Headlines

Photo of Eve Ekman,

Grad student takes on ’empathy fatigue’ in the workplace

Eve Ekman, a doctoral candidate in social welfare, has been exploring the harsh realities of emotional exhaustion in healthcare workers, which can have devastating consequences for their patients and hospitals as well as the workers themselves.

Nap Hosang

Berkeley’s first online degree program will address public health workforce need

The School of Public Health received final approval December 6 to launch the Berkeley campus’s first-ever online degree program, which it calls the On-Campus/Online Professional M.P.H. Degree Program. Beginning Spring 2012, students will be able to earn a master of public health (M.P.H.) degree by completing 85 percent of their coursework online and attending three on-campus sessions totaling 15 days over the first two years. The courses are offered all year round (spring, summer, and fall semesters) and can be completed in two and a half years. The program is headed by Nap Hosang M.P.H. ’85, M.B.A. ’95, who also runs the school’s interdisciplinary M.P.H. program.  Read the full story  or visit the program site  

Saul Perlmutter and family

Perlmutter collects his Nobel

Accompanied by his wife, Laura Nelson, and daughter, Noa, Perlmutter and the other newly named Nobelists, their families, friends and colleagues arrived in Stockholm for the start of festivities on Tuesday, December 6.

Occupy Cal

An extraordinary season: resources for comprehending the issues and events of recent weeks at Berkeley

Berkeley was not in its accustomed position at the cutting edge of the vanguard. Quietly conceived by Canadian and Spanish activists, the Occupy movement against economic and social inequality was born as protests in Kuala Lumpur in July before it reached Wall Street in New York and several sites in San Francisco in September, and city landmarks in Oakland and San Jose in the Bay Area and many locations worldwide in October.

Roberto Hernandez and Layda Negrete

Grad students’ film ‘Presumed Guilty’ wins an Emmy for best investigative journalism

In light of the competition, Roberto Hernández didn’t expect to take home a trophy from September’s News & Documentary Emmy ceremony in New York.

But win he did — for outstanding investigative journalism — along with his wife and fellow UC Berkeley grad student, Layda Negrete, and fellow makers of Presumed Guilty (“Presunto Culpable”).

Photo of room with coach and table and chairs

Dissertation Writer’s Room Renovation

In June of 2010, the Doe Library and the Graduate Division opened a special place for graduate students who want to (or simply must) do some serious writing on their dissertations.

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau (center) and his wife Mary Catherine (left) meet with Ma Ying-jeou (right), the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Taiwan Partnership a Boon for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Last October Berkeley sealed an unprecedented partnership with Taiwan, setting the stage for an influx of cross-cultural resources in the humanities and social sciences. With this partnership, Berkeley becomes the first member of Taiwan’s Top University Strategic Alliance, a program created by the country’s Ministry of Education to increase the international exposure of top Taiwanese scholars and researchers.

Joe Duggan

Celebrating Joe Duggan’s epic career as teacher, scholar, and dean

On June 30, Duggan handed over the reins of his associate deanship, having previously retired in 2005 from his formal teaching duties in two departments. Read a tribute to his long and distinguished career, view a slideshow of the decades, see messages from his colleagues and former students — and add your own message, if you like!

family-friendly commencement

A walk with mom

Six-and-a-half-month-old twins Thomas and Camille shared the spotlight at the Public Health commencement in Zellerbach Auditorium while their mother, Mi-Suk Kang Dufour, received her Ph.D. Alan Hubbard, associate professor of biostatistics, placed the doctoral hood over her head, which was much less interesting to the twins than all those people out there in the audience. Maybe in 17 and a half years or so they’ll come back to Cal — and major in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. (photo: Peg Skorpinski)    

images from 2011 ogsi awards event

294 GSIs are celebrated as officially “Outstanding”

Of the many, many GSIs on campus, nearly 300 were singled out as Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors by the Graduate Division’s GSI Center — and 10 GSIs were given special recognition for their innovative solutions to teaching problems.

Photo of Vasundhara Sirnate

Steps to success, or how the fellowship was won

Sending in all those applications can pay off, and sometimes we hear about it. Case in point: Ph.D. student Vasundhara Sirnate was selected for a $30,000 award. She tells us how that happened.

parent with child wearing Cal gear

Graduate Division Student Parent Grant

The Graduate Division administers a need-based grant for graduate students (single, married, or registered domestic partners) living with dependent children; if funding permits, awards of up to $8,000 per year ($4,000 per academic term) will be made to eligible applicants. The deadline for 2011-12 grants is June 30, 2011. Interested students (new or continuing) should file a 2011-12 FAFSA and submit an application to 318 Sproul Hall. The application and additional program information can be found on the Graduate Division website.

OGSI winner celebrating

Outstanding GSIs and their mentors are honored: a quick preview

Outstanding GSIs, and mentors of GSIs, were honored in droves over the past few weeks.  We’ll be saying more, in detail and with pictures, in the near future, but meanwhile here are the categories — at least those which fall under the umbrella of the Graduate Division (and, in one case, its partner, the Graduate Assembly).