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It was exhilarating to sit so close to an opera star. Tenor John Duykers was performing the lead in the chamber opera, Mordrake, and playwright Philip Kan Gotanda could practically feel the singer’s breath on his face. It was 2009, and the audience sat enraptured in a small studio space tucked away in downtown San Francisco. 

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®.

UC Berkeley Professor Timothy Tangherlini, of the Department of Scandinavian and the School of Information, has been named one of the co-principal investigators on a groundbreaking $7.5 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense. The project, led by researchers at Indiana University, will bring together an interdisciplinary team of experts in informatics, psychology, communications, and folklore to examine how artificial intelligence (AI) influences online communication, including the spread of misinformation and radicalizing messages.

A project funded by the University of California’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) spotlights UC Berkeley's contribution in addressing critical global challenges through interdisciplinary innovation.

We are delighted to announce that Linda Haverty Rugg, professor in UC Berkeley's Scandinavian Department, has been named co-recipient of this year's prestigious Prize for the Introduction of Swedish Culture Abroad, awarded by the Swedish Academy—the institution responsible for the Nobel Prizes.

Berkeley, CA — UC Berkeley’s Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry (CICI) and the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (ICCTP) have been awarded $2.6 million to support a groundbreaking multi-year initiative titled “A Counter-Imaginary in Authoritarian Times.” Through collaborative workshops, conferences, performances, publications, and a dynamic, open-ended digital platform, this project brings together academics, artists, activists, and other community members to develop concrete strategies, tools, and proposals to create a counter-imagin

The Division of Arts & Humanities is proud to announce that Associate Professor of Scandinavian Kate Heslop has been named a co-recipient of the sixteenth Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures. The prestigious award, presented biennially by the Modern Language Association (MLA), recognizes her groundbreaking work, Viking Mediologies: A New History of Skaldic Poetics, published by Fordham University Press.

The MLA prize committee praised Viking Mediologies for its transformative impact, stating: