Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

L&S staff honored with 2024 Excellence in Management awards

April 23, 2024

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...

Bathsheba Demuth (Ph.D. '17) Awarded John H. Dunning Prize by AHA

November 1, 2021

Bathsheba Demuth (Ph.D. '17) has been awarded the John H. Dunning Prize by the AHA for her book Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait (W.W. Norton, 2019). Demuth is currently an Assistant Professor of History & Environment and Society at Brown University. The John H. Dunning Prize is awarded for an outstanding monograph on any subject relating...

Berkeley Economics and Public Policy Prof. Hilary Hoynes awarded 2024 Daniel M. Holland Medal for groundbreaking work in child poverty

August 19, 2024

UC Berkeley Economics and Public Policy Professor Hilary Hoynes, an expert on child poverty and the social safety net, has been awarded the 2024 Daniel M. Holland Medal by the National Tax Association (NTA). The NTA’s most prestigious award recognizes Hoynes’ pioneering research into child poverty and the social safety net, which has influenced the field by offering new insights into the long-term benefits of social welfare programs. She is the...

Berkeley Talks: The science behind the emotions in 'Inside Out 2'

August 9, 2024

 Dacher Keltner, Lisa Damour, Allison Briscoe-Smith and Maurissa Horwitz

There’s a scene toward the end of the new Pixar film Inside Out 2 where the main character, 13-year-old Riley, is having a panic attack in the penalty box at a hockey match.

She’s just been reprimanded for tripping an opponent in frustration. On the outside, she’s seen sitting in the small space while grasping at her chest and neck, breathing in...

A UC Berkeley linguist explores what Kamala Harris’s voice and speech reveal about her identity

August 11, 2024

Every now and then, a scholar’s niche expertise lines up with a cultural or political moment and finds an audience hungry for the details. Nicole Holliday is having one of those moments.

Holliday is an acting associate professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley who studies what politicians say, how they speak and what their speech reveals about their identity. Perhaps more than any other scholar, Holliday has spent years examining the speaking style of a politician who is also having a moment: Kamala Harris.

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Twenty Berkeley Social Sciences athletes compete in summer Olympics

July 29, 2024

Cal Olympics

Twenty Berkeley Social Sciences students and alumni are going for gold at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. They are competing for 12 countries and one city in seven sports.

“Let’s take a moment to congratulate + cheer for our Berkeley Social Sciences students + alumni competing in the Olympics!” Berkeley Social Sciences Dean...

Phi Beta Kappa Chapter Alpha of California celebrates 125th anniversary

November 29, 2023

Phi Beta Kappa logoPhi Beta Kappa Chapter Alpha of California is celebrating the 125th anniversary of its charter with two noteworthy initiatives: a public lecture series and the compilation of an Honor Roll of members of Phi Beta Kappa among faculty, staff, and graduate students.

Phi Beta Kappa originated during the...

Author and scholar Howard Besser ’75 creates a new program for Anti-Authoritarianism and Social Movements

June 28, 2022

Author and scholar Howard Besser ’75, inspired by UC Berkeley’s enduring legacy of impassioned student movements, has made generous gifts in support of future change makers. In March 2021, Besser donated $1 million to establish the Howard Besser Program for Anti-Authoritarianism and Social Movements. Later that year, Dr. Besser expanded his impact with a $2 million bequest to create The Howard Besser Early Career Chair in Anti-Authoritarianism and Social Movements. The Fund will provide endowed support for an Early Career chair, to be awarded to an...