Gene Luen Yang is a 2022 recipient of the Achievement Award, co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Foundation and the Cal Alumni Association. The Achievement Awards are conferred annually at Berkeley Charter Gala. This text is reprinted from the biographical statement prepared for the event.
An East Bay local, Yang is proud of his UC Berkeley undergraduate education, where he earned a degree in computer science with a minor in creative writing. His degree allowed him to teach computer science and mathematics at Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School, where he developed graphics-based learning tools to teach complicated subjects to young adults.
In 2016, Yang was named a MacArthur Fellow and a National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Children’s Book Council, Every Child a Reader, and the Center for the Book and the Library of Congress, for his extraordinary ability in drawing and writing. In 2020, Yang won two Harvey Awards, honoring achievement in comic books, for Dragon Hoops and Superman Smashes the Klan. In 2021, in celebration of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, DC Comics launched the hero Monkey Prince, which Yang created in collaboration with artist Bernard Chang.
Yang is a proud recipient of the 2022 Campanile Excellence in Achievement Award, which recognizes alumni whose remarkable professional achievements reflect the excellence of their UC Berkeley education.
Learn more about the Achievement Awards.
