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On a sunny Saturday in March, dozens of onlookers watched Jasmine Nyende charge, pull, twist, and duck under ropes held by six other performers. Nearby, portable speakers blared punk rock. Nyende’s performance — titled “Sankofa Moshpit” — was a joyful memorial to her late friend, Láwû. It was also one of the featured events during UC Berkeley’s MFA Open Studios.

In the early 2000s, UC Berkeley rhetoric professor Winnie Wong visited Dafen village in China, where artists painted replicas of famous pieces like the Mona Lisa and Starry Night. It dramatically changed how she thinks about art and those who make it.

When Winnie Wong first saw Dafen Oil Painting Village in 2006, it was nothing like she’d imagined. 

It’s hard to pinpoint when synesthesia, the rare neurological condition where a stimulus that affects one sense prompts a response in a different sense, was first documented. Scientific literature marks its beginning in 1812, when it appeared as an aside in a Bavarian medical student’s dissertation. Toward the end, there’s a small section where he detailed how he associated musical tones and letters with colors. 

Orestes Sophocleous is a re-entry undergraduate student at UC Berkeley. He is majoring in Film and Media with a minor in Rhetoric. He is currently a teaching assistant for Film 155, under professor Nicole Starosielski, on film infrastructure. Outside of academia, Orestes has a career as an actor, featured in films such as The End of a Pandemic (2020), A Brave Face (2018), and Committed (2014). 

In the early 2000s, UC Berkeley rhetoric professor Winnie Wong visited Dafen village in China, where artists painted replicas of famous pieces like the Mona Lisa and Starry Night. It dramatically changed how she thinks about art and those who make it.

Listen here.

When Winnie Wong first saw Dafen Oil Painting Village in 2006, it was nothing like she’d imagined. 

This month, The Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM) at the University of California, Berkeley, launched the Certificate in Global Digital Infrastructure, the first and only program of its kind in higher education. Created and led by internet infrastructure expert and Professor Nicole Starosielski of UC Berkeley’s Department of

Nataliia Goshylyk is a lecturer in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, where she teaches Ukrainian. Dr. Goshylyk received her M.A. in Philology from Lesya Ukrainka Volyn State University, and her PhD in linguistics from Kharkiv National University. She is the recipient of the Berkeley Language Center Summer Fellowship in 2022, as well as a U.S. Fulbright Scholarship from 2021-2022, and she was an Erasmus Mundus Ianus II recipient in 2015, where she did research in Graz, Austria.

Since joining UC Berkeley in 2009, Professor Jacob Dalton has helped shape the university’s Tibetan Studies program, bridging language, religious history, and Buddhist traditions. In this interview, he reflects on the program’s evolution, the challenges of learning Tibetan, and the broader significance of preserving Tibetan culture amid ongoing political and linguistic shifts.

Two new Chancellor’s Chairs will expand access for students, create tenure-track opportunities for up-and-coming scholars, and recognize the groundbreaking work of senior faculty in the fields of dance and performance studies. 

Liesl Yamaguchi, Assistant Professor in the Department of French at UC Berkeley, is a scholar and translator whose work bridges 19th-century French literature, poetics, linguistics, literary theory, and translation. In this interview, Professor Yamaguchi reflects on her path to academia, the interdisciplinary nature of her research, and the creative challenges of translation. She offers a preview of her forthcoming book, On the Colors of Vowels: Thinking Through Synesthesia, which examines the convergence of literary and scientific discourses on synesthesia in the 19th century.

The Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) provides an opportunity for Berkeley undergraduates to work with faculty members and research staff on cutting-edge research projects. A number of faculty in the division are leading digital humanities projects with undergraduate students. See some highlighted projects below: 

Inspired by UC Berkeley Professor Frances Hellman and started at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, the Hellman Fellows Fund provides much needed support to pre-tenure assistant professors who have served for at least two years. Established in 1995, the Hellman Fellows Program has since expanded to include all ten UC campuses and a handful of private institutions. 

Alankrita Malhotra is a sophmore and is forging an interdisciplinary path by combining her passions for Data Science and the humanities. Her work on computational folklore and Nordic flavor networks under the guidance of Professor Timothy Tangherlini, who we interviewed for the project last month, highlights the innovative potential of digital humanities.

There’s a new performance hall at UC Berkeley, and its arrival comes at an exciting and critical time for the Department of Music: From fall 2020 to fall 2024, the number of declared undergraduates majoring in music at Berkeley grew 236%.

“Music is, in fact, the fastest growing major on campus, by a large margin,” said Mark Shaw, music department manager.

According to Berkeley’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, the number of declared undergraduate music majors jumped from 55 in fall 2020 to 195 in fall 2024.

Valerie Williams-Sanchez, Ph.D., is a UC Berkeley alum who graduated with an English degree in 1992. Today, Valerie is a consultant, researcher, publisher, and creator of the children’s picture book series, Cocoa Kids Collection®.