Berkley Center Annual Report 2017-2018

December 20, 2018

During the 2017-2018 academic year, the number of displaced persons continued to rise, coloring national and local politics in host countries and straining already fraught international alliances. The threat posed by climate change continued to loom over the international community, as well as a growing nuclear threat fueled by escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea. At home, the year began with shocking scenes in Charlottesville, Virginia, where far-right protesters violently clashed with counterdemonstrators. This past year, our research, teaching, and outreach at the center explored the religious dimension of these and other international developments.

Highlights include:

  • Two panels on race and religion—one focused on the events in Charlottesville and the other more broadly on the role of religion in the Black Lives Matter movement—and several events focused on the five-hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and the continuing influence it has on society today. 
  • An exciting new partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, which brought award-winning journalists to campus to discuss their reporting on the global refugee crisis. The Berkley-Pulitzer partnership also supports one student annually to conduct an international reporting project.
  • Faculty books and articles furthering research on pedogogy, political Islam, Vatican diplomacy, religion and development, Catholicism and globalization, and religious freedom. 
  • The continued success of the Doyle Engaging Difference Program, which brings together faculty and students from across the curriculum to address issues that cut across religious, cultural, and other divides.

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