Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

2023 Social Sciences Fest Celebrates Faculty and Staff

May 3, 2023

UC Berkeley's Division of Social Sciences recently held its annual celebration, Social Sciences Fest, which highlighted the faculty and staff's remarkable achievements over the past year. From winning various awards to receiving grants and launching new programs, the event showcased the division's continued commitment to producing research that matters and nurturing its students. In addition, two faculty members received the Distinguished Teaching Award, and the department managers were recognized with the Distinguished Service Award. This is just a glimpse of the exciting work being...

People Differ Widely in Their Understanding of Even a Simple Concept Such as the Word ‘Penguin

April 25, 2023

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word “penguin” as “any of various erect short-legged flightless aquatic birds (family Spheniscidae) of the southern hemisphere.” That description seems simple enough, but definitions are not what people have in mind when they actually use words. Instead people think of concepts: the myriad properties, ideas, examples and associations that spring to mind when we think about a word.

Our concepts are crucial to exactly what we mean when we use language, and new research has found that the concepts people hold, even for a word like penguin,...

Small-but-mighty Demography Department finds new support in collective alumni effort

April 18, 2023
After a fruitful career in academia teaching sociology and demography, Elwood “Woody” Carlson M.A. ’73, Ph.D. ’78 was putting his financial affairs in order. He wanted to direct some of his retirement funds to his graduate school, so he contacted UC Berkeley. What he heard shocked him. Find out how Carlson and a tight-knit group of Berkeley demography alums found a path to create a permanent source of funding for their department: https://ls.berkeley.edu/small-...

Sandile Hlatshwayo: “These are historic times, and they need a historic response”

April 12, 2023

A personal journey of macroeconomic curiosity has led UC Berkeley alum Sandile Hlatshwayo Ph.D. ’17 to the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) as a senior economist. Hlatshwayo is covering the international portfolio during her year at CEA, which advises the president on trade, inflation, employment, supply chains, and other top economic issues. She is on a temporary leave from the International Monetary Fund, where she began working in 2017.

Hlatshwayo’s career trajectory began with an “econ origin story,” as she calls it, which stemmed from growing up in suburban Ohio and often...

Six new fellows of American Academy of Arts & Sciences

April 21, 2023

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences announced its new fellows this week, among them six distinguished UC Berkeley faculty members.

The new UC Berkeley fellows are medical anthropologist Charles Briggs, philosopher John Campbell, neuroscientist Marla Feller,...

School Discipline Can Be Predicted, New Research Says. Is It Preventable?

April 18, 2023

A new study by UC Berkeley researchers reveals alarming racial disparities in school discipline rates, with Black students facing a 50x higher risk of discipline than their white counterparts. The study highlights the "dynamic" nature of discipline throughout the school year, with rates decreasing before major vacations and increasing when classes resume. This real-time data is critical for educators to intervene before incidents occur and reduce escalating school tension.

Jason Okonofua, assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, and the study’s...

Elora Shehabuddin's Book Wins Coomaraswamy Prize

February 16, 2023

Join us in congratulating Elora Shehabuddin for her amazing accomplishment! Her book, Sisters in the Mirror: A History of Muslim Women and the Global Politics of Feminism was recently awarded the 2023 Coomaraswamy Book Prize by the Association for Asian Studies.

About Elora:

Elora Shehabuddin is a Professor of Gender & Women's Studies and Global Studies. She was a Professor of Transnational Asian Studies and Core Faculty in the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University before moving to...

Geography professor's new short film will have its World Premiere at HotDocs

April 13, 2023

Joel Wanek's short film, Passing Through, will have its World Premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival!

Joel Wanek is a film and audio artist working in the realms of creative non-fiction. Over the years, he has developed a practice that celebrates and investigates spatial poetics, racial dynamics, and the immaterial possibilities of sound and image.

Click here to learn more about Wanek and his work!

American Journalist, Matthew Continetti, Will Join Us For Berkeley's Baxter Liberty Initiative

April 10, 2023
Baxter Liberty Initiative

Wednesday, April 12th | 4:00 - 6:00 P.M. | Sibley Auditorium University of California, Berkeley

The Baxter Liberty Initiative engages high-profile intellectual leaders whose expertise and scholarship focus on the ideal of freedom in political and economic life. Visiting scholars are invited to UC Berkeley for a multi-day visit of public lectures, dialogue with a respondent, and discussions with students centered on the theme of liberty.

For this session of the Baxter Liberty Initiative, we will be joined by an American Journalist,...

Berkeley political scientist Scott Straus named to prestigious fellowship

April 6, 2023

Headshot of Scott StrausScott Straus, a UC Berkeley political scientist known for his study of political violence and genocide, has been named the Mahatma M.K. Gandhi Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS).

Straus is one of six...