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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. 

Courtesy of Diana Foster

What Happens to Women Who Are Denied Abortions?

By David Silverberg

‘Genius’ grantee Diana Greene Foster has devoted her career to answering the question.

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.

Barbara Chin

Class Secretary Barbara Chin received an activity report today on the Class of 1956 Humanities Preservation Endowment for the Library. She says, “It was terribly disappointing to see only $925.00 was received in gifts during 2023. Our class supports the salary of a conservator in the Preservation Department for the University. We will not be able to continue this […]

Jessica Huang

Jessica (Jex) Huang (B.S. ’08) is climbing the world’s highest volcano (elevation 22,615′) above sea level to raise funds and awareness for the non-profit Range of Motion Project, after receiving corrective surgery and regaining mobility from their own range of motion disability. All alumni are welcome to follow along as they try to enable more people in becoming more […]

Larry Sage

Sr. Judge Larry Sage received a ‘Making the World a More Just Place’ Award from the National Judicial College (NJC) at their 60th anniversary celebration in Reno, NV on 16 Oct 2023. He (and indirectly, his extraordinary Sparks Municipal Court staff), was recognized for initiating Nevada’s first misdemeanor ‘Alcohol & Other Drug Court’; multiple sessions of which were held […]

Devin

Devin Reese has always had a thing about turtles. Thanks to her Cal Berkeley training as a herpetologist (reptile and amphibian researcher), Devin has written the first scholarly book that’s entirely about tortoises. She drafted it with Dr. George R. Zug, Smithsonian Emeritus, to offer up everything you’d want to know, plus things you wouldn’t care to know, […]

Katlyn Carter

Katlyn Carter ’09 published her first book, Democracy in Darkness: Secrecy and Transparency in the Age of Revolutions with Yale University Press.   The book asks a simple question: Does democracy die in darkness, as the saying suggests? It reveals that modern democracy was born in secrecy, despite the widespread conviction that transparency was its very essence. In the years […]

Susan (left) and her daughter, Nora, in 1998. / Courtesy of Susan Stern

The Original Barbie Movie was Created by a Cal Alum

By Margie Cullen

Long before Margot Robbie entered the Barbie Dreamhouse, another Barbie movie had attempted to tackle the cultural phenomenon that is Mattel’s tip-toeing doll.

Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien celebrates his two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the World Series. / AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

Good News Bear: Marcus Semien Wins it All in the World Series

By Scott Ball

On November 1, in the ninth inning of Game Five of the World Series at Chase Field in Phoenix, former Cal standout Marcus Semien planted an Arizona fastball deep into the left field bleachers for a two-run homer, sealing a 5-0 win and a series clincher for the Texas Rangers. 

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.

Mona Simpson’s Literary Commitment

By Mary Flegler

Through her writing, Simpson explores characters and locales both ordinary and extraordinary, her novels probing the nooks and crannies of family dynamics, lingering in the details of how we choose to give and receive love.

John Olsen’s Research Leads to Mongolia’s Highest Honor

University of Arizona Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Anthropology John W. Olsen (Ph.D. 1980, Anthropology) has received the Order of the Polar Star, the highest state award Mongolia can present to a foreign citizen. Created in 1936, the Order was bestowed upon Olsen in acknowledgment of his contributions to Mongolian science and society extending back over […]

John Garrison

John Garrison’s book, The Pleasures of Memory in Shakespeare’s Sonnets, has just been published by Oxford University Press. He enjoyed the opportunity to explore the nature of recollection – from the Renaissance “memory arts” to modern-day psychology – in this famous set of poems.

Jose Hernandez Diaz

Jose Hernandez Diaz, class of 2011, English Major, celebrates the publication of his new book “Bad Mexican, Bad American” (Acre Books, University of Cincinnati, February 2024). Order here at The University of Chicago Press (distributor): https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/B/bo214801989.html

Christine Ma-Kellams

In Christine Ma-Kellams‘ debut novel, THE BAND, Sang Duri is the eldest member and “visual” of a Korean boy band at the apex of global dominion. But when his latest solo single accidentally drudges up ancient rivalries between East Asia’s three superpowers (Korea, Japan, China), he suddenly finds himself cancelled by the group’s notorious fandom […]

Memorial Stadium, sans conference logo / Cal Athletics

From Kumbaya to Lord of the Flies

By Margie Cullen

The Pac-12 fell apart slowly, then all at once.

Matthew Zapruder / Kari Easton

The Working Poet: Catching Up with Matthew Zapruder on the Road in Portland

By Geoff Koch

Sitting in the coffee shop at Portland’s famous Powell’s Books, his name on the marquee outside, Matthew Zapruder seems surprised when asked how it feels to be an emergent public figure in poetry. 

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.