Alumni

Q&A: Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ‘The Sympathizer,’ reflects on libraries, UC Berkeley, and the class that ‘radicalized’ him

April 12, 2024
Tor Haugan

Viet Thanh Nguyen emerged from UC Berkeley with more than a diploma.

In fact, he earned three (but who’s counting?) — dual bachelor’s degrees in English and ethnic studies in 1992, and a doctorate in English in ’97.

But his education wasn’t confined by the walls of a classroom.

Nguyen became steeped in activism, leaving Berkeley with “four misdemeanors, three diplomas, two arrests, and an abiding belief in solidarity, liberation, and the power of the people and the power of art,” he recalls in his memoir, 2023’s A Man of Two Faces.

https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/news/nguyen

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

February 13, 2024
by Alexander Rony

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...

MPS Scholars learn from the best: Berkeley alums

January 19, 2024
by Alexander Rony

In October, Audrey Liddle joined dozens of students in Durant Hall’s bookshelf-lined atrium to listen to a group of accomplished alums share lessons from their careers. Liddle, a first-year student in astrophysics, was still processing all the opportunities available to her at UC Berkeley and beyond. Her future’s open-ended horizon could feel overwhelming at times.

“I grew up assuming that adults somehow had an ‘aha’...

Sebastian Cahill, class of '23, "Archival research was the highlight of my undergraduate career at UC Berkeley."

January 16, 2024
Sebastian Cahill

Graduate dressed in black with lime green sneakers waves commencement regalia while sitting in front of University LibrarySebastian Cahill, class of '23, is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where he received a B.A. in English and Comparative Literature. Currently, he works as a news reporter for Business Insider. He hopes to return to graduate school in the coming years to do a Ph.D. program combining his studies...

https://english.berkeley.edu/news/sebastian-cahill-class-23-archival-research-wa…

The Morgans on becoming Builders: “Leave something behind that’s more than you can be”

December 14, 2023
by Alexander Rony

Brad Morgan and Julie Shin Morgan found their people at UC Berkeley. Julie’s best friend for life, Stella Sebastiani. Brad’s mentor, Paul Bartlett, and his first labmate, Yumi Nakagawa. And, at a party filled with chemistry students and church youth counselors, they fell for one another — “a small town Midwestern boy and a big city girl from LA,” as Brad said.

Moving to Berkeley had been a culture clash for both...

Interview with alumna Heidi Kühn, Founder and CEO of Roots of Peace

November 13, 2023
Hagit Caspi

Heidi Kühn is the Founder and CEO of Roots of Peace. She founded the humanitarian non-profit organization with a vision of turning Mines to Vines. After winning her own battle with cancer, Kühn was inspired to remove an insidious ‘cancer of the earth’—replacing remnants of war with bountiful farmland worldwide. Since 1997, her farmer-focused development model that restores farmland, food security, livelihoods and resilience after devastating conflicts has transformed war-torn lands worldwide. For more than a decade, she has shown millions of people living in war-torn regions...

Jeff Nathan: Pursuing a Less Predictable Path

May 17, 2023
Kirsten Mickelwait

When Jeff Nathan (BA 2013, MCB) received his undergraduate degree with a concentration in immunology and pathogenesis, he assumed he’d pursue a predictable path in research or medicine. A decade later, he’s carved out a very different kind of career for himself: as an acquisition professional for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Nathan currently serves as an assistant program manager for the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. The office develops, procures, and fields sensors,...

https://mcb.berkeley.edu/news-and-events/transcript/spring-2023-undergrad-alumni…

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

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:

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

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...

Viet Thanh Nguyen on finding himself at Berkeley

February 15, 2023
Stefanie Kalem and Sepe Rafiei

Pulitzer-winning writer Viet Thanh Nguyen ’92, Ph.D. ’97 found at UC Berkeley the intellectual home, identity, and political passion that ultimately led to his creative success. He knows first hand the important part that grad students play in the academic ecosystem, and how hard they have to work to be here.

https://light.berkeley.edu/o/viet-thanh-nguyen-on-finding-himself-at-berkeley/