Mission
UC Berkeley: a natural choice for change
The University of California is renowned for its world-class academics, cutting-edge research and traditions of service and global engagement. It is uniquely positioned to be a key player in the fight against global poverty. (Photo: UC Berkeley Students working on telemicroscopy project, Credit: Peg Skorpinski)
Among its offerings are:
- recognized leadership in public health, agriculture, engineering and information technology: all of critical importance to the lives of the poor
- a long tradition of public service and a successful track record in tackling complex issues in partnership with governments, business and civil society
- multidisciplinary approaches that leverage strengths in the social sciences, business and law to create high-impact, sustainable solutions
The Blum Center For Developing Economies:
Transforming lives through education & action
The Blum Center for Developing Economies was established at UC Berkeley in March 2006 as a focal point for the university’s efforts to address global poverty.
Mission: Increase the well-being of poor people in developing countries by designing, adapting and disseminating scalable and sustainable technologies and systems and by educating and inspiring a new generation of global citizens
The Blum Center addresses the needs of the poor in developing countries by leveraging the University of California’s knowledge and multidisciplinary expertise and by preparing students with the theoretical understanding, applied skills and experiential learning to enable them to become agents of change in the struggle against global poverty.
What we've found at Berkeley about how to get people to work together is that you define some kind of very big problem that needs to be solved, and attack it from a range of viewpoints." Quote attributed to the late Dean Richard Newton, College of Engineering, whose energy and vision provided an early and lasting inspiration for the Blum Center. (Photo: Richard A. Newton Photo, Credit: Bart Nagel)