In partnership with the UC Berkeley Foundation, the Cal Alumni Association honored this year’s Achievement Award recipients at a virtual—yet lively—version of the Berkeley Charter Gala on October 8, 2020. Get to know the 2020 Alumna of the Year and the rest of this year’s esteemed award recipients.
Freada Kapor Klein ’74
Alumna of the Year
Alumna of the Year Freada Kapor Klein ’74 has a degree in criminology from UC Berkeley and a passion for women’s rights and sexual assault advocacy. After being a peer counselor for Bay Area Women Against Rape, one of the first rape crisis call centers in the US, she founded the Alliance Against Sexual Coercion—the country’s first organization created to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Klein led the way in anti-harassment practices, bringing positive change to traditionally non-inclusive industries like business and tech. Read more about Klein and how she spearheaded the Me Too movement in the early 1970s in California magazine.
Video by Michael Lin ’01
Nadine Tang M.S.W. ’75
Berkeley Founders Award
As a leader on campus, Berkeley Founders Award recipient Nadine Tang M.S.W. ’75 demonstrates the breadth of her commitment to Cal’s success. She provided the support needed to build the Legends Aquatic Center and the Tang Center, contributing to the entire campus community by ensuring student-athletes have world-class facilities and helping make both physical and mental health services accessible to students.
Elizabeth M.S.W. ’75, Ph.D. ’82 and Lawrence Marum M.P.H. ’76
Campanile Excellence in Achievement Award
Campanile Excellence in Achievement Award recipients Elizabeth M.S.W. ’75, Ph.D. ’82 and Lawrence Marum M.P.H. ’76 are internationally celebrated for their work protecting the most vulnerable. They are trailblazers in the fields of social welfare, public health, and medicine, serving those in need in developing areas of Africa and Asia. Most notably, the Marums introduced blood safety programs for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global AIDS Program.
Fred Blackwell M.C.P. ’96
Campanile Excellence in Achievement Award
Fred Blackwell M.C.P. ’96, recipient of the Campanile Excellence in Achievement Award, is a community-minded individual from Oakland serving underrepresented students. As CEO of the San Francisco Foundation, he works to eliminate racial and economic discrimination in Bay Area communities. Blackwell’s racial equity work includes supporting Cal’s African American Initiative Scholarship. The Campanile Excellence in Achievement award recognizes an alumnus/a whose remarkable professional achievements reflect the excellence of a UC Berkeley education.
Nadine Burke Harris ’96
Campanile Excellence in Achievement Award
Nadine Burke Harris ’96, recipient of the Campanile Excellence in Achievement Award, is California’s first-ever surgeon general. As a pioneer in the treatment of adverse childhood experiences, she won acclaim for linking youth trauma with detrimental psychological and physiological effects in adulthood. Grateful for her time at Cal, Harris returned to her alma mater last year to speak to public health students in conversation with Berkeley’s School of Public Health Dean Dr. Michael Lu.
Frances Hellman
Fiat Lux Faculty Award
Frances Hellman, recipient of the Fiat Lux Faculty Award, is a physics professor and dean of the division of mathematical and physical sciences at UC Berkeley. A mentor to students and faculty members alike, Hellman supports the faculty of Cal across academic disciplines, from engineering to humanities, through the Society of Hellman Fellows. The Fiat Lux Faculty award honors a faculty member whose extraordinary contributions go above and beyond the call of duty to advance the university’s philanthropic mission and transform its research, teaching, and programs.
Jennifer Guyton ’10
Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by a Young Alumna
Recipient of the Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by a Young Alumna, Jennifer Guyton ’10 earned her B.S. in conservation and resource studies from UC Berkeley. Now, she is devoted to wildlife conservation in East Africa and educating the world on the ecological consequences of the extinction of scavengers like hyenas and vultures. By raising awareness for Africa’s endangered species and ecosystems, Guyton is giving to the world in the same way Cal gave to her. The Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement commends a young alumnus/a who graduated within the last 10 years and has made a significant contribution to his/her community, country, or the world.
Matt Nguyen ’15
Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by a Young Alumnus
Matt Nguyen ’15, recipient of the Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by a Young Alumnus, was inspired by the story of his parents fleeing Vietnam as child refugees during the Vietnam War to empower families through advocacy at the state level. In his role as Supreme Court Chambers Attorney to Associate Justice Goodwin Liu, he advanced bipartisan legislation to protect undocumented children and ensure them the economic and social opportunities he had growing up in California. Nguyen mentors current and prospective Cal students from Vietnamese communities.
