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January 17, 2023

How We Create a Sense of Belonging–Together

Berkeley Connecters:

The Berkeley Connect motto is “you belong here.” You belong in Berkeley Connect, and you belong at UC Berkeley. This is your university, and we are here to help you make the most out of your time here.

November 18, 2022

Rebekah Flores, a junior in Berkeley Connect Social Welfare, created this post to capture all the great advice students shared with each other at a recent Berkeley Connect session:

Berkeley Connect students give each other wise advice

November 17, 2022

Professor Katherine Snyder, faculty director of Berkeley Connect in English, came up with the idea of scavenger hunts as a fun way for students to explore resources available to them on and around campus. Her brainstorm was a huge hit!

March 2, 2020

 How to Make the Right DecisionsImagine that you and a small group of conservationists must decide which life forms are most important to save from the brink of extinction. It’s a horrible task to be given; the extinction of any living thing is a tragedy and could cause immense damage.

December 17, 2019

 A Learning Experience in Physics ResearchEver been in this situation? You have an opinion or an idea and you just know you’re right. You set out to prove it, and all the facts you line up seem to prove your side of the story. This is confirmation bias– the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories. 

December 12, 2019

How to Cite the FBI, and Other Challenges for the HistorianCitations are the bane of many a student, absolutely critical yet seemingly so hard to master.

November 25, 2019

 Using Feedback to Grow as a WriterEver received a comment on something you wrote that really helped you? What about something that really didn’t help or just confused the heck out of you? We’ve all gotten feedback on our work, whether in school or in the workplace.

November 18, 2019

Berkeley Connect Math students work together to solve a paradox.The world is a confusing place and we humans struggle to parse all the information thrown at us on a daily basis. The one thing we can rely on through all our struggles is logic and problem-solving skills, right? Not so fast!

November 12, 2019

 What is the Right Thing to Do?Ethics is the study of right and wrong and as such, it means different things to different people. In a recent small group meeting for Berkeley Connect in Philosophy, some of those differences were discussed and debated. Berkeley Connect mentor Erica Klempner, who recently received her PhD in Philosophy, studies ethics extensively.

October 31, 2019

Exploring the Treasures of the Bancroft LibraryRecently, the Bancroft Library here on the Cal campus held an open day for multiple Berkeley Connect programs to view some of the amazing items in the library’s collection that can’t be checked out by anyone. Students had the opportunity to examine volumes by some of the most influential authors in history.

October 18, 2019

Talking about Music, Technology, and Childish GambinoThe ways that we listen and engage with music have changed drastically over the past 150 years. Starting with the invention of the phonograph in the late 1800s, sound systems have evolved at lightning speed to match musician and consumer demands.

May 24, 2019

We invited students participating in Berkeley Connect in Spring 2019 to enter our Student Voice Contest and share with us a memorable experience they had in Berkeley Connect. The winning entry below was written by Michelle Zhoua first-year Psychology student who participated in Berkeley Connect in Social Welfare.

Michelle Zhou

May 22, 2019

We invited students participating in Berkeley Connect in Spring 2019 to enter our Student Voice Contest and share with us a memorable experience they had in Berkeley Connect. The winning entry below was written by Madelyn Ahra senior majoring in Media Studies who participated in Berkeley Connect in History. 

Madelyn Ahr

May 20, 2019

We invited students participating in Berkeley Connect in Spring 2019 to enter our Student Voice Contest and share with us a memorable experience they had in Berkeley Connect. The winning entry below was written by Arelli Adams, a first-year Media Studies student who participated in Berkeley Connect in English. 

Arelli Adams

April 15, 2019

Ch-ch-changes, and how to manage themSometimes, life throws a curveball and sends you barrelling along a trajectory you didn’t expect. It can be difficult to maneuver these experiences. However, it’s something we all face, whether it’s entering university, moving to a new city, or getting a new job.

April 8, 2019

Friends appreciating their surroundings.Do you think of learning as an activity primarily done indoors, in a generic classroom with uncomfortable chairs? A recent Berkeley Connect Social Welfare field trip shattered that stereotype.

March 19, 2019

Professor Norman Yao discussing his experience in post-doctoral research.Physicists get to puzzle over the great mysteries of the universe. But they were not born solving equations and pondering quantum mechanics. To get where they are today, professional physicists had to fit the pieces together in their own lives.

March 10, 2019

To Be or Not to Be (an Intern)It’s that time of the year. What’s your internship for this summer? Have you started looking? Already landed one? Scared that you haven’t even begun to think about it? Last week, Berkeley Connect in Math hosted a panel on summer internships to help demystify the process.

February 22, 2019

Students’ Favorite Reading and Study TipsIt’s another day of school, so you’re reading. And reading. And reading. Yet, nothing seems to be getting through your head. Retaining information can be a difficult endeavor in any field. It’s all too easy to read copious amounts of texts without actually having the information go to your brain.

December 10, 2018

The Line Between Innovation and ImmoralityMoral guidelines can become difficult to determine when exploring new frontiers of science and technology. When pursuing scientific discovery, how do we know when we’ve gone too far?