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Your Berkeley Connect in English Experience
- Small‑group discussions — Recent topics have included: a) What is “work” in English?, b) How we write, c) Connecting with your professors, and d) Developing as a writer.
- Writing exploration — Creates space to talk about how we write, why writing matters in the discipline, and how students can grow as readers, thinkers, and writers.
- Career pathways — Features alumni events highlighting the wide range of professions English majors pursue in writing, media, education, law, public service, and beyond.
- Faculty conversations — Offers sessions where professors discuss how they came to study literature, how they write and teach, and how interpretive debates shape the field.
- Field trips & special events — Includes programs such as Professors in Dialogue: The Book That Made Me a Professor, the What Can You Do with a Degree in English? alumni panel, and guided tours of the Bancroft Library collections.
Graduate Mentor Role
At the heart of Berkeley Connect is the relationship between you and your mentor. They:
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Build community by leading small, discussion‑based sessions
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Provide one‑on‑one support with personalized guidance and resources
- Demystify the major by sharing skills, strategies, and tips on research and grad school
About Your Graduate Mentors
Naima Karczmar
I'm a PhD candidate in English and Critical Theory, specializing in eighteenth-century literature and racialization. My dissertation traces the relationship between race and the early novel under industrial capitalism. I teach classes on beauty and aesthetic theory, on the history of witchcraft, and on racial capitalism. My door is always open for any questions you might have about coursework, areas of interest, books you have read lately—but also for practical questions that don't always come up in an academic classroom. I'm also an avid calligrapher, so if you bring an edged pen, maybe we'll spend some time on letter forms.
Ryan Lackey
Hello! My name is Ryan, and I'm an eighth-year PhD candidate in English. My dissertation examines the ways contemporary novels attempt to demonstrate their political power through choices of form and technique. I also write fiction and public-facing nonfiction, including essays and reviews. Because I'm from a little rural town in Oregon and attended a very small college, I only turned seriously to academic life later in my educational arc, and the folks who were kind enough to mentor me made my interests legible to myself. I'd like to help do the same for others! I'd be thrilled to talk about novels, navigating of collegiate life, pursuing a sense of vocation, or about your own ambitions to write. (I'd love to talk, too, about Arsenal, the men's and women's teams both!)
Libby Kao
Hi! I’m Libby, a grad student in English studying Asian American literature. My mentoring style is reflective, warm, and resource-oriented; I often relate to mentees through my own experiences at Berkeley learning how to manage mental health, build support systems, and follow one's intellectual, political, and creative instincts. As the first in my family to attend college in the U.S., I have particular interest in working with international students, transfer students, and students interested in ethnic studies, but whether or not these sound like you, I’m excited to chat and get to know your story (in-progress)!
Faculty Director
Oliver Arnold
Berkeley Connect Faculty Director, English
Associate Professor of English
Research Interests