Prudence L. Carter, former Dean of the Graduate School of Education and the E.H. and Mary E. Pardee Professor, has been awarded The Berkeley Citation, one of the university’s highest honors.
Chancellor Carol T. Christ and Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost A. Paul Alivisatos presented the honor to Dean Carter, noting her work on several efforts beyond the GSE and contributions to the campus-wide community.
Carter, who served as Dean from 2016 to 2021, led the GSE through an intensive reorganization of doctoral and teacher education programs; the hiring of six outstanding junior and mid-career scholars; new fundraising strategies and budgetary reductions; a programmatic realignment including a revitalized EdD program in educational leadership and increased research practice partnerships with local school districts; and a move to a new building after 56 years in Tolman Hall. Most recently, she guided the GSE through the ramifications of the worldwide pandemic and heightened crisis in social justice nationwide.
Across campus, Dean Carter co-chaired the Commission on Free Speech; chaired the dean’s search committee for the School of Social Welfare and served on several other executive hiring committees; and was instrumental in the creation of the Black Leaders Collective, which advises the Chancellor’s Office on how Berkeley can become an anti-racist institution.
“The Berkeley Citation is given to those individuals who give extraordinary contributions to the research, teaching and service missions of the campus,” Chancellor Christ said in presenting Dean Carter with a framed award. “I have never felt it’s been more richly deserved than for you.”
EVCP Alivisatos joined the Chancellor at a June 10, 2021, virtual event in which GSE students, staff, and faculty celebrated Dean Carter’s tenure. He noted that Dean Carter often describes herself as a life-long learner.
“Your moral compass, your innovative habit of thought, your willingness to take on the absolute hardest problems – you’re truly living the life of purpose,” Alivisatos said. “And I’ve experienced you as a life-long teacher, not just a life-long learner.”
The Berkeley Citation is awarded to a variety of distinguished individuals or organizations, academic or nonacademic, whose contributions to UC Berkeley go beyond the call of duty and whose achievements exceed the standards of excellence in their fields. The Chancellor works closely with an advisory committee to confidentially select each recipient.
Editor's Note: Read a related story in The Daily Cal.