News

The Chancellor, I, and other campus administrators have been hearing from and meeting with representatives of the Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Palestinian, and other communities on campus. Common to those discussions was the high level of fear, anxiety, and loss that members of those communities have suffered and are suffering.

Susan Stone has agreed to serve as interim dean of the School of Social Welfare for the 2024–25 academic year. Her appointment will be effective as of July 1, 2024.

Effective the week of October 9, 2023 Disabled Students’ Program (DSP) proctoring services is operating out of the 4th floor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Student Union Building for this academic year. Most exams will take place in MLK and all exam drop-off/pick-up will be in room 414 in MLK. No other processes or exam-requests procedures have changed.

Reminder of University policy as pertains to academic freedom and political advocacy in the classroom.

Many graduate students enroll in independent study courses (often but not always called “299s”). We write to remind you to follow the guidance sent to all faculty on August 21, 2023.

Announcing the formation of a joint venture to build a new 36-acre research and innovation hub at NASA Ames. Located at Moffett Field, in the heart of Silicon Valley, it will be called “Berkeley Space Center." This enterprise is the culmination of many years of extensive planning and negotiation.

Updates on ongoing campus efforts to reduce the bureaucratic burden

As a part of the stakeholder engagement process for the search for the next University Librarian, there are two upcoming open forums for faculty.

Update on the search for our next University Librarian (UL)

You’re invited to the first Campus Conversation of the academic year on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at noon. Join us to hear from Ben Hermalin, executive vice chancellor and provost. Ben will share his plans and priorities for campus, including updates on the financial sustainability initiative, reducing the bureaucratic burden and efforts to improve inclusion and belonging for faculty, staff and students, as well as what he is looking forward to as a new academic year begins.

We have both ethical and legal obligations to provide accommodations and other supportive measures to our students. We call your attention to important campus policies and guidelines concerning academic accommodations for religious observance, illness, disability, hardship, and other matters.

Tsu-Jae King Liu has been reappointed for a second term as dean of the College of Engineering. Tsu-Jae was first appointed in 2018, becoming the 13th dean and first woman to hold the position.

The campus philanthropic allocation and research administrative fee associated with gifts made to campus. Effective July 1, 2023, the campus philanthropic allocation will increase from 5% to 7.5%. The research administrative fee will increase from 10.5% to 13%.

Provide important awareness to the campus community regarding the announcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as it relates to (1) the ending of remote verification (e.g. via Zoom) in place of the physical examination of an employee’s identity/work authorization documentation (Federal Form I-9), and (2) the requirement to physically examine work authorization documents by August 30, 2023 for those individuals hired on/after March 20, 2020, and whose documents were examined remotely.

Linda Burton has decided to step down as the Dean of the School of Social Welfare on June 30, 2024, at the end of her current five-year term.

With the upcoming departure of Jenn Stringer, we have engaged Berkeley Executive Search and appointed a search committee to lead a nationwide search for Berkeley’s next associate vice chancellor and chief information officer. As we expect the search to take several months, we have asked Gabriel Gonzalez to serve as interim chief information officer starting July 1, 2023, until we fill this role.

University Librarian Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason will be retiring from campus in June 2024.

The academic salary scales for policy-covered academics will be increased by a general range adjustment of 4.6 percent. This adjustment to the academic salary scales will be effective October 1, 2023 for policy-covered faculty and July 1, 2023 for other policy-covered academic appointees.