In 2003, shortly after the UC Berkeley Strategic Academic Plan was adopted, four New Initiative Centers (NICs) were created, with the goal of developing research and instructional programs in promising areas that lie between or among traditional disciplines, thereby offering a range of instructional and research opportunities broader than a single department could achieve.
During their incubation period, the NICs reported for administrative purposes to the Vice Provost for Academic Planning. At the conclusion of a collaborative planning process involving the Division of Academic Planning, several deans, the centers' directors and their faculty, the following NICs have moved to new academic homes:
- The Berkeley Nanoscience and Nanoscience Institute (BNNI), is now part of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences in the College of Letters and Science.
- Global Metropolitan Studies (GMS),is now part of the Division of Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Science.
- Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM), has more than a hundred affiliated faculty members from over thirty departments, the BCNM brings together humanists, technologists, social scientists, artists and designers. The center offers two graduate curricula (designated emphasis in new media for Ph.D. students, and a certificate in new media for Master’s students) as well as an undergraduate certificate, several fellowships, and a visiting scholar program.
- Center for Computational Biology (CCB) now reports to CDSS.