the 2022 winner of the Caribbean Philosophical Association’s Anna Julia Cooper Award.
As a first-generation college student and child of immigrant parents, I took full advantage of many of the amazing opportunities that UCSB had to offer and developed a commitment to service to my peers through serving as a: two-year Resident Assistant, CLAS Writing Tutor, Disabled Students Services Note-taker and Test Proctor, Student Assistant in the Center for Research in Black Studies, Course Assistant in the Sociology Department, and a member of the security team at Davidson Library. I also studied abroad in the United Kingdom through the Education Abroad Program and was a Teach for America corps member. I also served at UCSB as a Resident Director for Anacapa Hall and San Rafael Hall.
Having come full circle, I am honored to come home to my alma mater to once again serve my fellow Gauchos, and to pay forward the gifts of mentorship, guidance, and support that the professional staff and faculty members at UCSB gave to me. I invite you to make full use of the African diasporic Cultural Resource Center, our space, peer mentorship, and programs, and to take advantage of the benefits that EOP provides through our holistic counseling services. No matter where you are from or where your ancestral roots lie within and beyond the African diaspora, there is a special place for you in EOP and at the AdCRC!
Inside IV: UCSB's African diasporic Cultural Resource Center
Discover UC Santa Barbara's African diasporic Cultural Resource Center (AdCRC)—and all of the good things it has to offer students. KCSB's Clarissa Rios speaks with Tara Jones, coordinator of the AdCRC and EOP academic counselor, and peer mentor Kabo Mosetse.
Mentorship Program: Students Empowering Students
EOP is proud of its peer program model, as it was the first program of its kind at UCSB. Our Mentors go through intensive training to assist and empower students to make an academically and socially successful transition to University life. EOP Mentors are dynamic student leaders from various class levels, academic interests and career goals. They are involved with campus life, student organizations and other support services.
Mentors are assigned to incoming students and maintain contact on a regular basis throughout the academic year. They hold office hours and coordinate programs in the Residence Halls and the Cultural Resource Centers.
External Website
AdCRC Website
STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES
Allison Jackson Memorial Scholarship
The Allison Jackson Memorial Scholarship was established by family and friends, in memory of Allison Lilia Jackson, who died in early September 1988, just prior to beginning her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
AdCRC Signature Program
Annual Celebration of the Black Gaucho Family Weekend (CBGFW)
Saturday, November 2, 2024 | 12-2 pm
Celebration of the Black Gaucho Family Weekend, in conjunction with UCSB’s Parent & Family Weekend provides a safer space for diverse Black & African Gaucho families and students to celebrate and cultivate a sense of community.
AdCRC Weekly Programs
Coffee and Culture
The AdCRC Peer Mentors collaborate with a different Black student organization each week to co-host a culturally themed two-hour study jam in the AdCRC. Attending these weekly gatherings allows Black students to build a culturally-based scholarly community, share knowledge and information, engage in scholarly discourse and share resources to support Black student academic achievement. AdCRC Peer Mentors provide healthy snacks, test materials (i.e. blue books, scantrons, etc.), and promote EOP holistic counseling services to help build a culture of Black student achievement. Black EOP Academic Achievement Counselors attend weekly to provide outreach and support to Black students.
Sister Circle–Weekly Black Womxn’s Support Group
The Educational Opportunity Program’s AdCRC Coordinator, Tara Jones, and Counseling & Psychological Services’s BSU Psychologist, Dominique Broussard co-facilitate a weekly Black womxn’s support group for Black womxn and non-men in the AdCRC. Through the Sister Circle, students build community, discuss issues affecting Black womxn and non-men at UCSB, strategies solutions to common challenges, cultivate tools for personal development, and learn about campus and community resources to support their holistic development. The Sister Circle also hosts an annual Black Womxn’s Wellness Conference & Retreat, providing Black womxn-led psycho-education workshop presentations, community-building activities, group exercise, and meditation practices to support community building and Black womxn’s and non-men’s holistic wellness.
Events/Programs
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Useful Links
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