Subscribe
An acclaimed voice on race and ethnicity and a civil-liberties scholar, john a. powell has joined the faculty and will lead UC Berkeley’s Haas Diversity Research Center and hold the Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity and Inclusion.
Campus news archive
Tears, inspiration at ceremony honoring civic-minded
May 1, 2012: Patricia Kinaga ’77 accepted the 2011 Haas Public Service Award at the campus’s annual public-awards ceremony, April 30. More than a dozen other students, student groups, community partners and faculty were honored, as well.
Picturing UC’s future: position sousaphones, reshoot, remix
May 1, 2012: At a precise location near Sather Gate, members of the Cal Band gamely shouldered their instruments Monday for a technically demanding photo op. The goal: to recreate a shot taken close to half a century ago by photographer Ansel Adams — this time for a 21st-century campus project on “picturing” UC’s future.
Q&A with Richard Karp
May 1, 2012: Establishing a new research institute at a top-tier university is a major undertaking that required a great deal of teamwork to pull off. In a recent interview, Richard Karp, founding director of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, gave the inside story on how it all came together.
$60 million Simons Foundation grant to launch theory of computing institute
May 1, 2012: The Simons Foundation has awarded a landmark $60 million grant to UC Berkeley to establish a theory of computing institute that promises to catalyze new advances in broad disciplines that affect our everyday lives, from how we spend our money to how we fight disease.
From J-School’s basement, curious earfuls of iTunes adventures in science 
April 30, 2012: Journalism chops, media savvy, nerdiness and (especially) curiosity add up to the “Field Trip Podcast,” a radio program created by a trio of J-School grads, and returning soon to a computer or smartphone near you.
Berkeley grad students scoop up four Newcombe Fellowships
April 30, 2012: UC Berkeley graduate students have won four of 21 prestigious 2012 Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowships, $25,000 awards that honor Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences who are addressing questions of ethical and religious values.
Dog days at Berkeley
April 30, 2012: BERKELEY — They can’t take finals for Cal students, but these dogs can, and do, provide some much-needed relief from the pressures of academic study. On Monday, several therapy dogs and their handlers from former major league baseball manager Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) greeted students outside UC Berkeley’s Moffitt Undergraduate Library. Eager to dispense kisses and a soft [...]
MCB grad forging new pathways in science, and academia
April 30, 2012: Persons of Interest: Immunology grad student Patty Garcia chips away at the barriers that divide science and society, while puzzling out the molecular mechanics of cancer.
UC Berkeley faculty, staff invited to host Japanese students
April 30, 2012: Three hundred high-school students who lived through last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan are coming to UC Berkeley for a three-week leadership program this summer. Campus faculty and staff are being sought to host them for a weekend.
Vermin exhibit aims to discourage ‘dead-week’ snackers at the library
April 27, 2012: Berkeley’s libraries fill to overflowing with students pulling all-nighters during the study period knows as dead week, starting Monday. With them tends to come pizzas, sandwiches, sodas and coffee. And that attracts book-destroying insects, vermin and mold. At Moffitt, a vivid display using plastic critters and real, damaged books is part of the library’s effort to head off harm to its valuable collections.
Online-education oversight group announced
April 27, 2012: A new Online Education Executive Group has been appointed to oversee UC Berkeley’s efforts to design and implement online-education offerings, campus leaders say in an April 27 Cal Message to faculty and staff.
UC Berkeley issues open letter concerning ‘Occupy the Farm’
April 27, 2012: In response to recent events at the Gill Tract in Albany, UC Berkeley issued an open letter to the local community on April 27. The letter addresses the site’s current use for research purposes, and the planning process the campus has been engaged in with the CIty of Albany and its residents since 2007.
Research associate champions literacy in Africa, foster children at home
April 27, 2012: In her free hours, Deborah Lustig, a research associate at the Institute for the Study of Social Change, plays a key role in the African Library Project, as well as helping foster children navigate the legal system, as a court-appointed special advocate.
CalChat takes top honors in student app contest
April 27, 2012: The votes are in for the Student Technology Council’s 2nd annual web app competition, showcasing new software “for students, by students.” CalChat took the $3,000 grand prize, as well as the People’s Choice Award; Telebears Oracle and CalUtil took second and third.
Five Berkeley faculty honored for exceptional teaching
April 26, 2012: Five UC Berkeley faculty — three language experts, one economist and a legal scholar — are being honored this week with the 2012 Distinguished Teaching Award, in recognition of their outstanding ability to engage and challenge their students.
University officials visit Gill Tract to speak with protesters
April 25, 2012: J. Keith Gilless, dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources, spent more than an hour Tuesday in dialogue with protesters who are encamped illegally on the Gill Tract in Albany. He provided facts and information concerning the site and its research uses.
Alumnus and Japanese-American WWII vet Kenji Sayama donates Congressional Gold Medal to Bancroft
April 25, 2012: Kenji Sayama, who attended UC Berkeley in wartime and after, donated to Bancroft Library the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to him and other Japanese-American soldiers from World War II.
For 20th year, outstanding staff reap their awards
April 24, 2012: Twenty-two stellar UC Berkeley staff members and the members of seven staff teams received the Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Award at a ceremony held Monday, April 23.
Illegal occupation of Albany open space infringes on research
April 23, 2012: A group of about 200 people broke into, and established a tent encampment on, an Albany site — next to the University Village family-housing complex — used for agricultural research.
Visitors share photos — lots of them — of Cal Day 2012 
April 23, 2012: Visitors to Cal Day 2012 uploaded a mountain of photos of Saturday’s campus open house. Check out what what they saw and did in one sunny, fun-filled day this April.
For photojournalist at the pinnacle, Instagram is a game changer
April 23, 2012: Person of Interest: As a newspaper photojournalist, Richard Koci Hernandez reached what he thought was the pinnacle of success: two Pulitzer nominations, one Emmy. Then along came Instagram, the smartphone photo-sharing app, where he has 113,000 followers and counting. “Creatively and professionally, it has changed my life,” says the assistant professor of journalism.
Berkeley’s next chancellor: Website details process, progress
April 23, 2012: UC President Mark Yudof has named an advisory committee to facilitate a national search for a new chancellor to lead UC Berkeley. The committee will hold its first meeting on campus May 4. Information on the search process are provided on a new campus website.
Sustainability Summit marks progress toward ever-greener campus
April 20, 2012: At the campus’s 9th Sustainability Summit, progress in “greening” the Berkeley campus was everywhere evident — from the sheer number of student projects in the works to the metric tons of greenhouse gases not being emitted thanks to new institution-wide programs.
Cal responds to Wall Street Journal article
April 20, 2012: In response to a Wall Street Journal article earlier this week on the financing plan for California Memorial Stadium, UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor John Wilton has submitted a letter to the editor expressing his displeasure with the misrepresentation of the project, and the Athletic Department has prepared an FAQ on the project’s financial model.
Taking stock, at ACES symposium, of ‘why engaged scholarship matters now’
April 20, 2012: In a keynote address for the April 13 American Scholars symposium “No Ordinary Time: Why Engaged Scholarship Matters Now,” scholar-activist George Lipsitz explored obstacles to mutually respectful collaborations between the academy and its community partners.
‘So, Earth, how does it feel to have a day honoring you?
April 20, 2012: In honor of Earth Day today, UC Berkeley professor Ron Amundson, a soil scientist and chair of the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, was able to obtain an exclusive interview with our home planet.
Are you ready? Cal Day is just a day away
April 20, 2012: Perfect weather is expected for Cal Day tomorrow, when UC Berkeley welcomes the world to a daylong festival of all things Cal. This year’s open house features more than 300 events and a new mobile app to help guide visitors. Find full details online at calday.berkeley.edu.
Continuing-ed award to Extension workshops for mental-health clinicians
April 20, 2012:
UC Berkeley Extension’s professional programs in Counseling and Psychotherapy have received the 2012 University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) Outstanding Noncredit Program Award.
CalCAP wins clean-air leadership award
April 19, 2012: UC Berkeley’s Cal Climate Action Partnership was honored Thursday with a clean air award from Breathe California, for its leadership in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
Going animal to fight multiple sclerosis
April 18, 2012: Using face paints, UC Berkeley student Chrystal Redekopp has transformed herself into a giraffe, a gorilla, a hippo, a pikachu, a baboon and a capybara — all for a good cause. It’s her way of rewarding donors to her fundraising for Saturday’s Walk to End MS, and she posts photos of the results on Facebook.
