News Archive

December 1, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

November 18, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

For UC Berkeley students who struggle to pay for food and housing, the recent government shutdown increased those challenges. Nearly 17,000 students lack reliable access to food, over 3,300 students encounter unstable housing, and more than 2,400 face both hunger and housing instability at the same time. Even though the shutdown has ended, their needs have not.

October 30, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

October 16, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

September 24, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

September 10, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

August 28, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

In the blink of an eye, the school year has begun. For me, this is a special time of reunion and renewal, animated by the potential of our students and the readiness of our community to take on the opportunities and challenges ahead.

August 13, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

Nseke Ngilbus faced several complex challenges when he started at Cal. He was an older student, a transfer student, and interested in product design — a field he knew little about. “For me, the academics were not the most difficult part,” he wrote in a blog. “Instead, it was understanding the things that are outside of academics … the hidden curriculum.”

July 30, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

July 2, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

I have exciting news to share. Longtime UC Berkeley benefactors Ned and Carol Spieker have made a transformational gift of $26 million to endow the men’s aquatic programs. The largest gift in Cal Athletics history, it will provide dedicated support for years to come.

June 4, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

When KJ Muldoon was just one week old, his doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia diagnosed him with a rare, life-threatening genetic disorder that prevented him from breaking down the proteins in his food. If he survived, he would have severe mental and developmental delays and require a liver transplant. 

May 21, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

Siblings Ryan and Melissa Mattson spent their 20s and 30s raising children, tending to an ill father, and working to make ends meet. They were convinced that higher education wasn’t for them. Especially not at UC Berkeley. 

May 7, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

Elizabeth “Betsy” Keenan ’71 leaves no doubt about where her devotion lies. She attends nearly every Big Game, rolls up her sleeves for the alumni club in Washington, D.C., and is a champion for Cal in the Capital (CITC), a celebrated program that places students in meaningful summer internships throughout D.C. 

April 24, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

April 10, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

March 26, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

March 12, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

February 27, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

February 13, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

January 30, 2025

Dear Cal alums, parents, and friends,

Just as 2025 — and a new semester — were beginning to come into focus, unprecedented fires broke out in Southern California that have profoundly affected members of the UC Berkeley family. While the fires are now mostly contained, the destruction defies description, and the heartbreak demands our compassion.