Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

Most Californians oppose cash reparations for slave descendants, IGS Poll finds

September 12, 2023
Edward Lempinem

California voters are broadly opposed to paying the state’s Black residents to compensate for the longstanding harms of slavery, with opposition extending across party lines, according to a new poll released by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.

The IGS Poll found that 60% of Californians acknowledge the deep and continuing human damage caused by centuries of slavery and the segregation and persecution of Black people that continued long after slavery legally ended in 1865. But strong...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/09/12/Most-Californians-oppose-cash-reparations-f…

UC Berkeley historian of science ponders AI's past, present and future

September 11, 2023
Jason Pohl

Headshot of Cathryn CarsonIt doesn’t take long for a conversation about artificial intelligence to take a dark turn.

New technology poses a greater threat than climate change, some have said. It poses...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/09/11/UC-Berkeley-historian-of-science-ponders-AI…

Social Sciences welcomes new faculty

August 24, 2023
Kenny Ma

Headshot of Tianna Bruno

Twelve new scholars have joined the Berkeley Social Sciences faculty as assistant professors in political science, anthropology, gender and women’s studies, sociology, history, ethnic studies, economics and geography. They bring passion, brilliance and commitment to the Social Sciences. Learn more about them ...

Berkeley history professor receives NEH grant for groundbreaking project on Istanbul's Greek Orthodox communities in the 19th and 20th centuries

August 15, 2023
Kenny Ma

UC Berkeley History Professor Christine Philliou has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for a 3-year research project to create a comprehensive, public-facing website to build new types of knowledge and raise public awareness about Istanbul and its constituent Orthodox Christian communities in the 19th and 20th centuries. The project, titled "Visualizing...

https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-announces-413-million-280-humanities-projects-natio…

UC Berkeley launches AI training program to address criminal justice system inequalities with support from $3M NSF grant

August 24, 2023
Kenny Ma

Working with technology

UC Berkeley researchers launched a pioneering interdisciplinary training program this week that will blend criminal justice and computer science in ways that experts say will help reduce long-standing, systemic inequities in the criminal legal system.

The program, called Computational...

https://new.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/nrt/nsf-invests-63-million-stem-research…

Student Sofia Liashcheva: Honoring my Russian culture through art and activism

March 15, 2022
Ivan Natividad

As a Russian immigrant experiencing economic woes, Sofia Liashcheva expressed herself through art. As a UC Berkeley student, she speaks out against the war in Ukraine: “There is no excuse for the war, and I will do what I can to speak out against it. Because I stand with Ukraine.”

This I’m A Berkeleyan feature was written as a first-person narrative from an interview with student Sofia Liashcheva, a first-year cognitive science major. Have someone you think we should write about? Contact news@berkeley.edu...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/03/15/student-sofia-liashcheva-honoring-my-russia…

Economic Power amid Geopolitical Competition—A Conversation with Barry Eichengreen

August 10, 2022
Jeff Rathke

In a stark display of their economic power following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies deployed an array of sanctions aimed at curtailing Russia’s access to global financial markets and industrial supply chains. These unprecedented economic sanctions are intended to diminish the resources Russia has available to prosecute its war. While the moves have demonstrated a high degree of allied cooperation, they have also heightened debate about the relative effectiveness of economic measures aimed to induce peaceful behavior or to deter hostilities vs. as punishment...

https://aicgs.org/by-author/barry-eichengreen/

Nine faculty elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

April 23, 2020
Robert Sanders

Nine UC Berkeley faculty members from a wide range of disciplines have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS), a 240-year-old organization honoring the country’s most accomplished artists, scholars, scientists and leaders.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/04/28/nine-faculty-members-elected-to-american-ac…

AAAS adds nine new fellows from UC Berkeley

January 27, 2022
Kara Manke

Nine members of the UC Berkeley community – including eight faculty and one staff member — have been elected American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellows, one of the most distinctive honors within the scientific community. The 2021 class of AAAS fellows includes 564 scientists, engineers and innovators who are being recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/01/26/aaas-adds-ten-new-fellows-from-uc-berkeley

Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, an Associate Professor and Chancellor’s Professor of History at UC Berkeley, Wins the 2023 Dan David Prize

February 28, 2023
Cori Anne Montero
Dr. Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers is a historian who explores women’s social, economic, and legal relationships to enslaved people and the slave trade in the trans-Atlantic world. She is an Associate Professor and Chancellor’s Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley, where she specializes in African-American history, women’s and gender history, and the history of American slavery.

Jones-Rogers’ research has been primarily concerned with women and slavery, but her work also explores the evolution and development of early systems of law, especially as they pertain to women...