Online Exclusives

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Melissa Blaustein

Melissa Blaustein is currently the Mayor of Sausalito. After graduating Berkeley in 2010, she got her masters in public policy at Science Po in Paris. She is getting her second masters in Homeland Security at Monterey Army base. A dedicated swimmer, she swam the English Channel in 2018. She is founder of Allied for Startups headquartered in Brussels.

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Diane Steenman

Cal ’68 classmates will commemorate our 55th reunion at the Golden Bear Luncheon on Friday, October 6, 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. in Pauley Ballroom during Alumni and Parents Weekend at Homecoming. Other Golden Bears who graduated 50+ years ago will also be joining us at the luncheon.  In addition to the Reunion Luncheon, the Center on […]

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Susana Fattorini

Nominated by a student, Latina visual art high school teacher Susana Fattorini received a Public Service Award from Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell in 2022 during Hispanic Heritage Month, for writing the class Art & Culture, which recognizes and celebrates diverse and living artists in the curriculum, as well as a focus on exploration and expression of […]

Nakata at the wheel “Nakata,” Roamer October 1910 Album, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Nakata’s Smile: Unlocking the Diaries of Jack London’s Valet

By Aleta George

The reference librarian slid the archival container across the counter. “This looks like a fun box to look through,” he said. I smiled behind my face mask.

Shuttered California Theater in downtown Berkeley (Pat Joseph) 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.

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Colin Dewey

Dr. Colin D. Dewey (BA English ’03; PhD Cornell ’11) will begin a year-long sabbatical in 2023 following promotion to Professor of English and Chair of the Department of Culture and Communication at CSU Maritime Academy in Vallejo, CA. His work on maritime culture in the long eighteenth century combines traditional academic research with his three decades as […]

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Tom Trombetta

Tom Trombetta writes: This is my first attempt to be included in the alumni section of the California magazine. I am currently more than 98 years old, a veteran of WWII (1944 to 1946), disabled, but still trying to meet the challenges as best as I can. I received my master’s in economics in 1950 and my teaching […]

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Virginia Zachery

Virginia Zachery, B.A. ’53, M.A. ’55, married George Erikson Miller from Atlanta, Georgia in 1955 and together they raised six children in Hillsborough, California. Widowed in 2005, Virginia moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where she lives independently. She currently has 13 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. She is an acrylic artist and poet.

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Scott Jenkins

After 38 years, Scott Jenkins has retired from practicing business and real estate law at Hahn & Hahn LLP on June 29, 2023.  Jenkins has been the lead attorney on many significant real estate projects in the Pasadena area. Jenkins has also proudly represented many well-respected local businesses and non-profit entities in Pasadena.  Jenkins has been a […]

Margaret being sworn in as a judge as her mother and daughter look on Margaret being sworn in as a judge as her mother and daughter look on (Courtesy of the Fujioka family)

Her Honor: Judge Carries Lessons Handed Down From Heart Mountain

By Martin Snapp

On January 11, 2017, Margaret Fujioka ‘79 took the oath of office in the Rotunda of Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland as the first Japanese American woman Superior Court judge in Alameda County. She was flanked by her proud mother, husband, and children, but her thoughts turned to two people who weren’t there: her late father, Yoshiro “Babe” Fujioka, and his hero, his big brother Teruo “Ted” Fujioka.

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Andrea DeWitt

Andrea Mein DeWitt‘s (M.Ed., EDU 1986) new book, “Name, Claim & Reframe-Your Path to a Well-Lived life” (Hatherleigh Press, December 2022) was featured on NBC’s TODAY Show as the best motivational read for 2023. A certified life and leadership coach, Andrea teaches leaders tools and new perspectives that truly change how they see themselves and how they navigate the […]

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Susannah Kennedy

Author Susannah Kennedy‘s memoir will be published September 12, 2023, by new women’s publishing company Sibylline Press. Kennedy was a student at U.C. Berkeley and earned her BA with honors in political science in 1985.   Daring to “read” Jane-45 years of her mother’s hidden diaries-after Jane’s death is like unlatching Pandora’s Box. For a year, Susannah reads, twisting and turning […]

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John Randall “Randy” Stephenson

John Randall “Randy” Stephenson is pleased to announce the publication of his first book entitled: “Blood In Your Boots: Navy SEAL Stories from the Silver Strand (1957-1967)”. The book consists of a series of true stories about his father, Capt. John M. “Maxie” Stephenson, Jr. USNR, who served as an officer and operator in Navy SEAL Team One […]

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John-Carlos Perea

John-Carlos Perea has been appointed to the position of Associate Professor of Music in the School of Music at the University of Washington beginning Fall 2023. He previously served as Chair and Associate Professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University (2010-2023), as Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Music at UC Berkeley (2021-22), and […]

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Laura Mullen

Laura Mullen‘s ninth collection of poetry is available for pre-order now and will be published this fall.