UC Berkeley School of Information

Vera Zakem, the first woman to serve as California’s chief technology innovation officer, former chief digital democracy and rights officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and UC Berkeley executive fellow in applied technology policy, will deliver the commencement address at the School’s commencement ceremony on Tuesday, May 19, 2026.

Zakem brings deep experience at the nexus of technology, democracy, industry, and public interest that resonates closely with the I School’s mission. She previously served in the Biden-Harris Administration as the U.S. Agency for International Development’s first-ever chief digital democracy and rights officer, where she led an agenda focused on rights-respecting technology, global coalition building, and AI for more than 100 lower- and middle-income countries. 

On Tuesday, March 3, 2026, Deirdre K. Mulligan, professor in the UC Berkeley School of Information, testified at an informational hearing before the California State Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection: “Somebody’s Watching you: Californian’s Privacy in the Age of Mass Surveillance.”

Mulligan joined other panelists from the University of California system, including UC San Francisco Law Center for Constitutional Democracy Executive Director Nicole Ozer and UC Davis School of Law Acting Professor Nila Bala, to discuss surveillance by the private and public sectors and its impact on the public. Mulligan’s panel examined the tools businesses use to surveil consumers and workers to enhance their profits and the implications for Californians.