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Arts Division
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Executive Director, Arts Research Institute
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Dr. Holly Unruh is the Executive Director of the Arts Research Institute at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), where she leads campus and system-wide initiatives supporting UC faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students involved in creative research, scholarship, and publicly-engaged practice. She directs the Arts Research Institute’s prestigious Graduate Fellows program in partnership with Strategic Planning Partners (SPP), providing professional and creative development specifically for practicing artists wanting to grow and maintain a successful artistic career, as well as the UCSC Pathways to the Professoriate in the Arts and Humanities program. Funded by the University of California-Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative the Pathways program provides students from UC Santa Cruz and California State University Monterey Bay with faculty mentorship, summer research experiences, and professional development workshops.
Prior to joining UCSC, Unruh served as the Associate Director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center (UROC) at CSU Monterey Bay, where she managed an extensive interdisciplinary grant portfolio focused on underrepresented student success, and served as faculty fellow for Undergraduate Research, Student Engagement, and Academic Initiatives through the CSU Office of the Chancellor. From 2006-2014 she was Associate Director of the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, a statewide program dedicated to supporting and promoting arts practice and research across the University of California system, a position she held concurrently with her appointment as the Associate Director of the UC Santa Barbara Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (2004-2009).
Dr. Unruh holds a Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from UC Santa Barbara, and has taught Art History and Cultural Studies at CSU Channel Islands, Santa Barbara City College, and Westmont College. She has served as a member of the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission (2004-2014; chair, 2005-2007); and on the boards of the Santa Barbara Cultural Development Foundation and the Isla Vista Arts Initiative.
Her recent scholarly work has focused on sharing best practices in higher education research infrastructure, resulting in two volumes, A Practical Guide to Funding Your Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Barbara L. E. Walker, and Holly E. Unruh, Routledge, 2018, 2nd edition 2026), and Designing and Implementing a Successful Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Program (Holly E. Unruh, Heather Haeger, John E. Banks, Winny Dong, Routledge, 2024).
Publications, Presentations and Conferences (select recent):
2026 [article] “Permission to Grow: Reclaiming the Purpose of Experiential Education in a Climate of Fiscal Uncertainty,” invited commentary in Experiential Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, vol 9, no. 3, forthcoming September 2026.
2026 Research Development Strategies for Creative Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education (CASSHE), paper presented at the SRAI (Society of Research Administrators International) annual meeting, Honolulu, October 2026 (forthcoming)
2026 [book] A Practical Guide to Funding Your Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2nd edition, revised. Barbara L. E. Walker, Ph.D. and Holly E. Unruh, Ph.D. Routledge
2026 [conference proceedings] Walker, B.E. and Unruh, H., Inclusive Collaboration In and With the Humanities. Conference Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, Oceanic Journeys, Multicultural Approaches in the Humanities. 223pp., University of Hawaii at Hilo and New Directions in the Humanities.
2026 Preparing Students and Faculty for Successful Research Partnerships. Plenary address, with Dr. Heather Haeger, NORDP Consultant’s Program Annual Meeting, Orlando FL (June 2026)
2026 CURE course and syllabus design. Half-day seminar for UC Santa Barbara faculty in Art, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education. Presented with Dr. Heather Haeger (University of Arizona). (June 2026)
2026 Equitable access to research; Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) development. Half-day seminar for UC Santa Barbara faculty in Art, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education. Presented with Dr. Heather Haeger (University of Arizona). (March 2026)
2026 Grants and Fellowships for Arts Scholars Graduate Student / Early Career Faculty workshop, UCSC Arts Division (March 2026)
2026 Designing and Implementing a Successful Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Program. Keynote address, with Dr. Heather Haeger, Undergraduate Research Summit, Baskin School of Engineering, UC Santa Cruz (Feb 2026)
2026 Funding Your Scholarship, Research and Practice: Strategic Proposal Writing in an Era of Uncertainty for the Arts and Humanities. Panelist, with Hannah Jasper, College Art Association Annual Conference, Chicago (Feb 2026)
2025 Equity and Access through Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, plenary address, with Dr. Heather Haeger, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) Volare institute, Orlando, November 2025)
2025 Enhancing Research Capacity Through Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). Half-day seminar for UC Santa Barbara faculty in Art, Humanities, Social Sciences and Education. Presented with Dr. heather Haeger (University of Arizona). (October 2025)
2025 Designing and Implementing a Successful Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Program. Workshop, with Dr. Heather Haeger. HSI Research Collaboration Conference “Cultivating Comunidad: Strengthening Ties Through Research, Innovation, and Funding.” Anaheim, CA (September 2025)
2025 Inclusive Collaboration In and With the Humanities, New Directions in the Humanities Conference, Hilo, Hawaii. Panelist, with Barbara Walker (convener), UCSB, Michele Schwietz, George Washington University (June 2025)
2025 Designing and Implementing a Successful Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Program, ConnectUR conference (Council on Undergraduate Research). Panelist, with Heather Haeger, Winny Dong, and John Banks. (June 2025)
2025 Research and Experiential Learning in the Arts. Panelist, Undeclared Scholars program, UC Santa Barbara
2025 Funding Strategies for Graduate Students, panelist. UC Santa Cruz Graduate Division.
2025 Equity and Access through Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, plenary address, with Dr. Heather Haeger, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) Volare institute, San Diego (March 2025)
2025 Funding Your Arts Research and Practice: Strategic Proposal Writing for Grant and Fellowship Funding. Panel convener, with Hannah Jasper, College Art Association Annual Conference, New York City (Feb 2025)
2025 UCSC's Hispanic Serving Initiatives Doctoral Diversity Grants: Enhancing Graduate Student Success Across the Disciplines. Panel convener, with Patricia Pinho and Shaheen Sikander, HSI Initiatives Showcase, UC Santa Cruz. (Jan 2025)
2024 [book] Designing and Implementing a Successful Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Program. Holly E. Unruh, Heather Haeger, John E. Banks, Winny Dong, Routledge, 2024. (book)
2024 Finding Funding / Proposal Writing 101. Graduate Student / Early Career Faculty workshop, UCSC Arts Division (March 2024)
2024 Funding for Filmmakers, Film and Digital Media Department workshop, UCSC (March 2024)
2022 Community-engaged research in the arts at UC Santa Cruz. Panel convener, with Dee Hibbert-Jones, John Jota Leaños, Irene Gustafson, and Laurie Palmer. All-In: Co-Creating Knowledge for Justice Conference, October 26-28, 2022, Santa Cruz, CA.
2021 Research Development: Grants and Fellowships. The Humanities Institute, UCSC, PhD+ series. Panelist, with Dr. Nathaniel Deutsch, Irena Polic, and Saskia Nauenberg-Dunkell.
2021 Proposal Writing: Framing Your Research for Grants and Fellowships. The Humanities Institute, UCSC, PhD+ series. Panelist, with Dr. Sean Keilen, Saskia Nauenberg-Dunkell, and Matthew Tedford.
2020 Funding Your Research. Six-day seminar for faculty at Abilene Christian University, co-presented with Dr. Barbara Walker. held remotely – February – April 2020. (consulting)
2020 Scaling and Sustaining: Best Practices for Systems Implementing CUREs, panelist, with Corin White (convener, CSUMB) Corin Slown (CSUMB), Paula Fischaber (CSUPERB). HIPS in the States Conference, Texas A&M University, October 2020.
2019 Faculty Grantsmanship at HSIs: Strategies to Align Research Initiatives with Student Success. Panelist, with Dr. Barbara Walker, UC Santa Barbara. 11th Annual AHSIE (Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators) Conference, Riverside, CA, April 2019.
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