In the section below, we provide information on two significant contexts for faculty-student interaction: lower-division seminars and research opportunities. We would also like to mention that faculty members on the Berkeley campus interact with undergraduates in a variety of other contexts as well. Some of these structured encounters are directly related to the educational experience: for instance, professors in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Spanish and Portuguese regularly teach discussion sections attached to their lecture classes. Some faculty-student interactions are linked to departmental initiatives: for instance, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) has become concerned about the falling numbers of students choosing graduate school (as opposed to entering into careers in industry directly after graduation), so the department has been asking faculty members to meet with juniors and seniors to discuss the benefits of a graduate degree and to assist students in applying to graduate school. In addition, juniors and seniors with a grade point average above 3.5 receive a personal letter from the Chair, inviting them to meet with him to discuss their post-graduation options.

Many of the other interactions are a result of collaborations between the faculty of a given department and that department’s student organizations. For instance, most of the faculty members and many of the students in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research attend regular jointly sponsored social events, such as a late afternoon reception each fall and a dinner each spring. A faculty committee in Materials Science and Mineral Engineering has been charged with creating, in collaboration with the officers of the undergraduate student association, a series of seminars designed specifically for undergraduates. The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science has organized a monthly meeting of the department chair, associate chairs, and the leaders of thirteen student organizations in order to improve student-faculty communication. The department is especially focussing on reaching out to women and other under-represented students, with such initiatives as a weekly tea in which undergraduate women are invited to socialize and discuss issues with faculty members, and personal email messages to prospective students, inviting them to correspond directly with faculty advisors. The Legal Studies Program, again working in conjunction with its own undergraduate student association, has presented an active program of faculty presentations, including a "Living Catalog," in which faculty members discuss the courses they are scheduled to teach in the upcoming semester.