For 150 years women staff have given their careers to students, faculty, and colleagues through supervision and training, coaching sports, fixing computers, academic advising, cleaning dorms, serving meals, managing finances, maintaining grounds, analyzing research, designing programs, and so much more.
Yet, little has been recorded about the women staff of Berkeley. The accomplishments of extraordinary faculty, students, and alumni have been documented with greater care. Staff are diverse in profession and identity, reflecting the demographics of the communities around campus. Historically, non-academic staff have come from less-privileged backgrounds than faculty or students. The absence of a documented history of staff speaks to this. This inequality is not unique to UC Berkeley, but is common in higher education.
Profiled below are examples of some of the women staff who made remarkable contributions to UC Berkeley. Some have made tremendous contributions that were recorded in our historical documents. Others were nominated by past or present colleagues. By shining a light on these women we wish to provide some recognition of the important legacies of women staff. See past recipients of the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Award HERE and the Berkeley Citation HERE.
