Berkeley School of Education (BSE) Professor Thomas M. Philip has been elected the next vice chair for the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate for the 2025-2026 term and will serve as chair for the 2026-2027 academic year. It is the first time in the Berkeley Division’s 62 year history that this role will be filled by a member of the Education faculty. Philip earned both his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (’98) and his Ph.D. in Education (’07) at UC Berkeley. Currently, he serves as a professor at BSE and the faculty director of the BSE’s Berkeley Teacher Education Program (BTEP). He is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Philip’s groundbreaking work focuses on the intersections of race, power, data, and technology in education. As a learning scientist, he is a collaborator on the nation’s first NSF-funded AI Institute in Education, which emphasizes responsible innovation to create AI-supported collaboration tools for K-12 classrooms. Additionally, his leadership has redefined Berkeley’s teacher education program, garnering both campus and national accolades, including the 2023 AERA Award for Innovations in Research on Equity and Social Justice in Teaching and Teacher Education and the 2024 Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Excellence and Equity.
“Thomas M. Philip is an exceptional scholar whose commitment to equity and innovation has transformed teacher education at Berkeley and beyond,” said Michelle D. Young, dean of the Berkeley School of Education. “His appointment as vice chair of the Academic Senate underscores his dedication to advancing excellence and equity across the university. We at BSE are delighted to see him take on this important role.”
In addition to his teaching and research, Philip has a distinguished record of service at Berkeley and across the UC system. He has chaired the Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Campus Climate (2022-2023 and 2024-2025), served on the system-wide University Committee on Affirmative Action, Diversity, and Equity, and contributed to the UC Academic Senate’s Workgroup on Artificial Intelligence. Currently, he also chairs the Executive Committee for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Transpacific Futures Cluster Hire.
Reflecting on his appointment, Philip shared, “Ever since I started as a freshman at Cal thirty years ago, the unique ethos of consequential research and teaching and the spirit of social transformation at UC Berkeley has profoundly shaped who I am as a scholar and human being, as it has for countless others. As a campus community, however, we face new challenges to our core academic and societal mission. I look forward to working closely with colleagues from across campus to ensure that the Academic Senate fulfills its vital role in preserving the best of ‘what makes Berkeley Berkeley’ while collectively crafting our future as a premier institution of higher education.”
The Berkeley School of Education celebrates this milestone and looks forward to the impact Philip’s visionary leadership will continue to have on the university and the broader educational landscape.