Learning on the job: Cal student interns on Moffitt construction project

“The curtain walls,” Faraz Kahen and Kyle Gray both say, when asked for their favorite architectural feature of the new Moffitt floors. These glass walls, facing Memorial Glade, fill the renovated fourth and fifth floors with light. “There are great sight lines now,” Gray adds. “You can sit on a sofa in the middle of the floor, and gaze straight through out to the glade.”

Kahen, a Cal student, and Gray, a seasoned project planner, have been working together since March, in an internship program as well as a DeCal construction course for which Gray serves as an industry coach. Gray has worked with Turner Construction for a decade, and is assistant project manager on the Moffitt renovation.

Kyle Gray, of Turner Construction, with junior Faraz Kahen, in front of Moffitt Library. (Photo by Alejandro Serrano for the University Library)

Kahen, a junior majoring in civil engineering, was born to two Iranian civil engineers. Recalling an early love of building, he says “my favorite thing in the world was constructing things with Legos.”

Kahen fell in love with Berkeley when his family visited campus after his sister’s acceptance. Attending the university himself immediately became his dream, especially when he learned that the school is ranked #1 in civil engineering.

During his eighteen-week internship with Turner Construction, Kahen managed a variety of construction-related documents. A major focus was earning the LEED certification for Moffitt’s fourth and fifth floors. “I got to attack it full-on,” Kahen recalls. “I read the whole manual, figuring out how we can meet all the requirements. Turner is the #1 green builder in the U.S., and sustainable construction is a huge passion for me.”

Gray joined the Moffitt project during the early pre-construction phase and has helped manage construction for the past 18 months. Contributing to improvements to the primary library for Berkeley undergraduates has been immensely rewarding for him, he says.

But Gray’s connection with campus extends even further, to the five years he has served as an industry coach for the DeCal construction course. The course is designed to give students a hands-on introduction to the world of construction management, as well as the chance to compete at the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) student competition.

Gray notes that coaching Cal students in the course has offered “some of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had. I still keep in touch with many of my former students, following their adventures whether they’re working in Ireland, Saudi Arabia, or around here.”

In the DeCal construction course, industry coaches like Gray work with four competition teams: Design-Build, Commercial, Virtual Design and Construction, and Integrated Project Delivery. In February 2017, this year’s UC Berkeley teams will compete against 20 other teams in their region (the far west).

Kahen notes his gratitude at landing the internship job with Turner while they are working on Moffitt. “Every day I would walk to work, thinking this is amazing. All my friends will see something I actually worked on, right here in the heart of campus. Plus I’ll be using it plenty myself. I can’t wait to take in the view through the curtain walls!”


Movies @ Moffitt, Nov. 2 – A Place of Rage

The Movies @ Moffitt series features films selected by students for students, on the first Wednesday of each month.

Movies at Moffitt: Place of Rage, November 2, 2016

Title: A Place of Rage
Director: Pratibha Parmar
Summary: Filmmaker Pratibha Parmar’s 1991 film uses interviews with Angela Davis, June Jordan and Alice Walker in order to examine the way African-American women have articulated the links between social movements including civil rights, Black power and feminism. This event will also feature a short segment from Beyonce’s recent visual album Lemonade followed by an optional discussion concerning the search for a feminist aesthetic.
Date: Wednesday, November 2
Time: 7pm
Place: 150D Moffitt Library
Doors open @ 6:30pm
You must have a Cal Student ID to attendThe Library attempts to offer programs in accessible, barrier-free settings. If you think you may require disability-related accommodations, please contact the event sponsor prior to the event. The event sponsor is Tim Dilworth tdilwort@library.berkeley.eduPost contributed by Tim Dilworth, First Year Coordinator, The Library


Practice makes polished: Moffitt helps students master skills for effective communication

Cal freshmen Chadwick Bowlin and Rika Pokala try out Moffitt Library’s new Van Houten Presentation Studio. (Photo by Alejandro Serrano for the University Library)

Berkeley students spend hour after hour inventing and building the next big thing. But what happens when they need to present their idea — or themselves — to a class, client or future employer? Will their pitch be a flop? Not anymore.

When the top floors of the Moffitt Library reopen on Nov. 2, students can practice public speaking, interviews and presentations in a newly-created space dedicated to just this. In the Van Houten Presentation Studio, students will use the latest technology to develop, practice, record and review their public speaking efforts.

The studio exemplifies the expanded role of the Library in the education of today’s students. This role goes beyond the traditional functions of collections and research assistance to meet today’s needs for flexible, collaborative, technology-rich study spaces that can support a wide variety of course projects and learning styles.

Barrie Roberts, who teaches public speaking, is excited about the new studio.“My College Writing colleagues and I are thrilled,” she says, “that we’ll finally have a place where students can experiment and develop their individual and group presentation skills, aided by cutting-edge technology.”

Margi Wald, who coordinates classes in the Summer ESL program, plans to direct students to the studio to practice their PowerPoint presentations and their pronunciation. She also envisions holding student panel presentations in the room, and is delighted they can readily review the videos in order to pinpoint areas for improvement.

It’s anticipated that the new studio will be used by faculty as well as students. Dr. Richard Freishtat, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), notes that the space will be valuable for instructors working to improve on their delivery of lectures. “The opportunity to video record ourselves and review the playback is a profound experience,” he says, “where we can notice effective things we did not realize we were doing, or notice explicit areas for improvement.” By then consulting with staff at the CTL, instructors can take on an entirely new perspective about themselves as a teacher from the student view.

The fourth floor Moffitt studio is named in honor of Peter Van Houten (’56, ’73). His recent $500K gift to the Library has helped to create Berkeley’s premier learning space for undergraduates.

Van Houten feels a particular connection to the Presentation Studio named in his honor. “I’ve always been passionate about helping people learn to express themselves in positive and productive ways,” he says. “I’m delighted that the renovated Moffitt is supporting this.”

The technology for the Van Houten Presentation Studio was provided by the Student Technology Fund.


A Fresh Look: Moffitt artwork aims to spark students’ creativity

Students working in the revamped fourth and fifth floors of Moffitt Library will find fresh inspiration in the original artwork adorning the walls. Some of the artists will be on hand at the Nov. 2 opening to talk with attendees about their work.

The redesigned floors also boast modern, appealing workspaces; ample natural light; up-to-date technology; flexible seating; and access to vast Library collections both online and in the nearby Gardner Stacks.

UC Berkeley student artists were tapped to supply the half a dozen paintings, drawings, photos and mixed media works. Farley Gwazda, Worth Ryder gallery manager in the Department of Art Practice, assisted in launching the process.

Monica Galvan is a 2016 graduate whose piece “What’s Left Behind in Berkeley” assembles 25 photos chosen from over 1500 that she took on long walks down Shattuck and University Avenues. Rusty sign poles, battered metal grates and peeling paint are among the richly-textured images.

Monica Galvan's "What's Left Behind"
Monica Galvan’s “What’s Left Behind”

Galvan spent many hours in Moffitt as a student herself, and hopes that library users will get a “creative kickstart” from her work. “Many of my photos are taken low to the ground, of things that are usually overlooked, so I’m hoping the piece will inspire viewers to take the time to look at things from a fresh angle.”

Lindsay Hansen (’16) contributed “A Field Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area,” which depicts dozens of frogs and fishes, birds, butterflies and other regional fauna.

Lindsay Hansen's "A Field Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area"
Lindsay Hansen’s “A Field Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area”

Hansen earned a BA in art together with a BS in conservation resource studies, and has worked as a field biologist and scientific illustrator. She comments that her “species account work intends to inspire excitement and wonderment for biology, science and connections with nature.”

More minimalistic is a delicate drawing of bare tree branches by Katie Revilla (’17). Although Revilla works mainly in sculpture and textiles, she says “drawing is the foundation. I draw everything first, to think it through.”

Katie Revilla's "Bare"
Katie Revilla’s “Bare”

Her piece conveys the poignancy of “how winter breaks everything down to its elements and exposes its vulnerability; and yet, nature survives and bursts into life again in the spring.”

Abstract diptychs by Bridget Cuevas (’16) are also on display. Cuevas notes that she is honored to have her work on display in Moffitt, saying “It is a privilege to think that someone may stop and stare at my work in such a space.” She adds that among the inspirations for her work are “clean sheets, domesticity, and architecture.” Cuevas is applying to graduate school in art for next year.

Bridget Cuevas’s “Sets”

The student artworks in Moffitt will be displayed through May 2017, at which time new student pieces will be selected and displayed.

Local art collective creates two works
Two 8-by-6 foot mixed media murals adorn a wall on the Haas-Herscher Gallery on the fifth floor. commissioned from Oakland collective Five Ton Crane. Two UC Berkeley alumni, Sean Orlando (’11) and Bree Hylkema (’97) serve as the collective’s lead artists. It has created large-scale artworks for Burning Man and for festivals and museums locally and around the country.

As a student, Orlando worked on the “Babel Library” installation in Doe Library, a piece created by then artist-in-residence J. Ignacio Diaz de Rabago which featured books suspended in the air near the three-level spiral staircase of the Gardner Stacks.

For the Moffitt Library works, photos of Sproul Plaza and the Student Organic Garden Association (SOGA) Garden were divided into 48 squares, and each square was recreated by artists in the Five Ton Crane collective. Yarn, felt, plaster, paint, puzzle pieces, beads, guitar picks, rocks and other media were used to create the squares, which were then assembled to make a coherent image. Five Ton Crane’s Oakland Squared project, that uses the same technique, is on display in the Latham Building lobby in Uptown Oakland.

Orlando was introduced to the grid concept in a charcoal drawing class at Berkeley. He comments “it’s always fun to utilize the power of a group, weaving together techniques, visions and styles.”

The final Five Ton Crane works in Moffitt include contributions from over fifty artists, each of whom made one or more squares. A number of the artists are Berkeley alumni or campus staff — including Zsuzsu Listro, who works in the University Librarian’s office and whose square incorporates an old pair of Levi jeans. Desi Gallardo, who works in human resources, also created a square, utilizing mixed media (acrylic paints, oil pastels, markers) and found objects (deconstructed floppy disks, an old DSL modem, and DSL filters).

Orlando hopes that library users viewing the works will be inspired by the power of a collective effort and the creative possibilities engendered by teamwork. Hylkema notes that “as our culture becomes more and more digital, seeing a handcrafted creation will remind people of all these traditional techniques.” She imagines people “looking up from their research or working on a paper, and having something relaxing to look at, something they can lose themselves in.”


Tech problems? New Moffitt desk has answers

Ying Luo (’17) at Moffitt’s Tech Help Desk. Luo relishes the chance to meet new people and give back to the community through assisting students with tech problems. (Photo by Alejandro Serrano for the University Library)

By Damaris Moore, Library Communications

“How do I connect to the network?”
“How do I use a calendar app or a shared drive?”
“My phone is frozen, what should I do?”
“Help, my computer has a virus!”
“How do I set up a virtual private network?”

Higher education today requires effective technology use, but issues like network access, malware or identifying the right software can bring a student’s study time to a screeching halt. Fortunately, tech help has become more accessible on campus this semester, with the launch of a new Student Technology Help Desk in Moffitt Library as part of a new student computing service initiative, SC@CAL.

At this walk-up service, students can get help configuring, using, and troubleshooting campus technologies and their personally­ owned devices, such as laptops, tablets and phones.

The Moffitt tech help desk is only one next step in an expanding set of services. A partnership between five campus entities has resulted in the launch of a three-year project, funded by the Student Technology Fund. By working together on shared goals, these collaborators are finding ways to efficiently deliver top-notch computing services to students. The five units are:

  • The University Library
  • Student Technologies for Student Affairs IT (SAIT)
  • Educational Technology Services (ETS)
  • Campus Shared Services-Information Technology (CSS-IT)
  • Information Services and Technology (IST)

Down the road, the group will create an outreach program to help students quickly find technology resources available on campus, and will work to make campus computing more consistent and ubiquitous.

The new Help Desk in Moffitt works on the “by students, for students” model that SAIT has long used, through similar support desks in residence halls. Along with in-person support at the desks, email and phone assistance is available.

Riley Price ('19) and Ryan Rodriguez ('18) at the Moffitt Tech Help Desk.
Riley Price (’19) and Ryan Rodriguez (’18) at the Moffitt Tech Help Desk. (Photo by Alejandro Serrano for the University Library)

Currently located on the third floor of Moffitt and open four hours a day, the plan for the Moffitt Tech Help Desk is to expand hours and to move up to the 4th floor in November.

Ying Luo (‘17), a computer science major who works on the desk, comments that “making technology more accessible to people is really important to me, and this is a cool way to do that. I love showing other students how technology can make their daily life and studying much easier — it is very fulfilling for me!”


Moffitt Opens Up: Revitalized floors welcome students Nov. 2

Moffitt Opens Up

Students can enter contest to win 10 hours of study space during finals

After a year of rebuilding, the fourth and fifth floors of the Moffitt Library will reopen on Wednesday, Nov. 2. During the opening celebration, 2 to 4 pm, the UC Berkeley community can explore the new 24-hour, snack-friendly space, experiment with emerging technology, and scope out Cal’s premier study spots.

The Moffitt Opens Up event will feature live acapella by Cal students, student art and a chance to meet the artists, and student demos of virtual reality, drones and 3D printing. Current Cal students can enter a raffle of iPad Airs, video cameras, wireless headphones, gift cards and more (student ID required).

To kickoff the announcement, the Library is awarding study space during finals week to three student supporters, who will help create and share stories during the Moffitt Opens Up event. Interested students should submit a short pitch here by Friday, Oct. 7.

 

Rendering of Moffitt Library
The top floors of the Moffitt Library will offer Cal students exciting new study and collaboration spaces.

The reimagined floors four and five are expected to become a top study destination, with technology services, a wide variety of flexible study and discovery spaces, and student-friendly policies. Studios equipped for Web conferencing and presentation practice are available, as well as an expanded tech help desk, a tech lending service, meeting rooms for group learning, and writeable glass walls to aid in collaboration and brainstorming. A wellness room and living room-like spaces round out the offerings, while expansive windows allow for abundant natural light and sweeping views of Memorial Glade.

The Library attempts to offer programs in accessible, barrier-free settings. If you think you may require disability-related accommodations, please contact the event sponsor — ideally at least two weeks prior to the event. The event sponsor is Ashley Bacchi, 510-664-7737, abacchi@berkeley.edu.


Movies @ Moffitt, Oct. 5 – Forgetting Vietnam

Movies @ Moffitt 10/5/16: Forgetting Vietnam

The Movies @ Moffitt series features films selected by students for students, on the first Wednesday of each month.

Title: Forgetting Vietnam
Director: Trinh T. Minh-ha
Synopsis: Influential anti-imperialist and feminist theorist, filmmaker and Cal professor Trinh T. Minh-ha creates a dialogue between fact and fiction in this exploration of Vietnam four decades after the end of the war. Over the course of the film, she interweaves myth with observation, deconstructs national identity into its most basic symbolic elements and re-constructs personal and political memory of place, trauma and dynamism.

Date: Wednesday, October 5
Time: 7pm
Place: 150D Moffitt Library
Doors open @ 6:30pm
You must have a Cal Student ID to attend

The Library attempts to offer programs in accessible, barrier-free settings. If you think you may require disability-related accommodations, please contact the event sponsor prior to the event. The event sponsor is Tim Dilworth tdilwort@library.berkeley.edu

Post contributed by Tim Dilworth, First Year Coordinator, The Library


Movies @ Moffitt, Sept. 7 – Men: A Love Story

Movies @ Moffitt Sept. 7 - Men: A Love Story

The Movies @ Moffitt series features films selected by students for students, on the first Wednesday of each month.

Title: Men: A Love Story
Director: Mimi Chakarova
Synopsis: After covering the sex trade for over a decade, award-winning filmmaker and journalist Mimi Chakarova questioned her ability to love and be loved. This film documents her journey across the United States as she talks about love with men from all walks of life, laying bare men’s multifaceted relationship with tenderness and care. An unflinching and darkly comic look at American masculinity in all its complexity, Men: A Love Story is sure to ignite productive and probing discussion concerning both the political and personal registers of gender and sexuality.

Date: Wednesday, September 7
Time: 7pm
Place: 150D Moffitt Library
Doors open @ 6:30pm
Free with UCB ID

Post contributed by Tim Dilworth, First Year Coordinator, The Library


Moffitt Library Student Advisory Council Accepting Applications

Moffitt Library Student Advisory Council

Do you live in the library? Do you never come to the library?

We want your opinion on how Moffitt Library can best meet your scholarly needs and those of your fellow undergraduates at UC Berkeley.

Apply to join the Moffitt Library Student Advisory Council by September 16, 2016.

The Moffitt Library is accepting applications from undergraduate students.

As a council member, you would provide advice and suggestions on services, events, programs and technology available in Moffitt Library.

More information can be found on our website.

Post contributed by Jean Ferguson, Learning and Research Communities Librarian


New Student Tech Support Desk in Moffitt Library

As part of a project called Student Computing @ Cal, that was funded over the summer by the Student Technology Fund, a new technology help desk launched on Monday, August 22 today in Moffitt Library.

Undergraduate and graduate students can stop by and get help with their own laptops, phones, tablets or other personal devices.

Help includes, but is not limited to:

  • Setting up your AirBears2 key
  • Downloading Cal provided software, such as the Adobe Creative Suite
  • Removing viruses

The technology help desk is located on the back side of the ID check desk inside the main 3rd floor entry.

Hours are posted at: https://rescomp.berkeley.edu/units/moffitt/

Students can call or email for help when the desk isn’t staffed (or any time):