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Astrophysicist and Cal professor Alex Filippenko snaps a photo with Executive Director Susie Cohen Crumpler at a recent California Live! event. / CJ Poloka / Cal Alumni Association
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Year-End Reflections from the Executive Director

Transition to a new, hybrid environment, with an evolving portfolio of offerings, has required flexibility, receptivity, and ingenuity.

Mayor of Oakland Sheng Thao ’14 (center) celebrates graduating scholars from The Achievement Award Program (TAAP) along with alumni and supporters at the TAAP Senior Brunch, April 29, 2023 at Alumni House. / Hey Zinah Photography / Cal Alumni Association
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We’re back—and then some.

Cal students completed their first full academic year of on-campus instruction after two pandemic years.

At The Achievement Award Program’s fall recognition dinner, (l-r) scholar Candance Sorensen, Executive Director Crumpler, Chancellor Christ, Razon and Kirk Tramble ’93, and scholar Jayden Zheng celebrate the theme of “Purpose.”
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Connections to Cal Are Critical for the Alumni Journey

150 years ago, a group of 12 rising seniors gathered in downtown Oakland, deciding to establish the alumni community we now know as the Cal Alumni Association (CAA). This simple, purposeful act ensured that all future students would have a lifetime community at Berkeley. The following year, those 12 students became the first to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley.

Cal Alumni Association
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A Little ‘California Spirit’

Alumni community leaders joined Cal Alumni Association staff and board members for strategic-planning sessions–and a dose of Cal spirit–at the Lair of the Golden Bear.

New York alumni joined Golden Bears at yield events around the globe, encouraging new admits to choose Berkeley. Pictured (l-r) are Cal Alumni Club of New York leaders Sudarshan Gopalakrishnan ’21, Niky Arora ’21, Marisa Li ’18, and Lauren Keyson ’81, with CAA Executive Director Susie Cohen Crumpler and CAA Board of Directors Vice President Demetrios Boutris ’83.
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From the Executive Director

Campus is alive again.

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From the Executive Director

"I am honored to introduce myself to you as the 13th Executive Director of the Cal Alumni Association (CAA)."

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From the Executive Director: An Honor to Serve My Alma Mater

I write this after returning from Cal Discoveries Travel’s Grand Danube Passage trip.

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From the Executive Director: A Stronger Cal Community

A call to action in support of our alumni community.

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From the Executive Director: “Each of us can, and must, be the light that casts out darkness”

In May of 2020, 17-year-old Darnella Frazier saw police activity and then saw a man in pain.

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A Moment for Healing, a Time for Action

In May of 2020 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, in the regular course of her day, saw police activity and then saw a man in pain. She stopped, pulled out her cell phone, and began recording. During the trial, Ms. Frazier expressed, “When I think of George Floyd, I see my father, my brothers, my cousin, my uncle. They are all Black. It could have been them.”

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From the Executive Director: History Has Its Eyes on Us

I write this after watching the inauguration of the 46th president of the United States and the swearing-in of the first female and Black vice president. Though still operating at physical distances from one another, we, in many ways, have grown closer together through the shared experiences of life during a pandemic, social unrest, and the transition of leadership in our nation’s capital.

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From the Executive Director: At the Forefront of Civil Rights

Women have long been at the forefront of civil rights. As we commemorate the past 150 years of women at Cal, we are offered a chance to reflect on the legacies of resilient women who laid a strong foundation for UC Berkeley. Throughout our university’s history we find women leading us forward: teaching respect for human life, fighting for progress, and creating avenues for change.