Akasemi Newsome leads the Global, International, and Area Studies hub at the University of California, Berkeley. As associate director, Newsome manages a diverse portfolio including: 1) fostering new partnerships in joint campus research initiatives across world regions; 2) building teams tasked with operations, fundraising, programming, and research for the top research institute on Europe in the Western United States; and 3) supporting senior leaders and technical experts at UC Berkeley and in Norway to identify needs, opportunities and research priorities. At UC Berkeley, Newsome has secured multiple six- and seven-figure grants and gifts from various funders, including the EU Commission, the US Department of Education, and the MGS Foundation. She has also spearheaded public programming series elevating research on and by German and European scholars and activists from racialized groups. Prior to her career in higher education, Newsome gained experience in communications, strategic planning and political outreach in Fortune 500 companies, major US foundations, and international policy think tanks. She speaks German and has lived and worked in Germany.
Newsome is a political scientist with research interests in EU-US relations and the politics of labor, immigration, and comparative racialization. She received her PhD from UC Berkeley in 2015 and has several publications in recognized policy and academic venues: Politics and Governance (2022), International Relations (2021), and Palgrave Handbook of EU Crises (2021).
