Interdisciplinary Studies Field

Alex will be starting a PhD program in History of Art and Archaeology at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU in Fall 2014, and looks forward to bringing his ISF training to bear upon his research within this exciting discipline. Alexs thesis was an analysis of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, using cognitive linguistic theories of Mental Spaces and Conceptual Blending to explore how the modernist play’s unusual structure helps to reveal the workings of its characters’ minds. Since graduating, he has continued to develop his interest in art history through

After graduating in the Spring of 2014, Laura moved to New York and began work at one of the worlds leading brand consultancies. The title of Laura’s thesis was “Internet Privacy and the Behavioral Advertising Industry: Controversies, Challenges and Recommendations to Reduce Consumer Fears Online.” Laura’s thesis compared regulatory practices in Germany to those in the UK and US. Laura was both an international student and California resident. She writes: The ISF major was perfect as I’m a very independent person and loved formulating my own schedule of classes, taking

Having graduated in 2013, Silvia was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the National Honor Society. Siliva will be entering Georgetown Law School in 2017. She received her BA in ISF: Human Rights, Law and Social Justice and African Diaspora Studies and a minor in Disability Studies. As an undergraduate she completed two honors theses in addition to serving as an intern and then TA for both the Health Service Internship and Field Study Internship, and as the University of California in DC Student Director. She interned at the

In the Fall of 2016 Jason Budge wil begin graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in the PhD program in Sociology. He plans on focusing on the Department’s famous “Class Analysis and Historical Change” field of study, with an emphasis on “Marxist and other radical traditions of sociology”. Jason’s thesis was a study of worker cooperatives. Here is the abstract from his thesis: “This research paper compares the experiences of workers from cooperatively and conventionally owned firms in order to examine the ways in which workplace democracy and

As an ISF major, Chorkin combined her interests in public health, psychology, anthropology, human rights and gender studies. She wrote her thesis Legacies of Gender-based Violence in Cambodia, which was later published in the Berkeley Student Journal of Asian Studies. During her undergraduate career, she was the director of Project Pueblo, a student-led nonprofit organization that assisted in various projects with local partners in the Navajo Nation. After graduating in 2017, she co-founded an international NGO that aimed to highlight and document indigenous womens access to health in Guatemala. Chorkin

Before attending UC Berkeley, Bonnie amassed 10 years of nonprofit/grant writing experience working for Native American cultural and resource centers. As a Cal student, her research focus was on Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, where she attained highest honors in the ISF major and won the department citation. Her other accolades include the Center for Race and Gender Independent Research Grant, the Interational Area Studies Research Grant, and the Judith Lee Stronach Re-entry Prize for Prose. Bonnie will be attending the Joint JD/Jurisprudence and Social Policy Ph.D. Program at Berkeley

As an ISF major, Sean was able to take his love for music and combine it with his passion for business and law in a major that reflected his interests and gave him a significant advantage during his job search. Sean says the multidimensional nature of the music industry complements the ISF major extremely well. It allowed him to extract information gleaned from business, law, economics, and sociology courses to write a thesis on the significant impacts of music streaming on the music industry, an area of research which has

After graduating in 2014, Adam Oriel Cohen became a Fellow in Public Affairs at CORO which is a highly selective, full-time, nine month, graduate-level experiential leadership training program that prepares diverse, talented and committed individuals for effective and ethical leadership in the public affairs arena. In 2017 Adam began the study of law at UCLA. Adam’s thesis was a comprehensive comparative investigation of the history and effectiveness of remedial programs in the CUNY and the California State University systems. As an undergraduate Adam was a Research Apprentice to Professor David

Emily will begin her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy at USC in the Fall of 2015 and may continue for a third year to receive a Ph.D. As part of her admission package, Emily has been awarded a research opporunity in the Pediatric Department with Professor Sharon Cermak. Emily summarizes her 2014 thesis: In 1975 the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, addressed the inaccessibility of education for children with disabilities by requiring that all children with disabilities be provided a free appropriate public education (FAPE) (Individuals with Disability Education