Berkeley Talks

Jun 26, 2026 — When Princeton University Professor Mark Johnston's daughter was 18 months old, she stood on a beach with what he describes as a "quizzical philosophical look on her face, as if she was thinking, 'Is this my only life?'" That question is the heart of...

Jun 12, 2026 — As television producer Halle Stanford drove through Topanga Canyon in Southern California listening to Dolly Parton, she was struck by a moment of inspiration. “I had this vision of a little hedgehog on the side of the road in her little pink hiking...

May 29, 2026 — Across the American West Coast in the 1980s, the burgeoning punk rock and skinhead scenes were much more than just raw music and counterculture fashion — they quickly became contested ground in an ideological battle against white supremacy. Neo-Nazi...

May 15, 2026 — It was the morning after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and pianist Lara Downes was catching a flight from California to Kentucky, where she was set to perform later in the evening. “It was a very weird day to be anywhere,” she recalls. That...

May 01, 2026 — While preparing his lectures for UC Berkeley, Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber spent hours poring over the memoirs and writings of former University of California President Clark Kerr, seeking wisdom from the architect of...