Berkeley International Group (BIG) Meetings

The Berkeley International Group (BIG) is composed of UC Berkeley faculty and staff who meet monthly to collaborate and participate in informal discussions related to the international work that we all do on campus. Each meeting is hosted by different units on campus. The group meets for one hour during the first week of every month, with the host deciding upon the topic, date, time, and location of the meeting.

December 4, 2025: Bi-monthly Drop-in IE Happy Hour [in person]

Please join the Berkeley International Group (BIG) for our second bi-monthly drop-in informal, no-host happy hour to foster community among UC Berkeley staff who work in or are interested in the field of international education. This month’s IE happy hour will be held on Thursday, December 4th, 2025 from 4:00 - 6:00 at Hotel Shattuck bar in downtown Berkeley located at 2086 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704.

This is a recurring, bi-monhtly no-host event where you can drop-in and connect with colleagues in an informal setting. Join us for 15...

November 19, 2025: BIG Book Club | The Best We Could Do [in-person]

Please join us on Wednesday, November 19 from 12:10-1 p.m. for our next meeting of the Berkeley International Group Book Club. We’ll informally discuss Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do. A graphic novel, this American Book Award winning novel details the family’s escape following the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s and the subsequent difficulties they faced building new lives. This is the second book in our...

October 23, 2025: Bi-monthly Drop-in IE Happy Hour [in person]

Please join the Berkeley International Group (BIG) for our first bi-monthly drop-in informal Happy Hour to foster community among UC Berkeley staff who work in or are interested in the field of international education. This month’s Happy Hour will be held on Thursday, October 23 from 4:00 - 6:00 at Jupiter in downtown Berkeley located at 2181 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704.

This is a recurring, no-host event where you can drop-in and connect with colleagues in an informal setting. Join us for 5 minutes or the full...

September 30, 2025: BIG Book Club | The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America [in-person]

Please join us on Tuesday, September 30 from 12:10-1 p.m. for our September 2025 meeting of the Berkeley International Group Book Club. We’ll informally discuss The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America, edited by Shukla & Suleyman. This meeting is the first in a series exploring immigration.

The meeting will take place at...

May 14, 2025: BIG Book Club | My Invented Country [in-person]

Please join us on Wednesday, May 14 from 12:10-1 p.m. for the final 2024-2025 meeting of the Berkeley International Group Book Club. We’ll informally discuss My Invented Countryby Isabel Allende

Hannah Fisher, Associate Director of the Evening and Weekend MBA Program at Haas School of Business, will start our May meeting. Hannah will tell us a little about their...

May 13, 2025: Building Community in Support of International Education [in person]

Come celebrate the end of the semester and the strength of our international education community! Join the Berkeley International Group (BIG) on Tuesday, May 13th from 4–6pm at Jupiter in downtown Berkeley (2181 Shattuck Avenue) for an upbeat, informal networking and social hour.

In a time when the federal...

January 28, 2025: BIG Book Club|Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (in person)

Please join BIG on Tuesday, January 28 from 12:10-1 p.m. for the next meeting of the Berkeley International Group Book Club. We’ll informally discuss Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo, translated by Jamie Chang. The novel, set in Seoul, is heralded as the book that ignited the 4B Movement, a feminist movement in South Korea that has received considerable attention in the U.S. following November’s presidential election.

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November 19, 2024: BIG Book Club | Crazy Brave: A Memoir (in-person)

Please join BIG on Tuesday, November 19 from 12-1 p.m. for the second meeting of the Berkeley International Group Book Club. We’ll gather and informally discuss Crazy Brave: A Memoir, a brief but powerful book by Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee Nation and the first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate. In 2021, Harjo delivered UC Berkeley’s Avenali Lecture

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September 17, 2024: BIG Book Club | Solito: A Memoir (in-person)

Please join BIG on Tuesday, September 17 from 12-1 p.m. for the first meeting of the Berkeley International Group Book Club. We’ll gather and informally discuss Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora. (Participants are responsible for securing and reading the book in advance) We will meet in person and in a location on or near campus. We’ll announce the location in the weeks before the meeting.

The Berkeley International Group is a recognized Staff Organization ...

December 4, 2024: Current international student, scholar, and employee trends & federal relations update

Please join BIG on Wednesday, December 4th, 2024 on zoom from 12-1pm to learn more about the latest data on international students and scholars at Berkeley. The Berkeley International Office team will be providing an update on current trends related to matriculated international students, scholars, and employees at UC Berkeley. Gina Daly, Director of Federal Government Relations will be...