The Arnhold Arts and Humanities Commons invites UCSB faculty, students, and staff to explore what it means to be human.
In the Commons, people collaboratively create and learn to understand ourselves and others through languages, histories, arts, cultures, and media.
About the Commons
AAHC programming and courses engage students' curiosities and interests and nurture communities of confident creators and thinkers. This work inspires connections through immersive, hands-on, and interdisciplinary learning.
AAHC Courses
- Explore topics that engage students across UCSB in studying what it means to be human.
- Apply theories and concepts of 'humanness' via experiential learning and creative projects.
- Foster students' perceptions that they can create new knowledge and contribute to something beyond the classroom.
AAHC Programming
- Showcases what learning in the humanities offers the next generation of learners and leaders.
- Invites students into interdisciplinary conservations with faculty and artists.
- Applies in-class learning to students' own experiences and lives beyond the university.
- Places students' voices and perspectives front and center in developing programming and events.
About John and Jody Arnhold
John Arnhold is the Founder and Managing Member of Arnhold LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor. He retired as Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of First Eagle Investment Management. He was also the president of the First Eagle Funds. Mr. Arnhold began his career in 1975 in the credit training program at Chase Manhattan Bank. From there, he joined Chase's Corporate Lending and then Merchant Banking Groups. In 1981, he joined Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb's merger arbitrage department. Two years later, John joined First Eagle where he launched its Merger Arbitrage business. In 1988, he was appointed co-director of First Eagle's institutional securities business. In 1994, John became CEO of the Firm, where he led its investment management, brokerage and global securities businesses.
John received his B.A. in English from UC Santa Barbara in 1975. He became a trustee of the UC Santa Barbara Foundation in 2012, and he formerly served as its Chair, as well as Chair of Investments and Finance Committees, and Treasurer of the Foundation.
Jody Gottfried Arnhold is a luminary in dance education and an advocate for dance. She taught dance in NYC public schools for over twenty years, founded the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at 92Y, supports the dance program at the New York City Department of Education, created the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College, and is the visionary benefactor behind the Doctorate in Dance Education at Teachers College Columbia University.
John and Jody have made many significant investments in research, teaching, and programs at UC Santa Barbara. Beyond financial support, John invests his time on campus and volunteers as an assistant coach with the women's tennis team; Jody works closely with our dance faculty to support international colloquium in dance and performance studies.
John and Jody have two children, reside in New York City and Connecticut, and are members of the UCSB Gold Circle.