UC Berkeley NewsCenter » Education

Marlene Castro: Back to middle school, on a mission

Gretchen Kell — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:39:18 +0000

Marlene Castro loved learning, but life in East Palo Alto and Redwood City, where her family alternately lived, made it tough. In an environment of gangs, weapons and school lockdowns, the high-achieving student was bullied constantly in middle school and high school – even jumped on and beaten.

New grads head back to class, as Teach for America recruits

Gretchen Kell — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:00:03 +0000

Dozens of UC Berkeley grads are heading to Teach for America, a national teacher corps that ranks UC Berkeley No. 1 for the number of recruits who join, giving kids in poverty a top education.

Biology scholars thank Birgeneau, Breslauer

Public Affairs — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:48:06 +0000

More than 50 students and 30 alumni of Berkeley's Biology Scholars Program gathered recently in the Durant Hall atrium to thank Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer for their support.

Holder urges law-school grads to work for ‘a better world’

Public Affairs — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:51:19 +0000

U.S. Attorney Gen. Eric Holder delivered the commencement address at Berkeley Law on Saturday, congratulating graduates on what he called "your chance to help realize your vision of a better world." Here is a video excerpt of his remarks.

Chancellors see Berkeley’s future through students’ eyes

Barry Bergman — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:03:13 +0000

Dirks, who takes over as Berkeley's chancellor on June 1, and Robert Birgeneau, who has held that position for nine years, took a lunch meeting in a Durant Hall conference room with the winners of the campus's Fiat Lux Remix contest.

Students check out incoming chancellor

Cathy Cockrell — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:40:41 +0000

Nicholas Dirks introduced himself and fielded questions at a conversational meet-up Thursday afternoon between UC Berkeley students and the campus's next chancellor. About 100 people turned out for what Dirks called one of the "first of a long series of conversations with you." Earlier in the day, Chancellor Birgeneau and Dirks met with student winners of the "Fiat Lux Remix" contest.

How graduate-student instructors help undergrads thrive

Cathy Cockrell — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:35:49 +0000

At a large research university like Berkeley, graduate-student instructors play a vital role in undergrads' academic lives. "Letter Home," the Cal Parents newsletter, explores what GSIs bring to the educational equation — and the training that helps prepare them to be effective teachers and mentors.

Chancellor looks back: ‘a period where leadership mattered’

Public Affairs — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:52:42 +0000

In an interview with NBC11, Robert Birgeneau talks access and excellence, Dreamers, and how -- despite a budget model for UC Berkeley that has changed in response to severe state funding cuts during his time as chancellor -- "we still spend our money, as we should, like a public university."

‘Fitness for All’ is an exercise in inclusion

Cathy Cockrell — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:59:32 +0000

Campus staffer and Cal grad Matt Grigorieff is the driving force behind Fitness for All, a new program that aims to provide health and fitness options to UC Berkeley students with disabilities. Among the first offerings is a class on goalball, a court sport that puts blind and sighted players on a level playing field.

Fourth-generation Berkeley student lands prize for water work

Roibín Ó hÉochaidh — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:30:41 +0000

The Blum Center's Rebecca Peters, whose classroom work and field research focus on issues of water security, management and equity, is one of 62 “exceptional college juniors” nationwide selected as 2013 Harry S. Truman scholars.

Celebrating 40 years of fostering student success

Cathy Cockrell — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:58:36 +0000

Testimonies about lives changed, often against the odds, flowed freely at a weekend gala celebrating the Student Learning Center’s 40 years on campus. Providing academic support to 8,500 undergrads annually (80,000 since its launch), the SLC has much to do with Berkeley’s high retention and graduation rates, as many of its alums attested.

Chancellor honored for aid to Dream Act students

Public Affairs — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:18:49 +0000

"I myself am a beneficiary of a community that supported my education," Chancellor Birgeneau told an appreciative audience at Oakland's Scottish Rite Center, where he accepted the Centro Legal de La Raza's "Visionary Leadership Award."

From high school dropout to U.S. Gates Cambridge scholar

Kathleen Maclay — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:44:54 +0000

Justin Park dropped out of high school, but he never lost his love of literature and learning. After 20 years as a bartender, bike messenger and military man, Park returned to school at UC Berkeley, graduated — and now has been selected as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, a top world honor.

Contest winners shine new light on Fiat Lux

Steve Hockensmith — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:00:57 +0000

The Fiat Lux Remix contest invited students, faculty and staff members to revisit images of UC campuses commissioned in the mid-1960s by then-President Clark Kerr and taken by legendary photographer Ansel Adams – and published in the book Fiat Lux – and give them their own spin.

#GlobalPOV: Art, videos and Twitter take poverty curriculum to the world

Carol Ness — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 17:59:15 +0000

Three Cal alumni and teachers — a live-action sketch artist, a social-media proselytizer and a brilliant professor who is also an unapologetic Bono fan — have teamed up to create artful, provocative videos and brought Twitter into the classroom. The goal: to extend the teachings of Berkeley’s biggest minor, Global Poverty and Practice, online. The project could be a model for a new kind of public scholarship and online education.

42 years on, Berkeley’s provost is ready to leave the nest

Barry Bergman — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:44:14 +0000

George Breslauer was a 25-year-old Kremlinologist when he arrived at Berkeley in 1971 for his first teaching job. He never dreamed he'd become an administrator, much less the No. 2 man at the nation's No. 1 public university.

Searching for ‘the Berkeley spark’ in Sub-Saharan Africa

Gretchen Kell — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:38:28 +0000

Admission officer Lin Larson traveled to top high schools in Sub-Saharan Africa to talk to disadvantaged, talented young students about UC Berkeley and opportunities to be a MasterCard Foundation Scholar.

Bears’ winning formula? Aim high, don’t forget to dance

Cathy Cockrell — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:36:22 +0000

Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, 35, has just led the women’s basketball team to the NCAA Final Four. In a Q&A, she talks about personal influences, her approach to mentoring student-athletes and connecting with fans, and what makes Cal's diverse team click.

Centro Legal de la Raza to honor Birgeneau

Public Affairs — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:16:34 +0000

Centro Legal de la Raza, a Bay Area organization that supports the rights of immigrant, low-income and Latino communities, has named Robert Birgeneau as recipient of a "visionary-leadership award," for his efforts on behalf of undocumented students. The chancellor will be honored April 12 at the center's 44th-anniversary gala.

Edwin Okong’o, ‘storyteller by any medium necessary’

Cathy Cockrell — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:12:32 +0000

Swahili instructor by day, comedian by night, campus lecturer Edwin Okong’o mines the immigrant experience for comic gold in his stand-up routines. A "storyteller by any medium necessary," the Cal journalism grad also speaks his truth as radio-show co-host, writer, reporter and award-winning video producer.