Undergraduate Studies

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...

What is lost — and gained — when Olympics coverage becomes a round-the-clock spectacle?

July 29, 2024

Imagine trying to binge all 11,000 hours of broadcast video from the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics. It would take more than 458 sleepless days and nights to see all 329 medal events and three dozen sports. It also would require that you didn’t get distracted by the 25,000 social media posts...

35th Annual Excellence in Management Awards Celebrate Four L&S Staff Members

May 4, 2023

At the annual Excellence in Management awards ceremony on Tuesday, May 2, the Berkeley Staff Assembly recognized outstanding university staff employees from across campus. The 2023 theme, "Everyday Heroes: Leading the Path to Excellence," paid homage to individuals whose leadership demonstrated and encouraged mentorship, dignity, respect, and belonging. Nominees were selected and evaluated based on three main criteria:

Intentionality: Manager/supervisor clearly defines...

L&S faculty and staff honored with 2023 Excellence in Advising & Student Services awards

November 13, 2023

UC Berkeley’s Council on Advising and Student Services and awards planning committee recently announced the recipients of the 2023 Excellence in Advising & Student Services Awards, which recognize the recipients' positive and innovative impacts on student learning, engagement, and belonging on the Berkeley campus.

The a...

L&S Staff Honored with Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards

May 4, 2023

Graphic with Sather Gate logo and a bear statue with words Chancellor's Outstanding Staff AwardsFive individual staff members from the College of Letters & Science were recipients of the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards (COSA) this spring. One of the highest honors bestowed upon staff by the Chancellor, and the COSA awards are presented to staff members and teams who 'demonstrate exceptional initiative to create significant...

As graduation nears, student creates a ‘time capsule’ of her Berkeley experience

May 7, 2024

This first-person narrative was written from an interview with Daniella Lake, who will graduate this May with a degree in media studies.

I was born in Los Angeles. I’m the first person in my family who was born in the U.S. My family’s originally from Sierra Leone, on the west coast of Africa. My parents spent a lot of time moving during the 1990s because there was a civil war in Sierra Leone and my dad worked for the United Nations, so my brother and sister spent time growing up in other African countries — Eritrea, Ghana and Gambia. I had a very different childhood...

Can Scientific Thinking Save the World?

May 2, 2024

A physicist, a philosopher and a psychologist walk into a classroom.

Although it sounds like a premise for a joke, this was actually the origin of a unique collaboration between Nobel Prize–winning physicist Saul Perlmutter, philosopher John Campbell and the psychologist Rob MacCoun. Spurred by what they saw as a perilously rising tide of irrationality, misinformation and sociopolitical polarization, they teamed up in 2011 to create a multidisciplinary course at the University of California, Berkeley, with the modest goal of teaching undergraduate students how to think—more...

Melany Lopez: "My experience in D.C. was transformative, offering valuable insights into both myself and my career."

February 12, 2024
Each fall and spring, a cohort of UC juniors and seniors embark on an academic journey to the epicenter of American politics and culture: Washington, D.C. The UCDC program provides students from all majors with the unique opportunity to study and learn in the nation's capital, where they engage in internships, research endeavors, and academic coursework.

Just six blocks away from the iconic White House, the UC Washington Center serves as both a living space and an academic hub for participating students. Here, amidst the vibrant energy of D.C., students are enabled to explore future career...

Amidst misinformation, critical thinking needs a 21st century upgrade

March 26, 2024

In 2013, the University of California, Berkeley, debuted a course to teach undergraduates the tricks used by scientists to make sense of the world, in the hope that these tricks would prove useful in assessing the claims and counterclaims that bombard us every day.

It was launched by three UC Berkeley professors — a physicist, a philosopher and a psychologist — in response to a world afloat in misinformation and disinformation, where politicians were making policy decisions based on ideas that, if not demonstrably wrong, were at least untested and uncertain.

The class,...

L&S Staff Spotlight: Alicia Hayes

April 4, 2024
Meet Alicia Hayes, Associate Director, National Scholarships and Experiential Fellowships, Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarships (OURS). Alicia has managed the OURS National Scholarships Office since 2001. In this role, she administers the scholarship selection processes for numerous nationally competitive scholarship and fellowship competitions, including the Rhodes, Goldwater, and Truman scholarships.

In 2010 and 2022, Alicia received the Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Award, presented to individual staff members and teams demonstrating exceptional...