Alumni

Pan Scholars help extend UC Berkeley’s global reach to Taiwan

October 30, 2025
by Alexander Rony

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Over the summer, Kelly Ko loved taking the train to her internship in Taipei. The beautiful music that heralded its arrival was a refreshing change from BART’s jarring approach. At work, her managers would frequently take her out to lunch. Ko, who grew up speaking English and Cantonese in the Bay Area, was excited to practice her Mandarin with her coworkers.

Ko was participating in a six-...

Prominent philosophers to interrogate deep AI questions through new UC Berkeley program

October 24, 2025
by Alexander Rony

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Artificial intelligence, or AI, is rapidly transforming our society. It is also raising deep questions and profound concerns.

UC Berkeley’s Department of Philosophy is launching a new initiative to bring leading scholars to campus to discuss the most pressing philosophical questions surrounding AI.

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a … Conlang?

August 11, 2025
Alexander Rony

This month, theatergoers watched the new Superman movie in 76 countries. Though the film played in many different languages, every showing included a new language created by David J. Peterson ’03 and his wife, Jessie Peterson.

The duo created Suh Ankripton, the latest version of the Kryptonian language used on Superman’s home planet. A pivotal scene that changes the world’s opinion of Superman involves characters speaking the language.

David and Jessie began work on Suh Ankripton in early 2024, scouring the comics for words and names. Then, they broke these terms...

Chris Pine (English '02)

Chris Pine is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James T. Kirk in the Star Trek reboot film series (2009–2016) and Steve Trevor in the DC Extended Universe films Wonder Woman (2017) and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020).

Pine rose to prominence for his roles in the romantic comedies The Princess Diaries 2 (2004) and Just My Luck (2006). His roles include Cinderella's Prince in Into the Woods (2014); Jack Ryan in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014); Bernie Webber in The Finest Hours (2016); and Robert the Bruce in Outlaw King (2018). He starred in...

Jerry Brown (Classics '61)

Jerry Brown is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of State of California in 1970; Brown later served as mayor of Oakland from 1999 to 2007 and attorney general of California from 2007 to 2011. He was both the oldest and sixth-youngest governor of California due to the 28-year gap between his second and third terms. Upon completing his fourth term in office, Brown became the fourth-longest-serving governor in U.S. history...

James Schamus (English '82)

James Schamus is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, and the co-founder and former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. He is currently president of the New York–based production company Symbolic Exchange, and is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University, where he has taught film history and theory since 1989.

Nicole Yorkin (English '80)

Nicole Yorkin is a television producer and writer known most recently for The Killing, a crime drama television series for which she served as co-producer with her writing partner Dawn Prestwich. Before that, she was an executive producer on the FX series The Riches with Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, a consulting producer on the ABC science fiction drama Flashforward, and a writer and co-executive producer on Showtime's Brotherhood (a 2007 Peabody Award winner) and two seasons of HBO's Carnivale. In 1997, Nicole shared an Emmy Award nomination...

Irene Yoon (English '17)

Irene Yoon is the Executive Director of LARB, where she oversees the day-to-day operations and broader strategic vision and planning for the organization. For the last four years, Irene has also served as Director of the LARB Publishing Workshop. Irene is a writer and teacher who splits her time between Oakland and Los Angeles. She earned her doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, where she currently teaches courses on contemporary fiction and visual culture and manages Art of Writing, an interdisciplinary writing program. Her writing has appeared in ...

Vanessa Morrison (Rhetoric '90)

Vanessa Morrison was named President or Streaming at Walt Disney Studios in March 2020. She previously served as President of Fox Family since 2017, after a decade as President of Twentieth Century Fox Animation. Her prior roles include Executive Vice President at Twentieth Century Fox (live action), Senior Vice President of Production, and Vice President of Production.

In her current role, Morrison oversees Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture projects for Disney+, with the ability to leverage stories and characters from across the rich histories of both Disney and 20th Century, as...

Bettina Duval (Rhetoric '82)

Bettina Duval serves as the president of BRDBND, a telecommunications hardware manufacturer. She co-founded Friends of the University of California, a political action committee advocating for the University of California. Additionally, she founded CALIFORNIA WOMEN’S LIST, a political action committee dedicated to electing women in California, contributing to the success of over 62 women in elected offices. Formerly, she presided as the president of the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica Board of Governors and continues her service on the board, along with roles...