Berkeley

Former Students Celebrate Professor Troy Duster

Published

12 years ago

August 25, 2014

By Barry Bergman, UC Berkeley News

“I once had a very good professor who gave me very bad advice,” UC Berkeley sociologist Troy Duster said last Friday, standing behind a lectern at Booth Auditorium. “‘Don’t read newspapers. Don’t listen to the news. It’s simply a daily phenomenon that will get in the way of scholarship.’”

The young graduate student ignored the advice, rejecting “this notion that one celebrates the scholar who is disengaged from the world, that the high-status theorist — whether in anthropology, sociology, political science — was one who wasn’t immersed in the daily turmoil of life, but had almost an ivory-tower rendering of self.”

Duster, in fact, went on to become the epitome of the engaged scholar — writing landmark works on the racial implications of drug policies and genetic research, founding what is now the campus’s Institute for the Study of Societal Issues and mentoring scores of doctoral students who would themselves become leaders in the fields of public health, law and public policy, education, medical anthropology and theory of social inequality and social change.

So it was fitting that during a buoyant day of thanks and tributes, what was celebrated was Duster’s plugged-in, hyper-engaged approach to scholarship — including what Stanford medical anthropologist Duana Fullwiley, a Berkeley Ph.D., called “his solid support, his integrity, his centered vision, his friendship, his lightheartedness, his poetic style of reasoned advice and his stories.”

The daylong appreciation featured a sampling of former students, fondly known as “Troy’s babies,” and such luminaries as U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson, Oakland Children’s Hospital chief Bertram Lubin and restaurateur and food activist Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse.

It was a day of laughter, tears, sociological insights and paeans to Duster’s “prescience,” generosity and friendship. There was even a Bach selection from a cellist invited to perform by Berkeley alum Tania Simoncelli, an assistant director for forensic science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

A cellist herself, she originally connected with Duster, a fellow music lover, “over our shared passion for the intersections of science and biomedicine, and ethics and justice.”

Duster later said the tributes made him “a bit uncomfortable,” though discomfort, by all accounts, is not a particularly “Dusterian” trait. Sounding a refrain picked up by a number of speakers, Harry Levine, another Berkeley Ph.D. and a Queens College sociology professor, dubbed him “the coolest cat in the room.”

In 2004, when Duster was named president of the American Sociological Association, Levine — who studies the disproportionate impacts of arrests for marijuana possession on young blacks and Latinos — attributed Duster’s far-reaching influence to his being “a code-switcher,” a man who is “culturally multilingual.”

“He can talk to white audiences about racism and the need for affirmative action, to administrators about student needs, to geneticists about how society works and to sociologists about how genes work,” wrote Levine.

“Duster,” he wrote, “also seems able to see around corners and three or four chess moves ahead of ordinary mortals.”

Howard Pinderhughes, an associate professor in health and behavioral social sciences at UCSF, recalled his own days as a struggling grad student, when Duster brought him into what was then the Institute for the Study of Social Change, offering him a sense of community, a source of income and a guiding hand in shaping his academic career.

“For me and many others, Troy’s legacy goes beyond the scholarship and theory that he produced,” said Pinderhughes. “It was the way he seeded the intellectual universe with pods and seeds of insurrection,

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Activism

Black Repertory Group Needs Volunteers to Help Shape the Next Generation of Artists and Leaders

Legendary performers such as Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover worked with and were inspired by BRG’s founders. More recently, Grammy award-winning artist Kehlani attended the Black Repertory Group Summer Day Camp for several years.

Published

1 month ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Courtesy image.

By Sean Vaughn Scott, Special to The Post

For more than 60 years, the Black Repertory Group (BRG) has changed lives through the arts.

Founded in 1964 by educators and visionaries Birel L. Vaughn and Nora Vaughn, BRG has become one of America’s oldest continuously operating Black theater institutions. For generations, it has preserved culture, developed talent, and provided opportunities for young people to discover their voices and their potential.

The results speak for themselves.

Long before international recognition, Kehlani performed on the BRG stage. During a summer day camp production of “Princess and da Frog,” she portrayed Ray, the lovable firefly whose light guided others through the darkness. Her journey is proof that today’s camper may become tomorrow’s artist, entrepreneur, educator, or leader.

Located at 3201 Adeline St. in Berkeley, BRG continues that mission through its Youth Summer Day Camp of the Arts.

BRG is currently accepting applications and maintains an open enrollment program. Students may enroll throughout the summer as space permits and immediately become part of the BRG family.

We are also proud to be a multicultural opportunity program, welcoming children and families from all backgrounds, cultures, and communities. Through theater, music, dance, public speaking, visual arts, technical theater, and leadership development, students gain confidence, discipline, creativity, and lifelong skills.

As our programs grow, so does our need for volunteers.

We are seeking community members to assist with youth mentoring, registration, costumes, set construction, painting, props, ushering, photography, social media, marketing, technical theater, and fundraising activities. Whether you volunteer for a few hours or throughout the season, your support directly impacts the lives of young people.

BRG also partners with churches, civic organizations, alumni associations, fraternities, sororities, and community groups through theater party fundraisers, group sales, and buy-out performances. These partnerships have helped organizations raise funds while supporting arts and cultural programming.

The theater also serves as the home of the Berkeley NAACP Chapter, which meets every second Saturday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m.

For more than six decades, the Black Repertory Group has remained committed to one belief: every child deserves an opportunity to shine.

The next great artist may already be among us.

The next Kehlani may already be walking through our doors.

We invite you to volunteer, enroll, participate, and become part of the legacy.

For more information please go to www.blackrepertorygroup.com, call (510) 652-2120, or email info@blackrepertorygroup.com

Sean Vaughn Scott is the director of the Black Repertory Group.

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Bay Area

UC Berkeley Named Top Public University in the U.S. and No. 7 in the World by ‘U.S. News’

Berkeley has been consistently awarded the distinction of the U.S.’s top public university since the Best Global Universities list was first published in 2014. “A strong position in the Best Global Universities rankings recognizes a school’s profound commitment to world-class research and cross-border academic excellence,” said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News.

Published

1 month ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Photo by Keegan Houser/UC Berkeley.

The 2026 Best Global Universities rankings evaluated 2,250 research institutions from more than 100 countries

By Lila Thulin

U.S. News & World Report has ranked UC Berkeley No. 7 in its 2026 list of the best global universities, which assesses more than 2,250 research institutions worldwide.

Berkeley also claimed the honor of top public university in the U.S.

Released on Monday, the list evaluates universities from more than 100 countries on 13 metrics such as global and research reputation (as reported by academics and peers) and number of highly cited scholarly papers.

Berkeley has been consistently awarded the distinction of the U.S.’s top public university since the Best Global Universities list was first published in 2014.

“A strong position in the Best Global Universities rankings recognizes a school’s profound commitment to world-class research and cross-border academic excellence,” said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News.

The rankings also assess a university’s strength in various subject areas; these assessments are separate from U.S. News’ 2026 Best Graduate Programs rankings released in April.

This year, Berkeley was named in the top three nationally in seven subject areas – environment/ecology, ecology, water resources, physics, computer science, chemistry, and engineering – and in the top five for a total of 17 subjects. Subject rankings are based heavily on scholarly publications and citations as well as reputation.

In September, U.S. News also released its 2026 Best Colleges list, in which Berkeley was also named the No. 1 public institution among American universities.

That honor joins other accolades judging campus to be the best public university in the country, such as those from Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education.

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Arts and Culture

Farwest Region Deltas Celebrate Centennial With “September Breakfast” Honoring Vivian Osborne Marsh

The region was established in 1925 under the leadership of Vivian Osborne Marsh, who became its first Regional Director. Marsh was a pioneering scholar and civic leader, earning recognition as the first Black woman to receive both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in anthropology from UC Berkeley.

Published

11 months ago

September 14, 2025

Oakland Post

Farwest Regional Director, Kimberly Usher, Mayor Barbara Lee, US Representative Lateefah Simon, and Farwest Regional Representative, Radiya Ajibade. Photo courtesy of Farwest Regional Photographer Vicki P. Love.

By Antoinette Porter

Hundreds of members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and their guests gathered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union at the University of California, Berkeley, to mark the 100th anniversary of the sorority’s Farwest Region.

Marsh went on to serve as Delta Sigma Theta’s 7th National President, where she launched the sorority’s National Library Project to expand access to books in underserved Black communities in the South. During her presidency, the organization also became a prominent voice in the civil rights movement, lobbying Congress to pass anti-lynching legislation.

Bak in the Bay Area, Marsh devoted her career to advancing educational opportunities, mentoring young people, and strengthening community life. That commitment continues to shape the region, which supports initiatives in education, social justice, and economic development. Current projects include raising scholarship funds for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, voter education campaigns, and health and wellness programs.

A century after its founding, the Farwest Region of Delta Sigma Theta remains active across California and other western states, carrying forward Marsh’s vision of service and advocacy.