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Explore the Best Ideas for Fall at UC Berkeley Extension. You’re invited to attend any or all of our fall lectures for the general public. This is your chance to learn more about intriguing and important topics and to get better acquainted with UC Berkeley Extension.

Focus on the Garden Lecture Series

Throughout history, people have looked to the garden—the physical places and imagined realms—for serenity and protection from the chaotic world. Gardens may be as distant as paradise or as close as our own backyards, but through their imagining, creation, and care we create meaning and sustain our humanity. For this series of free public lectures we asked leading Bay Area thinkers and designers to share with us their thoughts on what motivates and informs their concept of the garden. Whether as viewed as an art form, a sanctuary, or an expression of an ethical point of view gardens are a gauge for the health of our culture. Come and join us for what promises to be a lively series of presentations.

Stephen Suzman

Gardens are landscapes sculpted with intentionality. They are diverse in scale, complexity, utility, and appearance. The creation of gardens is a way for modern civilizations to tame nature and reveal its virtues. They are often memorable and may be recorded into our psyche as ephemeral, intangible spaces.

The Enduring Value of Humanities in the New Age of Uncertainty Lecture Series

In a time of economic, political, and cultural commotion, what do the humanities have to tell us? What insight does the study of the past offer? In this four-part series, join us for an intellectual journey through fields as diverse as philosophy, anthropology, literature, and ancient history. Discover how enduring questions might help us find new perspectives on the challenges the world faces today.

Journalism and Storytelling: The Moral and Ethical Hazards Of Combat Reporting

From the start of the Iraq war in 2003, the U.S. military allowed reporters to "embed" with troops fighting Saddam Hussein's army and, later, insurgents defying the occupation. The program gave journalists virtually unlimited access to tell the stories of Americans at war. It also forced reporters to confront the question: how close is too close? This talk will explore the complexities of journalism in Iraq and subtle new forms of censorship.

Humanities, Cultural History, and the Future of California

Major changes in the environment, population, and infrastructure of California raise important questions about the state's direction. In this talk, you'll hear historical perspectives on California's so-called golden period in the 1950s–60s, reflect on boom-and-bust as well as its present sense of self. Finally, you'll explore what cultural studies might tell us about the state's future.

Berkeley Meets Oxford

Join Christopher Day as he gives an entertaining, illustrated lecture of the University of Oxford's history. The town of Oxford has a history that goes back 1,200 years. Yet it is the University, a mere 900 years old, that has most attracted the world's attention. Many of the great movements of English history were acted out at the University in part or in miniature: medieval monasticism; the Reformation; the English Civil War (when Oxford was garrisoned by the King and then taken by the Parliamentarians); the early modern burgeoning of art, literature and science; 18th-century grandeur; Victorian dynamism; and the 20th-century technological revolution have all left solid memorials in the city or its environs. Specifically, the history of Oxford provides a lens for the study of past developments and urgent current issues in Western education.

Classroom 2.0 for Teachers

Understand how today's digital generation leverages the latest technology tools to transform how they learn in and out of school. You get to work hands-on with Web 2.0 tools, including Google Docs, wikis, social networks, and much more. Walk away with a wide range of practical ideas that you can use to improve communication, collaboration, and instruction in your school.

Past Events

Public Service Leadership Forum

Leadership isn't an inherent personality trait. It's a skill set and a process that results in positive change. Learn how community leaders build their own leadership capacity and develop the relationships needed to improve communities and strengthen community-based organizations. A panel of influential public service leaders share their first-hand experiences so you can develop your own leadership skills. This seminar is offered in partnership with the Oakland Business Round Table.

Green Chemistry: Sustaining a High Technology Civilization

Chemists are turning their inventive talents towards eliminating hazards from chemical products and processes as an important practical acknowledgement of our obligations to future humanity. Professor Terry Collins learned of the insidious health damage caused by pollutants from paper and pulp mills and pesticides in his native New Zealand and began exploring whether there could be an environmentally benign and cost-effective new technology to avoid or destroy pollutants A champion in the field of green chemistry, Terry Collins has been recognized internationally for his work in creating a new class of oxidation catalysts with potential for enormous, positive impact on the environment. At this lecture, you hear about the many ways that green chemistry strives to reduce or eliminate negative environmental and health impacts.

Rome and Teutoburger Wald, AD 9: How a Battle 2,000 Years Ago Changed Your Life

In AD 9 the Germans destroyed three Roman legions in the Teutoburger Forest, halting Roman expansion into Northern Europe. That event permanently divided Europe into a Roman south and a German north. This talk will explain how a disastrous event so long ago could have repercussions in our daily life now. You'll also hear why this event holds enduring fascination for scholars and armchair historians alike.

Topher Delaney: Focus on the Garden

Through this lecture and a companion course, Value: The Exploration of Cultural and Spiritual Meaning in Landscape Architecture, Topher Delany explores the cultural and spiritual meanings inherent in landscape design critical, conceptual, and philosophical ideals that guide our understanding of gardens and landscape. Her work examines the fundamental concepts of history, aesthetics, and the spiritual and political implications that are always present in the garden.

The Role of Adverse Times in Modern Human Origins

Anatomically modern humans are now known from East African sediments dating to approximately 160–200,000 years ago. It is only in the face of a rapidly deteriorating climate that both significantly reduces population size and results in an exodus from Africa, that we see the evolution of modern human culture. In this talk, you'll gain an understanding of anthropological work on these early human ancestors and some of the issues we face in understanding this critical phase in the rise of humankind.