Are you a future social impact practitioner?
If so, the ASJC is calling on you.
What is the ASJC?
The ASJC is a NEW fellowship program at the College of Environmental Design that offers significant debt-relief to select graduate students who intend to do social justice work after graduation.
Arcus Fellows
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.
Social Justice + Design Disciplines
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; 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.
The ASJC Community within CED
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 will offer 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 public service work in the real world, to gain a better understanding of what this really means in action.
2021-2022 Award Cycle
Arcus Fellows will be selected by a CED committee that includes practitioners in social justice fields, faculty, staff, and alumni representatives. There will be TWO award cycles during the 2021-2022 academic year. The first cycle will occur in the fall of 2021 and students in all CED Master's programs (including the joint MDes program) who are U.S. Citizens, students with permanent residence, and students with DACA or refugee status are eligible and encouraged to apply. The second cycle will occur in the spring of 2022 for prospective students who have applied to a UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design Master's program.
FALL 2021 AWARDS CYCLE: The application for *current* CED Master's students (including the joint MDes program) who are U.S. Citizens, students with permanent residence, and students with DACA or refugee status will be open on Friday, August 20, 2021. Email messaging will be sent from the CED Dean's office to disseminate the application link. Applications are due on Monday, September 13, 2021 by 5pm PDT.
SPRING 2021 AWARDS CYCLE: The application for students who intend to apply to a CED Master's program this fall will be open in late September. The deadline will be January 15, 2022. Further information will be added to this webpage about the spring application cycle soon.
Should you have any question, please contact Faculty Director, Marcel Sanchez Prieto and Program Manager, Elizabeth Bowler via: CEDArcusFellows@berkeley.edu