Faith for the life of the mind
One unified fellowship for Santa Cruz's graduate, professional, and postdoctoral community — master's and doctoral students, professional-school students, researchers, and student families. Where rigorous scholarship meets deep devotion, we pray for labs and classrooms, wrestle with hard questions, and build belonging far from home.
Graduate Bible Study & Prayer
A gathering built for the graduate schedule — substantive study of Scripture, honest prayer, and community that understands the pressures of research and coursework. Come as you are, in whatever season your program has you in.
- Depth-oriented study for graduate minds
- Prayer for exams, defenses, deadlines & job seasons
- A steady community across a long degree
Forming this year — day & location confirmed after reservation approval.
Research & Vocation Fellowship
Your research is a calling, not just a career step. This fellowship helps scholars integrate faith and discipline — thinking Christianly about their field, stewarding influence with integrity, and discerning how God is directing their vocation.
- Faith & discipline integration across the sciences, arts & social sciences
- Ethics, integrity & witness in the academy
- Vocational discernment for the years ahead
Professional Schools Fellowship
Professional students face intense formation into a field and its culture. We gather them to be formed first by Christ — so they enter their professions as people of prayer, integrity, and service.
Law
Justice, mercy & the practice of law.
Business
Leadership, stewardship & ethics.
Public Policy
Serving the common good faithfully.
Health & Optometry
Compassion & care for the whole person.
Professional groups form as students step forward — reach out to help gather yours.
Graduate Housing & Off-Campus Belonging
Graduate life is spread across university apartments and neighborhoods all over the Santa Cruz. We plant belonging wherever grad students live — community touchpoints, not staffed offices, growing as students gather their neighbors.
Ida Jackson House
Graduate residential community.
The «Intersection» Apartments
Graduate apartment community.
Manville Apartments
Law & graduate apartment housing.
xučyun ruwway Apartments
Graduate apartment community.
University Village
Family housing west of campus in Albany.
Off-Campus & Santa Cruz
Apartments & homes across the area.
Student Families & Couples
Many graduate students are married, parenting, or building a life alongside their studies. Centered around University Village family housing, this community supports couples and families — with fellowship that welcomes spouses and children, not just students.
- Fellowship for couples & parents
- Family-friendly gatherings & child-welcoming spaces
- Care & prayer for the whole household
Postdoc & Researcher Care
Postdocs and early-career researchers often fall between the cracks — past student life, not yet settled. We offer them belonging: peers who pray, community that lasts beyond a contract, and encouragement to keep faith central through demanding seasons.
Faith & Scholarship Forums
Santa Cruz is a place where the hardest questions get asked. These forums bring faith into honest, rigorous conversation — on science, technology, justice, meaning, and public life — open to believers, skeptics, and everyone in between.
Faith & Science
Wonder, evidence & the Creator.
Faith, AI & Technology
Being human in a technological age.
Faith & Public Life
Justice, ethics & the common good.
Prayer for Labs, Classrooms & Public Life
We believe the university itself is worth praying for. Grad students carry their labs, departments, students, and disciplines to God — asking for truth, integrity, and the light of Christ across every corner of the academy and the city it shapes.
Watch Altars at Santa Cruz is a student-led campus chapter of Watch Altars and is separate from the University of California, Santa Cruz.