Higher education is completely ignoring the public backlash against wokeness.
UC Berkeley receives $332K in federal funding for anti-racism, social justice fellowship
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is continuing to fund a University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) public-health fellowship that incorporates anti-racism and social justice into federally funded doctoral training.
Federal records show NIH awarded UC Berkeley $332,131 in fiscal year 2026 for its Training Health Equity ScholaRs in InnoVation, PrEvention, and Social Impact Fellowship Program, known as UCB-THRIVES. Federal grant records also list the award under the Regents of the University of California.
The Sept. 15 award is a “non-competing continuation” of the five-year federal grant, which runs from September 2024 through August 2029.
The federal grant description says the program seeks to train public-health professionals, “especially those from historically marginalized backgrounds,” through UC Berkeley’s Epidemiology, Health Policy, and Environmental Health Sciences graduate programs.
Fellows receive classroom instruction and research experience in health equity and preventive interventions. The program’s core training is supplemented by community engagement, anti-racism, and social impact.
The grant description also highlights UC Berkeley Public Health’s “commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice.”
It states that the program will train scholars to develop solutions to health-equity issues while “embracing social justice as a guiding principle.”
UC Berkeley similarly states that “all training will center around community engagement, anti-racism, and social impact.”
Program co-director Mahasin Mujahid said Berkeley aims to enhance fellows’ “deep commitment to social justice” while training them in rigorous research methods.
The fellowship will serve up to 20 Ph.D. students during its five-year term. Fellows receive two years of support, including full tuition coverage and an annual stipend of $28,000.
Berkeley states that 60% of each fellow’s tuition is covered by the federal grant, while the remaining 40% is provided by the graduate program in which the student is enrolled.
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