Berkeley

New Center for UC Berkeley’s Student Veterans

Published

12 years ago

November 11, 2014

By Gretchen Kell, UC Berkeley News

At a time when wars are winding down in Afghanistan and Iraq, UC Berkeley’s student-veterans program is expanding to accommodate an anticipated increase in the number of veterans expected to enroll here in the next five years.

On Monday, Nov. 10 just in time for Veterans Day, Cal Veteran Services will open a new headquarters in Stiles Hall as the result of a gift of more than $500,000 from UC Berkeley alumnus Coleman Fung, a U.S. Army veteran.

The funding also provides a comprehensive network of services — an additional academic counselor, paid internships for student-veterans, peer mentoring, a new website and outreach and recruitment activities.

“Veterans enhance our campus community with their life experience and dedication to public service, which is a core value of UC Berkeley,” said Ron Williams, director of Re-entry Student and Veteran Services on campus.

“Our program was being stretched thin, but this generous gift will enable us to help more veterans navigate to and through higher education.”

Williams added that the “transformative opportunities” offered by a university such as UC Berkeley will help student-veterans “continue to use their drive, work ethic and leadership to strengthen California and the nation.”

Fung, a 1987 Berkeley graduate who served in the Army from 1982 to 1985, said he’d like to see the program “become a model for other schools to adopt, with our student-vets serving as ambassadors to other veterans in the Bay Area who would welcome guidance about their educational options, especially about how to use their VA benefits, and how not to waste them on many for-profit programs.”

Currently, there are about 250 confirmed student-veterans at Berkeley, “and we know there are far more who either are not using their federal benefits, or who no longer have access to them,” said Williams.

By 2019, he said, that number is expected to reach 500, as more returned veterans seek higher education and as Cal Veteran Services’ outreach increases.

Now, the center five offices, a study space and shared areas large enough for them to study together, hold community meetings, meet privately with advisers and to “let my guard down, be myself,” said Thomas Wiltshire, a media studies major who was a combat cameraman in the Marines from 2005 to 2010.

“I think many veterans would agree that oftentimes we are emotionally on guard because we have had experiences that are very distant from those of our classmates and, understandably, are misunderstood by them. This space allows us to take a break from self-censoring and just relax,” said Wiltshire.

Stiles Hall, at 2400 Bancroft Way near the heart of campus, will be the group’s temporary home, funded for two years by Fung’s gift, until a permanent, on-campus site is available.

John Ready, a Ph.D. candidate in nuclear engineering who served for five years in the Navy as a nuclear-trained surface warfare officer, earlier this year conducted the first-ever campus survey to assess the needs of student-veterans, many of them from underrepresented backgrounds and the first in their families to attend college.

President of the Graduate Assembly, Ready said his survey found that, like himself, many are “older, have kids, find it hard to connect to 18-year-olds. Some are unemployed or are in benefits disputes or have health issues — serious stuff like PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. In our country, 22 vets a day commit suicide. It’s important that we have a community on campus and a place to go.”

He said more than half of those who responded to the survey described a physical space to meet either as “a great need” or “absolutely essential.”

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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 day ago

June 24, 2026

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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

9 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.

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Arts and Culture

Cal Performances Presents Angélique Kidjo & Yo-Yo Ma in Sarabande Africaine at UC Berkeley Greek Theatre on Aug. 30

On Saturday, Aug. 30, the pair will debut the Bay Area premiere of Sarabande Africaine, joined by pianist Thierry Vaton, percussionist David Donatien, and special guest Sinkane. The program illuminates centuries of musical interplay between African traditions and Western classical forms, using the Baroque sarabande dance, and its African ancestor, the Congolese spirit dance Zarabanda, as a gateway to exploring the deep, interconnected roots of global music.

Published

10 months ago

August 25, 2025

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Angelique Kidjo and Yo-Yo Ma. Wikimedia photos.

By Carla Thomas

On Labor Day weekend two of the world’s most celebrated musicians and cultural ambassadors, Grammy Award–winning vocalist Angélique Kidjo and legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma join forces for an evening of music, history, and cultural dialogue at UC Berkeley’s historic Hearst Greek Theatre.

Both Kidjo and Ma have built careers not only as great performers but as passionate advocates for cultural understanding. Sarabande Africaine is as much a conversation about shared heritage as it is a musical performance, blending genres, geographies, and histories.

“Every day there are moments when all of us can feel we are on the inside of something and also when we feel we are on the outside of something,” said Yo-Yo Ma. “To be able to understand both at the same time and oscillate between the two gives us a larger perspective on the world.”

“If your mind is open, and there is no fear, it’s easier to listen, and to question yourself,” said Kidjo.

The upcoming performance is presented within Cal Performances’ Illuminations: “Exile & Sanctuary” series for the 2025–26 season. The production explores exile as more than just physical displacement, but a disruption in identity and belonging, while sanctuary represents both refuge and the creative space where new connections and communities can take shape.

Cal Performances’ Illuminations bridges performances with UC Berkeley’s academic research, pairing the arts with conversations about urgent global issues.

Kidjo’s continued partnership with Cal Performances includes her 2021–22 artist-in-residence, premiering her music-theater work Yemandja, set in 19th-century West Africa during the transatlantic slave trade.

She also participated in the Bias in Our Algorithms and Society panel alongside campus leaders like Jennifer Chayes, and joined the Black Studies Collaboratory for a dialogue on music, diaspora, and the world.

She has since returned to Berkeley for multiple performances, most recently in 2024 at Zellerbach Hall.

Yo-Yo Ma’s history with Cal Performances spans decades, beginning in 1997. One notable project includes the 2018 performance of Bach’s complete cello suites at the Greek Theatre, a testament to his devotion to creating “transformative concert experiences in iconic spaces.”

For tickets and more information, visit calperformances.org.