Berkeley – Dr. Ananya Roy, Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning has been appointed as the inaugural chairholder of the Blum Center Distinguished Chair in Global Poverty and Practice. This position was made possible by a $1.5 million anonymous gift, along with a matching gift from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, given as part of Berkeley’s Hewlett Challenge.

Roy currently oversees the education program for the Blum Center for Developing Economies which provides students with insight into the patterns of poverty and different forms of poverty alleviation. In her capacity as Blum Center Education Director, Roy has overseen the development of the highly popular undergraduate minor degree program in Global Poverty and Practice (GPP). The GPP minor, established in 2006, is now the largest minor on campus with over 400 students currently enrolled.

The chairholder appointment will allow Roy to continue making major and sustained contributions to the educational program and curriculum of the Blum Center, especially for the Global Poverty and Practice minor program. Additionally, she will focus on the integration and continued development of graduate programs into the Blum Center’s educational portfolio and on developing collaborations with faculty across the Berkeley campus whose teaching and research are focused on poverty alleviation.

In announcing the selection, Blum Center Faculty Director and College of Engineering Dean Shankar Sastry noted that she was the ideal selection. “Ananya has inspired students from across the campus to think about life in a much larger global context. She has helped both undergraduates and graduate students realize the role they can play in addressing some of the world’s most critical issues and empowered countless students to be a force for positive change.” Roy’s five year appointment as Distinguished Chair in Global Poverty and Practice will run through June 30, 2016.

In 2006, Roy was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor UC Berkeley bestows on its faculty. Also in 2006, Roy was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Mentors award, a recognition bestowed by the Graduate Assembly of the University of California at Berkeley. In 2008, Roy was the recipient of the Golden Apple Teaching award, the only teaching award given by the student body. Most recently, she was named 2009 California Professor of the Year by the CASE/ Carnegie Foundation.

Dr. Ananya Roy, Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning and Education Director of the Blum Center for Developing Economies.

About the Hewlett Foundation Challenge: The $1.5 million in matching funds from the Hewlett Foundation is part of a $113 million Hewlett grant to provide UC Berkeley with a major new source of endowment funds to attract and support world-class faculty and graduate students and to allow the campus to compete with the nation’s best private schools. The Hewlett challenge grant will match dollar-for-dollar other private donations to UC Berkeley for the Hewlett chairs, and the ultimate result will be $220 million in new endowment funds for the campus.

About the Blum Center: The Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley links world-class faculty, inspiring new curriculum, and innovative technologies, services and business models to create real-world solutions for developing economies. The Center educates students, builds partnerships, and rigorously evaluates innovations in order to create scalable and sustainable contributions toward the alleviation of poverty. For more information on the Blum Center and its programs please refer to its website: http://blumcenter.berkeley.edu/, or contact them via email: blumcenter@berkeley.edu.