The Sierra Program

Explore Who You Are, Together

The Sierra hall, located in Mesa Court, offers first-year students a unique living-learning experience that includes an in-hall class (for one academic credit each quarter) and programs and events that challenge residents to think critically and consider new perspectives. Residents participate in an in-hall class that explores issues like diversity and identity and provides opportunities to build communication skills and clarify values and ethics. The Sierra experience is one of both self-discovery and sharing a learning experience with a community of peers.

Why Choose Sierra?

Testimonials

“My favorite thing about Sierra is the sense of family it’s given to me.”
– Camila Gelabert ’18

“Sierra Hall is a great community that allows people of a wide background to cohabitate in a certain space and learn from one another.”
– Zack Maddren

Requirements

Curriculum & Requirements

The Sierra curriculum focuses on critical thinking skills – how to identify and address problems, arrive at solutions, make decisions, and reflect on experiences.

The Sierra Class – UNI STU 21A, B, And C: Critical Thinking, Ethics, and Just Communities

All residents that live in Sierra take a mandatory 4-unit, pass/no pass class, each quarter. Classes are held in the hall on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

• The Fall Quarter curriculum is organized around three themes: Community Building, Skill Building, and Values Clarification. These themes provide the foundation for in-depth community exploration of a number of specific issues.
• The Winter Quarter curriculum is organized around topics of diversity and engaging the class in dialogues about identity.
• Spring Quarter builds on the work of fall and winter quarters with a strong focus on student participation and empowerment.

Journaling

As part of the class, Sierra residents write in a journal on a weekly basis. The journal is an opportunity for reflection and exploration of issues, beliefs/values, and experiences. Journal entries are shared with a program staff member, who will challenge you to think critically about the issues and content presented in your journal.

Simulated Society Retreat (SIMSOC)

In the Winter quarter, Sierra residents go on retreat off campus to participate in SIMSOC (Simulated Society). This activity challenges participants, individually and collectively, to develop an “ideal society,” determine how best to achieve objectives, and reflect on issues of power and the distribution of resources in society. The experience is designed to expand your thinking about how communities function and to inform the way that Sierra residents go about building community throughout the year.

Questions? Email us at: housing@uci.edu.

How to apply

Become part of Sierra! Here’s how to apply:

Submit your housing application by May 1st. (You must submit your Statement of Intent to Register before you can access the Housing application.)

Select “Mesa Court” and “Sierra” theme hall when completing your Personal Information (PI) Form. List “Sierra” first in your PI Form for Theme Preferences. (You will complete this form with your housing contract.)

During the housing assignment process you may be contacted by a Mesa Court staff member to confirm your interest in the Sierra theme hall.

You will receive your housing assignment via email in early September.

Questions? Email us at: housing@uci.edu.

Resources

Sierra History

“In 2015, the Sierra Project celebrated its 40th anniversary. The Sierra Project was founded by a diverse group of students, staff and faculty at the University of California, Irvine in 1974. The inspiration for the Sierra Projected emerged from summer conferences in 1973 and 1974, which had brought UC Irvine theorists and researchers with very original ideas on what institutions of society can do to promote an enhanced sense of equity and justice and make education more meaningful and transformative for learners.”

Excerpt from Whiteley, J. M. (2014). Character And Community During the College Years: The Rationale.

Sierra Brochure

Take a look at what the Sierra Program has to offer in our brochure handout here.

Staffing Model

The Sierra Program staffing model which was created to support the goals of the program and the living-learning experience of the Sierra community.

Sierra Resident Advisor

Resident Advisors provide leadership and support for residents and coordinates efforts with professional and student staff, planning weekly curriculum and activities within the hall.

Sierra Programmers

Sierra Programmers are a team of student leaders who support activities associated with the weekly Sierra Class and provide mentoring and community building within the hall.

Sierra Curriculum Coordinator

The Sierra Curriculum Coordinator develops and implements the Sierra class curriculum, in collaboration with the Sierra Hall Resident Advisor, Sierra Programmers, and class instructors.

Sierra Instructor

The Sierra Instructor leads the weekly Sierra class and ensures that participants have input in their learning process.

Sierra Housing Liaison

The Sierra Housing Liaison is a Residence Life Coordinator who supervises all Sierra Student Staff positions and ensures program quality.

Alumni

Fall 2019

New Staffing:  This year we have 2 new instructors for Sierra.  We are fortunate, thanks to great collaboration with Dr. Frances Diaz from our Counseling Center, to have 2 Senior Staff Psychologists become Sierra instructors.  Dr. Jasmine Thilghman and Dr. Shruti Mukkamala both have extensive diversity and inclusion backgrounds.  thank you to Bruce Aquino, Residence Life Coordinator who has served as the interim Sierra instructor for the past year and a half. 

Endésha Pierson is joining the Mesa Court staff as a Residence Life Coordinator and Sierra Program Manager. Endésha come to UCI from CSU East Bay where she also worked as a residence life staff member.

2017-2018

We have some great news to pass on to all of you – news you may have already heard but news that needs to be reiterated. Thanks to all of you, the Sierra endowment fund achieved its goal, Sierrans have contributed $25,000 to establish the Sierra endowment fund. We should all feel extremely proud of this effort, and we can’t wait to see how the endowment will contribute to enhancing the Sierra experience in the future.

Nautilus

The Chambered Nautilus (N. Pompilius, Linn.) is the symbolic representation of the growth process which occurs in the development of character. In contrast to the occupants of “ordinary shells,” whose bodies fill the entire shell cavity,

The growth process of the nautilus and the Sierra Project conception of growth in the development of character are the leaving of the last year for the new, no longer being the person one was before, and the expectation that the next conception of life will be “nobler than the last.”