The first class of the new millennium arrives at Berkeley for classes starting Aug. 26.

The new freshmen, the Class of 2000, arrive with the good news that there are no undergraduate fee increases.

Several new courses this fall focus on the timely and topical, including a course looking at presidential elections, another examining press coverage of the fall election, a class exploring women's complex relation to food through literature and a new high-tech calculus course.

In addition, PhD students can enroll in a class titled "Getting Your Doctorate and Getting a Good Job."

Three new deans take over in social welfare, engineering and journalism.

This fall's freshman class is the largest in more than a decade as new students offered enrollment accepted in record numbers, signaling that Berkeley continues to grow in prestige and value.

"I am pleased by this new evidence of Berkeley's increasing attractiveness to students," said The Vice Chancellor and Provost Carol T. Christ. "We have added sections to our fall freshman offerings in order to ensure that students will be able to take the courses they need."

Consequently, Berkeley classes are no more full than last year. The campus is also managing new student services closely to make sure the large incoming class is well accommodated.

The new numbers reflect more students from almost all ethnic backgrounds selecting Berkeley, including Asian, African-American, Chicano/Latino and white students.

Millennium Bears

They called themselves the century class and even had their own cheer, "UC Century, rah, rah, rah! Nineteen hundred, California!"

They debated the merits of co-ed education (there were 220 men and 104 women in the class), deplored their loss to Stanford in about every sport including baseball, football and tennis, and pledged themselves to "the mighty events in which the University of California is destined to participate."

Three New Deans

The new dean of the School of Social Welfare is James Midgley, a pioneer in the field of international social development from Louisiana State University. Midgley is expected to lead the school into the era of the global economy. He will join the campus Oct. 1.

Midgley was recently given the Sarnat Award in social work for, among other achievements, his leadership in founding and directing a program in social policy at the London School of Economics.

Timely, Provocative New Classes

Professor Nelson Polsby is teaching Political Science 98: Presidential Elections. It will focus on the current presidential election in the context of scholarship on election processes, voting behavior and representation.

Alix Schwartz, a lecturer in women's studies and a cook specializing in appetizers, is teaching a class, Women's Literature About Food. It will explore women's complex relation to food through the reading and discussion of novels.

You're about to receive your PhD but have no idea what to do with it. Michael Ranney's class, "Getting Your Doctorate and Getting a Good Job," can help. Ranney, a professor at the Graduate School of Education, is a specialist in problem solving.