I am sure you know well the major contribution to Berkeley’s sterling academic reputation that derives from the distinction of our faculty. But did you realize that another major component to our reputation is the accomplishments of our graduate students? This can be assessed most directly from how we do in national fellowship competitions. For your amusement, and pride, I quote a few results below.
National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships in 2007-2008
| University of California, Berkeley | 363 |
| Stanford University | 331 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 287 |
| Harvard University | 216 |
| University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | 98 |
| Princeton University | 92 |
Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships (cumulative)
| University of California, Berkeley | 100 |
| University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | 66 |
| University of California, Los Angeles | 65 |
| Harvard University | 46 |
| University of Texas at Austin | 45 |
| Yale University | 39 |
| Stanford University | 35 |
National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) fellowships cumulative from 1995-2008
| University of California, Berkeley | 74 |
| University of California, Davis | 50.5 |
| Stanford | 43.5 |
| Cornell | 42 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 33 |
| University of Wisconsin - Madison | 32 |
| Yale University | 32 |
As I am fond of saying, the cream always rises to the top! You will note that the coverage of fields represented by these programs encompasses nearly our entire university. We call that comprehensive excellence.
Best wishes as you roll up your sleeves and plunge into spring semester.
Andrew J. Szeri
Dean of the Graduate Division
Top of the News
- An estimated 10,000 share the inauguration of President Barack Obama
Graduate Funding
- A wide menu of possibilities to help fund your graduate education
GSI Center / Academic Services
- Deadline for Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs is March 6
- Workshops on Teaching
- Ready for that big transition? The Summer Institute can help.
Career Center
- A somewhat reassuring overview
University Health Services
- Why you should love your faucet
- New from Counseling and Psychological Services
University Library
- Improved Library Data Lab extends services and hours for the spring semester
Graduate Assembly
- Act fast to nominate faculty for the GA’s Faculty Mentor Award
- 24th Annual Empowering Women of Color Conference is February 14
- Get involved with the Graduate Assembly
California Alumni Association
- 2009 award recipients will be honored April 4 at Charter Gala
- Nominate outstanding alumni for CAA’s 2010 awards
Recognition
- A company headed by Haas alums is honored at Davos
Historic throng — students and members of the surrounding community assembled en masse early January 20 to witness the advent of a new presidency. Chancellor Birgeneau (in profile, middle right) issued the invitation and emceed. ASUC president Roxanne Winston (lower right corner) welcomed and did a lot of cheering. Music grad student Adeline Mueller (lower left corner) responded to Barack Obama's call for individual effort by signing a Pledge to Serve card as a volunteer in education (her cap decoration is an Obama doll).
(Berkeley inauguration event photos by Peg Skorpinski, except for C-SPAN image)
From some vantage points, the Jumbotron screen looked fairly small, but the audio was clear and the messages were heard. Chancellor Robert Birgeneau hosted the whole community in Sproul Plaza to witness the live C-SPAN telecast of the swearing-in of the nation’s first African American president. The wall-to-wall carpet of spectators, approximated at 10,000, led some to speculate that this was, in the words of the faculty-staff publication Berkeleyan, “perhaps the biggest gathering ever in the storied history of Berkeley’s most sacred spot.”
If you missed it, the flavor was well communicated in coverage on Berkeley’s NewsCenter and the San Francisco Chronicle. Both had slideshows, the latter from inauguration gatherings all around the Bay Area, including Berkeley’s.
Links:
Listed chronologically by deadline date.
Resources provided by the Graduate Services: Fellowships office
The Magnolia Project, a Berkeley-campus-based student-run volunteer and internship program for post-Katrina Gulf Coast advocacy offers eight-week, stipended internships specializing in a variety of fields in New Orleans, Louisiana during the summer of 2009. All current UC Berkeley graduate and undergraduate students and recent graduates are eligible to apply.
The eight-week internships begin Tuesday, May 26. Interns will be provided with stipends ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 to offset cost of lodging, living, and transportation costs, and will also be eligible for a $1,000 AmeriCorp education award to put toward future educational fees. Interns will be matched with partner organizations according to their interest and through the selection process. Previous internship sites have included the Loyola Katrina Law Clinic, Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association, Office of Recovery Management, Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools, Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance, and Neighborhoods Partnership Network.
The applications — in the downloads section of the Magnolia Project website — are due February 20, 2009 in the Cal Corps office, 505 Eshleman Hall.
The Udall Foundation awards two one-year Environmental Public Policy and Conflict Resolution Dissertation Fellowships of up to $24,000 to doctoral candidates whose research concerns U.S. environmental public policy and/or U.S. environmental conflict resolution and who are entering their final year of writing the dissertation. Interdisciplinary projects are particularly welcome. Fellows must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals or U.S. permanent residents, and their dissertation research must be relevant to U.S. environmental policy. Program details, additional information, profiles of previous fellows, and applications are available online. If you have questions, please contact Dr. Jane Curlin by email. The application deadline is February 20, 2009.
Congress created the Morris K. Udall Foundation as an independent federal agency in 1992. In honoring the late Congressman’s legacy of public service, the foundation awards scholarships, fellowships, and internships for studies related to the environment and Native American policy.
Each year the San Francisco branch of the English-Speaking Union, with the support of the Anglo-California Foundation, awards several $20,000 scholarships to Bay Area college graduates for post-graduate study at British universities. In recent years, students have attended Oxford, Cambridge, the University of York, and at the London School of Economics with ESU scholarships. The requirements include these:
Information for prospective applicants is available at the ESU’s website. The deadline for receipt of applications is February 20, 2009 and the deadline for transcripts and letters is February 27, 2009.
The Burton J. Moyer Memorial Fellowship was established in the 1980s by the Northern California Chapter of the Health Physics Society to honor Moyer, who died in 1973, and to encourage his ideals in the study of the safe use of radiation for the benefit of all people. The first person to receive this highly regarded national fellowship, in 1985, was a UC Berkeley graduate student. Students who are interested in health physics must submit their application no later than March 1, 2009. The application is available online (PDF), as is further information about the fellowship.
Burton J. Moyer came to Berkeley in 1942 to work in high-energy physics with Ernest Orlando Lawrence. In addition to his pioneering and productive research, at Lawrence’s request he established a professional health physics group at what is now the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In doing so, he took on the technically difficult work of reducing radiation intensities at the Bevatron for the safety of his colleagues. The shields he designed reduced intensity by a factor of 100, and became an influential model in the design of many accelerator shields. Moyer’s innovative approach to this new aspect of his field led him to be characterized as “the father of accelerator health physics.” He was also a professor and mentor, directing the thesis research of 62 students, and chaired the physics department during Berkeley’s tumultuous 1960s.
In collaboration with the Graduate Division, International House offers one-year awards for students in any doctoral or master’s degree program. Beginning spring 2009, academic units may nominate continuing students directly to International House, which will select candidates for awards not filled by the University Fellowships Competition Committee for incoming students. Only those with financial need are eligible. Recipients receive one academic year of single occupancy room and board at International House, as well as fees and tuition from the student’s department and, through the Graduate Division, a $5,000 stipend from the university. Academic units are encouraged to nominate international students, particularly those from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Scandinavian countries. More information on these awards and application procedures can be found online. The application deadline is March 2, 2009.
Interested in teaching in Vietnamese universities, either onsite or via videoconferencing? Apply for a VEF grant for the 2009-2010 academic year. The deadline to apply is March 2, 2009.
For doctoral candidates who have completed their comprehensive exams and are preparing to write their dissertation, Middle Tennessee State University is offering Underrepresented Minority Dissertation Fellowships in the 2009-2010 academic year. They are one-year, faculty contracts for $30,000 plus benefits, with teaching responsibilities of one course per semester. Applicants can begin by applying online. Detailed information can be found on the MTSU jobs website by clicking on the button "Faculty Job Openings" and then clicking on the title of the fellowship. If there are any questions, contact Dr. William Badley by email or Ms. Janice Lewis by email or phone (615) 898-2881. The application deadline is March, 3, 2009.
This is a well-funded program that’s aggressively seeking applications from students studying computer science or computer engineering, who are juniors or seniors in college, or pursuing a Master's or PhD. Individual scholarships are for $10,000. Selected students will be invited to an all-expenses paid trip to the Google Headquarters in California in spring 2010.
Eligibility requirements:
Benefits of the program include
More information and application are available onllne. Questions? Email Auri Duarte.
The application deadline is March 15th, 2009.
The town of Crested Butte, Colorado, is seeking an intern for a full-time non-benefitted position to begin in June 2009. The main work will be performing municipal research and analysis on an entry-level professional basis, while serving as a regular staff member, at the direction of the town manager or a delegated department head. The position provides hands-on experience in the daily operations of municipal government on all levels, enhancing the intern’s skills for a future profession in government. Required qualifications include a bachelor’s degree, plus completion of course work for a master’s degree in public or business administration, political science, planning, or a closely-related field. More information is available at the Crested Butte website (PDF). The deadline for applications is March 15, 2009.
The deadline for applications for each of these three programs is Friday, March 20, 2009.
Awards will be announced in May. Fellowship recipients must be advanced to candidacy or the equivalent by September 1, 2009. More information on the IIS and its support for UC Berkeley graduate students is available online or from Jessica Owen, IIS fellowship coordinator, by phone (642-7747); email, or conventional mail (215 Moses Hall #2308; Berkeley, CA 94720-2308).
Doctoral candidates researching lifelong or later-life learning are invited to apply for the Elderhostel K. Patricia Cross Doctoral Research Grant. This $5,000 grant is awarded annually. It can be used to aid the completion or publication of the recipient’s dissertation research and results. Applicants may come from various disciplines including, but not limited to, psychology, education, gerontology, cognitive studies, neuroscience, leisure studies, aging, and social work. Because the selection committee requires an abstract and description of your current research, you must already be engaged in your dissertation research.
The application deadline is Tuesday, March 31, 2009.
The Elderhostel K. Patricia Cross Doctoral Research Grant recipient will be determined by a selection committee consisting of professors, practitioners and other leaders in the field of lifelong learning. The recipient will be announced in June 2009.
For further information, including requirements and the online application, please see the Elderhostel website. Please email questions to grants@elderhostel.org.
Founded in 1975, Elderhostel is a not-for-profit organization providing educational opportunities through travel for older adults across the United States and in 90 countries around the world. This doctoral research grant was created to support future leaders in the field of lifelong learning.
Each year, the Dan David Prize, a joint international enterprise endowed by the Dan David Foundation, awards 20 scholarships (10 to students from all over the world and 10 to students from Tel Aviv University, where the foundation is headquartered). The scholarship amount is $15,000. Advanced doctoral and postdoctoral students of excellent achievement and promise studying topics related to the fields chosen for this year are invited to apply for scholarships for 2009. The fields are broken into three time dimensions. For the Past category, the field is Astrophysics – History of the Universe; for the Present category, Leadership; and for the Future category, Global Public Health. The application deadline for the scholarships is March 31, 2009. More information is available online.
Dan David is a Romanian-born businessman and philanthropist. He immigrated to Israel in 1960 and the next year, with a $200,000 loan from a cousin, secured the franchise for Photo Me automated photo booths in a number of countries, and eventually took over the company. He is now the sole owner of PhoMat, the company that manufactures the photo booth machines, and in 2000 he created the Dan David Fund and Foundation with a $100 million endowment to recognize outstanding contributions in science, technology, culture, and social welfare, and to assist young scholar-researchers.
The Greater Good Science Center, an interdisciplinary research center devoted to expanding social well-being in individuals, relationships, and communities, will award a fellowship of $12,000 for the 2009-2010 academic year. The fellowship program aims to attract scholars from across a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, with a particular focus on the social and behavioral sciences.
Research themes:
Application and detailed information may be found on the center’s website. The application deadline is April 6, 2009, at noon.
ARCS scholars in the north reading room of the Doe Library, 2003. Left to right, Anne Peattie, Simon Goldsmith, Susan Sprainis, Darren Hsiung. (Photo: Peg Skorpinski)
Half a century ago, plus a year or so, the Soviet Union, with its launch of Sputnik I, kicked off the Space Race and made the United States realize that it had been educationally and technologically caught napping. Among those infected with catch-up fervor were four Los Angeles women who decided to create a foundation to provide graduate fellowships where the U.S. needed the greatest boost — the sciences, mathematics, engineering, and medicine. They formed ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) in 1958 to make that happen. Now the organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary, years in which it has given over $61 million to more than 11,500 grad students and postdocs at 45 colleges and universities nationwide.
The ARCS Northern California chapter, headquartered at San Francisco’s Presidio, raises funds and channels them to six universities in the region, including four UC campuses. At Berkeley, the ARCS volunteers have supported hundreds of students in, alphabetically, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences; Integrative Biology; Materials Science and Engineering; Mathematics; Mechanical Engineering; Molecular and Cell Biology; Physics; and Plant and Microbial Biology. Here’s wishing many more successful decades.
TopThe Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs is an annual award presented to faculty members who have provided outstanding pedagogical mentorship to GSIs. The award is sponsored by the Graduate Council’s Advisory Committee for GSI Affairs and the GSI Teaching and Resource Center.
Nominations are sought from GSIs. For complete nomination guidelines and forms, please visit the GSI website.
Your nominations can help recognize the personal efforts of faculty members like the four plaque-holders here, the 2008 recipients of the Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs. They are Seda Chavdarian, senior lecturer in French; Steven Goldsmith, associate professor of English; Lisa Little, lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literature; and Claire Kramsch, professor of German. Bookending them are two principals in last year’s presentation ceremony in Alumni House, George Breslauer, Berkeley’s executive vice chancellor and provost, and Darek DeFreece, president of the California Alumni Association. (Photo: Peg Skorpinski)
A professional development series for GSIs, these Workshops on Teaching are presented by the GSI Teaching and Resource Center. They cover a wide variety of topics related to university teaching and the GSI experience. The purpose of the series is to offer GSIs, and other graduate students interested in teaching, opportunities for hands-on learning and practical discussion about pedagogy.
FEBRUARY 18 (Wednesday)
Noon to 1:30 p.m., 370 Dwinelle Hall
Grading Fairly and Efficiently with Rubrics
FEBRUARY 24 (Tuesday)
Noon to 1:30 p.m., 370 Dwinelle Hall
Assessing Teaching & Learning
MARCH 17 (Tuesday)
Noon to 1:30 p.m., 370 Dwinelle Hall
Guiding the Work of Non-native Writers of English (Tentative)
APRIL 2 (Thursday)
Noon to 1:30 p.m., 370 Dwinelle Hall
Teaching a Large Lecture Course
APRIL 13 (Monday)
Noon to 1:30 p.m., 370 Dwinelle Hall
Teaching and the Academic Job Search
Registration for each event is encouraged; however, those who have not pre-registered are also welcome. Preregister online. If you would like to request that a workshop on a particular topic be held during a semester, please email the GSI Center.
Photos: Peg Skorpinski
The seventh annual Summer Institute for Preparing Future Faculty is designed to enable graduate students to excel in all aspects of academic life as they pursue an advanced degree at Berkeley and make the transition from graduate school to academic careers. If you're nearing the end of your graduate program and beginning to prepare for the academic job market, you're encouraged to apply. Approximately 40 students will be selected to be Institute Fellows for the program, which takes place May 27 through July 1, 2009. The application deadline is March 2, 2009, 4 p.m. The program announcement, application guidelines, and forms are available online.
If you have questions, contact the GSI Teaching and Resource Center by email or phone (510) 642-4456.
Quote from a former Institute Fellow:
“Overall, the course was everything it promised. I feel like after so many years in graduate school, this is the first time I’ve gotten a comprehensive, systematic presentation/picture of what the field is really like . . .”
More quotes can be found online
Top
You have to cross the new rotunda of the Bancroft Library to get there, but it’s worth the possible distraction to reach this celebration of America’s greatest humorist. Get up-close-and-personal glimpses of Mark Twain in motion (through an unexpected film clip), in large prints, and in his own handwriting. The stogie-puffing superstar of his day even had a brand of cigar named after him, also on exhibit. (Photo: Dick Cortén, of wall sign using a caricature based on Twain’s short story ”The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”)
Graduate Division Calendar
Campus Events Calendar
Denotes Graduate Division sponsored event
THROUGH MARCH 31
Mark Twain at Play
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays, gallery of the Bancroft Library
How did Mark Twain spend his time when the “bread-and-butter element” was put aside and he was free to relax and amuse himself? His leisure pursuits, from amateur theatricals to yachting—and how his “play” influenced his “work”—are the subject of this exhibition, which brings together manuscripts and documents, notebooks, albums, vintage photographs, and other rare artifacts from the Mark Twain Papers archive of The Bancroft Library. (The Bancroft is back in its usual location after three years in temporary exile off campus while its building was seismically retrofitted and renovated. The Twain exhibit is in the new rotunda gallery, right inside the front entrance.)
FEBRUARY 14 (Saturday)
Empowering Women of Color Conference (EWOCC) 2009
9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Martin Luther King Jr., Student Union
This is the EWOCC’s 24th year. The event will include a panel of acclaimed Bay Area activists and leaders in community-building and women’s issues, with vendors, cultural performances, discussions, and workshops. The keynote speaker will be Cherrie Moraga, an Oakland-based playwright, poet, and essayist. Online registration, childcare accommodations, conference schedule and other information is online at the EWOCC website. The event is wheelchair-accessible. It is a production of the Women of Color Initiative Project, the Graduate Minority Students' Project, and the Graduate Women’s Project at the Graduate Assembly, sponsored by the Ethnic Studies Fifth Account and the Consortium for the Arts at UC Berkeley.
FEBRUARY 18, AND 24; MARCH 17; APRIL 2 AND 13
Noon to 1:30 p.m., 370 Dwinelle Hall
Workshops on Teaching, presented by the GSI Teaching and Resource Center. See above for workshop topics.
FEBRUARY 18 (Wednesday)
2 to 4 p.m., 370 Dwinelle Hall
Workshop: How to Write an Academic Grant Proposal
This introductory workshop covers the basic principles of writing a grant proposal for academic purposes. Preregistration is required. The event is presented by Graduate Division Academic Services.
FEBRUARY 18 (Wednesday)
3:30 p.m., 151 Cesar Chavez Student Center
Graduate student input meeting on search for the Disabled Students’ Program director
A search is presently under way for a new director for the Disabled Students' Program. Barbara Gross Davis, assistant vice chancellor for equity and inclusion, has been holding meetings on and off campus with students, staff, faculty, and community partners to hear firsthand their visions for DSP and services for students with disabilities on campus. She is particularly interested in meeting with graduate students. At this meeting, she would like to share the plans for the search process and hear graduate students' thoughts on the criteria for the next director. (If unable to attend, feel free to send her an email).
FEBRUARY 19 (Thursday)
Get involved with the Graduate Assembly
On Thursday, February 19, from 6 to 8 p.m., Anthony Hall (with the pelican statue, opposite Barrows Hall) you’ll have a great chance to meet your GA delegates, the executive board, and project coordinators, in the GA’s headquarters building. Also, there are positions open for next year in which you can make a difference in grad student life at Berkeley. Appetizers and beverages will be provided. You must be 21 or over; please bring Cal ID and proof of age. The event is hosted by the Graduate Social Club, a project of the Graduate Assembly.
FEBRUARY 19 through 21 (Thursday through Saturday)
Queer Bonds — a Symposium on Sexuality and Sociability
Berkeley Art Museum
Free and open to the public.
This interdisciplinary, student-organized three-day conference is dedicated to exploring the intersections between sexuality and sociability. The field of queer studies has been shaped by two powerful trajectories: on the one hand, an attempt to account for the creative forms of social and sexual bonding that have existed around, outside of, or in the interstices of "normal" sociality; on the other, an insistence on queerness as a force of subversion, refusal, and antipathy towards the social. The symposium is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Sexual Cultures, the Arts Research Center, and other departments on campus, to bring together arts, humanities, and social science scholars working within a broad array of approaches to think about these trajectories together. Speakers include faculty members from this campus as well as others from UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, Georgetown University, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania. Full conference details are available online. Presented by the Center for the Study of Sexual Culture, with support from: the Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, John F. Hotchkis Chair, Division of Arts & Humanities, Graduate Division, Arts Research Center, Student Opportunity Fund, Maxine Elliot Chair, Film Studies, Disability Studies, Graduate Assembly, Graduate Film Working Group, and the Departments of English, Comparative Literature, French, Rhetoric, Theater, Dance & Performance Studies, Italian Studies, and Gender & Women's Studies. Of the 22 conference organizers, nearly all are graduate students.
FEBRUARY 21 (Saturday)
Music Down Deep in My Soul: A Musical Celebration of African American Spirituals and Gospel Songs
8 p.m., Hertz Hall, $5 UCB students, $10 faculty/staff, $15 general admission
University Gospel Chorus with guest chorus Contare Con Vivo. Tickets are available online or by calling 642-9988.
FEBRUARY 27 and 28 (Friday and Saturday)
University Symphony Orchestra
8 p.m., Hertz Hall, $5 UCB students, $10 faculty/staff, $15 general admission
FEBRUARY 27 and 28 (Friday and Saturday)
UCSF Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Trans Health Issues Forum
5 to 9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday
UC San Francisco campus
This forum is designed to introduce UCSF students and others to a long-overlooked, but now strongly emergent, patient population: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (LGBT) people, who face social stigma and heightened health risks for cancer, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. Non-UCSF students may register. More information is available by email from the UCSF LBGT Center.
John R. Perry
MARCH 11 (Wednesday)
Howison Lecture in Philosophy
4:10 p.m., Toll Room, Alumni House (just north of Zellerbach Playhouse)
“Thinking and Talking About the Self”
John R. Perry, professor of philosophy, Stanford University
Neil Shubin (Photo: John Weinstein/The Field Museum)
MARCH 18 and 19 (Wednesday and Thursday)
Charles M. and Martha Hitchcock Lectures
4:10 p.m., International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Avenue
Wednesday: "The Great Transitions in Evolution: Finding Fossils, Studying Genes, and Bridging Gaps"
Thursday: "Wings, Legs, and Fins: How Do New Organs Arise in Evolution?"
Neil H. Shubin, Associate Dean, Biological Sciences Division, University of Chicago
Lucy Shapiro
MARCH 31 and APRIL 1 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
Charles M. and Martha Hitchcock Lectures
4:10 p.m., International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Avenue
Tuesday: "Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health"
Wednesday: "The Systems Architecture of a Bacterial Cell Cycle"
Lucy Shapiro, Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Stanford University
Jeremy Waldron
APRIL 21, 22, and 23 (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)
Tanner Lectures on Human Values
4:10 p.m. on each of the days, Toll Room, Alumni House
Tuesday: "Dignity and Rank"
Wednesday: "Law, Status, and Self-Control”
Thursday: Seminar and discussion with commentators
Jeremy Waldron, University Professor, NYU School of Law
Andrew Green, the Career Center’s Ph.D. counselor, addressed the Graduate Division’s meeting with graduate advisers, assistants, and graduate student affairs officers in mid-January, and had some useful observations for them to carry back to their students.
On the subject of academic hiring (“How bleak is it out there?”), he said “Overall, the number of tenure track jobs will be lower for the next two years, but unlike Detroit’s Big Three, the longer term prospects for Berkeley grad students and Ph.D.s remain strong.
Several indicators point to a renewal of the strong academic job markets that have characterized the past two years.
Long-term prospects are relatively good, although the next two years are likely to be slow. The dominant response to uncertain funding has been to defer searches for a few months, and sometimes longer. Out of 214 institutions recently surveyed by the Chronicle of Higher Education, only five percent have imposed a total hiring freeze for faculty positions — but over 40 percent have a partial freeze. However, students should not think there is no possibility of finding a job even in this slumping economy – they just need to intensify their search. This year, students may need to be more proactive and start their search earlier rather than later, but businesses are hiring post-docs and graduate students. Internships can be an excellent avenue for strengthening one’s resume. Also, students can network with alumni from their undergraduate university — alumni groups at many schools provide help with that kind of contact.”
Not all students are aware of what the center is and does. Green said: “The Career Center exists to make student job searching easier. We offer 20 workshops per semester. Students need to learn how to negotiate for themselves during the hiring process, and we help with that. If students wonder how to transform their CV into a resume, would like someone to take a look at their cover letters, or want to know what “evidence of teaching effectiveness” looks like, the Career Center can help answer these questions.”
The center’s resources for students include its website, workshops (such as “Negotiating Your First Academic Job”), one-on-one advising with a Ph.D. counselor, and an automated letter service Ph.D. students can use to get themselves “on the market.” The center also forwards job openings for Ph.D. students directly to departments. Also, when students become alumni, they are eligible for 12 months of service for $100, a bargain compared to commercial firms.
Top
“I Heart Tap Water” is a collaborative campaign between Cal Dining, Recreational Sports and University Health Services to promote the drinking of tap water as the preferred beverage of choice. Make a pledge online today to join the campaign and you could win aluminum I Heart Tap Water refillable water bottle. Visit the web page to make the pledge or get more information about tap water.
Some of the facts there might surprise you. A quick preview:
The Library's Data Lab reopened last September, spiffed up and in a new location. Formerly tucked in a utilitarian room at the back of Graduate Services, it’s now located on the first floor of Doe Library, in Room 189. Service hours were extended at the end of January to include Saturdays. For the spring semester, the hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Data Lab provides access to statistical and GIS (geographic information system) software. Coverage includes: political, demographic, economic, and financial data. If you need help with an unfamiliar data-file format you should schedule a visit to the lab. The services provide access to a growing collection of electronic data including the ICPSR (Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research) and Roper Archive, Thomson DataStream and CEIC Global Database and analytical software such as SAS, SPSS, Stata, and ArcGIS. Some laptop computers are available to check out for use in the Data Lab.
The lab is open to all UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff. For more information, visit the Data Lab website or email the lab. For regular updates, ask to be added to the lab mailing list.
The transplanted and upgraded Data Lab — new location, longer hours, lots of data, and the software you need to find and analyze it. (Photo: Tim Dennis)
Each year the Graduate Assembly honors faculty members who have shown an outstanding commitment to mentoring, developing, and supporting graduate student researchers with the Faculty Mentor Award (FMA). Nominations will be accepted until 6 p.m. Friday, February 13, 2009. If you feel your mentor has invested in you, extraordinarily, and you think your mentor should be recognized, then visit the GA website for more information on eligibility and the nomination process. Please direct any inquiries by email to Triffid Abel.
Cherrie Moraga
(Photo: Patrick Hebert)
The event will include a panel of acclaimed Bay Area activists and leaders in community-building and women’s issues, with vendors, cultural performances, discussions, and workshops. The keynote speaker will be Cherrie Moraga, an Oakland-based playwright, poet, and essayist. For more details, see Calendar, above, or the conference website.
Anthony Hall, headquarters of the Graduate
Assembly. (Photo: Dick Cortén)
On Thursday, February 19, from 6 to 8 p.m., Anthony Hall (with the pelican statue, opposite Barrows Hall) you’ll have a great chance to meet your GA delegates, the executive board, and project coordinators, in the GA’s headquarters building. The event is hosted by the Graduate Social Club, a project of the Graduate Assembly.
Top
Bob Haas, ’64
Terry McMillan, ’86
Douglass North,’42,
Ph.D.’52
The California Alumni Association’s 2009 Alumnus/a of the Year is former chairman and chief executive officer of Levi Strauss and Co. Robert D. Haas, 1964 class valedictorian and graduate of the English department. Haas is being recognized for his personal dedication to public service, raising the bar on business ethics, and supporting the University.
Three alumni will be honored with Excellence in Achievement Awards: Chris Boskin ’67, a highly respected veteran of magazine publishing and current chair of the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Terry McMillan ’86, New York Times best-selling author of Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back; and Douglass North ’42, Ph.D. ’52, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in the history of economic thought.
Three alumni will also be honored with Excellence in Service Awards: Jason Sherr ’92, President of Orange County Alumni Club and long time Cal athletics supporter; Patricia Hines, committed California Alumni Association volunteer; and Marjorie “Mardy” Robinson ’52, Secretary for the Class of 1952.
In addition, the 2009 Mark Bingham Award for excellence in achievement by a young alum will go to Mark Dipaola ’99, successful entrepreneur and founder of Vantage Media. The Bradford S. King Award for excellence in service by a young alum will go to Nicole Harris ’92, J.D. ’95, who established a scholarship endowment at Pacific Gas and Electric (where she serves as corporate counsel).
This year’s recipients will be honored at the 2009 Charter Gala on April 4 at Fort Mason in San Francisco. More information is available on the California Alumni Association’s website.
Economist John Kenneth Galbraith M.A. ’32, Ph.D. ’34, Gap founder Don Fisher ’50, novelist Maxine Hong Kingston ’62, C. Ed. ’65, crimefighter Lee Brown M.S. ’68, Ph.D. ’70, Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters ’67, and former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren are all past winners of the California Alumni Association’s top award for their outstanding professional, community, and personal achievements. You can help determine who will be the next Alumnus or Alumna of the Year. The association is now seeking nominations for its 2010 honors, which also include the separate Excellence in Achievement and Excellence in Service Awards, as well as the Mark Bingham and Brad King awards for distinguished young alumni. All nominations are due by May 31, 2009. For nomination forms and more information, visit the CAA website.Top
The Pacific Film Archive Theater is located at 2575 Bancroft Way (between Telegraph and Bowditch) in Berkeley. Advance tickets are available by calling (510) 642-5249 or online. More information is available online.
Man of Marvel: Andrzej Wajda 
African Film Festival 
Josef von Sternberg: Eros and Abstraction
The Way of the Termite: The Essay in Cinema
The Pacific Film Archive Theater is located at 2575 Bancroft Way (between Telegraph and Bowditch) in Berkeley. Advance tickets are available by calling (510) 642-5249 or online. More information is available online.
Top
John Woodward and Jack
Jenkins-Stark of BrightSource Energy
One could safely accuse the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, as a gathering of elites. Leaders in business, international politics, and the intellectual world assemble, covered by top journalists, to discuss progress on the many challenges facing the planet. Where merited, they also hand out some awards. One of those went to BrightSource Energy, which was named a 2009 Technology Pioneer at the end of January. BrightSource, which is led by John Woolard M.B.A. ‘97, and Jack Jenkins-Stark M.B.A.’ 81, is an Oakland-based company that develops large-scale solar thermal energy plants.
The WEF recognized BrightSource for helping global utility and industrial customers reduce their dependence on fossil fuels by providing clean, low-cost, and reliable solar energy. BrightSource was the only solar company to be selected as a Technology Pioneer out of the 34 awards given this year. Pioneer companies must be involved in the development of life-changing technology innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on business and society. BrightSource Energy's solar thermal energy plants use thousands of small mirrors, called heliostats, to reflect sunlight onto a boiler atop a tower to produce high temperature steam, which is then piped to a turbine that generates electricity.
Woolard is the company's CEO and Jenkins-Stark is its chief financial officer. Another Berkeley graduate alumnus, Daniel Judge J.D. ‘89, is the firm’s general counsel.
eGrad is produced by Graduate Communications & Events, distributed by email, and archived online. Graduate students, alumni, faculty, and staff are invited to send timely news and announcements of interest to or utility of graduate students and the graduate community. Please submit items to Dick Cortén, editor, at gradpub@berkeley.edu.