May 4, 2015
Accepting his Foundations for Change: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize on Thursday, Sepehr Vakil confessed he'd once been "skeptical about the ability and the willingness of the academy to really be a force for social change."
But Vakil, a Ph.D. candidate in UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education, proved to be a force for change himself, both in and out of the academy. That was the unmistakable message conveyed by supporters and admirers during an afternoon ceremony at the Berkeley City Club, where he received his $2,500 award, bestowed annually upon a California activist whose work "alters the social landscape, often in subtle and previously unappreciated ways."
UC Berkeley News