Games aside, the real Olympic challenge is engaging with China
As activists excoriate the nation's rulers over human-rights issues, a campus symposium makes the case for a less confrontational attitude toward Beijing.
(08 May)

More focus needed for effective HIV prevention strategies in Africa, says new policy paper
A new policy analysis led by public health researchers at UC Berkeley and Harvard University says that the most common HIV prevention strategies - including condom use, HIV testing, vaccine research and abstinence - are not backed by rigorous studies and are having limited impact on the epidemic in Africa. More resources are needed for two less popular interventions - male circumcision and reduction of sexual partners - that have been proven effective in Africa, the researchers argue.
(08 May)

Clean energy plans dominate 2008 Global Social Venture Competition
A plan to make clean energy affordable around the world to poor, rural households without access to electricity won the grand prize of the 2008 Global Social Venture Competition at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
(23 April)

Panel to explore U.S. universities' role in global development
The role that U.S. universities play in global development will be addressed in a panel discussion on Thursday, April 17, as part of the official launch of UC Berkeley's new Center for Evaluation for Global Action (CEGA).
(16 April)

Student viewpoints on China, the Olympics, and the protests
Six UC Berkeley undergraduates share their thoughts on China's hosting of the 2008 Summer Games and the protests accompanying the journey of the Olympic torch to Beijing.
(10 April)

Raising the profile of immigration studies
"Human history has always been about migration," says sociologist Irene Bloemraad, "but with ever-increasing globalization, the 21st century will be a century of people on the move." Over the past five years, she has worked to raise the profile of immigration studies at UC Berkeley, where a remarkable two thirds of students are foreign born or have at least one foreign-born parent.
(19 March)

Understanding the Middle East, or not
On the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, a retired commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East shared this year's Nimitz lectures with the former head of the CIA's bin Laden desk. But where Gen. John Abizaid said we're on the right track in the "war on terror," Michael Scheuer said we've got it all wrong.

(19 March)

Art student portrays fallen U.S. troops as Iraq War approaches five-year mark
For graduate student Emily Prince, who's been drawing portraits of U.S. troop fatalities for more than three years, the Iraq War's fifth anniversary is a deeply felt milestone.
(17 March)

C.V. Starr East Asian Library to open March 17
The University of California, Berkeley's new C.V. Starr East Asian Library - the first freestanding structure at a United States university erected solely for East Asian collections - will open its stately bronze doors to the public on Monday, March 17.
(14 March)

New analysis finds alarming increase in expected growth of China CO2 emissions
The growth in China's carbon dioxide emissions is far outpacing the previously expected trajectory for the country, making the goal of stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases even more difficult, according to a new analysis by economists at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego.
(10 March)

New digital projects teach English in India, monitor air pollution
An online mystery game in which student sleuths will monitor air pollution in South Central Los Angeles and in Cairo, Egypt, and a project using cell phones to teach English to children in India have won funding for two University of California, Berkeley, professors.
(25 February)

New Asia business center to bolster UC Berkeley's offerings in Asia
The University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business is launching a new center focused on significantly increasing the school's leadership training for Asian business managers and on expanding its research collaborations with Asian universities, Dean Tom Campbell announced today (Tuesday, Feb. 19).
(20 February)

General says Abu Ghraib scandal will resonate ‘for years to come’
In a rare public appearance last week at International House, Antonio Taguba said revelations about abuse at the now-notorious Baghdad prison “affected the moral and ethical conscience of our nation,” and blamed U.S. leaders for what he called "the ambiguity of rules of war."
(13 February)

Journalism professor nominated for three Writers Guild awards
Lowell Bergman, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, a producer/correspondent for the Public Broadcasting System's documentary series "Frontline," and a New York Times investigative reporter, has been nominated for three Writers Guild of America Awards.
(13 December)

Ugandans want peace more than revenge against warlords
War-fatigued Ugandans would rather live in peace than retaliate against leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group that forcibly conscripted tens of thousands of women and children, according to a survey released this week by UC Berkeley, Tulane University and the International Center for Transitional Justice. The survey found, however, that many Ugandans still want the warlords held accountable for atrocities.
(13 December)

Taking a bullet for research
Geographer Michael Watts, an expert in "the oil complex" and its devastating impacts in the Niger Delta, learned a painful lesson on his most recent trip to the region: Things are even worse than he knew.
(06 December)

Digital project to boost Irish studies with "virtual Ireland" Web site
digital collaboration between the University of California, Berkeley, and the Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, aims to better connect Irish studies materials and to make them easily accessible 24/7 from anywhere with a quick click of the computer mouse.
(15 November)

In Burma, repression — and rebellion — are linked to healthcare crisis
Human Rights Center researchers find the roots of the 'Saffron Revolution' in the despair, desperation, and disease that have come with decades of harsh military rule.
(31 October)

Letter from a soldier
A Navy instructor describes an 'otherworldly' experience: listening to podcasts of a UC Berkeley physics course while on patrol in Iraq.
(26 October)

Burma’s ‘transformative moment’
The so-called "Saffron Revolution" may not be televised, but much of what's happening inside the locked-down nation is nonetheless finding its way to the outside world via the Internet. And that, says Southeast Asia scholar Darren Zook, could spell "the beginning of the end" of 45 years of military rule.
(24 October)

World Bank report co-authored by UC economists calls for more investment in agriculture
A renewed focus on agricultural development is critical to successfully reducing global poverty and hunger, according to a new World Bank report co-authored by UC Berkeley economists. The report was released Friday, Oct. 19, at the World Bank's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
(19 October)

Dedication of C.V. Starr East Asian Library on Oct. 20
Scholars and donors from around the world will gather at the University of California, Berkeley, on Saturday, Oct. 20, for private ceremonies to dedicate the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, the first freestanding library in the United States constructed exclusively for an East Asian collection and one of the few such facilities in the world.
(16 October)

A half-century of China scholarship at Berkeley
Born at the height of the Cold War, the Center for Chinese Studies remembers the days of Mao and Sputnik — and sees big things ahead.
(19 September)

Latin American perspectives on Iraq
Leading intellectuals from Mexico and South America offer commentary, in English and Spanish, on U.S. military involvement in Iraq.
(10 August)

Researchers explore increasing foreign investment in U.S. bonds, mortgage securities
Unprecedented investment in U.S. securities such as government bonds and mortgage-backed securities by China and other foreign countries reflects a growing globalization of real estate finance and generally benefits all sides - including U.S. home buyers enjoying lower interest rates - say researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
(10 August)

Researchers report northern Uganda PTSD, preference for violence findings
In an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers at the University of California, Berkeley's Human Rights Center and Tulane University's Payson Center for International Development report high rates of symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression in residents of conflict-ridden northern Uganda. They also find that those with such symptoms favor violent -- rather than peaceful -- means to resolve their country's conflict.
(27 July)

UC Berkeley, 'the people's university,' featured on Chinese TV
People throughout mainland China got a glimpse of the Berkeley campus — and its public mission — in an interview with Chancellor Robert Birgeneau broadcast recently on a popular prime-time talk show.
(11 July)

Burma junta faulted for rampant diseases
As Congress debates extending political and economic sanctions against Burma's military regime, a new report from UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University documents how decades of repressive rule, civil war and poor governance in the Southeast Asian country have contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious diseases there.
(28 June)

Damning report on Uganda war crimes
A report released today (Friday, June 15) by UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center and Tulane University provides the first hard data on forced conscription into the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group accused of kidnapping tens of thousands of women and children to serve as soldiers, servants or sex slaves in northern Uganda. The report documents rising violence in the 20-year-long conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and Ugandan government forces, which have been negotiating a ceasefire. Data was collected from rehabilitation centers in the war-torn, eastern African republic.
(15 June)

Chancellor Birgeneau denounces move to boycott Israeli universities
In a statement, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau has expressed his outrage over the efforts by some members of Britain's University and College Union to promulgate a boycott against Israeli academics and academic institutions.
(14 June)

Former U.S. Ambassador to head International House
Martin G. Brennan, a diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Uganda and Zambia, has been named the new executive director of International House, a multicultural residence and program center at the UC Berkeley. Brennan succeeds Joe Lurie, who will step down at the end of June as executive director of the unique, 75-year-old center after two decades of service.
(11 May)

Islamic scholars receive Carnegie grants
Anthropologists and Islamic scholars Saba Mahmood and Charles Hirschkind have been named Carnegie Scholars and will receive $100,000 each to research themes relating to Islam and the modern world.
(04 May)

For 90 minutes this week, Berkeley was Carter Center West
Before a packed Zellerbach Hall audience on Wednesady, former President Jimmy Carter urged the United States to reassume its role as "honest broker" in the Middle East, citing strong support among Israelis for a deal that would trade territory for a lasting peace.
(03 May)

Journal focuses on 'transitional justice'
A new academic journal from Oxford Journals focuses on the growing field of transitional justice, defined by the publisher as "the study of strategies employed by states, civil society, and international institutions to deal with a legacy of human-rights abuses, and to effect social reconstruction in the wake of widespread violence."
(25 April)

Jimmy Carter to speak at Zellerbach on May 2
Former President Jimmy Carter will speak on the UC Berkeley campus on Wednesday, May 2, at 4:30 p.m. in Zellerbach Hall on the subject of his latest book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."
(19 April)

MBA team Revolution Foods wins social venture competition
Serving healthy home-style school lunches in the San Francisco Bay Area earned Revolution Foods, based in Emeryville, Calif., the grand prize at the eighth annual Global Social Venture Competition held recently at the University of California, Berkley’s Haas School of Business.
(17 April)

Finalists face off with global social venture plans
Ten social venture finalists from around the world will compete for $45,000 in prizes and funds for business plans ranging from health and renewable energy to special childcare for families with disabled children at the eighth annual Global Social Venture Competition hosted by the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business on Friday, April 13. The competition will culminate in a one-day symposium on Saturday, April 14, at UC Berkeley's Clark Kerr campus. Panel discussions will focus on measuring impact, social venture financing, developing regions, and social entrepreneurship as a competitive strategy – and how to get started.
(06 April)

Afghan ambassador to the U.S. to speak at UC Berkeley on April 17, student penny campaign begins
Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, Said T. Jawad, will speak at the University of California, Berkeley, on Tuesday, April 17, about efforts to secure peace in his war-torn country. At a reception following his talk, Jawad and his wife, Shamin, will be presented with money collected by UC Berkeley students through a Roots of Peace penny campaign.
(06 April)

A week of service and learning at the border
Twenty-five UC Berkeley students spent an 'alternative' spring break on the San Diego-Tijuana border, learning about immigration and human-trafficking issues from law-enforcement officials and community organizers.
(05 April)

Botero's Abu Ghraib exhibit closes after 15,000 visitors view his images of torture and humiliation
The paintings and sketches by Colombian artist Fernando Botero of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq may have been hard for many viewers to stomach but, nevertheless, nearly 15,000 visitors flocked to see them during their seven-week exhibit at UC Berkeley's Doe Library.
(27 March)

The responsibility to protect
A newly emerging international doctrine, the "responsibility to protect," was at the heart of a two-day human rights conference last week on the Berkeley campus.
(21 March)

St. Patrick was ahead of his time, says Celtic Studies professor
It's commonly known that St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was a fifth century Christian missionary who led Ireland's conversion to Christianity but also, legend has it, drove the snakes from the Emerald Isle. And while the exact dates of his life have never been certain, commonly-accepted estimates are between A.D. 390-460 or 490. But a UC Berkeley professor's research on the matter is challenging those dates, placing Patrick's birth approximately 50 years earlier.
(08 March)

Preventing the unthinkable
An international assembly of policymakers, legislators, philanthropists, religious leaders, scholars, and activists will discuss how state governments can be encouraged to stop genocide and other mass atrocities at "Stopping Mass Atrocities: An International Conference on the Responsibility to Protect," set for Tuesday and Wednesday, March 13 and 14.
(07 March)

Journalism school team wins Polk Award for climate change stories
A University of California, Berkeley, team of reporters from the Graduate School of Journalism has earned a George Polk Award for their 2006 series of reports on the early signs of global warming from spots around the world, including Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Andes, Bangladesh and the world's so-called polar bear capitol in Hudson Bay, Canada.
(20 February)

A plant-based diet for small-planet diplomats
In their own own species of botanical détente, U.S. and Iranian plant experts have been exploring the rich flora of Iran, and building professional connections, for close to a decade via the American-Iranian Botanical Program.
(14 February)

The real cost of a café latte
Black Gold, a 2006 documentary showing on campus next Friday as part of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, exposes the bitter grounds at the bottom of your cup.
(14 February)

Botero exhibit joined by talk with artist, panels on violence, art, human rights
UC Berkeley's exhibit of Colombian artist Fernando Botero's depictions of Abu Ghraib prison abuses is stimulating a series of public conversations on campus on related issues such as art and violence, torture, human rights and terrorism. The Botero exhibit, sponsored by UC Berkeley's Center for Latin American Studies with the support of UC Berkeley's School of Law (Boalt Hall) and the University Library, opens at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, in Room 190 of Doe Library and closes March 23. It and all related programs are free and open to the public. Funds for the events have been privately raised.
(24 January)

Nobel laureates, chancellor to discuss energy self-sufficiency
Six Nobel laureates will gather at the University of California, Berkeley, with Chancellor Robert Birgeneau this Saturday (Jan. 20) to discuss energy self-sufficiency in the 21st century.
(17 January)

I-School Dean AnnaLee Saxenian assists with immigrant entrepreneurs study
More than a quarter of the engineering and technology companies established in the United States in the past decade were founded by immigrant entrepreneurs, according to a new report co-authored by AnnaLee Saxenian, dean of Berkeley's School of Information.
(04 January)