UC Berkeley NewsCenter » International affairs

Law school’s Altholz wins 2013 Yamashita Prize

Public Affairs — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:30:57 +0000

This year's Foundation for Change: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize has been awarded to Roxanna Altholz, an assistant clinical professor of law and associate director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at Berkeley Law. Altholz successfully represented 127 family members of 28 individuals who were forcibly "disappeared" between 1983 and 1985 by Guatemalan security forces.

Law students lend a hand to undocumented students

Carol Ness — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:26:52 +0000

A special project of Berkeley Law's International Human Rights Law Clinic and the campus's Undocumented Student Program has helped 103 Berkeley students decide whether to apply for a special immigration category that allows them to work legally and to avoid deportation. Most have won approval under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

Crown Prince of Norway visits, agreement signed with Haas

Public Affairs — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:00:29 +0000

On a swing through the Bay Area, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit spent the afternoon at UC Berkeley Thursday, meeting with Chancellor Birgeneau and signing a technology-sharing agreement with the Haas School of Business.

From Marin to The Hague, working for justice

Barry Bergman — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:03:54 +0000

Alexa Koenig, who is finishing up her dissertation as she settles into her role as executive director of the Human Rights Center, plans to "engage pretty deeply" with the center's work in war-torn regions all over the globe.

Haas faculty turn to crowdfunding for solar light research in Uganda

Public Affairs — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 08:00:40 +0000

Three Haas professors are bypassing traditional grants and going straight to crowdfunding to raise money for a study on how to get people in rural Uganda to replace dangerous kerosene lanterns with life-changing solar lamps.

Cal Day launched graduating senior’s Berkeley experience

Gretchen Kell — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 08:00:19 +0000

Senior Ahn-Thi Le's UC Berkeley journey began with Cal Day, when she fell in love with the campus. Now, after following a path that took her to India to work with rural artisans and to a place in the CellScope initiative improving health care in Vietnam, Le is about to graduate.

Experts sound alarm over “perfect storm” in African Sahel

Sarah Yang — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:22:52 +0000

The African Sahel, beset with impacts from climate change and the most rapidly growing population in the world, could descend into large-scale drought, famine, war and terrorist control if immediate steps are not taken, according to a new report by experts from UC Berkeley and the African Institute for Development Policy.

Biblical scholar on his latest translation, Ancient Israel

Public Affairs — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:03:37 +0000

Biblical scholar Robert Alter considers himself a "literary archaeologist." He discusses his latest Hebrew Bible translation, an award-winning work on the ancient Biblical books Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, on KQED radio's "Forum with Michael Krasny."

#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.

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.

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.

Latin America scholars on Chavez’s death, new Pope

Public Affairs — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:08:50 +0000

What does the death of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, and the election of an Argentinian cardinal as Pope, mean for Latin America? Experts from the Americas offer commentary, in English and Spanish, via the Center for Latin American Studies' online video series "Critical Insights."

Helping to shape global response to wartime sexual violence

Public Affairs — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:24:45 +0000

Working with the Human Rights Center's Sexual Violence and Accountability Project, Berkeley law students are aiding a multi-year effort to gather data on sexual and gender-based violence during and after war, across the globe, and to help craft better response policies.

Professor makes case for U.S.-Mexico border without walls

Kathleen Maclay — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:00:19 +0000

Against the background of fierce debate on immigration reform, Michael Dear's Why Walls Won't Work examines the often-thriving, but threatened, cross-border lives in communities straddling the U.S.-Mexico border.

Shaping a global response to sexual violence

Public Affairs — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:56:14 +0000

International scholars, policymakers, human-rights advocates and foreign military leaders will take up the issue of sexual violence during and after conflicts at the Missing Peace Symposium 2013 in Washington, D.C., co-hosted this week by the Human Rights Center at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

New research on AIDS transmission focuses on cheating spouses

Public Affairs — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:34:15 +0000

Public-health policy for AIDS prevention in sub-Saharan Africa underestimates the role that cheating spouses play in transmitting the virus, according to new research from UC Berkeley. For the new study, scientists created a highly detailed mathematical model to estimate whether HIV-positive individuals were infected during or prior to their current relationship.

Playwright/alum Stan Lai to discuss creativity, theater

Kathleen Maclay — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 22:10:24 +0000

The prolific director/playwright Stan Lai comes home to the Berkeley campus to talk about contemporary theater, culture and creativity in Asia and the United States -- and what the world would be like without theater.

Public Health’s Potts: Educating women is the way to fight terrorism in the Sahel

Carol Ness — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:21:52 +0000

Family planning and education for women are the best weapons to fight terrorism in Mali and the rest of Africa's Sahel, according to an article by UC Berkeley public health professor Malcolm Potts, an obstetrician and reproductive scientist, published in the Los Angeles Times.

Law clinic hails victory for Guatemalan civil-war victims

Public Affairs — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:14:20 +0000

In a ruling hailed as a victory for Guatemalan civil war victims, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has condemned Guatemala for its actions related to 28 forced disappearances in the 1980s. The International Human Rights Law Clinic at Berkeley Law litigated the case along with the Myrna Mack Foundation, a human-rights organization based in Guatemala City.

War crimes scholar named to lead Human Rights Center

Carol Ness — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:03:31 +0000

Alexa Koenig, a scholar of war crimes and international human rights law and Ph.D. candidate at Berkeley Law, has been named executive director of the law school's Human Rights Center. Koenig has served as the center's interim director for six months.