What is the Berkeley Changemaker?
Berkeley Changemaker® goes beyond a simple focus of skills or curricular skills. Its over 50 academically-rigorous undergraduate- and graduate-level courses, offered by departments across campus, have a clear and consistent focus on our core pillars of critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. Students are exposed to our brightest and best faculty and alumni from across the campus, including Nobel Prize and Distinguished Teaching Award winners.
It codifies an essential part of what UC Berkeley has always stood for and provides a galvanizing narrative that our whole campus is rallying behind, humanists and scientists alike. Our curriculum activates students’ passions and helps them to develop a sharper sense of who they want to be and how to make that happen.
Berkeley Changemaker is inclusive
World-class researchers like Nobelist Jennifer Doudna are most certainly changemakers, as are our alumni founders of Apple and Tesla. Students, faculty, and staff across campus, from the Humanities to the hard sciences, from traditional entrepreneurs to social justice advocates, are seeing themselves as Berkeley Changemakers. Those with an agency for making society and our world better are drawn alike to this expansive definition and narrative.
Berkeley Changemaker has intellectual heft
All of our courses, workshops, and programs include a clear and consistent focus on the core pillars of critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. These are central to a great education, regardless of field of study. The Berkeley Changemaker program goes beyond a simple focus on functional "changemaking skills" or co-curricular activities — it delivers a robust curriculum of over 40 academically-rigorous courses in departments across our campus.
Berkeley Changemaker builds upon Berkeley's distinguishing values
There’s no better way to put a substantive signature behind a university effort than doing so with values. Berkeley’s values – like questioning the status quo and thinking and acting beyond ourselves – power our teaching, research, and service, and have done so for generations. These are not just “us too values.” Consider the President of an elite private university saying, “This university is about questioning the status quo.” Really? When mission – delivering positive impact – and values converge in this way, the result is powerful.
Berkeley Changemaker At a Glance
* Since 2020, we’ve had over 13,000 enrollments in Berkeley Changemaker courses.
* All students are welcome in the Berkeley Changemaker academic program. There are no applications, prerequisites, nor academic barriers to enrollment.
* Berkeley Changemaker functions as an engine of social mobility for our students.
* The Berkeley Changemaker Certificate of Completion launched in fall 2023.
* Our Executive Education Program is offered every May and December. The next program runs December 8-20, 2025.
* The Berkeley Changemaker Program includes over 50 courses involving 80+ faculty members drawn from more than 32 academic departments and eleven schools & colleges across UC Berkeley.
* Berkeley Changemaker is a unit of the Division of Undergraduate Education, under the leadership of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education.
Highlights of Berkeley Changemaker
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Berkeley Changemaker is a registered trademark of The Regents of the University of California through its Berkeley campus. It is not affiliated with any third parties using “changemaker” or similar terms.