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On Campus

Power trio: Chancellor Christ (R) with UC President Michael Drake, center, and incoming chancellor, Rich Lyons. © BRANDON SANCHEZ MEJIA

Ending with Thanks

By Chancellor Carol T. Christ

Because this is the last column I will write for California magazine, I begin with thanks …

Mykolas Alekna prepares to throw a discus at the 2024 Brutus Hamilton Invitational at Edwards Stadium. Courtesy Cal Athletics, Catharyn Hayne/KLC fotos

Epic Toss: Discus World Record-Setter Adds to Cal’s Olympic Momentum

By Margie Cullen

He’s not the only Cal athlete heading to the Paris Games.

You Don’t Have to Be a Rhodes Scholar to Study at Oxford

By Margie Cullen

Phebe Haugen was a “frustrated English teacher” when her friend first told her about the poetry class he had taken at Oxford. 

Berkeley Space Center trellis rendering / Field Operations and HOK

To Silicon Valley and Beyond!

By Glen Martin

Since its founding in 1930, Moffett Field has had multiple incarnations. Now, it’s poised for another role: the Berkeley Space Center.

Architect, I.M. Pei / Institute of Personality and Social Research

Spying the Secrets of Creativity

By Coby McDonald

In late January of 1958, five of America’s most renowned writers converged in a repurposed frat house just off the Berkeley campus for what promised to be a long, strange weekend.

Botox / National Museum of American History, Gift of Edward J. Schantz

Botox, Green Screens, and “Factor X”

By Pat Joseph

More things you never knew came from Cal

Illustrations by Patrick Welsh

They Don’t Exist, But They Went to Cal

By Pat Joseph

Fictional characters with Berkeley backgrounds

The Man Who Came to Class by Plane

By Bill Zhou, M.Eng. ’23 As told to Margie Cullen, M.J. ’22

I really loved transportation growing up.

FIELD OPERATIONS AND HOK

Berkeley Goes to Silicon Valley—and Space!

By Chancellor Carol T. Christ

We have recently been reminded that creativity comes in packages large and small.

Cal Performances presents the Bay Area premiere of Pina Bausch's The Rite of Spring performed by dancers from 14 African countries, February 16-18, 2024, at Zellerbach Hall. / Maarten Vanden Abeele

Coming to Zellerbach: Individual, Community and the Performing Arts

By Emily Wilson

It’s a striking scene: Dozens of men and women, wearing simple dresses and pants, dance across a dirt-covered stage.

A photo of the ruins of the Berkeley Fire, set up at the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association's 1923 Berkeley Fire House Tour.

Berkeley Will Burn Again

By Margie Cullen

When 24-year-old Hildegarde Flanner and her mother first noticed the scent of smoke coming down from the eucalyptus groves on the hills above their home in Berkeley on September 17, 1923, they watched it with curiosity, rather than fear. But less than an hour later, the darkening plume pushed them to vacate.

Shuttered California Theater in downtown Berkeley (Pat Joseph)

A Writer Returns to Berkeley in his New Novella

By Deven M. Patel

Writer James Terry, ’92, loved Berkeley and the culture that surrounded it—all the funky moviehouses, legendary bookstores, and iconic cafes, most of which have disappeared with the times.