The Berkeley Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational organization that aims to bridge the gap between academics and religious traditions. The Berkeley Institute convenes workshops, seminars, and conferences where its community of students and scholars are able to explore the idea that intellectual inquiry and religious commitments are not mutually exclusive. ¹

Programs

The Berkeley Institute’s free programs are intended to help students and faculty benefit from a community that is intellectually, culturally, ethnically, and religiously diverse. ²

The Berkeley Institute’s Spring 2022 semester theme was “Solitude, Community & Creativity.” The Institute questioned the difference between loneliness and solitude, and discussed why religious and philosophical traditions saw cultivation of one’s inner life as a return to community instead of a narcissistic endeavor. ³

The Berkeley Institute’s past programs include “How to be Christian in College,” “Christianity and Modern Science,” “Theology Amid the Revolution,” and “Science and Value.” ⁴

Funding

The Berkeley Institute is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. While the Berkeley Institute does not disclose its donors, tax filings confirm donations from the Witherspoon Institute ($7,344 in 2014) ⁵  and the Casillas Foundation ($5,000 in 2016). ⁶

People

Senior Fellows

Dena Fehrenbacher is the executive director of the Berkeley Institute. ⁷

Lara Buchak is a professor of philosophy at Princeton University. ⁷

Chiyuma Elliott is an associate professor of African American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. ⁷

Steven Justice is a professor emeritus of English at the University of California, Berkeley. Justice is a former fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center, the Princeton University Humanities Council, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. ⁷

Katie Peterson is an associate professor of English at the University of California at Davis. ⁷

Anselm Ramelow is a professor of philosophy at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. ⁷

Board of Directors

Fred Clark is chair of the board and the president of both the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund and the Casillas Foundation. Clark is a trustee at the Institute for Family Studies, the Witherspoon Institute, the Institute of Religion and Public Life, and the Patient’s Rights Council. ⁸

Luis Tellez is the president of the Witherspoon Institute. ⁹

Nathan George sits on the board of the Center for Bioethics and Culture. ¹⁰

Matthew Rose is the former executive director of the Berkeley Institute ¹¹ and a member of the council of the National Endowment for the Humanities. ¹²

Karl van Bibber is the secretary of the board ¹¹ and a senior fellow at the Berkeley Institute. Van Bibber is the executive director of the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium and a fellow at the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. ⁷

Other members of the board include Bryan Bradford and Dan Lahl. ¹³

1. “About Us.” The Berkeley Institute. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://www.binst.org/about.
2. “ About Us.” The Berkeley Institute. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://www.binst.org/about.
3.  “Our Semester Themes.” The Berkeley Institute. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://www.binst.org/semester-themes.
4. “Past Programs.” The Berkeley Institute. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://www.binst.org/past-programs-1.
5. Witherspoon Institute, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2014, Schedule I, Part II.
6. Casillas Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF), 2016, Part XV, Line 3a.
7.  “Senior Fellows.” The Berkeley Institute. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://www.binst.org/senior-fellows.
8. “Board of Directors.” Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, 2017. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://www.fcdflegal.org/board/.
9. “About.” Witherspoon Institute, 2022. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://winst.org/about/.
10. “Nathan George.” LinkedIn, 2022. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathandgeorge/.
11. The Berkeley Institute, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Part VII, Section A, Line 1a.
12. “Matthew Rose.” National Endowment for the Humanities. Accessed June 7, 2022. https://www.neh.gov/staff/matthew-rose.
13. ^[1] The Berkeley Institute, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Part VII, Section A, Line 1a.