Program Staff and Campus Partners

⚠️Note

Do not contact individual staff or faculty members about the Scholars Program. For all Program-related questions, please e-mail mcfs.programinfo@berkeley.edu. Furthermore, we have created this website to serve as a resource for prospective students. Please explore it thoroughly before contacting the Program for further information. Prospective applicants may be particular interested in pages on eligibility, the application process and frequently asked questions (FAQs). Finally, please do not send resumes or transcripts, as our office does not process these.

Campus Partners

Administered out of the Center for African Studies, the Program at the University of California, Berkeley is supported by a broad cross-section of functional and disciplinary units on campus including the Graduate Division, the Berkeley International Office and the Office of Foundation Relations & Corporate Philanthropy. Other partners on campus include the International House, the Robertson Center for Intercultural Leadership and the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology.

Program Staff

Co-Principal Investigator - Leonardo Arriola, Chair of the Center for African Studies and Associate Professor, The Department of Political Science
Co-Principal Investigator - Lisa Garcia Bedolla, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division, and Professor, Graduate School of Education
Program Director - Martha Saavedra, Center for African Studies
Student Services Advisor- Meron Semedar, Center for African Studies
Financial Coordinator - Tami Driver, Center for African Studies

Also on the core team are Ivor Emmanuel, Director of the Berkeley International Office and Sylvia Bierhuis, Executive Director, Foundation Relations & Corporate Philanthropy.

Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at UC Berkeley