http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/ Headlines from the University of California, Berkeley Steve McConnell - steve.mcconnell@berkeley.edu en-US http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/06/23_veterans.shtml 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. Published: 23 June http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/06/19_olympics.shtml 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. Published: 19 June http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/29_gradtalks.shtml 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. Published: 29 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/29_jeopardy2.shtml 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. Published: 29 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/29_aidsride.shtml 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. Published: 29 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/28_jeopardy.shtml 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. Published: 28 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/22_joboutlook.shtml 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. Published: 22 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/16_povgaymarriage.shtml Following the State Supreme Court's May 15 affirmation of same-sex marriage rights, members of the UC Berkeley campus community offer their reactions. Published: 16 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/14_commence.shtml 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." Published: 14 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/13_lange08.shtml 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. Published: 13 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/12_umedal.shtml 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. Published: 12 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/08_medalist.shtml 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. Published: 08 May http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/28_digitalyouth.shtml 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. Published: 28 April http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/22_sustainsummit.shtml 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 Published: 22 April http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/21_studentreads.shtml 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. Published: 21 April