By Monica Friedlander

Dozens of bright and cheerful blue banners are fluttering across campus, adorning 25 buildings, big and small — from Dwinelle Hall to Donner Lab, Life Sciences Building to Doe Library.  The 58 pennants, which are going up in time for Homecoming celebrations, mark each building housing departments or administrative units of the College of Letters and Science.

The banners are designed to help students and visitors easily locate L&S departments at key times during the year and to raise awareness about the size and breadth of the college.

"Because L&S is spread out all over campus, the identity of L&S can get lost in its sheer size and ubiquity," said L&S Executive Dean Mark Richards. "The banners will let people know who, what and where we are. They are intended to highlight L&S as the core of the university, and to instill a sense of pride in our mission and accomplishments."

The largest of the Cal's 14 colleges and schools, L&S serves as the intellectual heart of the university, offering students a choice of more than 80 departmental majors. The college encompasses more than half of the campus’s faculty, three-quarters of its undergraduate students, and half of its Ph.D. candidates.

This is the first time that a college at Berkeley is using banners to mark its location on campus. The banners serve to remind people that L&S is everywhere. Postdocs conducting physics research in a lab … artists performing in a play … students attending classes in departments ranging from history to biology — they're all L&S.

Designed by graphic artist Mary Gaynor, the banners show off a playful, contemporary look, subtly emphasizing the university blue and gold colors in a very non-traditional way.

The banners will be displayed on special occasions four to five times per year, beginning the week of Oct. 1.