Since arriving at UC Berkeley from China in the summer of 2021, Yuqi Tian has made an indelible impact on the campus community through her leadership, advocacy and research.
Tian will graduate this semester with three bachelor's degrees in geography, comparative literature and Italian studies. She has also earned a minor in gender and women's studies and a certificate in new media. Overall, Tian has completed 190 units at Cal — often taking 25 units a semester — and will graduate with a 3.991 GPA.
But her brilliance goes far beyond her grades. A wheelchair user herself, Tian has used her passion for inclusivity and accessibility to inform much of her research while at Cal. Her geography honors project examined Berkeley's Ohlone Park and how its roots in the Free Speech Movement intersect with questions of public access, using her own lived experience to propose what inclusive and accessible spaces could look like.
Tian remained heavily involved on campus through her four years, serving as co-president of the Berkeley Geographers Club (BUGs) and as a member of the Dean's Leadership Team in the Division of Arts & Humanities. She was also a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) recipient, an Undergraduate Research Fellow with the Berkeley Center for New Media and participated in the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP).
Berkeley Social Sciences spoke with Tian about her time at Cal and her favorite parts of her undergraduate experience. This interview has been edited for clarity.
Tell us about your background and why you chose UC Berkeley.
Yuqi Tian: Hello! My name is Yuqi and I'm a graduating senior from Inner Mongolia, China. I came to Berkeley because I wanted to be a humanities major and Berkeley was definitely the right fit for me.
Tell us about each of your majors and your minor. Why did you decide to pursue each?
Yuqi Tian: I started with comparative literature, and since the major requires two languages, I wanted to learn a new language other than Mandarin. I started taking classes in Italian studies. I totally loved the literature, theory and geography I learned from those classes, so I also added the Italian studies major.
I "found" my geography major through breadth classes and the interdisciplinary nature of the field, the warm and welcoming environment of the department, as well as the amazing classes (like GEOG 181: Urban Field Studies or GEOG 127: Geographic Film Production). These things made it natural for me to pursue a geography major. My geography classes led me to the certificate in new media, within which I am particularly interested in the study of video games.
Can you share more about your research projects and your time as co-president of the Berkeley United Geographers (BUGs) club?
Yuqi Tian: My honors thesis in geography was about disability access in urban greenspace, specifically the history of Ohlone Park in Berkeley and its relation to the Free Speech Movement as the People's Park Annex. The thesis focused mostly on archival work and qualitative field research, both of which are skills learned from classes like GEOG 182: Field Study of Buildings and Cities.
My honors thesis in Italian studies was about analyzing Italo Calvino's book "Invisible Cities" through studies of video games and digital media. In this thesis, I mainly talked about the meanings of utopian places and the space of home.
BUGs is one of the best parts of my four years at Berkeley. I have been going to the speaker panels with faculty, grad students and alumni (Geo-chats) in BUGs since my freshman year. But BUGs does way more than that. Every semester, we host field trips and trivia nights, among other events to connect the student community interested in geography. I became one of the BUGs co-presidents in my senior year and I was so glad and honored to continue the BUGs traditions and communities. I am also really excited for the BUGs events in future semesters.
What did you like best about your Cal experience, both socially and academically?
Yuqi Tian: Literally BUGs. I also really like all of my classes and how much I learn from readings, group discussion and lectures. Some of my favorite classes are GEOG N4: World Peoples and Cultural Environments, GWS 104: Feminist Theory, GEOG 129: Ocean Worlds, NWMEDIA 205: Locative Media, ITALIAN 140: Boccaccio's Decameron and ITALIAN 170: The Italian Cinema.
What does graduating from UC Berkeley mean to you?
Yuqi Tian: I guess it's mainly that I learned what I want to do in the future here, and Berkeley is definitely the place that shaped largely who I am today.
What are your plans after graduation?
Yuqi Tian: I will be a Ph.D. student in Italian studies at Berkeley starting this coming fall.
Geography Undergraduate Academic Advisor Ambrosia Shapiro contributed to this article.
