UC Berkeley Political Science alum Manu Meel ’20 has been named the 2026 recipient of the Peter E. Haas Public Service Award, one of the university’s highest honors recognizing alumni whose volunteer work advances the public good in the United States. Founded in 2017 by Mrs. Peter E. Haas, the award celebrates individuals whose grassroots efforts demonstrate the powerful impact one person can have in...
Undergraduate Alumni News
We are proud to share that Christian Sotomayor , a 2023 Political Science graduate from University of California, Berkeley , has been named a 2026 Capstone Fellow with the Center on Civility & Democratic Engagement at the Goldman School of Public Policy , where he is currently pursuing his Master of Public Policy (MPP). Congratulations Christian! Learn more about the 2026 Capstone Fellows here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/recent-news/center-on-civility-democratic-engagement-2026-capstone-fellows
UC Berkeley Political Science alumna Sydney Roberts (’24) has been selected as a Schwarzman Scholar, a prestigious award supporting graduate study in global affairs at Tsinghua University. Congratulations Sydney! Read more about her story here.
UC Berkeley Political Science Professor Steve Vogel and UC Berkeley alumni Sunny Mulhotra coauthored “The Predistribution Solution,” published by the Roosevelt Institute in December 2025. Congratulations Professor Vogel and Sunny! Read article here.
A new course—Tech for Democracy, co‑developed by Political Science faculty—was just profiled in Berkeley News, “In uncertain times, these UC Berkeley students are using tech to innovate democratic processes.”Offered through the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET), the class brings political science into SCET’s tech‑entrepreneurship ecosystem for the first time. Students work in interdisciplinary teams to design technology that strengthens democratic institutions. Political Science major Kiara Shriqui...
The Department of Political Science proudly congratulates Eli Glickman, a senior majoring in Political Science and minoring in Public Policy, on being named a 2025 Marshall Scholar. Eli is UC Berkeley’s first Marshall Scholar since 2022 and one of just 36 students selected nationally out of nearly 1,000 applicants. As an undergraduate, he will pursue graduate studies fully funded in the United Kingdom, earning a...
One of our undergraduate alumni, Kathleen Kavalec, has been appointed the US ambassador to Romania. For more details follow the link below. https://ro.usembassy.gov/embassy/bucharest/ambassador/#:~:text=Kathleen%20Kavalec
We are delighted to share that Hua Hsu, a Political Science undergraduate alum from the Class of 1999, has won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for his novel "Stay True." Hsu’s memoir recounts his experiences as an 18-year-old Berkeley undergraduate stepping into adulthood in the mid-1990s.To read more about his book and winning Pulitzer follow the link to the Berkeley News article here.
The Political Science Department is delighted to announce that Varsha Sarveshwar has been chosen as one of the 2022 Rhodes Scholar-Elects. The scholarship grants students the opportunity to pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford. To read about Varsha follow this link: https://igs.berkeley.edu/news/igs-alumna-varsha-sarveshwar-receives-prestigious-rhodes-scholarship In addition to being a University Medal Finalist, Varsha is also the recipient of 2020 Political Science Departmental Citation, the John...
Matthew Nguyen earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at UC Berkeley in 2015. While attending Berkeley he rallied global support for Syrian refugees and Ebola victims, and fought for minority voting rights in North Carolina. The native of Huntington Beach, California, graduated summa cum laude as a salutatorian and was a runner-up for the coveted University Medal. Complete article here.