In partnership with the Institute for Legal Research (ILR) and Boalt Hall School of Law, the California Supreme Court Oral History Project carries out research interviews with retired justices to create an archival complement to the written record of California's highest court and, by extension, the lower California courts. Recent work with the Supreme Court appointees of Governors Ronald Reagan and George Deukmejian centers on the court's work from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, exploring specific events (such as the changes wrought by the 1986 statewide election, when California voters declined to retain three sitting justices) and also such themes as capital punishment, victims' rights, legal challenges to key ballot measures, sentencing guidelines, alternative dispute resolution, and state constitutionalism. With generous partial support from the California Supreme Court Historical Society, the project operates under the leadership of Harry N. Scheiber, Director of ILR and Riesenfeld Professor of Law and History at Boalt (scheiber@law.berkeley.edu) and Project Director Laura McCreery at IGS (mccreery@berkeley.edu).
The Victor Jones Memorial Lecture Series on Metropolitan Governance brings a distinguished speaker to the campus to lecture on topics such as regional affairs, urban studies, federalism, comparative government, metropolitan and local administration, and intergovernmental relations. This occasional lecture series is administered by the Institute and serves as a lasting tribute to Victor Jones, Professor Emeritus of Political Science.
IGS has a very active program of bringing foreign and domestic visiting scholars for short and long term residence to the Berkeley campus. IGS provides visiting scholars with office space, access to university libraries, seminars, and lectures; the use of facilities such as gyms, faculty clubs, and art galleries; assistance in locating suitable living accommodations; and modest research support such as use of a photocopier, telephones, word processing, email, computers, and fax facilities. Visiting scholars generally do not receive stipends or travel expenses from IGS. Visiting scholars usually hold a Ph.D. degree or have achieved a comparable level of professional accomplishment in some field of interest to IGS. Frequently, visiting scholars hold academic appointments or emeritus status with another university.