Build Belonging & Community Today

Last updated 08/08/22

Discover ways to stay connected to the Berkeley community on campus, online, at home—anywhere!

How can I find community at Berkeley?

Discover Community

• Connect to student groups, events, and news with CalLink, the online central hub for registered student organizations at Berkeley, including clubs, fraternities & sororities, and student government.
  • If you’re updating an organization or event on CalLink, access the CalLink organization checklist to learn more about posting events, messaging your members, and how to bolster your CalLink page. 
• The ASUC Student Union is a hub of student life at Berkeley. Find places to shop, study, create, and connect with other students.
• Discover a wealth of programs and ways to volunteer in the community with the Public Service Center.
• Get involved at the LEAD Center (Leadership, Engagement, Advising, and Development). A campus hub for student involvement, leadership development, and co-curricular advising to help you explore your interests and pursue your passions at Cal. Find information about:
  • Exploring your interests with student organizations
  • Taking part in student government 
  • Joining the Cal debate team
  • Learning about the CalGreek community
• Newly admitted students can connect with other new students and learn about Berkeley with Golden Bear Orientation. 
• Discover more ideas for finding community on the Berkeley Life student blog.

Foster Community

• Become a mentor or mentee with NavCal (Navigating Berkeley), where current students coach incoming students with experiences to help them adjust to higher education at Berkeley.
• Volunteer to mentor high school students applying to Berkeley with Nav2Cal (Navigating to California).  

How do I engage in community at Berkeley?

Connect with Community 

• Enroll in Berkeley Connect, where graduate students mentor undergraduates with common interests; meet professors and fellow students from your major, too.
• Connect with an academic adviser for ideas on how to engage with different academic communities on campus. Find advising for your college:
  • College of Chemistry advising 
  • College of Engineering advising 
  • College of Environmental Design advising
  • College of Letters & Science advising
  • Rausser College of Natural Resources advising
  • Haas School of Business advising
• Berkeley Art Studio is found at the Student Union and offers a way to connect with the art community through classes in ceramics, photography, drawing, painting, design, and printmaking. Registration is open to the whole UC Berkeley community.
• Join a Rec Sports activity or program to find students with similar fitness and wellness routines, try a new sport, or connect with like-minded peers through programs and events.
• Explore ways to become involved with specific communities through the  bridges multicultural center. The program seeks to recruit underrepresented students of color into higher education at all levels and provide ongoing support.
• Explore the Centers for Educational Justice and Community Engagement, which welcome all students to build community and create a sense of belonging at UC Berkeley. The Centers have an intersectional approach to community engagement and invite students to bring their whole selves into their centers and events:
  • African American Student Development
  • Asian Pacific American Student Development 
  • Chicanx/Latinx Student Development
  • Gender Equity Resource Center
  • Multicultural Community Center
  • Native American Student Development  
• Find community-specific health information and services. These resources offer a place where you can feel safe while still feeling connected to the Berkeley family.
• Find support meeting the needs of dependent care responsibilities through Caring for Families, with programs and resources for students, staff, and academic appointees affiliated with Berkeley. 
• Find information about planning your own student event on campus.

Digital Presence

• The LEAD Center has created virtual resources to help student groups operating in hybrid or virtual environments.
• Discover practices to support a culture of inclusion, belonging, and respect with the Creating a Healthy Virtual Environment Toolkit. 
• Find best practices for hosting online experiences with Holding Virtual Meetings Tips, Tricks, and Resources and Holding virtual events tips, tricks, and resources. 
• Level up your online presence in classrooms and meetings with Navigating Zoom: tips, tricks, and resources.

How can I help shape and grow a community?

Supporting Students

• For Advisers, see the Advising Matters website to access resources that support student assessment, achievement, progress, retention, growth, wellness, connectedness, and ultimately completion.
• For Graduate Student Instructors, the GSI Remote Teaching Hub provides a curated set of training guides on remote instruction tools, best practices created by GSIs, support options for GSIs, and relevant campus policies and resources.
• For instructional support, Keep Teaching from Research, Teaching and Learning Services (RTL) helps keep your teaching moving forward with new approaches, effective strategies and resources, and best practices to support remote learning.
• For the engineering community, the EMPOWER program supports faculty, staff, and students who want to foster an inclusive climate and advance equity for all members. 
• Help create and implement a plan to prevent sexual harassment within your academic community with the Path to Care Center: Preventing SVSH toolkit.
• The Teaching in Troubled Times series includes past and ongoing dialogues about some of the most pressing social and political questions that arise in student life and in classrooms at Berkeley.

How can I connect on social media?

Follow Online

• Take a peek into life at Berkeley with these student-driven platforms:
  • Berkeley Life. Read student stories, articles, and advice about life at Berkeley. Written by students and for students. 
  • @UCBerkeleyLife on Instagram. Sharing the spectrum of undergrad life at Berkeley that you won't find anywhere else. By Berkeley students and staff.
  • @UCBerkeley TikTok. Student life outside the classroom. Content by Berkeley undergrad creators.
  • “Class of” groups on Facebook. Search for “UC Berkeley Class of ___ (Official)” with your intended graduation year to find your group.
• Are you in a Res Hall? Res Life staff organize community meetings and ongoing programming throughout the fall and spring semesters. Students can stay up to date on program offerings through the Res Life Instagram or newsletter.
• Are You a Grad Student? Follow the Graduate Division Facebook, Grad Div Instagram, and Grad Div Twitter for updates and information about opportunities in the community.
• All students can also join the Student Affairs Cast for opportunities to share your stories and Berkeley experiences to your fellow students.

Please keep connecting with us and with each other, Bears!