News Briefs

Graduation: An end and a beginning

Spring 2008 | Four years fly fast, and come May 14 to 25 some 6,800 undergraduates will graduate from Berkeley in campus ceremonies. To keep informed, families and students should bookmark seniors.berkeley.edu, where you’ll find information, links, and answers to your questions about specific ceremonies, tickets, parking, and arrangements for people with special needs. (Information is subject to change, so check the site again in late April to confirm details.)

Berkeley students graduate with classmates in their academic discipline at one of many campus commencement ceremonies. Seniors should have received commencement information from their major departments in February. For information on cap and gown rentals, graduation announcements, and gifts, visit
newscenter.berkeley.edu/goto/regalia.

Commencement Convocation, a campuswide event for all graduating students and their guests, will be on Tuesday, May 13, at 4 p.m. in the Hearst Greek Theatre. Hosted by Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, the event annually features a noted speaker and honors the outstanding seniors.

Advance reservations for hotels and restaurants during graduation season are essential. Use the Visitor Guide in this issue to find accommodations, local attractions, and other travel tips.

Career Center has a new site just for parents

Wondering how you can help your student steer toward a career? To give you the tips you need, the Career Center has launched an informative new web page — just for parents. Helpful topics include “Timeline for Common Student Activities,” “Choosing a Major,” “Choosing a Career,” “Finding Internships and Jobs,” and “Going to Graduate School.” Check the information at career.berkeley.edu/parents.

Park and play near the residence halls

The long-awaited Underhill Parking Facility and Playing Field, adjacent to the Units 1 and 2 residence halls, opened this winter. The parking structure — a well-lit, four-level lot — provides 1,000 new spaces for faculty, staff, and student permit-holders. The lot is open to the public for paid use on evenings and weekends. For information, visit pt.berkeley.edu.

Atop the lot, a 77,400-square-foot, synthetic-turf playing field hosts intramural sports leagues, sports-club practices, and special events. When not reserved, the field is available to students and the campus community for open recreation activities, such as soccer, frisbee, and jogging.

The opening marks completion of the Underhill Area Master Plan, which also included construction of a central dining facility; offices for Residential and Student Service Programs; apartments for graduate students; apartment-style housing for undergraduates; new residence halls with space for live-in faculty; and renovated office, study, computer-lab, and meeting spaces at Units 1 and 2.

Another way to ‘see’ Cal

Want to explore UC Berkeley on your own but still learn about what you’re seeing? It’s easy! Using your cell phone and a downloadable guide, you can visit Cal landmarks while you dial up informative tidbits about these key campus sites. The cell-phone tour includes a printed map with stops at Sather Tower (the Campanile), California Memorial Stadium, and Doe Memorial Library, among other spots. For details, go to visitors.berkeley.edu/free_tours.html.

Social welfare, journalism deans named

Two faculty members recently became deans of Berkeley professional schools.

Neil Henry, a longtime Washington Post reporter and Newsweek staff writer who joined the Berkeley faculty in 1993, has agreed to fill the post in the Graduate School of Journalism for one year. Henry published his second book, American Carnival: Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media, in May 2007. He is also the author of the racial history Pearl’s Secret: A Black Man’s Search for His White Family.

In the fall, Lorraine Midanik was appointed dean of the School of Social Welfare. Her teaching and scholarly work focus on drug- and alcohol-related problems in the United States. She has written extensively on alcohol use, and her most recent book, Biomedicalization of Alcohol Studies: Ideological Shifts and Institutional Challenges, was published in 2006.

Professor cited for probing new aspects of history

Thomas Laqueur, professor of history, has won a 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for his work on such unconventional topics as the history of sexuality, death and dying, and the body and gender. The award brings Laqueur and the campus up to $1.5 million and recognizes his influential scholarship on challenging topics largely ignored in historical literature.

“Laqueur’s contributions have stimulated important debates where none existed before, and the reach and influence of his work are global,” foundation officials said.

“Mellon’s award is recognition not just of my ‘achievements’ but of the teaching and scholarship of colleagues in my wonderful department, and in the human sciences at Berkeley generally,” Laqueur said. “I have thrived in this great university, which honors openness and innovation.”

Cal Parents Fund is on a roll

More than 4,300 families of Berkeley students have made gifts so far in this year’s Cal Parents Fund campaign, which runs through June 30. The fund is fast climbing toward its $1.6 million goal for 2007–08. Thanks to those who have been so generous, and to those who will join the effort this spring, with a gift to keep a Berkeley education the finest anywhere. To make a gift and learn more, visit
calparents.berkeley.edu/gifts.