Campus rolls out red carpet for veterans
With a new GI bill set to double college benefits for post-9/11 veterans, UC Berkeley, is taking up the charge to make the state's higher education system more welcoming to those returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A new campus program offers veterans customized outreach and orientation programs, guidance with financial aid and a new class that addresses their concerns.
(23 June)

Beijing or bust
Dozens of top Cal athletes hope to compete in the Summer 2008 Olympics. Some have already qualified for the Beijing Games; others are competing in trials between now and mid July.
(19 June)

'My fellow graduates'
At UC Berkeley graduation ceremonies in May, outstanding new graduates were among those who spoke from the podium. Hear an audio sampling from six of their addresses.
(29 May)

Grad student leaves a 'Jeopardy' record in her wake
Larissa Kelly, a fourth-year Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley, lost game #7 of her 'Jeopardy' career on the May 28 show — but not before taking more than $220,000 in winnings, a record for female contestants.
(29 May)

Cal team preps for AIDS/Life Cycle, June 1-7
A 25-member Cal team is gearing up for the 2008 AIDS/LifeCycle, which kicks off Sunday, June 1 in San Francisco. Students and staff on the team will send updates, in an online journal, as they pedal their way to Los Angeles.
(29 May)

Berkeley grad student wins big on 'Jeopardy'
By the end of her sixth evening on "Jeopardy!", May 27, Larissa Kelly, a UC Berkeley history Ph.D. candidate, had racked up more than $200,000 in winnings. Her seventh game airs Wednesday night.
(28 May)

Job outlook for graduates sunnier than expected
As the season of caps, gowns and "Pomp and Circumstance" winds down this week at the UC Berkeley, many new graduates are uneasy about their job prospects, given reports of an economic slowdown. But career counselors and analysts on campus say they have seen no sign of employers putting the brakes on recruitment efforts.
(22 May)

Point of view: Campus opinions on same-sex marriage
Following the State Supreme Court's May 15 affirmation of same-sex marriage rights, members of the UC Berkeley campus community offer their reactions.
(16 May)

Grads urged to take a global view, make global change
The Class of 2008, gathered under sunny skies to celebrate the end of their beginning and the beginning of their new lives, left commencement ceremonies at the Greek Theatre on Tuesday with a clear message ringing in their ears: "Go out and change the world."
(14 May)

Journalism student wins Lange Fellowship for "California's Main Street"
After several months of weekends photographing life along Highway 99 in the state's Central Valley, Adithya Sambamurthy said he realized he was barely scratching the surface of what travelers during the Depression-era exodus to the West called "California's Main Street." Now that he has won the 2008 Dorothea Lange Fellowship, the 28-year-old student pursuing master's degrees at the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism as well as in international and area studies, will take next year to finish his photographic expedition along the blacktop road that stretches from Bakersfield to Redding.
(13 May)

University Medal finalists find inspiration and life lessons at Berkeley
This year, five students — Matthew Johnson, Julia Malkina, Samuel Pittman, Anitha Sivasankaran, and Angelica Zen — were finalists for the University Medal. While they were finishing their semesters and anticipating commencement, they agreed to submit to a questionnaire to give the campus a look at what makes them tick.
(12 May)

Top graduating senior an infectious disease detective
If there were an award for the world's most timid child, Leslie Chung-Lei Sheu would have won it as a youngster for her deep discomfort with the unknown. Today, after myriad challenges, the plucky, gregarious UC Berkeley senior is the winner of a much more fitting prize. Sheu's dogged scientific curiosity, academic success and empathy for the downtrodden have earned her the University Medal, the campus's top honor for a graduating senior.
(08 May)

MySpace to hiphop: A view into the world of 'digital youth'
From Facebook friends to anime fan subbers, Harry Potter podcasters to online communities of teenage bulimics, kids are using Web 2.0 tools to reinvent themselves and the world. In the first public report on a nationwide study of networked youth, Berkeley researchers bring news from beyond the generational divide.
(28 April)

Campus's Sustainability Summit turns five
In a half-day meeting, more than 500 participants take stock of progress and challenges, small and large, in the student-fueled movement to green the UC Berkeley campus
(22 April)

A snapshot of student reading habits over two decades
What do UC Berkeley students read? From Why do Men Have Nipples? to the novels of J.K. Rowling and Jane Austen, three large surveys of freshman reading habits, each conducted a decade apart, identify ephemeral — and enduring — undergraduate reading choices.
(21 April)

Point of view: Seniors on what's ahead
Thirteen UC Berkeley seniors, most of them set to graduate in mid May, share their post-graduation plans — and the final hurdles they face before commencement.
(18 April)

Chancellor, student leaders sign new plan for multicultural center
UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau and student leaders today (Wednesday, April 16) signed an agreement that is expected to improve the look and operation of the campus's multicultural center.
(16 April)

Campus releases freshman admission data
Campus officials today (Monday, April 14) announced that they have offered admission to 12,616 high school students for the 2008-2009 school year, following an exceptionally competitive admissions cycle propelled by a marked increase in applications.
(14 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)

Cal Day annual open house
Cal Day, UC Berkeley's annual open house, offers visitors the chance to become a UC Berkeley student for the day on Saturday, April 12.
(02 April)

Students' plans for spring break
From catching up on sleep to motorcycle lessons and desert-wildflower gazing, 13 UC Berkeley undergraduates share what they're planning for spring break.
(21 March)

Greek houses, co-ops gain access to emergency supply caches, disaster training
UC Berkeley students and campus and city officials have launched a first-in-the-nation student disaster-preparedness program, under which the more than 2,500 Berkeley students who live in fraternities, sororities and cooperative housing will receive six caches of emergency supplies as well as training to help them respond to major earthquakes or other natural catastrophes.
(20 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)

Cal student fashions then and now
Editors of BARE magazine scope out student fashion 'statements' on Sproul Plaza and comment on the trends.
(04 March)

Ang Lee’s films to be focus of ‘On the Same Page’ program
Freshmen and transfer students entering the College of Letters and Science next fall will be asked to watch two of celebrated film director Ang Lee’s productions— Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Ice Storm — as part of L&S's signature program, "On the Same Page." Lee and his longtime collaborator and screenwriter, Berkeley alumnus James Schamus, will be the program’s featured speakers and will visit the campus in October.
(20 February)

Student viewpoints on the '08 presidential contest
Sixteen UC Berkeley undergrads weigh in on the election — the issues that concern them and their decision (or indecision) on the candidates.
(30 January)

New fund to help recruit top graduate students in the humanities
A $6 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will help the University of California, Berkeley, recruit top graduate students in the humanities was announced today (Monday, Jan. 28) by Janet Broughton, UC Berkeley's dean of arts and humanities.
(28 January)

What it's like to be new on campus
UC surveys shine a light on the freshman and transfer-student experience at Berkeley
(28 January)

Students' political, religious, and social convictions, by the numbers
Recent UC surveys shed light political engagement, religious identification, and social opinions of Berkeley undergrads — in this fourth of a five-part series.
(25 January)

Youngest student to publish ADHD memoir
Freshman Blake Taylor can add "self-help author" to his resume as he enters his second semester this week at UC Berkeley. After two years of writing his life story during vacations, his memoir "ADHD & me: what I learned from lighting fires at the dinner table is available in bookstores. Taylor is being considered the youngest American to publish a personal account of his life with ADHD.
(24 January)

Unpacking 'diversity': Students describe personal encounters at UC Berkeley
Undergrads offer first-person accounts of interactions with people 'different' from themselves — in this third of a five-part series on recent student-survey findings.
(24 January)

How students grade UC Berkeley and spend their time
In the UC Undergraduate Experience Survey, thousands of undergrads evaluate their academic experience at Berkeley and reveal how they divide their hours. This is part two of a five-part report on student-survey findings.
(23 January)

Survey results offer birds'-eye view of Berkeley student body
Nearly 12,000 Berkeley students took UC's most recent survey on the undergraduate experience — and their responses tell a lot about who they are. This story, the first in a five-part series, focuses on their family roots and campus personas.
(22 January)

Scholars say Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" still rings true
Charles Dickens' Victorian morality tale, "A Christmas Carol," remains a strong influence on contemporary appreciation of the holiday season and, thanks to its many incarnations, has become "one of those stories you know before you remember reading it," says a University of California, Berkeley, English professor.
(13 December)

Fall 2007 student enrollment data released
More than 34,900 students, including 9,000 new freshman, transfer and graduate students, are currently enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley, according to final enrollment data released by campus officials today (Monday, Dec. 3).
(03 December)

It’s no page-turner, but . . .
The Disabled Students' Program's Assistive Technology Center matches students who are blind, visually impaired, physically limited, or learning-disabled with the software and hardware they need to make their careers at Berkeley less fraught and more successful.
(14 November)

Sun struck
Student concern about global warming is fueling broad research interest in harnessing 'the warm power of the sun.'
(08 November)

African diaspora graduates in hot demand
Graduates of UC Berkeley’s decade-old African Diaspora Studies Program have begun a diaspora of their own, landing plum academic appointments across the country, from the University of Hawaii to Michigan’s Wayne State University and beyond. This Thursday (Nov. 1) some of them will return to their academic homeland at UC Berkeley to discuss their research and share their success stories
(30 October)

Scholar activist bridges the distance between the barrio and the Ph.D. seminar room
As a teen he got a taste of back-breaking yard maintenance, as a day laborer in Malibu. Now his Ph.D. research focuses on immigrant gardeners in L.A.'s vast informal economy.
(05 October)

Students to manage Socially Responsible Investment Fund
Managing a socially responsible investment fund is one of the new learning experiences the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business is offering its graduate students for the first time this fall.
(20 September)

Forestry field camp at 90
As the term 'forest wars' suggests, our woodlands have long been fiercely contested terrain. For nine decades UC Berkeley students of all stripes — from would-be timber operators to aspiring environmental activists — have been learning the complex science of forestry, from the ground up, at a summer field camp in the northeastern Sierras.
(06 September)

Former street tough takes miraculous route to UC Berkeley
Next week, Derick Brown starts his junior year at UC Berkeley, arriving as a transfer student from City College of San Francisco. While the campus is less than 15 miles from the Western Addition neighborhood where he grew up, it may as well be the moon, as far as many of his former cohorts are concerned. "Growing up, Berkeley was just off limits. African Americans where I come from, we just can't get in," he said. "But I took a chance and enrolled in community college, then things started happening, and look at me now. I'm floating on a cloud."
(23 August)

Students to learn new Internet piracy rules
As part of their fall semester 2007 orientation, thousands of students moving into UC Berkeley residence halls, starting this weekend, will learn that if they use campus computer networks to download copyrighted music, they'll find themselves surfing without a Net. Under UC Berkeley's new "Learn before you Burn" campaign, residence hall denizens caught illegally downloading music will automatically lose their in-room Internet connection for one week or longer.
(15 August)

Making the connections
Putting undergrads and faculty together is easy: just schedule a required lecture course in a 700-seat hall. But finding ways for them to work in smaller groups, on topics of mutual interest, takes dedication - something that College of Letters and Science staffers Terry Strathman and Alix Schwartz display in abundance.
(11 July)

LifeCycle Journal: Seven Cal Team cyclists and a roadie reflect on the ride's highs, lows, and enduring memories
After riding into L.A. on AIDS LifeCycle's Day 7, eight Cal Team members reflect on the meaning of the ride.
(12 June)

LifeCycle Journal: Climbing that last hill, with miles yet to go
Cal Team member and chef Chuck Davies reflects on how all the aches and pains of a week in the saddle are overcome by the outpouring of support from the community, and by the chance to celebrate life and those who live fully in the face of AIDS.
(09 June )

LifeCycle Journal: Two perspectives on ride's Dress Red Day
A Cal grad student and an adjunct lecturer describe a low-mileage day marked by campiness and fun.
( 08 June )

LifeCycle Journal: Catching the spirit of the event
UC Berkeley staffer Devin Wicks reports from Santa Maria on early-morning preparations for ride-out on Day 4, taking riders up the infamous Evil Twins and across the half-way mark to L.A.
(07 June)

LifeCycle journal: Missing out on 72.3 miles of fun
Incoming freshman Claire Veening describes the disappointments of Day 3 (King City to Paso Robles) on her first AIDS LifeCycle ride.
(06 June)

LifeCycle Journal: Part endurance event, part circus, part therapy
Cal grad Ben Spoer reports on the challenges of sleeping in a tent city of 2,300, the circus atmosphere that help riders persist after the mileage count tops 75, and the shared sense of loss on AIDS LifeCycle 6.
(05 June)

Riding to stop AIDS
Cal senior Hailey Gilmore reports from the road following Day 1 of the week-long AIDS LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
(04 June)

An artist honors U.S. fatalities in Iraq
Included in this year's Venice Biennale is a memorial to American troops who have died in the Iraq War, by UC Berkeley art-practice graduate student Emily Prince.
(04 June)

Survival theme for freshman summer reading
Students navigating their freshman year at UC Berkeley this fall may find the 2007 unofficial summer reading list especially helpful. The theme is "Survival!"
(04 June)

Cal AIDS LifeCyclists get in gear for an arduous (and memorable) ride
When AIDS Life Cyclists pedal out of San Francisco this Sunday, June 3, one contingent will sport Cal jerseys. Members of the Cal Team plan to file first-hand reports on the benefit ride, beginning with this overview from team co-captain Christine Shaff.
(31 May)

68-year-old Ph.D. candidate beats the odds
For 68-year-old Ananda Sattwa, the long and rocky journey from Kingston, Jamaica, to UC Berkeley will crest this Friday (May 18) as she attends the Department of Ethnic Studies' graduation ceremony. That's when her eldest son, African American historian and anthropologist Robin D. G. Kelley, will place a doctoral hood over his mother's long mane of wavy silver hair. The Ph.D. candidate has yet to complete her dissertation. However, with her son – a sought-after scholar – delivering the keynote address, her family felt the time was right to honor the achievements of the woman who made sacrifice after sacrifice so they might pursue their dreams.
(16 May)

Inside the Beltway
Through the UC Berkeley Washington Program, Cal undergrads fan out through the D.C. area to take internships in government, non-profit, and private organizations, while learning from UC faculty at night.
(16 May)

Round-the-clock studies: The library as first resort
Writing in the newsletter fiat lux, University Librarian Thomas Leonard takes a look at final exams from the library perspective: students in every corner, tents pitched in the stacks, and a round-the-clock "study resort."
(14 May)

New campus-city program helps students discard unwanted items
Students about to move out of their housing units for the summer no longer have an excuse for dumping unwanted items, including furniture, on the sidewalks as thet leave town. A new program being launched by UC Berkeley and the city of Berkeley provides students with giant outdoor refuse bins, garbage truck sweeps and a drop-off recycling center on campus.
(08 May)

Commencement Convocation this Wednesday
Network television news reporter Bob Woodruff, Oakland hip-hop artist Boots Riley, Nobel physicist Andrew Fire and Lt. Gen. Daniel Leaf, deputy commander of the U.S. Air Force, are among the diverse luminaries set to offer inspiration and practical advice this month to graduates at UC Berkeley. Ceremonies begin this Wednesday, May 9, at 4 p.m. with Commencement Convocation, an event for all graduating seniors at the campus's Greek Theatre
(07 May)

University Medal finalists shaped by a world of experiences
Drawing on their varied pasts and envisioning their myriad futures, this year's University Medal finalists — an aspiring doctor, a voracious reader, an successful immigrant, a health activist — tell their own stories of challenge and accomplishment.
(04 May)

Top graduating senior is "quintessential Berkeley"
Most days, Adrian Down can be found pushing a wheelbarrow around the UC Berkeley student organic garden. Resembling a tropical frog or vulgar tourist, he’s often garbed in orange T-shirt, blue plaid shorts and blue and pink sneakers. But goofy thrift store outfits belie Down’s wisdom and humility. His 3.9 GPA, intense scientific curiosity and altruism have landed him UC Berkeley’s highest honor for a graduating senior. As the winner of the 2007 University Medal, Down will speak at Commencement Convocation at the campus's Greek Theatre on May 9.
(02 May)

Training taking place to spot depression
Spring green stickers are sprouting around the UC Berkeley as part of a campaign to help students who are depressed or suffering from other mental illnesses to locate faculty and staff members trained to help.
(30 April)

Dirty work for a clean creek
UC Berkeley students turned out in force for the campus's spring cleanup of Strawberry Creek.
(18 April)

Chancellor announces program to assist needy students with financial aid
A new program initiated by University of California, Berkeley, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau will double the impact of personal gifts made by members of the campus community to UC Berkeley endowment funds that provide needy undergraduate and graduate students with financial aid.
(10 April)

Bees keep her busy as a, well, a bee
Public curiosity about bees kept UC Berkeley graduate student Alex Harmon-Threatt on her toes at an annual wildflower festival last weekend at the Sunol-Ohlone Regional Wilderness, south of Livermore, as kids and adults alike peered through her magnifying glass at a collection of native wild bee species on display.
(10 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)

Fall 2007 freshman admissions data released
More than 10,000 high school students have received the happy news that they may attend the University of California, Berkeley as freshmen next fall, an increase from last year of approximately 370 offers of admission, according to data released by campus admissions officials today (Thursday, April 5).
(05 April)

Campus will grant paid maternity leave to women doctoral students
As one of only a handful of universities across the country to offer paid pregnancy leave for doctoral students, Berkeley is 'on the cutting edge' of family-friendly benefits.
(07 March)

MBA students focus on education finances
MBA students at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business will host the Education Leadership Case Competition, the first of its kind at a business school in the United States, on Thursday and Friday, March 1-2. The competition will focus on a new financial plan for the Oakland Unified School District, which has been in state receivership since 2003 due to financial troubles.
(26 February)

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)

Journalism student wins Lange award
Color photos of farm workers in the fields, orchards and labor camps of California’s Central Valley have won Jeremy Rue, a student at the University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, the 2007 Dorothea Lange Fellowship.
(07 February)

Point of view: How concerned are you about climate change?
As climate change and energy policy move to center stage, the NewsCenter asks students whether global warming is a major worry for them.
(31 January)

Pssst … Cal students! Wanna buy a cheap ticket to the ballet? How about the circus?
Imagine seeing the legendary Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater defy gravity for the same price as Ben Stiller defying history in "A Night of the Museum." You could — if you're a UC Berkeley student willing to be both spontaneous and flexible about getting your entertainment fix. To entice more students to venture through the doors of Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances has been quietly selling last-minute, $10 "rush" tickets to many shows an hour before the curtain goes up.
(19 January)

Hip-hop scholars push for recognition
UC Berkeley students are increasingly tapping into hip-hop culture for their research and field work. But when it comes to finding faculty members to review and assess their research, hip-hop scholars – undergraduate and graduate students alike – say they face a generational divide. To break down this barrier, one doctoral student in sociology has formed the Hip-Hop Studies Working Group.
(09 January)