Rachael Collins
Co-Founder & Editor-In-Chief
Rachael has been an educator and teacher of writing in the California Community College system and at UCI since 2005. A proud homeschooled student, CCC transfer and UC graduate twice over with a PhD in early modern poetry, Rachael is committed to curriculum design that focuses on providing high quality, innovative, and democratically-centered writing instruction to disadvantaged learners, including those who are limited to online learning environments. Drawing upon the multidisciplinary, multimedia work published in Lucid, Rachael's courses focus on the transformative potential of personal writing in higher education. She thinks that when students are given the space and the tools to express themselves, they write beautifully.
Stephanie Moore
Art Director & Designer
Stephanie is a graphic designer and type designer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2019 she finished a PhD in English literature and fled academia. During the COVID pandemic, she began studying design to help her friend Rachael with a journal she was starting for UCI undergraduates, and has been designing ever since. In 2023 she completed the Type@Cooper post-graduate certificate program in type design and now has several typefaces in development, including one for Lucid.
(Visit her portfolio to read about the Lucid design process!)
Autumn Hoff
Workshop Leader & Designer
I am a lover of all things involving creative expression: visual art, poetry, performance, music, teaching, love, cooking food, conversation, and dance. It is my life’s mission to eradicate the idea that there is any ‘correct’ way to express oneself creatively—all expression is meant to lead us to deeper understandings of ourselves, how we see the world, and why we see it that way so that we can more wholly love and accept who we are as well as validate our own unique efforts to be alive. When I am not overseeing Lucid’s workshops in art and creative writing, creating Lucid event flyers or advising on art and design for the journal, I am teaching yoga (Join my class on Tuesdays at 5:30 PM at the ARC on campus!). Throughout Orange County, I am involved in yoga therapy and yoga and art for kids. I also teach private yoga lessons that include asana and chakra work.
Former Crew
Helen Barahona
Managing Editor, 2022–23
Helen Barahona recently graduated from the University of California, Irvine (‘23). She double-majored in Political Science (Honors) & Sociology and over the summer she interned in DC with the Shadow Topics team as a research intern at the Political Violence Lab. Prior to working with the lab she served as a student assistant at the UCI Basic Needs Center, and as the managing editor for LUCID through the Dream Project Fellowship. During her free-time she likes to read, write, paint, rate movies on letterboxd and go bike-riding!
Mariah Rosario
Managing Editor, Summer–Fall 2023
Hello! My name is Mariah Rosario and I am a 2022 UCI alumni graduate with a bachelor’s in art. I am the managing editor for LUCID and I love all kinds of art, but I do have a bias towards all things bright and campy. Connect with me through email or in-person on campus!
Pedro Nieves
Photographer
Pedro Nieves is a UCI alumni who graduated with a Bachelor's degree in the Arts. Born in Puebla Mexico, he immigrated to the U.S. at 2 years old. After getting involved with the Dream Center and Underground Scholars Initiative, he’s now passionate about advocating for underrepresented communities by using his photography and video production skills. He hopes to become a skilled photographer and creative and looks forward to applying to graduate school to further hone his artistic abilities and create a name for himself in the art world.
Jerry Nguyen
Designer
Hi everyone, I'm Jerry Nguyen and I'm a second year student at UCI pursuing Informatics! I'm all about design and anything creative; I hope to use informatics to get into web-design and build inclusive and accessible technology for everyone to use.
Mia Hammett
Designer
Mia Hammett is a fourth-year English major interested in art, language, and sound as forms of communications—and the different ways they interact with each other. In her free time, Mia enjoys reading, writing, making music, and designing weird stuff on her computer.
Clari (Mars) Gao
Social Media Coordinator, Summer 2024
clari/mars (they) is a writer and artist dedicated to the global struggle against imperialism and the collective making of history. they love poetry and art of all forms. and cats :3
Parisa Vega
Social Media Coordinator, Spring 2024
Parisa Vega (she/her) is a third-year majoring in Environmental Science and Policy. She is involved with UCI’s Afghan United Association (AUA) and Books Through Bars (BtB) which provides books to incarcerated readers. In her free time, she enjoys reading scripts and writing screenplays. She interned with the Smithsonian Institution last summer and is committed to creative storytelling and accessibility in the arts.
though we look forward to the opportunity to work with students again, there is no issue 5 undergraduate crew this year. the many circumstances, foreseen and unforeseen, are too long to list, but we would like to extend a thank you to john, julian, lorene, ryan, berto, and clari for the work they put in helping to make this issue. though we didn't get to all of the pieces we had planned for, we appreciate your contributions.
UC Irvine Writing Center
Lucid is supported by the Center for Excellence in Writing and Communication at the University of California, Irvine.
Daniel M. Gross
Writing Center Faculty Director & Lucid Faculty Advisor
Rhetoric PhD, UC Berkeley, 1998. Daniel M. Gross is Professor of English and Affiliate Faculty in the Critical Theory Emphasis. At UC Irvine, he also serves as the Campus Writing & Communication Coordinator, which is the office responsible for UCI Writing across the Curriculum, and Writing in the Disciplines (WAC/WID). His research in rhetoric runs along three tracks: writing and communication, history of the disciplines, and medical humanities.
Evin Groundwater
Writing Center Director & Lucid Consulting Editor
As Director of the UC Irvine Writing Center, Evin supports the Undergraduate Writing Peer Tutors, the Graduate Writing Consultants, Writing Specialists, Writing Center Coordinator, and Writing Consultants, and coordinates programming and collaborations across campus. Ask Evin about how the Writing Center can support you and your unit!
Lucid was founded in 2019 by UC Irvine Composition Lecturers Rachael Collins and Scott Lerner.