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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.
Students archive
Media Advisory: Gov. Jerry Brown to address 2013 political science graduates
May 17, 2013: California Gov. Jerry Brown will address UC Berkeley political science graduates May 20.
Berkeley SHIP 2013-14 details announced
May 16, 2013: Chancellor Birgeneau recently announced that Berkeley would leave UC SHIP and return to a campus-based student insurance plan for the next academic year. Details of the campus plan, to be implemented in August, can be found in this post from University Health Services.
Marlene Castro: Back to middle school, on a mission
May 16, 2013:
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.
Jesús Galindo: Brothers’ bond inspires budding teacher
May 16, 2013:
When Galindo was 9, his father, an elementary school drop-out, divorced his mother, and she fell into deep depression. The family had been troubled, poor. From that moment on, Galindo and his younger brother Alex, began a series of moves with their mom to 13 California cities.
Dorothea Lange winner hopes to inspire change with her photos 
May 15, 2013: In South Africa, UC Berkeley graduate student Molly Oleson photographed farming women seeking better conditions; In India, she captured the lives of girls in Bihar, who are traditionally left uneducated; in Brazil’s Amazon, Oleson will document indigenous communities’ struggle to protect their land and culture from destruction by a new dam. For her work, Oleson won the 2013 Dorothea Lange Fellowship.
Students think big ideas in tackling societal problems
May 15, 2013: Projects targeting money matters, water technology and cultural taboos took top prizes as Big Ideas @ Berkeley honored outstanding student solutions to pressing social problems.
Law school’s Altholz wins 2013 Yamashita Prize
May 14, 2013: 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.
Ugandan AIDS orphan discovers power of the pedal
May 14, 2013: The humble bicycle propelled AIDS-orphan Chris Ategeka from rural East Africa to UC Berkeley, driving him to success as an engineer, inventor and social entrepreneur.
Biology scholars thank Birgeneau, Breslauer
May 13, 2013: 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.
UCPD team to ride in Special Olympics benefit
May 13, 2013: For the fourth year, members of the campus police force will ride in Bike the Bridges, a 25-mile fundraising ride to benefit Special Olympics Northern California. Others are invited to join the UCPD team or support it with pledges. The event takes place Sunday, June 9.
Holder urges law-school grads to work for ‘a better world’ 
May 13, 2013: 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.
Berkeley’s top seniors eager to make learning count
May 10, 2013: Luke Bonham, Danielle Nicholson, Daniel Price and Leena Suleiman share insights from their time at Berkeley as they survey the road ahead.
Law students lend a hand to undocumented students
May 10, 2013: 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.
Bike to Work Day at Berkeley, in photos
May 9, 2013: Hundreds of people strapped on their helmets and rode their bikes to UC Berkeley Thursday in celebration of Bike to Work Day, and some of them sent in their photos. Take a look.
Eric Holder, Jerry Brown, Steve Wozniak among graduation speakers
May 9, 2013: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and California Gov. Jerry Brown are among the political leaders, innovators and pundits set to address newly minted UC Berkeley graduates at ceremonies starting this weekend (May 11-12).
An 18-year-old wunderkind named top graduating senior
May 9, 2013: Ritankar Das, 18, double major in bioengineering and chemical biology, is the youngest University Medalist in more than a century. He will be graduating from UC Berkeley in only three years with more than 200 credits and a GPA of 3.99.
From fascist Europe to Berkeley: Students help uncover a history of intellectual migration
May 6, 2013: Students digging through Magnes Collection archives stored at the Bancroft Library discovered a world unknown to many these days: The lives of 70 professors who fled Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1930s and made their mark on UC Berkeley. “J Weekly” explores their findings, which were made through the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship program and will be part of an exhibit at the Magnes in 2014.
Chancellors see Berkeley’s future through students’ eyes
May 3, 2013: 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
May 3, 2013: 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.
Saddle up for Bike to Work Day
May 3, 2013: Whether you’re one of UC Berkeley’s 5,000 regular bicycle commuters or you’re brand new to cycling, it’s time to make plans for Bike to Work Day, set for Thursday, May 9. Campus riders are encouraged to share photos of their commute at #bike2berk.
Chancellor announces return to Berkeley-operated student health plan
May 2, 2013: In response to student urging, the campus will withdraw from the UC-wide student health-insurance plan (UC SHIP) and return to a UC Berkeley-operated plan starting in mid August. Chancellor Birgeneau announced the decision in a May 2 letter to the campus community.
For law student, an intensely personal path to Sax Prize
May 2, 2013: For Micah West ’13, winner of the 2013 Sax Prize for clinical excellence, the path to advocacy has been intensely personal. When West was 19, his father pled guilty to two felonies and received a one-year sentence to a halfway house. “I could no more walk away from my father than I could any of the millions incarcerated in this country,” West said in accepting the award, honoring his tireless work at Berkeley Law’s Death Penalty Clinic and his efforts to launch the new Youth Defender Clinic.
How graduate-student instructors help undergrads thrive
April 30, 2013: 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.
Building an LGBT community for STEM majors
April 30, 2013: An appreciation for diversity and a passion for energizing student life led Paul Zarate,a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, to found the Berkeley chapter of Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (oSTEM), a national organization dedicated to the professional development of LGBT students.
From Marin to The Hague, working for justice
April 30, 2013: 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.
White House honors student working to stop human trafficking
April 29, 2013: Graduate student Minh Dang has been named a White House Champion of Change. She is among a group of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women cited for extraordinary commitment to their communities and the nation.
Meet future veterinarian (or zookeeper) Amanda Wong
April 29, 2013: Aspiring veterinarian (or zookeeper) Amanda Wong is VP of the Cal Pre-Vet Club. In an interview with DugDug, “a blog for pets,” the Berkeley junior talks about her stint as a zoo volunteer, teaching visitors about horned frogs and golden eagles — and other experiences with animals so far.
Chancellor looks back: ‘a period where leadership mattered’
April 26, 2013: 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.”
Berkeley named one of America’s ‘Bicycle Friendly Universities’
April 25, 2013: The Bicycle Friendly University program recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and providing a more bicycle-friendly campus for students, staff and visitors.
