Fung Fellowship receives grant to further experiential learning at UC Berkeley

The Fung Fellowship was one of 14 courses selected by the Office of Berkeley Arts + Design to further integrate creativity and cross-disciplinary learning in undergraduate courses.

In early December 2018, the Fung Fellowship for Wellness and Technology Innovations learned it will receive $5,000 from the Berkeley Arts + Design to expand and enhance creative opportunities within the current program curriculum. This award will support current Fellows as they create impactful videos that tell the story of the communities they are serving; all while documenting their process to develop innovate solutions allowing campus and the wider health+ tech community to share in the experience.

“It’s an honor to be a thought partner in the Berkeley Arts+Design landscape. I know this will be the first of many avenues for us to connect across campus and support the broader initiative. Our program is truly an undergraduate discovery experience and the grant support allows us to strengthen that experience, directly benefiting our students,” said Jennifer Mangold, Innovation Coach for the Fung Fellowship.

We had a chance to sit down with two key members of the Arts + Design Initiative: Sarah Fullerton, Communications Manager, and Les Gorske, Student Engagement and Education Manager, to discuss the long-term vision of the grants and how the Fellowship fits into the vision.

Why are these types of grants important?

Les Gorske (LG): We launched the Creative Discovery grants in Fall 2018 in response to the Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education (VCUE)’s Discovery Experience initiative. Discovery Experiences represent the most transformative forms of scholarly and experiential learning and powerfully express what it means to receive an education at a major public research university in the 21st century. [Berkeley Arts + Design] is focusing on a new way of education: creative, engaged, cross-disciplinary learning. These things have already been happening on campus — this is a way of both highlighting and supporting that.

Sarah Fullerton (SF): This is an initiative to help communicate to students what their lifecycle could be at Cal beyond the silo of their specific major or study. For example, there are 1,451 students in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science major and that field is increasingly intersecting with other disciplines like journalism, user interface design, marketing, and more. We hope to help students step into the larger Cal community and engage themselves in ways they wouldn’t have thought to do if they were thinking in a silo’d way.

How do you see them impacting campus and students?

LG: We launched these grants to be more impactful with students and faculty. Previously, we worked on an individual basis with deans and faculty that expressed interest. Now these grants are our attempt to be more proactive in funding projects that may not otherwise be supported. We recently did a survey with the first cohort of grant recipients to find how many students we reached and the impact we had. This is an ongoing process and we are continuously working on improving those metrics!

How are the Creative Discovery grants selected?

LG: We have an open application process for all undergraduate departments. Applications are circulated to a selection committee and each proposal is read in depth. One of the key tenants of the application is how the grant will impact the student experience.

SF: What happens at the course level doesn’t always reach the highest level of administration on campus, and through the selection process, the award committee is able to see a cross-section of what’s happening on campus.

How creative will the campus become as these grants continue to be awarded?

SF: Looking into the future, our whole mission is to align campus units to make creativity stronger on campus and to help students and faculty understand they can incorporate creativity into their lives whether they are majoring in the arts or not. We want students to have access to creative experiences through, for example, the Arts Passport.

LG: We see Creative Discovery as a cornerstone of the Berkeley experience. On a national level, there is an increased emphasis on creativity within the exact sciences. UC Berkeley is taking steps to focus on that and this grant is a key part of making that happen.

How does the Fung Fellowship fit into that vision?

SF: The Fung Fellowship will be an active thought partner in how the arts can partner with technology. Often times they are seen as separate, but in fact they are not — in order for the arts to advance, technology is an important component that must be embraced.

“The Fellowship presents several strengths, including 1) serving undergraduates from over 20 different majors, 2) focus on entrepreneurship, and 3) emphasis on health and wellness which aligns with one of the six initiatives the campus has set in its 10-year strategic plan,” said Les Gorske, Berkeley Arts+Design Student Engagement and Education Manager.

Interested in learning more about our Industry Partnership Program and sponsorship opportunities? Get in touch with the Fung Fellowship.

Learn more about the Fung Fellowship journey and the other 2019 Berkeley Arts + Design grant recipients.