Michael Dirda

UC Berkeley was ranked the fourth best public university in the U.S. by the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education college rankings.

On Aug. 12, UC Irvine was rated as the country’s best-value college on Money's 2019 list of "Best Colleges for Your Money." Six other UC campuses were ranked within the top 30, including UC Berkeley, which was placed at No. 11.

But while UC Berkeley students have a lot to be proud of, it is still incredibly disheartening for the campus to be removed from the nation’s list of top colleges.

UC Berkeley professor of sociology and South and Southeast Asian studies Raka Ray was appointed Friday as the next dean of the Division of Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Science.

UC Berkeley ranked fifth on Forbes’ 2019 list of best-value colleges, again surpassing both Stanford University and Harvard University.

Chancellor Carol Christ released a statement in a campuswide email Wednesday drawing attention to recent reports of negative comments directed at Chinese American faculty and researchers connected to Chinese companies and institutions.

In a campus-wide email sent Tuesday, Chancellor Carol Christ introduced UC Berkeley’s latest strategic plan, which will invest heavily in the student experience, make new commitments within the campus' research and academic spheres and foster a more welcoming and inclusive community for people of all backgrounds.

U.S. News has been ranking universities within the United States for more than three decades, according to U.S. News chief data strategist Robert Morse.

The campus announced Monday that Carla Hesse, executive dean of the College of Letters & Sciences, or L&S, and dean of Social Sciences, will be stepping down from both positions at the end of next summer.

AnnaLee Saxenian, who has served as dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Information for more than a decade, announced her resignation Monday.