Contact Information

The department has five email aliases specific for Graduate Students. Each Psychology Graduate Student is added to the (psychgrads@ucsc.edu) alias and the alias for their associated area; Developmental, Cognitive, and Social. In addition, the department has an email list (psychjobs@ucsc.edu) for those on the job market. The jobs sent to this list are usually jobs requiring a PhD. you may join by clicking the "Ask to join group" button on this page or by emailing the Graduate Advising Team.

The following are graduate student alias per area: 

cognitivegrads@ucsc.edu

developmentalgrads@ucsc.edu

socpsygrads@ucsc.edu

There are two graduate student representatives from each program area. Bring your ideas/questions/issues to your area's graduate representatives. Grad reps for the current academic year are:

Cognitive: Mercedes Oliva (mtoliva@ucsc.edu) & Melanie Prieto (merpriet@ucsc.edu)

Developmental: Margie Martinez (mgsmartinez@ucsc.edu) & Karinna Nazario (knazario@ucsc.edu)

Social: Jada Cheek (jcheek@ucsc.edu) & Dennis Estrada (dealestr@ucsc.edu)

All graduate representatives are added to a listserve, which may be emailed at psych-gradreps@ucsc.edu.

Role of Graduate Student Representative

Graduate student representatives act as liaisons between graduate students and faculty/staff. This includes holding meetings with graduate students in the area and the faculty area head. At least one colloquium in each area is set aside for a student-only Town Hall Meeting where students discuss any concerns or questions, then grad reps raise these issues to the area head and department. As a response to these meetings, and the effort provided by graduate student representatives to voice student concerns, grad reps have contributed to changes implemented to improve departmental policies. Grad reps may requested to provide feedback on potential implementation of department policies, or requested to seek input from graduate students in their areas on behalf of department staff and the Department Chair. 

How to become a Graduate Student Representative

Students interested in the serving as a Graduate Student Representative can notify their current grad rep, or the graduate program coordinator and indicate your interest in the role for the following year. The department aims to have these roles filled by the end of an academic year. In cases where an open position is available, the area head or graduate program coordinator will send a call out to the area to seek interested students in volunteering for the role. It is recommended students discuss with their advisor before agreeing to serve as a grad rep. 

Each year one psychology professor and one advanced graduate student will serve as Co-coordinators of the Psychology Department’s TA Training and Mentoring Program for the academic year. The coordinators will supervise the program and serve as the initial contact person for graduate students having problems or difficulties in handling their TA responsibilities. Students may reach out to the co-coordinators experiencing challenging TA-relevant situations about which you need advice or assistance. 

Graduate student Matt Evans (matt.evans@ucsc.edu) in the social area and Graduate Director Nicolas Davidenko (ndaviden@ucsc.edu) will serve as the TA-Co-coordinators for 2023-24. 

Graduate advising can help clarify graduate program requirements, inform you about potential funding sources, direct you to resources on campus, and help consider any issues you might be having in the graduate program. Also, if you are experiencing high levels of distress that interfere with your school work, you can consider taking an incomplete or a medical leave from one or more courses.

Kathy and Katie work closely together and both can assist with any issue you are having. You can reach out directly to either, both, or to the shared inbox. In general, Katie does more of the day-to-day operational work while Kathy is responsible for more of the long-term planning and funding decisions.

Graduate Program Coordinator - Kathy Montano (kmmontan@ucsc.edu)
Social Sciences 2, Rm 261 | (831) 459-4932

Graduate Advisor - Katie Ritchey (kritchey@ucsc.edu)
Social Sciences 2, Rm 254 | (831) 459-4559

Shared Inbox: psyga@ucsc.edu 

There is a faculty member from each program area who represents the faculty and students in that area on internal issues and on the department’s Advisory Committee (executive committee). 

The program area heads for the current academic year are:

Cognitive: Nick Davidenko 

Developmental: Barbara Rogoff

Social: Regina Langhout 

Graduate students may reach out to their area heads for additional guidance on area requirements, or questions and concerns related to the student's area. 

The faculty Graduate Affairs Committee’s charge is to support the Department Chair and Department by making decisions regarding the implementation of the graduate program as laid out in the Graduate Curriculum and Handbook and policies determined by the department. 

The Graduate Affairs Committee Chair rotates each year across the Area Heads. Members of this committee for the current academic year are:

Cognitive: Nicolas Davidenko (GAC Chair, Graduate Director)

   Developmental: Cam Leaper

Social: Courtney Bonam

Ben Storm (storm@ucsc.edu) - In addition to your faculty advisor and Area Head, please feel free to meet with the Chair if you experience any problems. Some examples include conflicts with faculty or students, observing offensive behavior, or other personal difficulties affecting your work and wellbeing. 

For basic IT questions, you're welcome to ask for assistance from Graduate Advising or Faculty Services (rm. 277).

If the issue is more complicated and is something internal to Social Sciences or Psychology (printers, psyc-files, etc), you can email Socsci-it@ucsc.edu.

If the issue is something campus-wide or you're unsure where it should go you can still use the main ITS ticket system (its.ucsc.edu or help@ucsc.edu).

There are several reporting options for facility related issues. You may notify Graduate Advising or Faculty Services (rm. 277). For some issues, such as building and room access, they can be of assistance. It's also a good first stop if you're unsure where to report something

For facility issues specific to Social Sciences 2, especially around office spaces, you may report them to socscifacilties@ucsc.edu. 

For building issues (leaks, main door opening/closing, bathroom, HVAC, etc) or campus facility issues (downed trees, etc), they should be reported to the campus work desk via CruzFix. 

In addition to our individual emails and graduate student listservs, there are several more listservs that are used in our department to ensure proper flow of communication. Please be cognizant of the large number of people who receive emails sent to these listservs, and use them appropriately.

psychfaculty@ucsc.edu - Emails all Faculty in the Psychology Department

psych-lecturers@ucsc.edu - Emails all Lecturers in the Psychology Department

psychstaff@ucsc.edu - Emails all Staff in the Psychology Department

psyc-postdocs@ucsc.edu - Emails all Postdocs in the Psychology Department

psychdiversity@ucsc.edu - Emails all members of the Psychology DEI Committee