About the Matsui Center

Founded in 2008, the Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service is California’s leading academic center devoted to nurturing the next generation of civic and political leaders. Matsui Center internship, training, and experiential learning programs provide Berkeley undergraduates with the opportunity to learn about politics and public policy at local, state and national levels of government. By providing housing, transportation, and living stipends, we make our programs accessible to all students, including many first-generation college students of diverse backgrounds.  Matsui Center events and lectures play a vital role in bringing nonpartisan expertise and analysis to bear on critical issues facing our state and nation. Through our programs and events we are helping to build a new and more diverse set of leaders for California and the nation. The Center is named in memory of U.S. Congressman Robert T. Matsui (1941-2005) who graduated from Cal in 1963.