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.
Housed in the Arts & Humanities Dean’s Office, the William Fries II Chancellor's Chair in Performance Studies will recognize scholarship in any of the disciplines that enact and examine performance: theater, dance, music, film, art, art history, or drama in any of the languages and literatures in our division. This broad definition of performance provides flexibility to hire and appoint chairs in areas of greatest need across the division. Like all Chancellor’s Chairs at Berkeley, it creates both a new position for an assistant professor and a named chair with an annual research fund.
Established through a $6 million gift, the Mary Tu Chancellor’s Chair in Dance will create a new full-time faculty assistant professorship and a named chair, both focused on dance, within the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS). Mary Tu is a California philanthropist known for her support of dance and the performing arts.
In addition to faculty support, Mary has also pledged $1.5 million to create the Mary Tu Dance Endowment. This new fund will provide programmatic support for the TDPS dance program. Among other program needs, the endowment will enable the department to hire dance instructors and will underwrite the costs of the Berkeley Dance Project, an annual showcase featuring student work as well as a variety of bold new works choreographed by guest artists and faculty.
“We are over the moon regarding Mary Tu’s generous gift,” said TDPS chair SanSan Kwan. “By establishing the chairship and the endowment, she ensures that TDPS will be able to continue to center dance as a crucial aspect of our curriculum and an enduring offering to the campus. Embodied knowledge is essential, and our dance curriculum and research helps students forge not only rewarding career paths, but also lifelong skills in creative agency, social-emotional wellness, and kinesthetic intelligence.”
The William Fries II Chancellor's Chair in Performance Studies honors William Fries II (Political Science ‘43) and his formative years at Berkeley — where he was very active in theater performances — as well as his lasting legacy of championing arts and cultural institutions throughout the Bay Area.The William Fries II Foundation’s $3 million grant qualified for matching funds from UC Berkeley.
“These gifts will increase access,” said Dean Sara Guyer. “Faculty expansion allows more students to learn alongside faculty who are some of the most celebrated scholars and artists of our time, and research funding provides our faculty with the resources they need to innovate.”