Giving

New Townsend Center gift honors visionary founder

November 7, 2024
Alexander Rony

The Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities will boost its fellowship and Art of Writing programs thanks to a generous gift from Matt and Margaret Jacobson. The couple pledged $750,000 to create the Paul Alpers Memorial Fund, honoring the founding director of UC Berkeley’s renowned nexus of humanities research and events.

“We feel so loved,” said Stephen Best, the center’s current faculty director, about the Jacobsons’ support. “I don't have a better way of expressing how deeply appreciative we are to have two people who get what we do and want to see us...

https://artshumanities.berkeley.edu/news/new-townsend-center-gift-honors-visiona…

Hesse Family’s Berkeley Legacy Grows With Creation of a College of Letters & Science Endowment to Support Undergraduates

October 8, 2024
Debbie Rosenfeld-Caparaz

From a hard-scrabble pioneer apple farm in Boulder Creek, California, nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Carla and Renata Hesse’s great-aunts planted the seeds for their family’s extensive ties to UC Berkeley. Spanning four generations and more than 100 years, 10 members of the Hesse family have earned degrees from Berkeley, including eight in the College of Letters & Science.

Today, Carla is the Peder Sather Professor in the History Department after serving as executive dean of the College of Letters & Science from 2014 to 2019 and...

Department of Music opens new performance hall on campus

October 10, 2024
by Alexander Rony

UC Berkeley’s Department of Music unveiled the new Helen and Thomas Wu Performance Hall in September, following an extensive renovation that was years in the making. The reopened space includes a larger stage, new seats, and state-of-the-art sound, lighting, and digital technology upgrades.

Political scientists launch the Berkeley Center for American Democracy

October 8, 2024
by Alexander Rony

Americans are feeling pessimistic about their political landscape. Polls show that US voters’ top concern involves political extremism and threats to democracy, eclipsing perennial issues like immigration and the economy. Last year, the Pew Research Center...

Carol Lee Price admired great thinkers. Now, a fellowship in her name brings bright minds to Berkeley.

August 12, 2024
by Alexander Rony

Top philosophy graduate students from around the world are finding their way to UC Berkeley thanks to a recently established fellowship that enriches the discipline with new approaches.

The fellowship honors Carol Lee Price, a Berkeley alum who led a curiosity-driven life. Price was born in Cleveland to a Jewish family that emphasized education as an object of value that no one could take away. Whenever she moved, she took the knowledge she had gained with her.

Price found a home at Berkeley, where she majored in...