Watch the video exploring the Club’s history and
where we are going in the 21st Century.

 

The Women’s Faculty Club
Our Vision

Founded in 1919, the Women’s Faculty Club has served as a symbol of UC Berkeley’s commitment to the equality of the sexes in higher education for almost 100 years. Its founders were women faculty who were truly “the first” of everything they did on campus. The beautiful brown shingle building that they built, designed by Campus Architect John Galen Howard, is an Historic Structure. Ours is the only faculty club in the nation, founded originally for women, that still has its own building.

We are inspired by the women who founded the Club. They were motivated by a vision of progress and for serving the public good. Excluded from the existing men’s faculty club, they needed a space of their own within which they could flourish. And throughout its 100 year history, the Club has continued to provide a special place for women on campus to gather and to learn from each other.

Of course the Club now serves the entire Cal community – men and women, faculty, staff and alums. But its inspiration remains the same – to furnish a unique space in which its members can flourish – enjoying fine food at lunch; reserving its gracious hotel rooms so that families, visitors and guests can stay in the heart of our beautiful campus; hosting meetings and professional or private social events and celebrations of all kinds in the Club’s indoor and outdoor spaces.

We are especially excited about the opening of our new outdoor patio, surrounded by gardens of native plants, nestled near Strawberry Creek. This patio expands the Club’s outdoor event space. It provides a beautiful setting for members to hold their private events – receptions, weddings, even outdoor barbecues. An accessible pathway connects to both the Club and the patio, ensuring use by all our members and guests.

But the Women’s Faculty Club is not only gracious and accommodating for its members, it serves the public good through the opportunities it offers to current Cal students. The Club funds the Lucy Ward Stebbins undergraduate scholarship; we employ exclusively student staff in our dining room, providing numerous employment opportunities for young men and women at Cal.

In addition, the Club serves the entire campus and the community through three public program series. The lecture series “Academic Lives” features talks and panel discussions on issues of public importance, featuring women faculty, students and alums. “Arts in the Afternoon” brings talented musicians and other artists, both Cal students and professionals, to the Club. Student performances include the Baroque Ensemble, and members of the University Symphony Orchestra and the University Chorus. The “Stebbins Studio Series” presents noon recitals by undergraduates playing on our celebrated Steinway piano.

We invite you to share our vision. Share in the excitement of the Berkeley campus.