In a time of a global pandemic, the 2020 election - the most historic election of our lives - was in peril. Freedom Summer 2020 gave students a chance to be part of a nationwide virtual movement for voter engagement ahead of the historic 2020 election. Joined with students from across the country, students in this summer course helped build the power and voice of low-wage worker voters who have been the most impacted by COVID-19.
Although the coronavirus pandemic has brought most voter outreach efforts across the country to a halt, Freedom Summer 2020 continued with a completely...
The American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) Program offers students and faculty the opportunity to work with community organizations to develop cutting edge research projects associated with some of the nation's most pressing social issues.
The following are a collection of our growing ACES course offerings and previous student projects from these community-learning classes.
In 2019, the American Cultures Engaged Scholarship (ACES) Program launched a learning community for graduate scholar-activists. This learning community includes a series of workshops discussing community engagement and scholar-activism. Graduate students will have the opportunity to build community together while exploring the importance of and connection between their academic studies, teaching, and research and their community relationships and social justice efforts. Participating graduate students will receive a stipend and...
Emily is a Ph.D. candidate in environmental engineering, working under Lisa Alvarez-Cohen in collaboration with David Sedlak. Emily researches methods to remediate groundwater contaminated with per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of highly fluorinated, persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic compounds. Beyond her interest in and passion for environmental microbiology, water chemistry, sustainability, and engineering as a form of stewardship, Emily is highly motivated to build communities within...
"I wrote this guide as a collection of anecdotes and lessons I have learned from being an undocumented, working-class woman of color who is also an organizer and a student. I want this guide to inspire people to organize in their communities and develop the tools they need in the ongoing fight for liberation and freedom.
This guide is not a step by step manual for you to join a movement and be successful, but rather a testimony to the many things you can and will face when you’re starting to organize." -...
The American Cultures Center offers various grants and fellowships throughout the year to current AC instructors as well as faculty interested in creating, revising, or further developing an American Cultures course or an American Cultures Engaged Scholarship course. We also offer grants to faculty interested in learning how to develop, use and incorporate film clips as into their teaching. To learn more about these...
California currently faces one of its most severe droughts on record, raising difficult environmental and policy issues. Given these circumstances, it is especially important to learn more about a period and place where conscious...
During the Fall of 2016, students with the UC Berkeley ACES program worked with artist and anti-displacement organizer, Leslie Dreyer, in conjunction with the...
