The Berkeley Discovery Initiative aims not simply at the renovation of the undergraduate curriculum and the broadening of opportunities for intergenerational research collaborations at Berkeley, but the development of sustainable pathways that prioritize equitable access to these collaborations for all students. By working to ensure the growth and development of educational encounters in and out of the classroom, Discovery introduces undergraduates to their potential as researchers, expands the professional training of graduate students, and encourages the free play of the faculty’s curiosity. This page elaborates on these values by framing them in the history of higher education at Berkeley.
Our Context
Berkeley Discovery, as a campus-wide initiative, is the product of many years of effort, starting in 2016 with forums that featured grass-roots innovation and advocacy by faculty, staff, alumni and students as well as central campus leadership. Building on these conversations, the 2018 campus strategic plan named Discovery as the foundation of the undergraduate experience. And a generous $5M pledge in 2020 cemented Discovery as an official campus initiative. The Berkeley Discovery Initiative was formed as a campus unit focused on addressing the advancement of curricular innovation in research and real-world practices as well as addressing a felt disconnect between the intellectual and professional interests of graduate students, undergraduates, and faculty.
In his now famous Godkin lecture in 1963, Clark Kerr, then president of the University of California, writes: “How to escape the cruel paradox that a superior faculty results in an inferior concern for undergraduate teaching is one of our more pressing problems”. The “cruel paradox” Kerr identifies here is huddled within a larger “much advertised conflict” that exists between teaching and research.
Over a half century later, and from a far humbler position within the university, the Discovery Initiative seeks developmental solutions to address this unfortunate paradox by seeking out, highlighting, and supporting sustainable curricular development across Berkeley’s campus. This is work that often is well underway when we find it due to the passionate commitment to education and research that drives many faculty and graduate students in the Berkeley community. Our mission is recognition for these practices as much as it is the renovation thereof.
Kerr’s was a Berkeley poised on the edge of a revolution, teetering at one of its many inflection points as a premier research institution and role model in higher education history. A history which, as Kerr is supremely aware, is enmeshed with the history of the American experiment. An experiment that remains a topic of substantial and impactful debate both within and without the academy. Kerr observes many of the problems within the scope of the university that the Discovery Initiative was formed to address: the diversification of the student population, the irreversible transformations of society by technology and war, and ultimately the demand for a different kind of instruction and leadership that equips the university to suit the new world of its students and faculty. Our work then, like Kerr’s, is a start toward untangling the troubling paradoxes of the present. Ours is an exploration toward the discovery of new ways to learn and to live.
Our Values
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Equitable access: We commit to integrating Discovery seamlessly into courses across all levels and majors, ensuring that these high-impact learning opportunities are an integral part of each student's curriculum, rather than an optional addition.
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Strength through connection: We support students in strengthening their sense of belonging by building connections to each other, their communities and their learning environments.
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Power in diverse teams: We celebrate the strength found in diversity by encouraging students and instructors to both acknowledge and extend their thinking beyond individual lived experience and foundational training.
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To transform ourselves is to transform the world: We continually transform ourselves as students and educators by actively seeking new ideas and methods for scholarship. We transform the world around us by applying what we discover to real-world projects and problems.
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Engaging with the community: We extend our commitment to equity and inclusion beyond the university walls. We actively encourage and support students in engaging with communities outside the university, fostering a sense of social responsibility.
Berkeley Discovery is a collaborative effort between the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost and the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and played a central role in the 2024WSCUC campus accreditation process