Announcing the 2025 L&S First-Year Pathways Course Enrichment Grant Recipients

L&S Pathways Course Enrichment Grant Awards 2025 in white against blue background
September 19, 2025

The UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science is pleased to announce the 2025 recipients of the inaugural L&S First-Year Pathways Course Enrichment Grants. 

Now entering its third year, the L&S First-Year Pathways program has significantly expanded for 2025-26, growing from 6 clusters serving 125 students to nearly 20 clusters serving more than 230 students. L&S Pathways provides a small cohort experience for groups of 17-30 incoming freshmen who take "clusters" of three or four courses together. In clusters’ large lectures, the Pathways cohort within the course shares a discussion section.

L&S Pathways clusters are designed to help students get started in their intended majors, fulfill breadth requirements, and/or explore an interdisciplinary theme. Early data from the program’s first two years has shown that participating in a Pathways cluster helps students start their Berkeley experience with greater confidence as they develop new friendships and find their communities through shared intellectual experiences.

A key feature of L&S Pathways is meaningful course enrichment: funds for instructors to augment their classes with field trips, special projects, or other immersive, cohort-building experiences. For 2025, instructors were offered up to $3,000 to provide enrichment activities.

“Pathways faculty, GSIs and lecturers are all eligible for funds to deepen their students' understanding and enrich their experience of course materials. This year’s grants will support field trips, guest speakers, and other opportunities to build community while conveying knowledge. Enrichment is an important component of the Pathways experience," said Nathan Sayre, Professor of Geography and Faculty Director of L&S Pathways.

Pathways faculty, GSIs and lecturers are all eligible for funds to deepen their students' understanding and enrich their experience of course materials. This year’s grants will support field trips, guest speakers, and other opportunities to build community while conveying knowledge. Enrichment is an important component of the Pathways experience.
Nathan Sayre, Professor of Geography and Faculty Director of L&S First-Year Pathways

This year, the College of Letters & Science received applications to enrich course clusters in every L&S division: Arts & Humanities, Biological Sciences, Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, and Undergraduate Studies. Here are the 2025 grant recipients:

  • Eliza Brown, Sociology. Clusters: Futures in Healthcares, Who We Are & How We Count, Breaking into Behavioral Sciences, Society & Stories

  • Daniela Cammack, Political Science. Cluster: Delving into Democracy

  • John Fielding, College Writing Program. Cluster: Elements of Water

  • Colby Fortin, Sociology. Cluster: Evaluating & Presenting Evidence

  • Kim Freeman, College Writing Program. Cluster: The Petri Dish, The Parabola & The Pen

  • Michael Larkin, College Writing Program. Clusters: Evaluating & Presenting Evidence

  • Seth Lunine, Geography. Cluster: Measuring Our World

  • Ryan Sloan, College Writing Program. Cluster: Nature of Mind

  • Ben Spanbock, College Writing Program. Cluster: Evaluating & Presenting Evidence

  • Chenxi Tang, German. Cluster: Delving into Democracy

  • Kayla van Kooten, Humanities. Clusters: Who We Are & How We Argue, To Be Human

  • Margi Wald, College Writing Program. Cluster: Life & Physical Sciences 

  • David Walter, College Writing Program. Cluster: To Be Human

The grants will fund diverse enrichment activities, deepening students’ connection to their cluster topic and to their cohort. Here are just a few examples of enrichment grant proposals from faculty and graduate student instructors (GSIs):

“I would like to take my students on a field trip to Sandbox VR as part of a mini lesson on posthumanism, technology and techno-orientalism as it relates to what it means to be human. The VR game takes place in a futuristic “New Hong Kong” and students play as robots tasked with protecting humanity from aliens. My objective for students would be to think deeper about what it means to be human when technology is so deeply intertwined into our daily lives, what it means to be human in the physical vs digital world, what it means to be human when we can "turn" ourselves into androids or aliens through VR, the connections between Orientalism and technology, and VR as a medium for the human experience.”
–Kayla van Kooten, HUM 10 “Who We Are & How We Argue,” “To Be Human”

“Students will visit the Oakland Museum of California—whose exhibits on race, agriculture, and labor align with course themes—and conduct two one-hour ethnographies: one inside the museum and one around Lake Merritt. Learning outcomes will center on practicing basic ethnographic methods, experiencing potential local research sites for future work, and comparing qualitative and quantitative research approaches to community work.”
–Colby Fortin, SOC 5 “Evaluating & Presenting Evidence”

"I plan to have two guest speakers come to my class to discuss water in two distinct ways. Erika Gagnon is a healer and wise woman who will come to perform a Water Blessing Ceremony and give a lecture on Indigenous practices and the spirituality of water; and Taylor Lancelot is an Associate Civil Engineer with the City of Berkeley who will give a lecture and presentation on water-related issues at Berkeley's Aquatic Park including the history of the site, and dealing with the demands of different user groups concerning water levels."
–John Fielding, COLWRIT R4B “Elements of Water”


We look forward to sharing more about our students’ Pathways experiences throughout the semester.