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August 23, 2023

Weihong Bao, associate professor of Film & Media and East Asian Languages & Cultures, has been appointed to the Pamela P. Fong and Family Distinguished Chair in China Studies. Bao's appointment marks the first time the chair has been awarded to a faculty member from a humanities discipline.

August 21, 2023

The Department of Art Practice within the Division of Arts & Humanities is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The department’s two-year MFA program, which supports on average a dozen graduate students, is also welcoming its 100th MFA class this fall with increased resources for students.

August 7, 2023

NPR

The protagonist of Susanna Hoffs' debut novel, Jane Start, probably listens to Dionne Warwick to hype herself up in the morning. Start is 33 and living with her parents – her days of pop stardom, for one song, are 10 years behind her. But in This Bird Has Flown, a romantic spark reignites a second chance for her creative endeavors, too. Hoffs tells NPR's Andrew Limbong how her own experiences as a rockstar influenced the story, which she's adapting into a feature film.

August 2, 2023

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome professor Marié Abe as of July 1, 2023. She is an associate professor in the Department of Music and focuses on the intersection between improvisation and composition.

On July 1, 2023, the Division of the Arts & Humanities welcomed new chairs and directors for 12 departments, centers, and programs: 

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley welcomes Xueyin (Snow) Zhang as of July 1, 2023. Zhang is an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy with a specialization in formal epistemology, particularly Bayesian. 

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome full professor Nicole Starosielski as of July 1, 2023. Starosielski is a professor in the Department of Film & Media and specializes in the global distribution of digital media. 

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities is pleased to welcome professor Juan David Rubio Restrepo as of July 1, 2023. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Music and specializes in Chicanx music culture and history. 

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome professor Timmia Hearn DeRoy as of July 1, 2023. DeRoy is an assistant professor in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, where she focuses on Caribbean theater practice and how to use this practice more broadly in community-oriented and social change focused theater. 

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities welcomes Henry Ravenhall as of July 1, 2023. Ravenhall is an assistant professor in the Department of French with specializations in medieval French literature and manuscript culture. 

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome professor Darian Longmire as of July 1, 2023. Longmire is an assistant professor in the Department of Art Practice where he utilizes his artwork to articulate the dichotomy of Blackness through invisible matter, black holes and time warps. With years of experience studying mediums like digital processes, drawing, printmaking and design, Longmire considers himself a "remixer," utilizing his skills to create a world of abstraction. 

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities welcomes Verónica Gómez Sánchez as of July 1, 2023. Gómez Sánchez is an assistant professor in the campus Department of Philosophy, where she focuses on metaphysics of science and philosophy of cognitive science.

On July 1, 2023, the Division of the Arts & Humanities welcomed 16 new faculty: 

Marié Abe, Department of Music: Marié Abe joins the division as an associate professor in the Department of Music and focuses on the intersection between improvisation and composition.

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities is pleased to welcome professor Iggy Cortez as of July 1, 2023. Cortez is an assistant professor in the Department of Film & Media and specializes in world art cinema; digital media ecologies; queer theory; comparative critical race studies; and American independent film.

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities is pleased to welcome professor Mohamed Wajdi Ben Hammed as of July 1, 2023. Ben Hammed is an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and specializes in modern Arabic literature, with a particular focus on how pre-modern Islamic concepts of time negotiate postcolonial transformations within the region’s political economy. 

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome professor Nicholas Baer as of July 1, 2023. He is an assistant professor in the Department of German and specializes in film and digital media, aesthetics, critical theory and intellectual history. 

The Division of the Arts & Humanities is pleased to announce that Shannon Jackson will be chair of the History of Art Department, as of July 1, 2023. Jackson is the Cyrus and Michelle Hadidi Professor of the Arts & Humanities and holds appointments in the departments of Rhetoric and Theater, Dance and Performance Studies. She specializes in collaborations across visual, performing, and media art forms and the role of the arts in social institutions and in social change. She will serve as chair following outgoing chair and professor Greg Levine. 

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to announce Professor Poulomi Saha as the new co-director of the Critical Theory program at UC Berkeley, effective July 1, 2023.

UC Berkeley’s Division of Arts & Humanities is pleased to welcome professor Luanne Redeye as of July 1, 2023. Redeye is an assistant professor in the Department of Art Practice, where her works utilize a Native lens to share her experiences and perspective of navigating a modern world as a Native woman.

The Division of the Arts & Humanities is pleased to announce that Sylvia Tiwon will be Chair of the Department of South and South East Asian Studies, as of July 1, 2023.