The following message was sent on behalf of Lok Siu, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Katherine Yellick, Vice Chancellor for Research.
Dear Colleagues, Vice Chancellor for Research Kathy Yelick and I would like to express our gratitude to the outgoing Faculty Directors of the Center for African Studies (CAS) and the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES) within Global, International & Area Studies (GIAS) as they step down from their leadership roles this summer.
Center for African Studies (CAS)
Faculty Director Leo Arriola’s tenure has been transformative for CAS. A strong advocate for the Center since 2016, Leo brought in numerous grants and gifts that helped sustain the Center’s core activities and expanded the Center's programming. Recently, under Leo’s leadership, the Center secured a doubling of the funding commitment for the CAS-administered Scholars Program from the Mastercard Foundation, allowing the Center to bring more than two hundred students from SubSaharan African countries to pursue master’s degrees at UC Berkeley. Additionally, Leo obtained over $2.7 million in Federal Title VI funds for teaching and education, and successfully brokered negotiations that led to a major new endowment in support of CAS.
Leo also led a campus-wide strategic assessment of the African Studies curriculum and leveraged the collective strength of the UC system, forging a partnership with UCLA to coordinate language enrollments and working with other UC campuses to establish workshops and joint initiatives. As an active member in national and international African Studies organizations, Leo helped to raise the Center’s profile and expand cross-border collaborations. We wish Leo the very best as he continues his leadership journey at UC Merced!
Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)
We thank Faculty Director John Connelly for his steady and strategic leadership of ISEEES over the last ten years. John’s tenure led to the growth of the Institute’s research and educational footprint both on-campus and overseas.
During his tenure, John led the Institute through three successful US Department of Education Title VI grant applications. He raised a total of $5.3 million in support of language teaching and outreach programming, including dozens of Foreign Language & Area Studies fellowships that support Berkeley students. Likewise, he expanded funding support for the Institute's multidisciplinary programs.
John also established strong academic ties with peer institutions in Eastern Europe. He initiated partnership agreements with the University of Warsaw in Poland, the Babeş-Bolyai University in Romania, and the Central European University in Hungary and Austria. In the latter case, the partnership led to two international conferences, one in Budapest on illiberalism and another in Berkeley on migration. These important collaborations led to visits from high-profile international figures to the Berkeley campus, including former Polish president Bronisław Komorowski. We thank John for his leadership and wish him the best in his future endeavors!
We greatly appreciate the leadership that our Faculty Directors bring to the Vice Chancellor for Research organized research units. Their commitment, hard work, and ingenuity help catalyze the exciting multidisciplinary research for which our campus is known. Please join us in thanking Leo Arriola and John Connelly for their excellent service.
We look forward to working with Aglaya Glebova, who is the new Faculty Director of ISEEES, and Bruce Hall, who serves as the Interim Faculty Director of CAS.
With warm regards,
Lok Siu
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research
Katherine Yelick
Vice Chancellor for Research