Faculty

For decades, the U.S. dollar has been the world’s go-to currency. But as global dynamics shift and new technologies continue to emerge, experts are starting to question whether its dominance could eventually fade.

During a Social Science Matrix panel titled, “The U.S. Dollar Hegemony in Transition,” Economics and Political Science Professor Barry Eichengreen, Economics Professor Chenzi Xu and Haas Finance Professor Rohan Kekre examined the foundations of dollar dominance and what might come next.

The discussion...

Trying to be happy can sometimes have the opposite effect.

A new review of previous psychology research, titled “The pursuit of happiness: pitfalls and promises,” by Iris Mauss, a UC Berkeley psychology professor, and Brett Ford, a University of Toronto psychology professor and Berkeley psychology alumna, explores this happiness paradox. The researchers examined findings from 20 years of research on the...

UC Berkeley's College of Letters & Science is proud to announce the recipients of the 2026 L&S Faculty Awards. This distinguished award recognizes each awardee's exceptional scholarship, service to the College and community, and transformational teaching. These extraordinary individuals not only embody the excellence of the College of Letters & Science, but they also serve as an inspiration to the entire campus community. The recipients were...

The Keck Foundation, whose mission is to boost high-impact basic scientific research, invited UC Berkeley to apply to its one-time Bridge Funding Initiative in order to rapidly deploy funding to early- to mid-career faculty and their graduate students who were especially vulnerable to changes in the federal funding landscape.

Funding for these projects is meant to ensure that there is no disruption to the career trajectories of graduate students and to help retain faculty in their early and middle career stages.

According to the grant’s principal investigator, Vice Chancellor...