Preparing for Spring 2025 Instruction

January 7, 2025

Dear colleagues,

You are warmly invited to upcoming instructional events to help you prepare for the coming semester, and I invite you to review additional information regarding classroom emergency preparedness and the Brilliance of Berkeley course. 

Spring 2025 Instructional Update | Tuesday, January 14, 10-11 a.m.
The Spring 2025 Instructional Update is an opportunity for instructors to hear timely information from campus leaders on emerging issues, resources, and updates. Pleaseregisterby Friday, January 10. The event will be hosted on Zoom and feature presentations from:

  • Amani Nuru-Jeter, Chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate
  • Carmen Varela, Executive Director, Disabled Students’ Program
  • Erfan Mojaddam, Deputy Chief Academic Technology Officer and Director of Learning Technologies and Spaces
  • Jenae Cohn, Executive Director, Center for Teaching & Learning
  • Lisa García Bedolla, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division
  • Oliver O'Reilly, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

Research, Teaching and Learning (RTL) Events
RTL has curated a series of events and workshops to help you thrive this upcoming spring semester. In addition, RTL is launching new Learning Paths—including a Gen AI path, which offers flexible, self-paced sessions and materials exploring AI’s role in higher ed. This spring’s lineup is designed to support every step of your teaching journey, and we hope you can participate.

Emergency Preparedness for the Classroom
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) has posted a series of guidelines to help you quickly and appropriately respond to emergencies that might impact your classroom during instruction. Please review prior to the start of the spring semester, and download this one-pager with key contact information and emergency response guidelines.

Brilliance of Berkeley
As you may be aware, the College of Letters & Science has introduced a new spring semester course called Brilliance of Berkeley which showcases 28 of UC Berkeley’s luminary faculty, speaking on a diverse range of topics and research. Deans are responsible for nominating speakers, so if you are interested in speaking in spring 2026, please connect with your dean. 

I wish you a successful start to the spring semester, and thank you for all that you do for our students.

Fiat lux,

Oliver M. O’Reilly
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education


This message was sent to instructors, department chairs, deans, and chief administrative officers.