News

The Global Climate Strike effort being planned by student groups on Friday September 20 includes a walkout planned for 11:00 AM. Please have a plan in place to ensure the continuity of the delivery of your course content. Faculty members are encouraged to handle missed courses and exams according to their usual instructional policies.

The application period for the fall 2020 UC Berkeley Faculty Leadership Academy is now open.

Communicating the importance of faculty not scheduling midterm and final exams, or other important academic activities on key religious holidays. Most immediately for the Fall semester, this applies to Rosh Hashana (September 30 and October 1) and Yom Kippur, which begins the evening of October 8 and lasts through October 9.

Edward Wasserman, will be stepping down as dean of the Graduate School of Journalism and rejoining the faculty full-time.

As we start the fall semester, we call your attention to the following important campus policies and guidelines concerning the academic calendar, academic integrity, and accommodations for students in their academic programs:

Jennifer Tour Chayes, Microsoft technical fellow and managing director for Microsoft Research in New England, New York, and Montreal, will be the inaugural Associate Provost for the Division of Data Science and Information and Dean of the School of Information. Her term will begin on January 1, 2020.

Vishaan Chakrabarti, celebrated architect and associate professor of professional practice at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), will become the next dean of the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design (CED). He will begin his term on July 1, 2020. Professor Renee Chow, chair of Berkeley’s architecture department, has agreed to serve as acting dean beginning July 1, 2019.

The University of California has been out of contract with Elsevier since January but, so far, the publisher has continued to provide access to new articles via ScienceDirect. Although Elsevier has not yet provided us with official notification, we now have reason to believe that the publisher will shut off that direct access in the first half of July, after the July 4 holiday.

Linda Burton, current James B. Duke Professor of Sociology at Duke University and former dean of social sciences at Duke’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, has accepted our offer to become the next dean of the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare. She will begin her term here on September 1, 2019.

UC Provost Brown has asked the campus to submit academic calendars for the 2023-24 through 2028-29 academic years by August 15, 2019.

Due to overwhelmingly positive feedback and increased demand for Public Affairs’ invitation-only media training workshop, a new, online version of the course has launched, open to the entire Berkeley community and we thought you would be interested in taking a look.

Raka Ray, professor of sociology and South and Southeast Asian studies, has been appointed to be the next dean of the Division of Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Science. She will take up her appointment on January 1, 2020. In the interim, Kim Voss, a prominent sociologist of labor and social movements with substantial administrative experience across campus, has agreed to serve as acting dean for the fall semester, effective July 1, 2019.

Michael C. Lu, currently professor and senior associate dean for academic, student, and faculty affairs at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, has accepted our offer to become the next dean of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. He will begin his term on July 1, 2019.

The Controller’s Office is introducing a new entertainment reimbursement process that eliminates duplicate data entry by Berkeley Regional Services (Formerly Campus Shared Services), shortens processing time to payment from weeks to days, and puts more control of the process in the hands of employees who pay out-of-pocket for entertainment related expenses.

Janet Broughton, emerita professor of philosophy and former vice provost for the faculty, has been appointed to serve a two-year term as the next executive dean of the College of Letters and Science (L&S). She will take up the position on July 1.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has notified UC of its intent to strike. We also expect the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) employees to hold a sympathy strike.

Professor of Education and Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies Lisa García Bedolla has been appointed to be UC Berkeley’s next Vice Provost for Graduate Studies & Dean of the Graduate Division. Lisa is a renowned scholar, a gifted teacher and mentor, and a highly respected campus leader who will ensure that we continue to build on a long tradition of offering world-class graduate education at Berkeley. She will begin her appointment on July 1, 2019.

The University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) has notified UC of its intent to strike. We also expect the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) employees to hold a sympathy strike.

Outcome of the University of California’s negotiations to renew its systemwide license with scholarly journal publisher Elsevier