The Berkeley campus periodically allocates new senate faculty positions in a series of “clusters” within designated areas, intended to accelerate the acquisition of academic strength in new areas and to create interdisciplinary synergy. Most clusters originate as a collaborative proposal across multiple departments and Schools.
Examples include:
Asian American and Pacific Islander Transpacific FuturesThe Asian American and Pacific Islander Transpacific Futures cluster aims to place UC Berkeley at the forefront of transpacific research to understand the formation of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities within the US-Asia-Pacific dynamic, the continued growth and diversification of Asian American and Pacific Islander populations in the U.S., and the challenges and opportunities of their political, economic, and social inclusion. Participating units:
(hires will begin in 2025) |
Understanding (Non)CitizenshipThe cluster considers citizenship broadly, as a legal, social and cultural status that combines civil, political and social rights with a sense of identity, encompassing those who lack formal citizenship but also those who experience “second-class” citizenship through differential rights and treatment. Fully understanding (non)citizenship requires an interdisciplinary approach: claims for citizenship and equality are invariably normative, while the consequences and drivers of (non)citizenship must be studied empirically to understand change and effects. The cluster tackles three overarching themes: issues of justice, fairness and equality as related to (non)citizenship; the determinants and content of (non)citizenship; and the consequences of (non)citizenship. Participating units:
(hires began in 2024) |
Anti-Black Racism and Social InclusionThe Anti-Black Racism and Social Inclusion hiring initiative centers anti-blackness as a central organizing feature of social and political institutions in the US and globally and as an expansive conceptual framework that draws attention to the systems and structures that delimit Black lives and enables us to interrogate how anti-blackness functions across and within racial/ethnic groups. Scholarship in this area will contribute to theoretical, conceptual, and empirical understandings of how social institutions can provide for the safety and well-being of a diverse group of people in a democratic society as it reckons with its roots in racism, anti-blackness, and white supremacy. Participating units:
(hires began in 2022) |
AI and the New Dynamics of InequalityDescription coming soon Participating units:
(hires will begin in 2025) |
Latinxs and DemocracyThe Latinxs and Democracy Cluster initiative brings together units in the social sciences and professional schools to address the US-centered Latinx experience within three overarching themes: migration and citizenship, civic and political participation, and social inclusion and wellbeing. These themes speak to central concepts in the imagining and practicing of democracy because at their core they tell us about how the state distribution of political power, through policy and practice, affects a myriad of social issues, from racial inequality to health disparities. Participating departments:
(hires began in 2022) |
Climate Equity and Environmental JusticeHuman-induced climate change is transforming our physical and social world, and we are witnessing a ‘climate gap,’ in which the impacts of these changes disproportionately affect vulnerable and marginalized groups due to historically entrenched inequities and more recent shifts in the global economy. Accordingly, this faculty cluster hiring initiative focuses on three broad themes: social equity and environmental sustainability; adaptation design and planning for climate justice; and climate refugees and forced migration. Participating units:
(hires began in 2021) |
Native American and Indigenous StudiesThe goal of this initiative is to establish the university as an international center of excellence in Native American and Indigenous Studies. Building on substantial existing campus assets – including an undergraduate major in Native American Studies, a robust doctoral program in Ethnic Studies, and strengths in Native American languages and literature, Indigenous archeology and cultural anthropology – the goal is to make UC Berkeley the preeminent institution of higher education in the field. Participating units:
(hires began in 2021) |