2013 FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize

UC Berkeley’s Center for Research on Social Change (formerly ISSC) is accepting nominations for the 2013 FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize

The FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize is awarded annually to an outstanding young social change activist/scholar in California.  The award of $2,500 honors a person whose work transforms the existing social landscape and serves as a bridge between the academy and the community.  An awardee helps to build the capacity of community-based organizations and social movements to confront pressing issues by applying her/his academic expertise.  Simultaneously, she/he enriches academic scholarship by sharing the insights and knowledge produced from community engagement with the broader academic community.

NOTE: The award is not limited to students or scholars, but an honoree’s work should reflect a commitment to strengthening ties between the academy and communities.  There is no age limit for this award, but the honoree should be in the early stages of his/her career as a social change activist/scholar.

Deadline:  Thursday, February 14 @5pm.

2013 Nomination Process

The FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize uses a nomination system, where someone other than the nominee identifies the nominee, their contributions, and the kinds of expertise they bring to understanding how change works.  To download a nomination form, click here.

Nomination due date:  Thursday, February 14, 2013, by 5pm

(The Prize will be announced within four to six weeks after the deadline date.  An award ceremony will be held in the spring.)

Please send nomination forms and supporting materials to:

FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: The Thomas I. Yamashita Prize

Deadline:  Thursday, February 14 @5pm.

Read about other past recipients of the FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize: Past Recipients 

About Thomas I. Yamashita

Thomas Isao Yamashita was an undergraduate student in civil engineering at the University of California at Berkeley and a member of the class of 1942.  He was one of the first Asian-Americans elected to two of the University of California’s honor societies—Winged Helmet and the Order of the Golden Bear.  The internment of Americans of Japanese descent on the West Coast of the United States in 1942 made it impossible for him to graduate from Berkeley.  He eventually received his engineering degree from the University of Nebraska.  Even so, Tom supported and cherished the University of California at Berkeley and was a life member of the Alumni Association.

As a civil engineer, Tom spent the majority of his career in Hong Kong. His work did not involve building the structures that typify its landscape.  His work is unseen, focusing on foundations, on solving the complex engineering problems that enable steel and glass towers to be built.  His work made possible the transportation corridors that allowed the city to become a regional economic hub.  Through his leadership, Tom developed new construction techniques that altered the practice of building.  His work changed the city’s landscape.  In this spirit of engineering the foundations of change, the FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize is housed at the Institute for the Study of Social Change.

For more information about the Prize and nomination process, contact Dr. Christine Trost: (510) 643-7237, ctrost@berkeley.edu.

The Center for Research on Social Change (CRSC, formerly ISSC) is an interdisciplinary research center that is part of the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI) at the University of California, Berkeley.  CRSC researchers use a combination of qualitative and quantitative social science research methods to undertake empirical investigations into critical social issues facing the nation and to illuminate the lived experiences of people whose social locations are profoundly affected by broad processes of social change.  A major focus of the Center is how immigration, globalization, economic restructuring, and development of new technologies have shaped and changed the structure and culture of various spheres within US society and societies throughout the world.