 |
Dean's message:
The many dimensions of diversity
 |
NICK LAMMERS PHOTO
|
In a recent conversation I had with Charles Simonyi (B.S.’72
Eng. Math), one of our 2006 distinguished alumni, he warmly described
Berkeley Engineering’s part in his incredible success story.
Charles arrived in the United States in 1968 as a young student,
having fled an oppressive Hungarian regime and leaving his family
behind in Budapest. Ultimately he navigated a soft landing at
our College, where he launched his extraordinary American career
as a pioneer in software engineering.
I hear stories every day from our graduates—many from low-income
families—who tell me how the opportunity to attend Berkeley
Engineering changed their lives. Low socioeconomic status can
mean decreased access to college, but at Berkeley the opposite
is true. In fact, this tradition of economic diversity and accessibility
gives us some of our most high-achieving engineers. They come
here not just because they’re smart but also because they’re
passionate and because they want to change the world.
Forty-one percent of our engineering undergraduates receive need-based
financial aid, and 25 percent receive Pell Grants, a federal
grant for students from low-income families, typically a family
of four earning less than $35,000 annually. Berkeley’s
College of Engineering alone has more of these students than
all the Pell Grant students at MIT, at Yale or at Princeton.
Early data on our 2006 entering class show that 22 percent are
first-generation college students, meaning neither parent has
a four-year college degree, and nearly 26 percent speak a first
language other than English. Also enriching our classrooms are
the more than one third of our graduate students who are foreign
or foreign-born, and our junior transfers who bring with them
a higher level of life experience than—and, by the way,
GPAs at the same level as—entering freshmen.
What makes these students so special? Besides their own remarkable
accomplishments against a backdrop of adversity, I believe they
also open the eyes of their often more privileged classmates
and inspire them to even greater levels of achievement. Few things
can shake you out of a sense of entitlement like rubbing shoulders
with a fellow student who did better on the midterm, even though
he or she has to work 15 hours a week and study English at night
as well.
Cultural and economic diversity is one of the pillars of strength
of Berkeley and our other great public universities: Giving all
our talented young people an opportunity to thrive, whether native
born or foreign born, privileged or disadvantaged, street-smart
or book-smart. The secret is in the mix, the melting pot, where
diverse individuals can bring their myriad talents and varied
experiences together and inspire one another to transcend their
limitations and reach their greatest potential.
I welcome your thoughts at dean.forefront@coe.berkeley.edu.
A. Richard Newton
Dean, College of Engineering
Roy W. Carlson Professor of Engineering |
|
FOREFRONT takes you into the
labs, classrooms, and lives of professors, students, and alumni
for an intimate look at the innovative research, teaching, and
campus life that define the College of Engineering at the University
of California, Berkeley.
Published twice a year by the College of Engineering Office of Marketing & Communications. Have a comment about Forefront? E-mail
your letter to the editor. Click here
to learn more about the magazine. |
|
