2019 Spring Archives - Cal Alumni Association

When Berkeley Burned

The first signs of trouble were subtle. For some, it was the strange amber hue of the midday light. Others caught the distinctive scent of burning eucalyptus. By two in the afternoon of September 17, 1923, just about everyone in Berkeley had taken note of the uncommonly warm, dry wind blowing in from the northeast. […]

_{Image source: Hans Hofmann: Indian summer, 1959; oil on canvas // Detail of image courtesy of BAMPFA; Gift of the artist // Photography by Jonathan Bloom}

Strokes of Genius: Hans Hofmann’s Gift to Berkeley

Abstract painter Hans Hofmann left his mark on art education at Cal. Hans Hofmann, the great abstract expressionist painter and teacher, might never have made his indelible imprint on 20th-century American art, first on the West Coast and ultimately across the U.S., had it not been for two summers teaching at UC Berkeley. The invitation […]

_{Image source: David Horowitz speaking in Washington, D.C. // Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore // Illustration by Leah Worthington}

The Strange Case of Ex-Radical David Horowitz

Most people don’t change their political stripes. David Horowitz isn’t most people. It was the summer of 1970, and the war in Vietnam was never going to end. B-52s were carpet-bombing Cambodia, gouging craters into its eastern hills; across the border, angry G.I.s were fragging their officers. Back home, radicals were bombing police stations and […]

Playing with Fire: Welcome to the Experimental Forest

One of four research forests owned by the University, Blodgett is Berkeley’s crown jewel. UC Berkeley’s Blodgett Experimental Forest is situated on the Georgetown Divide between the Middle and South forks of the American River, about 80 miles southeast of Paradise and smack in the heart of California’s most productive timber country. It’s just one […]

_{Image source: Berkeley Public Library}

September 17, 1923: The Day That Berkeley Burned

North Berkeley was a showcase for the city's exceptional architects. As it turned out, it was also a tinderbox.

_{Image source: Detail of image courtesy of The Washington Post/Getty Images // Illustration by Michi Toki}

Losing Paradise: The “New Normal” of California Wildfires

More frequent, more intense, more destructive wildfires… Welcome to the new normal.

_{Image source: Frances Arnold // Detail of photo courtesy of the Associated Press}

Meet Frances Arnold, Teenage Rebel Turned Nobel Laureate

Frances Arnold has found a way to leverage the planet’s most powerful weapon for change: evolution. At 15, she was a class-skipping, catch-me-if-you-can maverick hitchhiking to D.C. to protest the Vietnam War. Looking back on those years now, Frances Arnold says, “Fifteen is one of those terrifying ages, where you’re frustrated because you know something’s […]

Hungry for Kiwi…Bots

The KiwiBot fleet can complete up to 300 deliveries a day. Here’s how they do it. As the future steadily becomes the present, we often find ourselves disappointed with how little our world resembles … The Jetsons. No flying cars, no 3-D printed meals. And today’s hoverboards? They don’t even hover! But if you’ve spent […]

“It Was a Revolution”: The History of a Berkeley Crane Engineer

By Michael Jordan, as told to Josh Sens

My name is Michael Jordan. I was born in 1934, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve loved building things. In the 1970s, a crane we designed collapsed in New Jersey. It had not been built with the right material. The operator cab fell, but landed on a container full of soft cheese […]

Editor’s Note: Up in Smoke

Fire is the danger now foremost in most minds. Who among us didn’t watch in horror as Paradise burned last November? One day, California will fall into the sea. That’s what we used to say, anyway. It’s an idea that goes back to huckster-clairvoyant Edgar Cayce. It had nothing to it, of course, but has […]

Chancellor’s Letter: Diversity Initiatives

The Chancellor talks about the importance of campus diversity for meeting Berkeley’s educational and multicultural goals. One of my most important goals for Berkeley is to advance and expand diversity on our campus, in its broadest sense and every form. We are now launching the first wave of new, accelerated efforts to support and expand […]