Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

From UC Berkeley to 49ers sidelines, Harry Edwards dreams with his eyes wide open

February 20, 2024

Three people standing on a football field as one gestures, smiling and talkingIn 1968, when Harry Edwards was working toward his sociology Ph.D. at Cornell University, he also witnessed the crescendo of one of the most politically violent eras since the Civil War. Racists and government authorities were gunning down prominent Black activists. Churches were being firebombed.

Society, Edwards sensed, was...

New UC Berkeley-led study sheds light on racial inequality in higher education

February 27, 2024

A UC Berkeley-led study revealed that disparities in the share of Black and Latino students admitted to America’s elite colleges and universities have endured and even widened over the last 40 years.

The study, "Shifting Tides: The Evolution of Racial Inequality in Higher Education from the 1980s through the 2010s," was published this month in Sage Journals and conducted by a team of researchers from UC...

UC Berkeley anthropology and public health researchers secure $3.1 million NIH grant to combat dengue fever in Peru

February 23, 2024

UC Berkeley Anthropology Professor James Holston and Public Health immunologist Dr. Josefina Coloma have been awarded a $3.1 million, 5-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease of the National Institutes of Health to combate dengue virus in Peru.

The grant will fund “Proyecto Tariki”, a research initiative developed...

Berkeley Social Sciences launches comprehensive internship program to prepare students for meaningful careers

February 13, 2024

Berkeley Social Sciences launched a new program recently to better equip students for successful careers by giving them real-world experiences. The Social Sciences Career Readiness Internship Program (SSCRIP) prepares students for a variety of professions by offering skills workshops, personalized coaching, internship placement assistance, and stipends for unpaid and low-paid internships.

"Our responsibility towards...

For new professor, psychedelics and octopuses may hold keys to the human mind

February 13, 2024

Octopus graphic

Gül Dölen became a scientist because she loved solving puzzles that drew on neuroscience, medicine, biology and philosophy. But a decade ago, her spirits were waning, and a string of funding rejections brought her lab to the brink of folding.

Then came the octopuses, all seven of them, and a curiosity-driven experiment.

Before then,...

UC Berkeley Geographer Michael Watts receives Ester Boserup Prize for development research

February 5, 2024

UC Berkeley Geography Professor Emeritus Michael J. Watts was recently awarded the prestigious Ester Boserup Prize for his outstanding contributions to the field of development research. The Copenhagen Centre for Development Research, a leading institution known for its interdisciplinary approach, awarded the prize to Watts for his substantial contributions to the understanding of development studies.

The Ester Boserup Prize is given to a scholar whose work has enriched and expanded insights into the dynamics of development and economic history...

UC Berkeley students combat K-12 book bans by creating their own children’s books

January 29, 2024

As the battle to control what students read continues in K-12 schools across the country, policies backed by U.S. legislators have contributed to a recent rise in the banning of books that include the history and experiences of people of color.

Those stories, historically, have been left out of American history books, said UC Berkeley lecturer and anthropologist Pablo Gonzalez, so it’s...

American Economic Association awards prize to CEGA for success fostering diversity & inclusion

January 10, 2024

SAN ANTONIO, TX (10 Jan 2024) – The American Economic Association (AEA) bestowed its Award for Outstanding Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion to the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), a research hub at the University of California, Berkeley that generates evidence decision-makers use to reduce global poverty. Accepted by Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley and Faculty Co-Director of CEGA Edward Miguel at the annual AEA meeting this weekend, the Center received the award for its strong commitment to diversity and inclusion that has benefited both...

New Brilliance of Berkeley course introduces undergrads to 28 luminaries — in one semester

January 19, 2024

With so much brilliance at UC Berkeley — from headline-grabbing research to stellar faculty members across disciplines — it’s impossible for undergraduates, many scouting for their academic passions, to sample it all while on campus.

But this week, a new spring semester course, Brilliance of Berkeley, kicks off with space for 744 in-person participants and 5,000 more...

Move over dolphins. Chimps and bonobos can recognize long-lost friends and family — for decades

December 22, 2023

Laura Simone Lewis, a UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow in Berkeley's psychology departmentResearchers led by a University of California, Berkeley, comparative psychologist have found that great apes and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, can recognize groupmates they haven't seen in over two decades —...