Kirk Tramble, one of three generations of Cal Bears
Alumnus Kirk Tramble (B.S. EECS 1993) is both the son and father of proud UC Berkeley alumni. His father, Thomas, earned a B.A. in Sociology/African American Studies in 1971, and his son, Gabriel, graduated with a B.A. in Media Studies in 2018. The family is profiled in a Cal Alumni article which compares their experiences as Black students at Cal during three different eras. Kirk arrived on campus at a time when academic support for students of color was at an all-time high, and watched as everything changed after the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996, when the percentage of black students dropped from 8% to 2%. “The response [to Prop 209] was to ultimately shut down many of the programs that were the highest serving programs for African Americans on campus,” he said. He and his father now administer a scholarship offered by the African American Initiative to encourage and support Black students at Cal.