Berkeley Voices
140 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsInterviews with people who make UC Berkeley the world-changing place that it is.
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Episodes
40: From the archive: On Berkeley time? He keeps Campanile's clocks ticking
September 18, 2018 19:53 - 4 minutes - 6.32 MBLast week, Berkeley students noticed that one of the Campanile’s four clocks stopped. While the north-facing clock was at a standstill, the other three kept going. How could that happen? Turns out each of the clocks has its own motor and runs independently from one another. But because the bell tower’s clocks are so old — the Campanile was built more than 100 years ago — its parts can’t just be replaced. The campus has to send them away to be repaired or find another way to keep the clocks t...
39: AileyCamp — so much more than a dance camp
September 04, 2018 20:54 - 7 minutesAs a kid, Makayla Bozeman could not stop dancing. She'd go to bed late because she was dancing. She'd wake up in the middle of the night to dance. When she was 13, she applied to AileyCamp — a six-week summer program run by Cal Performances at UC Berkeley where 11- to 14-year-olds from the East Bay learn dance from professional choreographers. She soon realized that AileyCamp was so much more than a dance camp — it was a chance to discover who she was and learn how to navigate her complex so...
38: Margaret Atwood: 'Things can change a lot faster than you think'
August 28, 2018 19:21 - 7 minutes - 10 MBCanadian author Margaret Atwood doesn't like being called a soothsayer. "Anyone who says they can predict the future is... not telling the truth," she says. But like it or not, it's a label she's been given since the revival of her 33-year-old dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" was made into a popular Hulu TV series that aired just months after the election of Donald Trump as president. The story is set in near-future New England in a totalitarian and theocratic state that has overthrown ...
37: Bringing people together, one puppet at a time
July 25, 2018 19:42 - 5 minutes - 7.25 MBAfter seeing Handspring Puppet Company — the creators of the puppets in Broadway's " War Horse" — at UC Berkeley in 2015, Glynn Bartlett knew he wanted to work with them. So he packed his bags and traveled to South Africa, where he built puppets for an annual parade and play performed on the Day of Reconciliation. Bartlett, a scenic artist for the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, says the experience reminded him just how powerful puppets can be in bringing people togethe...
36: For disability advocate, helping students navigate campus is personal
July 18, 2018 00:05 - 5 minutes - 7.19 MBWhen Derek Coates was 10, he found out he had a degenerative eye disease and was going to gradually lose his eyesight. Over the next 30 years, his visual world shrunk until he became completely blind at 41. Now, as a disability compliance officer at UC Berkeley, it’s his job to make sure students with disabilities are getting the accommodations they need to be academically successful. Read the transcript, see photos and find more disability resources on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See...
35: Peregrine falcons, zipping through campus at top speeds, are here to stay
July 10, 2018 15:39 - 5 minutes - 7.2 MBThe peregrine falcons that first made a home on UC Berkeley's Campanile last year get a lot of attention every spring when their babies hatch. But it's also amazing to watch the adults in action. At speeds of more than 200 miles per hour, peregrines are the fastest animal in the world — three times faster than a cheetah. Mary Malec, a volunteer raptor nest monitor for the East Bay Regional Park District, describes a time when the mama peregrine chased a pigeon through unknowing crowds on cam...
34: A biology prof on growing up gay in rural Minnesota
July 03, 2018 04:38 - 5 minutes - 8.18 MBNoah Whiteman, an associate professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, has always known how to survive. He moved to Sax-Zim, a rural area in Minnesota, when he was 11 and spent the next seven years learning to fish and hunt with his naturalist dad and hiding that he was gay. When a boy he'd been friends with started to bully him at every chance he got, Noah knew it was time to get out. See photos and read a Q&A with Noah Whiteman on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. ...
33: How a tender message helped win the fight for same-sex marriage
June 25, 2018 23:10 - 6 minutes - 8.64 MBWhen Thalia Zepatos joined the Freedom to Marry campaign in 2010, she had a big job ahead of her: she had to craft a totally new message about same-sex marriage that would convince Americans that supporting the issue was the right thing to do. "It was looking for that statement that a lot of people could nod their heads to," said Zepatos. "It wasn’t about who was participating in the marriage, it was about what it really stands for. And we were trying to elevate that conversation." Five yea...
32: Billy Curtis, an S.F. Pride grand marshal, on building inclusivity
June 14, 2018 22:39 - 5 minutes - 7.45 MBBilly Curtis, the director of the Gender Equity Resource Center at UC Berkeley, has spent the past two decades working to build a more inclusive campus for the LGBTQ community. This year, he was named a grand marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration, an honor given to people and organizations for their work and advocacy in helping strengthen LGBTQ communities in the Bay Area. “I see this as an opportunity for us as a university to highlight our past, present and continued su...
31: With music as his guide, Haas graduating senior envisions a better Nigeria
May 10, 2018 16:41 - 5 minutes - 8.12 MBInside of Joshua Ahazie’s mind live hundreds of songs. Since he was a kid, he would hear a melody and then he would hear all the parts — the vocals, how to play it on the piano. How it all went together. "I really thought I was going crazy." But he soon realized it was a gift. It's this gift of seeing how different pieces can go together to create a whole, he says, that has helped his succeed as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business — he's graduating Monday, May 14 at the...
30: On Worthy Wage Day, early childhood educators fight for support
May 01, 2018 17:15 - 5 minutes - 7.55 MBWhen Marcy Whitebook worked as a childcare teacher in the 1970s, she made less than $2 an hour. She was amazed at how little she made for the hard and important work she did with infants and toddlers. So Whitebook, with a group of teacher-activists, launched a national campaign in 1992 called Worthy Wage Day. The day of action, held every year on May 1, aims to raise awareness of the low wages earned by early childhood educators and draw attention to the chronic underfunding of public educat...
29: From pollution cleanup to building houses, what can't mushrooms do?
March 29, 2018 21:20 - 6 minutes - 8.59 MBThere are more than 5 million species of fungi, and each one likes a particular food. Some like sawdust. Others like plastic. Some can even digest heavy metals. After the fungi eat their meal, what was once waste turns into a new, natural and compostable material that can just be left to decompose or be used in all sorts of practical ways, from cleaning up oil spills to fashioning faux leather handbags to building houses. Sonia Travaglini, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering at UC Be...
28: Creating the world you want, by seeing a world that's possible
March 12, 2018 19:39 - 5 minutes - 7.87 MBWhen Derrika Hunt was in third grade, she didn't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. She remembers telling her mom, "This doesn't feel right to me. Why am I saying this pledge and then going home every day to my community, seeing people suffering, seeing people marginalized?" Now, a Ph.D. candidate in education at UC Berkeley, Derrika takes teenage girls of color around the world through her nonprofit, Dreamers4Change Foundation. It's a way for them, all of whom are from economically disadva...
27: For Ula Taylor, it's all about harnessing the leader within
February 28, 2018 21:27 - 5 minutes - 7.66 MB"People know about Rosa Parks. People know about Martin Luther King Jr. And they know that it's the Montgomery bus boycott that ignited a certain kind of Southern civil rights movement," says Ula Taylor, the chair of the Department of African American Studies at UC Berkeley. What people often don't know, she says, is that the boycott was started by the Women's Political Council, a group made up of more than 200 black women led by Jo Ann Robinson in Montgomery, Alabama. In the last of a four...
26: Staff director sees great strength in diversity
February 21, 2018 19:16 - 4 minutes - 5.9 MBLike a lot of leaders, Sidalia Reel started young. In fifth grade, she ran her household, making sure her four younger siblings didn't get into too much trouble. Now, she's the director of staff diversity initiatives in the Office of Equity and Inclusion at UC Berkeley, making sure more than 9,000 staff feel like a valued part of campus. To some, it might seem daunting. But for Reel, it's a natural fit. This is part of a series for Black History Month highlighting the work of African America...
25: For comics fan staffer, Black Panther was 'life changing'
February 14, 2018 21:48 - 3 minutes - 4.56 MBAs a kid, Alfred Day would spend hours holed up indoors reading comics. He loved Batman and Superman, but the character who really spoke to him — who taught him that he could be smart and powerful — was Black Panther. Day, the director of student affairs case management at UC Berkeley, is a co-founder of Berkeley HEROES, a staff club that meets once a month to talk about comics and graphic novels on their list. In February for Black History Month, they're reading the first volume of Ta-Nehis...
24: For Ph.D. student Kenly Brown, collecting data is about people
February 12, 2018 22:46 - 6 minutes - 9.6 MBAs an undergraduate in Colorado, Kenly Brown was one of only a few African Americans on her campus. She felt isolated in the classroom, often expected to speak on behalf of all black people. Now, as a Ph.D. candidate in African American studies at UC Berkeley, she’s made it her priority to be a mentor to students of color. Read the transcript and see photos on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
23: For alumni leader, giving hope is her life's mission
February 05, 2018 22:36 - 11 minutes - 15.7 MBBefore Clothilde Hewlett became the executive director of the Cal Alumni Association in 2016, she had lived many other lives. She spent years of her childhood in tenement housing in Philadelphia's inner city before she and her family were called to San Francisco by a Rice-A-Roni television commercial. She attended UC Berkeley, became a lawyer, climbed the ranks of the government of corporate America, then came back to her alma mater, where it all began. Read the story and see photos of Hewl...
22: Here’s what an earthquake sounds like
January 12, 2018 21:52 - 3 minutes - 5.29 MBUnderground at UC Berkeley, seismic sensors capture the deep rumbles from Bay Area earthquakes. Here's what a 4.4-magnitude earthquake that shook the Bay Area last year on Jan. 4, 2018 sounded like. Geophysicist Peggy Hellweg from the UC Berkeley Seismological Lab explains what we're hearing when an earthquake happens. Listen and read the transcript on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
21: Quit your giggling: the straight dope on cannabis
January 08, 2018 23:36 - 5 minutes - 7.01 MBMost of us know by now that recreational cannabis became legal in California on Jan. 1. But there's still a lot we don't know about the plant, despite its long history of human use, says Eric Siegel, the director of the UC Botanical Garden. So the garden is hosting a lecture series called the "Science of Cannabis," where experts will discuss everything from the environmental impacts of large-scale cannabis cultivation to the neurological effect of cannabis in our brains. Read more about the...
20: For aspiring triple major, piano is a way of life
December 09, 2017 00:40 - 3 minutes - 4.46 MBChristopher Richardson, a sophomore and aspiring triple major at UC Berkeley, has been competing in classical piano since he was 9 years old. Since then, he's competed at least 50 times. It's when he feels most alive, and most connected to himself. Read the story on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
19: Growing up without free speech is like 'prison for your mind'
November 21, 2017 20:28 - 6 minutes - 8.69 MBParham Pourdavood, an incoming computer science student at UC Berkeley, grew up in Iran. He says that he, like most people, didn't challenge authorities. He wasn't an activist. He studied hard in high school and didn't draw attention to himself. He'd heard about government oppression, but hadn't seen it with his own eyes. He just knew he couldn’t speak his mind. It's why he's such a strong supporter of free speech today. Story and photos on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...
18: Student musicians on learning from the best
October 18, 2017 19:57 - 4 minutes - 6.1 MB"I was amazed at how he walked on, and he just got the attention of everyone right there,” says Kyle Ko, a fourth-year music major. “You could see everyone’s intense focus. You could feel it on the stage.” Ko, along with student Hallie Jo Gist, attended a master class taught by world-class conductor Riccardo Muti. Master classes, put on by Cal Performances and the Department of Music, give members of the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra a chance to learn from top musicians. Read the story on ...
17: How generosity in disaster flows in both directions
September 27, 2017 22:27 - 3 minutes - 4.92 MBWhen Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas coast in late August, Americans had a choice: they could share their resources or look the other way. Although as a society, we tend to value individualism, it doesn’t always make us happy, says Emiliana Simon-Thomas, the science director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. Instead, sharing what we have often brings us more joy. Read the story on Berkeley News. (Texas National Guard photo by Zachary West via Flickr) Hosted on Acast. Se...
16: Students & alumni reflect on free speech, Ben Shapiro
September 15, 2017 22:22 - 4 minutes - 6.02 MBConservative commentator Ben Shapiro spoke on UC Berkeley's campus in September 2017. Berkeley News spoke to students and alumni as they waited in line to attend the event, protested peacefully outside — and got some reactions as they left the venue. Read the story on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
15: Roaya and Nissma on their surprise connection
August 28, 2017 15:03 - 3 minutes - 5.1 MBWhen Roaya and Nissma met as freshman at UC Berkeley last year, they were amazed at how much they had in common. They were both Canadian and Moroccan, and were on the pre-med track. They became fast friends. But the next year, when they were moving into their new apartment, they realized their friendship wasn't a new one. Photos and story on Berkeley News: http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/08/30/roaya-and-nissma-reunited-at-berkeley/Photo by Anne Brice Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...
14: Students discuss social impact of Hamilton (with a cappella performance)
August 21, 2017 20:56 - 2 minutes - 4.08 MBIncoming students discuss how the hit musical Hamilton has changed Broadway and inspired students to learn more about the nation's history, as students from campus groups including the UC Women’s Chorale and BareStage, perform a medley of songs from the musical. Read the story on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
13: Same system with a different name for African Americans
July 26, 2017 18:24 - 5 minutes - 7.96 MBUC Berkeley assistant professor of history and expert in African American history Stephanie Jones-Rogers discusses the historical basis and the modern implications of the recent exonerations of police officers who killed African Americans in the line of duty. Read the piece and see photos on the Berkeley Blog. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
12: One young Republican's pursuit of the 'Freedom to Marry'
June 23, 2017 21:31 - 3 minutes - 5.05 MBTyler Deaton's story is one of 23 interviews conducted by Bancroft Library’s Oral History Center at UC Berkeley that explore the national campaign that won federal marriage rights for same-sex couples. More on Berkeley News: http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/06/23/freedom-to-marry-oral-history-center-tyler-deaton/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
11: For Sayah Bogor, an arduous road from refugee to health researcher
May 08, 2017 23:42 - 20 minutes - 28.1 MBSayah Bogor, a UC Berkeley graduate student in public health, will make the short walk across the stage to receive her master’s degree. For Bogor, a native of war-torn Somalia, the event will mark a joyous leap in a long and difficult journey. See photos and read the story on Berkeley News: http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/05/09/sayah-bogor-masters-in-public-health/Photo by Anne Brice Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
10: ‘Brooms up!’ Oski, meet Harry Potter
April 07, 2017 19:30 - 4 minutes - 6.35 MBCal Quidditch got its start on Berkeley's campus about eight years ago. For two consecutive years, the team has played in a national competition. "It wasn't expected from a young, scrappy team out of UC Berkeley," says co-captain Owen Egger. Scrappy or not, the 60-some players on the Cal team have a lot of fun. Story and 360-degree video on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
09: From a border wall to a cultural bridge
April 05, 2017 18:24 - 3 minutes - 5.21 MBImagine a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico not as a barrier, but as a piece of architecture that brings people together. That’s what UC Berkeley architect Ronald Rael does in his new book, 'Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S.-Mexico Boundary.' Photos and story on Berkeley News: http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/04/05/borderwall-as-architecture-ronald-rael-podcast/Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
08: The carefully crafted sound of Zellerbach Hall
December 22, 2016 20:15 - 3 minutes - 4.83 MBThe acoustics that make the sound of Zellerbach Hall didn’t just happen. The sound has been created with an acoustic system of some 40 microphones and 140 speakers, all intricately placed throughout the hall. It’s called Constellation by Meyer Sound. Constellation allows you to digitally create multiple environments in one space by changing the length of reverberation, strength or loudness. It can even change the perceived height and width of a room. So, if you close your eyes, it can tr...
07: How Moscow’s Tsar Bell found its voice — at Berkeley
April 21, 2016 22:48 - 3 minutes - 4.65 MBWe’re at UC Berkeley’s Campanile courtyard listening to sounds of an ancient bell that have never been heard before. It’s the 20-foot-tall, 200-ton Russian “Tsar Bell” — the largest bell in the world — in duet with the campus’s carillon. But the bell isn’t actually here. It’s at the Moscow Kremlin. A UC Berkeley team, along with researchers at Stanford and the University of Michigan, worked together to digitally create the sound they believed the bell would make. Read the story on Berkeley...
06: Is CDC’s alcohol warning paternalistic? Why some women think so
February 18, 2016 22:22 - 3 minutes - 4.22 MBThe CDC released a report recommending that women of childbearing age who aren’t taking birth control should abstain from drinking alcohol. Berkeley Law professor Melissa Murray says the report gives the impression that women are incapable of making responsible choices about their reproductive health. Photo by Frédéric Poirot via Flickr. Story on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
05: Like GPS, but for your sex drive
February 11, 2016 22:50 - 4 minutes - 6.27 MBThese days so many of our devices are smart. Our phones are smart. Our cars are smart. Our TVs are smart. And now, even vibrators can be smart. It’s called Lioness. It’s a sleek, sophisticated vibrator that works kind of like a running app on your smartphone, but instead of mapping the distance and terrain of a route, it records a person’s sexual arousal states. Liz Klinger is the CEO and co-founder of Lioness. She and her team work out of SkyDeck, UC Berkeley’s incubator for startups. She ...
04: Berkeley Law professor Melissa Murray on the darker side of marriage
November 10, 2015 21:51 - 6 minutes - 8.87 MBMarriage — modernly — is seen as sort of unalloyed good, says law professor Melissa Murray. “Everyone would like to get married, or most people would like to get married. Certainly, most people’s mothers want them to get married.” Murray teaches family law at UC Berkeley. She says the marriage equality movement has built up the idea that marriage is this wonderful thing that everyone should want. And there are a lot of benefits to being married in the United States. People who are married h...
03: The ‘Big Idea’ that’s leading the push to make UC carbon-neutral
October 02, 2015 00:30 - 4 minutes - 6.68 MBIn 2004, Scott Zimmermann had a big idea. He had just quit the oil and gas industry — he’d been working in it for eight years, trying to reduce the impacts of fossil fuels — and enrolled at UC Berkeley as a dual-degree law student and master’s student in the Energy and Resources Group. He knew he wanted to do something about climate change. But instead of lobbying for the state or the federal government to adopt carbon cap laws, as a lot of environmentalists were doing at the time, he decid...
02: On Berkeley time? He keeps Campanile's clocks ticking
July 28, 2015 22:06 - 3 minutes - 4.75 MBThe Campanile clock tower is the campus’s North Star. At 100 years old and 307 feet tall, it’s a landmark everyone knows and trusts. But what happens when the clocks stop? There’s only one person to call: Art Simmons. “Everybody in Berkeley watches those clocks,” says Simmons. “Not just the people on campus. So when the clocks stop, the whole city knows about it and it doesn’t look good.” Read the story on Berkeley News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
01: Trudy's bloom raises a stink
July 27, 2015 16:22 - 3 minutes - 4.25 MBWe’re at the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley. A long line curves through the gardens, and a small group huddles in a steamy greenhouse, all here to get a whiff of Trudy. Garden director Paul Licht stands at the front, talking to one of the many groups to visit during the latest Trudy mania. “It goes in waves, doesn’t it?” he asks. “None have ever smelled as much the day after it opened.” Trudy is a tropical plant called a Titan Arum, known best for the putrid odor it emits when it blooms. ...