Julia Kaplan

Writing Center Assistant Director

Julia Kaplan

Contact

kaplanjul@sonoma.edu

Julia Kaplan is the Writing Center’s Graduate Assistant Director and a new graduate student in the Sonoma State History Masters Program. Julia recently earned her B.A. in Psychology—also from Sonoma State—with a minor in History. Although still in its nascent stages, her thesis will explore the social history of Sonoma County's punk community through the collection of oral histories, paying close attention to social, cultural, and economic factors which might have impacted the development of both personal and group identity. Her goal is to eventually translate this work into a Ph.D. in Social Psychology, using her masters work as a springboard for studies on the intersections of cognitive development, group dynamics, emotional resilience, personal identity, and socioeconomic context. 

Prior to this, Julia spent her twenties in the school of life, working as everything from a stage manager to a graphic designer, and she returned to higher education as a non-traditional student, heading first to the Santa Rosa Junior College before transferring to Sonoma State. She credits a great deal of her early confidence to free campus services like the Writing Center, and she is a passionate advocate of students utilizing these and other resources to their benefit. With that in mind, Julia has enjoyed taking advantage of many of the incredible opportunities which come with being a Seawolf. In Spring 2026, she presented her research on group dynamics and infrahumanization in the context of the Soviet Jewish experience at Sonoma State's Social Action Symposium, and her comparative essay on the subject of genocide and the Japanese occupation of Korea was published in the Sonoma State History Journal. She has also spent the entirety of her time at Sonoma State working with Dr. Evan Lintz in his LEARN Lab, assisting in his work on aspects of attention and working memory while learning to apply cognitive research methodology.\

As a non-traditional, Jewish, and queer student, Julia is uniquely aware of the challenges which face Sonoma State's diverse student population. She views the Writing Center as a space which honors this diversity in a tangible way, encouraging students to grow beyond their perceived limitations and thrive within an academic environment. Julia's work highlights her dedication to the pursuit of social and institutional equity, as well as inclusive historical narratives, and she is excited to act on these interests in a meaningful way as Assistant Director.