Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

The Berkeley Staff Assembly recently announced the recipients of the 36th annual Excellence in Management Award, who are recognized for leading their teams and team members to meaningful accomplishments this past year. This year’s award theme, “Cultivating Staff, Harvesting Success: Recognizing Excellence in Management" highlights leaders who excel in cultivating their staff, leading to overall success for the team and the organization.

The award recipients will be honored at a ceremony on April 30 from 2-3 pm, where Chancellor...

As a working mom who is raising two boys, Alma Rodriguez commuted three hours a day to attend the world's best public institution.

She's also a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, who worked extremely hard to earn a spot at UC Berkeley, where she graduated this week with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. She’s off to Stanford University in the fall on a full scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in Sociology of Education.

Nothing has ever come easy for Alma. Her grit and determination to succeed...

Somdeng “Danny” Thongsy knows what it’s like to be dealt a bad hand in life.

A refugee from Laos, he grew up in a tough neighborhood, living in poverty and surrounded by gangs. His brother was murdered when Danny was a teenager. This led Danny to commit a serious crime that landed him a 27-years-to-life sentence in state prison.

...

Growing up in San Francisco's West Portal neighborhood, Christopher Ying had vague plans to become a lawyer and began prepping by joining the speech, debate and mock trial teams at Lowell High School.

But he credits the University of California, Berkeley, and the opportunities it provided — in particular, to report and edit for the Daily Californian and to tutor inmates at the former San Quentin State Prison — with helping him find his true passion in the legal field: giving a voice to marginalized members of society.

Those only-at-Berkeley experiences — plus a 3.981 grade...