UC Women's Initiative for Professional Development (UC WI)

The UC Women’s Initiative for Professional Development (UC WI) is a unique, experiential professional development program committed to enabling the full participation, success, and advancement of woman-identifying professionals at the University. The program is open to all employees who support and are committed to this mission. Participants represent faculty, academic personnel and staff, people managers and non-people managers.

The program was created by the President’s office and the Systemwide Advisory Committee on the Status of Women (SACSW)(link is external) and offered by Systemwide Human Resources in partnership with Coro Northern California and SACSW. UC Berkeley's participation in this program is sponsored through a joint effort from UC Berkeley People & Culture, UC Berkeley's EVCP office and the Vice Provost for the Faculty.

This program complies with federal and state non-discrimination laws, is applicable to living our values, and is open to all members of the campus community.

Nominations for the 25-26 UC WI cohorts continue to be on hold as we await systemwide guidance.

2025-2026 Program Overview

The UC WI schedule coincides with UC’s academic/fiscal calendar. For our northern campuses, three cohorts of 30 participants come together for four interactive, all-day sessions, jointly led by a Coro Northern California facilitator and a UC Facilitator. UC facilitators are past graduates of the program who share their experience and expertise and add a UC perspective.

The 2025/26 program will be delivered fully virtually.

Participant Outcomes

The program has been designed to:

Cultivate a professional network that spans the UC system
Provide access to top UC leaders to learn about their diverse leadership approaches and journeys
Strengthen skills and confidence through hands-on practice with a range of tools in the areas of:
- Building Strategic Relationships
- Actively communicating your value to the organization
- Developing and delivering a compelling narrative regarding one’s professional accomplishments and vision
- Advocating for your own needs at work
- Increasing awareness of diverse UC career paths
- Coaching others to demonstrate their value to the organization

Participant Criteria for the Berkeley Campus

Is a current mid-career faculty, academic personnel, or staff member from the UC Berkeley campus
Has a minimum of 10 years of professional experience, including 2 years at UC Berkeley
Demonstrated potential for advancement
Is seeking to learn concepts that improve their effectiveness at work and hear about the career journeys of established UC leaders
Represents different functions and departments of our campus
Is able to commit to the program with full attendance and participation at all sessions
Is able to complete intersession assignments which require up to two hours between seminars
Has the written support of their supervisor

NOTE: Eligible staff employees are those who meet the requirements for the Staff Appreciation and Recognition (STAR) program. This includes PPSM (PSS or MSP) employees and Teamsters (CX) employees.

Participation Expectations

Participate fully - The UC Women’s Initiative is experiential and relies heavily on full participant contribution
Attend all program sessions in their entirety - Locations will be charged for participants who do not complete the program
Due to limited funding to support this program, a participant is expected to commit and participate fully. Should they leave the program without ample notice to allow for an alternate to be selected, their department will be billed for failing to notify the program manager (Deepak Sharma) in a timely manner.
Complete Pre-Work and Pre-Program Survey before the first day of their assigned cohort
Complete up to 2 hours of additional work assigned between program sessions

Program Costs

The program fee is $1287.50 per participant. This fee covers virtual program delivery and all program resources, tools, and support.
The cost of participation in this program is covered by a joint effort from UC Berkeley People & Culture, UC Berkeley's EVCP Office, and the Vice Provost for the Faculty.

Program Overview

The UC WI schedule coincides with UC's academic/fiscal calendar. We will offer three cohorts with the nomination and selection process running February - April of 2024.

UC Berkeley has been allotted 12 spots (which includes 3 faculty, 3 academic personnel, and 6 staff).


Monday, February 24, 2025	UC Berkeley nomination process opens
Friday, March, 21, 2025	Nomination process closes
Monday, April 14, 2025 - Wednesday, April 23, 2025	Nominees will be notified of their selection status
Monday, April 28, 2025	The UC Systemwide Talent Management team sends initial participant communication w/cohort selection survey by the end of the day
Friday, May 9, 2025	Participant survey responses are due to UC Systemwide Talent Management team
Monday, May 12, 2025 - Friday, May 16, 2025	UC Systemwide Talent Management places participants into cohorts
Monday, May 19, 2025 - Friday, May 30, 2025	Final cohort placement communicated to participants and locations
September - November 2025	Cohort 1
January - March 2026	Cohort 2
April - June 2026	Cohort 3

Note: UC Berkeley participates in the North Cohorts.

UC Berkeley Nomination Process

In order to be considered as a UC Berkeley candidate for UC WI, all nominees must follow UC Berkeley's nomination process. Please review the information below before submitting your nomination.

Each UC location is allotted a specific number of seats in each cohort to ensure systemwide representation. Each UC location manages their own nomination process to align with the systemwide nomination timeline. UC Berkeley has been allotted 12 participants (which includes 3 faculty, 3 academic personnel and 6 staff).

Nomination Form Details

Nominations can be submitted via Google form. The nomination form will ask for the following information:

Nominee Information

Name, Title, Department, Classification (Faculty, Staff, or Academic Personnel), Primary/Payroll Title and Years of Service
- Primary/Payroll title can be found in UCPath and UC Berkeley Regional Portal, People Cards.
- In UCPath, you will see your primary/payroll title on the main screen in the top left hand blue box.
- In the UC Berkeley Regional Portal, People Cards, you will see your primary/payroll title listed directly below your name.
Nominee Questions
- In the Google Form, respond in 500 words or less per question
  - Please share why you would like to participate in this program at this time and how the UC WI provides a unique opportunity for your career growth.
  - Please describe how you have and how you will continue to contribute to our campus and the success of other women-identifying professionals upon completion of the program.
  - How will you balance the time commitment to this program in addition to your work responsibilities and other committees/projects that you are a part of?
Letter of Support
- In 500 words or less, please describe the following:
  - Why do you think your nominee should participate in UC WI?
  - How might your nominee benefit from the program?
  - How will UC Berkeley benefit if your nominee is selected to participate?

Nomination Selection Process

This year's selection committee will meet to review all nominations. Selection criteria will be based on the following questions:

Has a compelling case been made for why this potential participant should participate, including why now?
Is it clear how the potential participant would benefit from participation, including whether the individual seems ready to quickly integrate lessons learned into career growth or change?
Has a compelling case been made for how our campus might benefit from this potential participant attending the program?

Note: People who were nominated for the program previously and not chosen can be re-nominated using the current nomination form.

For more information regarding the UC Women's Initiative for Professional Development (UC WI) Systemwide Leadership Collaborative, visit the UCOP website.

UC WI Resource Links

Past UC WI Program Participants

Systemwide Participant Roster

Internal Contacts

Deepak Sharma
Learning & Development Specialist
deepak_sharma@berkeley.edu

Angela Stopper
Chief Learning Officer & Director of People and Organization Development
astopper@berkeley.edu

Program Contact

Cecilia Preciado
Systemwide Workforce Planning & Development Specialist
Systemwide Human Resources | University of California, Office of the President
510.987.0002
ucwomensinitiative@ucop.edu