New UC president selected
The UC Board of Regents has appointed Mark G. Yudof as the 19th president of the University of California effective this summer. The chancellor of the University of Texas system, an accomplished legal scholar, and a nationally recognized leader in American public higher education, Yudof was selected after a thorough national search that began last fall. “Throughout his academic and administrative career, he has proven himself to be someone who cares deeply about academic excellence and opportunity, research innovation, the quality
of the student experience, and the role of higher education in serving the needs of society,” says Richard C. Blum, chairman
of The Board of Regents.
promise.berkeley.edu/ucpresident
Birgeneau testifies about greenhouse gases
The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works recently heard testimony from three university executives on how higher education is addressing climate change.
Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau addressed senators about Berkeley’s efforts to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.
promise.berkeley.edu/climatetestimony
Berkeley shines in U.S. News graduate rankings
In its 2009 rankings of graduate programs,
U.S. News & World Report ranked
UC Berkeley third in engineering, sixth in law, and seventh in both business (tied with Dartmouth) and education (tied with the University of Washington).
Berkeley was rated fourth in clinical psychology (tied with Minnesota), and sixth in both public affairs/policy and social work (tied with Texas).
Berkeley’s small master of fine arts program ranked 30th in a new assessment based solely on a survey of art school deans and faculty.
promise.berkeley.edu/gradrankings
Six professors win prestigious Guggenheim fellowships
Six UC Berkeley professors — Margaret Lavinia Anderson (history), Stanley Brandes (anthropology), Giovanni (John) Ferrari (classics), Paolo Mancosu (philosophy), Arthur Shimamura (psychology), and Kaja Silverman (rhetoric and film) — were among the artists, scientists, and scholars awarded John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowships this April. The 2008 fellows — 190 in all — were recognized for their distinguished achievement and exceptional promise. They will share awards totaling $8.2 million to further their research, creativity, and work.
www.gf.org
Hass wins Pulitzer Prize for poetry
Robert Hass, UC Berkeley professor of English and former U.S. poet laureate, has won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for his latest book, Time and Materials. Hass, who won the National Book Award for poetry in 2007 for the same collection of poems, shares this year’s prize with poet Philip Schultz and his book Failure. The prize carries a $10,000 award and is issued for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author.
promise.berkeley.edu/pulitzer08
