April 2008 Newsletter Contents

1. From the Director (Renate Holub)

Hello Students, Friends, Alumnae/Alumni and Supporters of the ISF community!

We are approaching the last few weeks of the semester, and the level of creativity among our students could not be more impressive. Let me share a few stories with you: read more ..

2. ISF Advice (Dawn Strough)

As I’m sure you graduating seniors are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, before you run to the light with abandon, let's just take a deep breath and talk about my favorite subject: me…ok, don’t stop reading- what I really want to talk to you about are regrets, hopefully in a timely way so that before you walk away from this place you will make the kind of decisions that you won’t look back on with regret read more ...

3. Opportunities & Events

• Opportunities
  

  1. Summer Travel Study Course in Switzerland: In its 5th year, this unique 4 week summer course represents a great opportunity for any student to travel to Europe, live in France and Switzerland, meet with diplomats and international civil servants, and learn about the work of a broad array of international organizations
  read more ...

• Events
  

  Friday, April 25: DIGITAL BE-IN: Don't be left out. A combination symposium, take-action exhibition and multimedia entertainment extravaganza, the "Digital Be-In" features presenters and celebrities, musical, visual and performance artists, art installations and an exhibition featuring leading solutions for making cities read more ...

4. Student Research

• Virginia Weir is an ISF and psychology double major in her final semester year at Cal. Her ISF degree draws on research from various disciplines including sociological interpretations of gender and industry, controlling processes, linguistics and social psychology as an organizing process.read more ...



• Nadir Shams is a 4th year Development Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies Field (ISF) double major and Anthropology Minor. In ISF he is concentrating on the dynamics of International Health Care Economics and Policy with a specific look at addressing accessibility barriers for marginalized populations. read more...

5. Senior Thesis and Faculty Profiles

• Stephanie Stiavetti came to UC Berkeley as a transfer student. In her honors thesis, she aims to understand how two literary works dealing with cooking, namely “Babette’s Feast” and “Like Water for Chocolate” establish the sanctity of food in relation to religious practice. read more ...



• Hertha Sweet Wong is Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the English Department at University of California, Berkeley. She is author of “Sending My Heart Back Across the Years: Tradition and Innovation in Native American Autobiography” (Oxford UP, 1992) as well as numerous articles on Native American literature, autobiography, and environmental non-fiction published in edited volumes read more ..

6. Alumn Profiles

• Nancy Calderon: My goal to pursue the Interdisciplinary Studies Field major at UC Berkeley resulted from my interest to better understand public health issues through an interdisciplinary angle. As a community college transfer student, I initially had the intention to declare myself a sociology major, but ultimately felt that taking courses in only one department while being at such a great university would be too limiting. read more ...



• Phillina Sun: As an aspiring writer entering UC Berkeley in 1996, my diverse set of interests did not neatly fall into any one department. Although literature seemed the logical choice, I could not commit to the English major. The study of literature for the sake of studying literature, i.e. academic study of a novel’s structure, did not appeal to me. read more ...