Summer 2023

Chancellor Carol Christ announces 2024 retirement, plans for ambitious year

July 18, 2023

Chancellor Carol Christ sent the following message in June:

It is with decidedly mixed feelings that I am writing to let you know I will be stepping down and retiring next summer, at the end of June 2024. My time in office has been meaningful and rewarding beyond compare, and I will sorely miss the challenges, the opportunities, and the daily interactions with the members of Cal’s amazing extended family.

Berkeley Talks: Legal scholars unpack Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action

July 18, 2023

In Berkeley Talks episode 174, three leading legal scholars — john a. powell, director of UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI); Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law; and Sheryll Cashin, professor of law at Georgetown Law School — discuss the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that public and private universities cannot use race as a factor in admitting students. The court, with its conservative justices in the majority, ruled that such affirmative action violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, reversing decades of legal precedent.

UC Regents’ vote creates UC Berkeley’s first college in 50 years

July 18, 2023

The UC Board of Regents voted to establish UC Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS), the campus’s first new college in more than 50 years.

The college will develop, implement and share high-quality, ethics-oriented and accessible curricula, educating a diverse student body in data science, computing and statistics. It will also create new fields, applications and solutions to societal problems through groundbreaking, multidisciplinary research that capitalizes on Berkeley’s excellence across campus.

Facebook Live with new UCPD Chief Yogananda Pittman

July 18, 2023

Cal Parents & Families Facebook Live with new UCPD Chief Yogananda Pittman and as well as other representatives from campus administration. If you would like to ask a question to Chief Pittman or our administration, please send your questions to calparents@berkeley.edu or simply write them in the comments on the post.

Dacher Keltner is Awe-Inspired, and You Should Be Too

July 18, 2023

What Dacher Keltner teaches isn’t likely to land you a job on Wall Street or even make you more hireable, but that’s not really the point.

Rather, it’s an opportunity to grapple with one of the oldest and most important questions: “How can we live the good life? One enlivened by joy and community and meaning, that brings us a sense of worth and belonging and strengthens the people and natural environments around us?”

Cal’s Summer Reading List for new students

July 18, 2023

Welcome, incoming Cal students!

You’re new to Berkeley, you’re busy people, but at some point you may find yourself looking for a good book to read (or documentary to watch) – one that isn’t an assignment for a class. When you are, we’d like to invite you to peruse this year’s edition of the Summer Reading List for New Students, a list of great reads suggested just for you by your fellow Cal students, faculty, and staff.

Hand-held water harvester powered by sunlight could combat water scarcity

July 18, 2023

UC Berkeley researchers have designed an extreme-weather proven, hand-held device that can extract and convert water molecules from the air into drinkable water using only ambient sunlight as its energy source, a study published in Nature Water shows.

Move-In Checklist: What to Know and Bring

July 18, 2023

Are you moving to UC Berkeley soon and thinking about what you need to bring? If so, this article is for you. While Berkeley Housing provides a standard move-in checklist that should inform your packing, this article contains an in-depth supplemental list tailored for students, by students.

Exploring with Berkeley Connect

July 18, 2023

Legal studies major Rebekah Flores ’24 hadn’t thought a lot about social welfare before she joined her second Berkeley Connect cohort. After a positive experience with the Berkeley Connect in English program, Flores decided to “dip her toe” into a second area of scholarship outside of her major. While she remains dedicated to and passionate about legal studies, she enjoys the opportunities that Berkeley Connect provides to explore a wide array of subjects in a relaxed atmosphere.