This lecture series recognizes the entrepreneurial vision of A. Richard Newton, Dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering from 2000 to 2007, by inviting distinguished innovators to share lessons from their own successes and failures. The course features a selection of highly accomplished industry speakers, including Cal alumni, who share their unique insights on industry developments, leadership, and innovation accumulated through experience in their careers. The lecture series serves as a discovery course for topics at the intersection of technology innovation and entrepreneurship and is a requirement for two of the tracks to complete the SCET Certificate in Entrepreneurship & Technology.
This class is a great introductory class for students interested in learning more about technology entrepreneurship and innovation. SCET classes welcome students from all majors and levels.
Beginning in Spring 2021, the A. Richard Newton Lecture series became an official Berkeley Changemaker® course. Berkeley Changemaker® is a way to help engineers, humanists, and scientists on campus understand their passion and have the ability to create change and have agency in the world. The A. Richard Newton Series course helps students understand how to pursue their interests and execute them by learning from distinguished innovators.
Note: Starting Fall 2022, all SCET classes will be offered under Engineering course numbers. Prior to Fall 2022, this course was listed under INDENG 95/195/295.
Attendance at the first 3 classes is mandatory in order to be enrolled off the waitlist.
Instructor
Victoria Howell
Victoria Howell is director, Professional Programs and associate instructor for UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. She leads the A. Richard Newton Lecture Series: A Berkeley Changemaker® Course, the Center’s flagship program. Her background is in financial services, strategy and marketing, and she now dedicates herself to delivering opportunities/events connecting exceptional individuals to diverse audiences. Her work encourages learning and empowerment for aspiring innovators, entrepreneurs, career-minded professionals and seasoned executives. She holds a BA from University of Virginia and an MBA, from The Darden School of Business University of Virginia.
Spring 2025 Speaker Lineup
01.21
Victoria Howell
Instructor and Director, Professional Programs, Sutardja Center. Topic: Course Orientation - What to Expect and What is Expected
Online (1st 300 students can join online/rest
to watch video asynchronously using bcourse
Media Gallery)
Zoom Link: https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/96159667962
01.28
Scott Buchanan
CMO at Stacklok and master of storytelling. Former experience includes CMO at Forter; Marketing VP at VMware; integral in Tintri IPO, Maketing Strategy at Medallia; and Microsoft experience in China.
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
02.04
Laura I. Gómez (Cal grad)
CEO and cofounder
Cepanoa Health. 2x founder (Atipica and Cepanoa);
Healthcare Advocate, Cofounder Project Include and
former head of localization/product at Twitter
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
02.11
Aviv Gilboa (Cal grad)
President at Skylight. Former Head of Product Growth at Ring/Amazon and VC at Kleiner Perkins
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
02.18
Kyle Lui (Cal grad)
Founder of two startup, ChoicePass, acquired by Salesforce and XcelDx (acquired by BD). Kyle began his career as a private equity investor at Pantheon and Clearwater Capital, based in San Francisco andsubsequently Hong Kong.
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
02.25
Merrie Williamson
Executive Vice President & Chief Customer and Revenue Officer at Equinix. 20 years of experience in helping companies evolve with roles at Microsoft and Intel.
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
03.04
Lisa Choi Owens (Cal grad)
Senior Advisor and former CRO and Director at TED
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
03.11
Shawn Villaron
VP and General Manager, PowerPoint, & Site Leader, Microsoft Bay Area Region
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
03.18
Cal International Student Start-up
App/Pitch and Cohort Connection.
@5:00pm PST
Via Zoom, Link: https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/99801997788
04.01
For all 283 students and those focused on Video as final assignment. Will involve assigning groups - attendance
@5:00pm PST
Via Zoom (mandatory), Link: https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/95933611484
04.15
Jingcho Yang (Cal grad)
CEO and founder Bukit Vista, Pioneering a New Era of Hospitality
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
04.22
Class to Work on Video Project
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
04.29
Prof. Aravind Srinivas
Perplexity founder + CEO Perplexity.ai in conversation with Prof. Pieter Abbeel
Prof. Pieter Abbeel
Prof UC Berkeley, Amazon Scholar, founder Covariant.ai
@5:00pm PST
Stanley Room 105
About A. Richard Newton
The Newton Series is named in honor of former UC Berkeley Engineering dean A. Richard Newton. The Series highlights individuals like Dean Newton, who exemplify the qualities of an innovative changemaker.
A. Richard Newton was a distinguished professor and beloved dean of the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley from 2000-2007. He received his B.Eng. and M.Eng.Sci degrees from the University of Melbourne, Australia in 1973 and 1975. In 1975, he began to work on SPICE at UC Berkeley, a simulation program initially developed by Larry Nagel and Donald Pederson to analyze and design complex electronic circuitry with speed and accuracy. In 1978, Newton was awarded his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering and computer sciences from UC Berkeley.
He joined the faculty at UC Berkeley as a professor of in 1978, and chaired the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences from 1999 to 2000. He became dean of the UC Berkeley College of Engineering from 2000 until he passed away in 2007. Robert Birgeneau, Chancellor of UC Berkeley described him as, "dynamic and entrepreneurial; he understood the power of engineering and technology in entirely new ways, and he connected them to address society's toughest problems. The vibrancy of his thinking shaped my own ideas about what engineering is and what it can be."
A. Richard Newton
Featured Video Of The Month
Adam Cheyer - Co-founder of Siri, Change.org, Viv Labs, and Sentient
In this Spring 2021 A. Richard Newton Series Distinguished Innovator Lecture, Adam Cheyer, co-founder of Siri, Change.org, Viv Labs, and Sentient, does magic tricks to show students how to make magical prototypes, and tells the story of the founding of Siri.