Arcus Social Justice Corps (ASJC) Fellowship
The Arcus Social Justice Corps (ASJC) is a fellowship program at the College of Environmental Design (CED) that offers significant debt-relief to select Master's students who intend to do social justice work after graduation.
Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions and check this document regularly for continuous updates and answers to your questions.
The 2023 application for the Arcus Social Justice Corps (ASJC) is now open. Prospective MDes and MRED+D applicants should submit applications by Sunday, January 15th at 11:59pm PST. For students submitting applications to all of CED’s other master’s programs, the deadline is Thursday, December 15th at 11:59pm PST.
Arcus Fellows will be selected by a CED committee which includes faculty, staff, and alumni practitioners in social justice fields. Selections of our third cohort of Arcus Fellows will take place in the spring of 2023.
This cycle is open to any prospective student who applies to a UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design Master’s program in 2022 and awaits a spring admissions decision.
The requirements for eligibility are as follows:
- You must be a prospective applicant who applies to a UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design Master’s Program by the fall 2022 deadline (joint degrees applicants as well as MRED+D and MDes students are eligible)
- You must be a U.S. Citizens, an applicant with a permanent residence, or a prospective applicant with DACA or refugee status to apply
- You must fill out the FAFSA by your intended program’s deadline so that the UC Berkeley Financial Aid Office has your information on file
- You must complete your ASJC application by December 15th at 11:59pm PDT.
- You must upload a current resume to the application
- Select graduate students who intend to do social justice work after graduation.
Varies per student.
If selected to be an Arcus Fellow, students will make a pledge to enter social impact careers for at least three years after leaving the College of Environmental Design (CED). The ASJC seeks to attract students with the most potential to make direct and transformational social change in the world through planning, research, and design. This program especially aims to empower students who want to make tangible change in vulnerable communities after graduation.
In the context of environmental design, social justice work is wide ranging. Social justice can mean addressing the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events which have been proven to impact underserved communities the most; developing affordable, public, and social housing and improving transportation infrastructure and services; addressing environmental pollution, toxicity, and degradation especially in community of color; increasing access to healthy and sustainable food systems in low income communities and in food deserts; reforming urban planning policies that have had detrimental impacts on race in America such as redlining; designing public spaces that reflect the values and voices of the communities in which they are built, and beyond. Architects, landscape architects and environmental planners, city and regional planners, real estate developers, and urban designers are well equipped to tackle all of these problems and chart bold new actions plans for our future. By working in nonprofits, NGOs, higher education, government agencies, or by creating their very own forms of new radical practice, graduates in environmental design fields can move the needle on essential social change.
By being inducted into the ASJC, students will not only receive as much debt relief as possible but also gain a sense of belonging through the building of a community that is dedicated to social justice. The ASJC offers programming throughout the year for students to incubate new ideas, attend seminars, receive career planning support, engage in community-connected studios, and receive direct mentorship from practitioners in the real world.
Arcus Fellows will also lead a dynamic social justice movement within Bauer Wurster Hall to inspire all CED students — undergraduate and graduate, across all disciplines and backgrounds, and students who are planning more traditional career paths. The hope is that alumni of the ASJC will return to CED in the years to come to mentor future cohorts of students who want to pursue social impact work in the real world, to gain a better understanding of what this really means in action.