Charles Huang co-teaches an entrepreneurship class for humanities students.
How do today’s students differ from when you were a student?
My undergraduate experience centered around academic learning. Take two years to explore and try to graduate in four to five years. Both of my daughters graduated from Berkeley over the past three years, and I’ve taught classes for four years now. Today’s undergrads are also doing research, internships, or public service projects. They’re starting companies. I’m amazed that you can be 17 and already have such mature ideas.
Where can donors make a difference in undergraduate support?
I’ve met hundreds — if not thousands — of amazing Cal students. Sadly, anxiety and stress are very common, whether they’re an athlete, undergrad, grad, or first-generation student. The Tang Center offers crisis support, counseling, and peer support groups to help cope with mental health issues. It was a great resource for my daughter.
On a happier note, Berkeley has been a major force for local and global innovation for decades. Now the Changemaker Initiative is building this programmatically into the undergraduate experience. There are multiple entrepreneurship classes, accelerators like Skydeck and CITRIS, funds investing in Berkeley startups, prototyping labs at the Jacobs Institute — this ecosystem is booming! The world needs changemakers, and Berkeley students are meeting the challenge.
“The world needs changemakers, and Berkeley students are meeting the challenge.” — Charles Huang
Berkeley is striving to increase its enrollment of Latinx undergraduates to at least 25 percent. How can we ensure they have equal access to opportunities?
As a critical institution for upward mobility in California, where Latinx are now the largest racial or ethnic group, Berkeley has to do more than just admit Latinx students. We have to be a place where they can thrive and achieve their goals.
Giving to the Fiat Lux Scholarship is one of the best ways to help bright Latinx students from California reach their dreams. Not everyone comes to Berkeley equally prepared, whether that’s due to a lack of college prep programs in their high school or financial struggles at home. This scholarship provides financial support, a faculty mentor, and research opportunities. And every student who applies for financial aid at Berkeley is automatically considered for the Fiat Lux Scholarship, so there’s no additional burden. That’s extraordinary.
