The Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life at the University of California, Santa Barbara, promotes discussion of how ethical teachings and values relate to civic life -- at the local, national, and global levels. We are committed to the fundamental belief that public dialogue and an informed and engaged citizenry are vital to democratic society. Non-partisan and non-sectarian, the Center seeks to strengthen and extend the principles on which such diverse, modern society rests, namely, tolerance and respect for the views of others, the practice of civility, and efforts to achieve the common good.

Welcome to the Walter H. Capps Center

Greetings from the Walter H. Capps Center!

We are glad to welcome community members, students, staff, and faculty back to campus for the Fall Quarter of 2026. We have a busy and exciting roster of programming and related activities lined up for the year. Let me give you a sense of what is happening this term.

In addition to our programming, we continue to pursue a number of initiatives that combine community outreach with academic research. Here we would like to share exciting news with you about two of these.

First, this November we are launching our five-year Repatriation Futures project, which is supported by a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. This project centers sustained work with several teams of repatriation practitioners and policy experts from six partner communities near and far: the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians; the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation; the Bishop Paiute Tribe; the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma; Hui Iwi Kuamo`o, a Native Hawaiian repatriation organization; and members of the Recover, Restore, and Decolonise (RRaD) team from Nagaland, India. Our collective project will begin in earnest with a workshop in Hilo, Hawai`i, where we will learn from Edward Halealoha Ayau and his team about their ongoing efforts to bring back ancestors and sacred objects. From there, members of our group will head to an international repatriation summit hosted by Return, Reconcile, Renew at Australian National University in Canberra. Stay tuned for more news about this project as it unfolds.

Second, and related to our Repatriation Futures project, we continue to develop our Collaborative Wildfire Science and Planning initiative. A core element of this project has emerged in conjunction with UCSB’s Valentine Natural Reserve in Mammoth and our partners at the Bishop Paiute Tribe. After several years of meetings to assess stakeholder interests and capacity, we and our partners at UC Irvine crafted a co-stewardship agreement for the site. The first of its kind in the UC system, the MOU formalizing this relationship was signed by Chancellor Assanis and adopted by the Bishop Paiute Tribal Council this summer. We are eager to see this project bloom as Paiute citizens reestablish their presence at Valentine.

In addition, we have added many new documents to the Walter H. Capps Archives Online, which features digitized materials from the Walter Capps Papers at the UCSB Library’s Special Research Collections. We have also added new videos to our YouTube channel, including from last spring’s events. You can find other videos of past events on UCTV and UCTV’s YouTube Playlist, or listen to past events via podcast.

Finally, as is true every fall, we are delighted to welcome new cohorts to our three student-focused programs: the McCune Internship Program, the Mendell Graduate Fellowship Program, and the Civic Engagement Scholars Program.

For additional information about the Capps Center, please visit our website and social media.

We’d love to hear from you, and we hope to see you soon!

Sincerely,

Greg Johnson

Director, Walter H. Capps Center

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greg johnson

 

fall 2026 flier