Academic Advancement, Recruitment, and Career Success

Logo for ARCS with two overlapping arcs, one dark blue and one light green, above the text "Academic Advancement, Retention, & Career Success" on a black background.

Academic Advancement, Recruitment, and Career Success (ARCS) is a campus-wide initiative to create sustainable change by identifying and addressing barriers and opportunities to support faculty advancement, retention, and career success and satisfaction. The fundamental goal is to achieve transformation by aligning Berkeley’s structures with its mission and goals. This strategic approach focuses on faculty as drivers of institution-wide change, fosters synergy among existing initiatives, and develops sustainable, systemic solutions rather than short-term programs.

The ARCS Initiative seeks to develop new institution-wide approaches and programs that are informed by research to facilitate academic advancement, retention, and success. Programs are designed to support faculty across the career arc, including early-, mid-, and later-career faculty.

Strategic Approach

ARCS projects were selected by academic and administrative campus leadership because of their likelihood to:

  • Have significant impact
  • Show success or major progress in the initial five-year implementation period
  • Be feasible given financial and staffing resources

The ARCS Initiative programs provide support in the following areas:

  • Best practices in faculty recruitment
  • Faculty advancement and retention
  • Mentoring across the academic arc
  • Faculty pedagogy and student outcomes

ARCS Highlights

Faculty Writing Collective

The Berkeley Faculty Writing Collective offers dedicated writing timeand community through monthly writing sessions, peer accountability groups, and summer and winter retreats. Learn more on the program website

Mentoring Reimagined

Mentoring Reimagined strengthens and unifies mentoring across campus through a central website, workshops, and forums that promote effective and sustainable mentoring across the career arc. Learn more on the program website

The Provost’s Teaching for Equity & Inclusion Faculty Course

This course, offered by the Center for Teaching & Learning, supports Senate faculty in strengthening equity-centered teaching through structured practice, peer exchange, and research-informed approaches. Learn more on the program website

Retention Research

The Vice Provost for the Faculty Division is conducting a research project to identify potential retention gaps and understand their root causes.

About ARCS

The ARCS Initiative previously operated as the UC Berkeley Sea Change Initiative, a program within the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

In 2022, the University of California became the nation’s first university system to join the Sea Change program. In 2024, UC Berkeley was awarded the Sea Change Bronze Award through a national peer-reviewed process. In 2025, in parallel with internal changes to the AAAS program, UC Berkeley transitioned to the Academic Advancement, Recruitment, and Career Success (ARCS) Initiative, while maintaining its commitment to the chosen areas of focus and specific projects under Sea Change.

ARCS is coordinated by the Office for Faculty Equity & Welfare in the Vice Provost for the Faculty division, with the Associate Vice Provost serving as the campus initiative lead. For more information, contact Tessa Scott, ARCS project coordinator, at tessa_scott@berkeley.edu

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