Subscribe to our monthly email newsletter, The Cal Connection.
For many of us, the sound of the Campanile’s carillon bells is inseparable from our memories of Berkeley, marking the hours between classes, ringing out across Sproul Plaza, and standing tall as the heart of campus life. As a longtime LEGO enthusiast, I kept asking myself: why isn’t there a LEGO set for UC Berkeley? […]
Miller Nash LLP welcomes Thomas Vanis ’21 to the firm’s litigation and financial services teams. Based in the firm’s Long Beach office, Vanis supports clients in a wide range of commercial disputes and regularly assists with all phases of a case, from client intake through resolution. In addition to his litigation work, he has a […]
The Marion County Bar Association (MCBA) has selected Marion County Justice of the Peace Justin Kidd, J.D. ’09, as the recipient of the Carson Award for service to the Community, recognizing his sustained commitment to public service. The Carson Award is presented annually to an MCBA member whose work reflects exceptional dedication to the legal […]
Duane Morris LLP has promoted Robert C. Carrillo ’00 to the firm partnership.
Wuwei Mo, M.A. ’23, a UC Berkeley master’s graduate in Materials Science and Engineering , is now leading R&D operations at Mitico and helping accelerate the company’s progress in carbon capture. Mitico’s technology is unique—centered on efficient, durable, and environmentally friendly solid sorbents—and has the potential to become a significant innovation in the climate-tech space. […]
Zexiang Li, Ph.D. ’89, and Al Hu, Ph.D. ’17, led intelligent driving technology company CiDi Inc. to a successful IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The listing marks a dual milestone: it is Hong Kong’s first publicly listed company focused on commercial autonomous vehicles and the world’s first public listing for driverless mining haulage […]
Carmen Diana Deere, Ph.D ’78, recently published First-World Feminism and Women’s Civil and Political Rights in South America with Routledge press. It is a seven-country study of the interaction between feminists, jurists and legislators in the reform of married women’s property rights and the attainment of suffrage in the first half of the twentieth century. […]
Meg Elison ’14 married the cartoonist Colin Lidston on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. The couple live in North Adams, MA, where Colin is the visitor experience manager at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA).
Peter Stielstra ’21 stars in two featured pieces in the 39th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, January 1 – 24, 2026 at Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen. Stielstra plays Marcus in Blizzard Bound by Sophia Ponce and Michael in Offices etc. by Clark Tavas. For nearly four decades, the Young Playwrights Festival, the oldest such festival […]
Amrita Bhasin ’23 was just named to the 2026 Forbes 30 under 30 list in the social impact category for her achievements in waste reduction and circularity in supply chain. Her social enterprise is supported by Stop Waste and the State of California.
Eli Andrew Ramer, who writes under the name Andrew Ramer, is a graduate of the class of 1973 in Religious Studies. He’s the author of 19 published books of fiction and on spiritual subjects, and is the author of a newly released memoir, Tales of an Urban Mystic, in which he tells the stories of […]
Matt Biggar, Ph.D. ’92, has a new and timely book, Connected to Place: Regenerating Nature, Communities, and Local Economies through Systems Change (Cornell University Press, November 2025). Connected to Place is about changing the systems that shape how we live and hold us in patterns harming nature and people. Matt shows how systems change can […]
William Cooper ’11 published a new book: The Trial of Donald H. Rumsfeld: A Novel.
Effective February 2026, Esther Lukman B.S. ’12 will be made partner of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide. Based in London, Lukman advises private and public companies on complex corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, joint ventures, and corporate governance. […]
In November 2025, Margaret Tides J.D. ’16, and Megan Bright J.D. ’22, were elected to serve on the board of the union representing California Attorneys Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment (CASE). Both Margaret and Megan are Deputy Attorneys General in the California Department of Justice. Margaret represents the state’s natural resources […]
Retiring five years ago, after 30 years as a Credit Manager for a wholesale steel supplier in California’s Central Valley, James Fox ’72 returned to his dormant hobby of writing, turning his experiences into poetry and prose. The Tuleburg Press of Stockton, CA, selected his Where Centuries Collide for their 2025 anthology on labor in […]
Danielle De Smeth ’03, managing partner Bamieh & De Smeth, PLC, a respected law firm with offices in Santa Barbara and Ventura, chosen by Pacific Coast Business Times, Who’s Who in Professional Services.
Veteran trial lawyer Brian Procel ’98 and former federal prosecutor Jeremiah Levine have launched Procel Levine LLP, a Los Angeles-based litigation boutique with a nationwide practice representing both plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes business disputes. The firm handles matters involving fraud, class actions, privacy, entertainment, real estate, financial services disputes, government investigations, white-collar criminal defense, […]
Joseph Godlewski ’15, Associate Professor of Architecture and Senior Research Associate at the Maxwell African Scholars Union at Syracuse University, has been awarded the prestigious Cecil B. Currey Book Award by the Association for Global South Studies (AGSS) for his recent monograph, The Architecture of the Bight of Biafra: Spatial Entanglements (Routledge, 2024). Established in […]
