Category: Giving

Organizing for lasting impact
Crown College pioneer alumni worked to raise $1 million toward the Crown College Endowment.

Centering South Asian Studies
The Anuradha Luther Maitra and Thomas Kailath Endowed Professorship in South Asian Studies will advance the center’s position as a leading hub of research and discourse dedicated to South Asia and the South Asian diaspora.

Musical chair
Best known for producing the long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives, alumnus Ken Corday has brought new opportunities to the film department at UCSC—and has now created the Corday Family Chair in Music.

Empowering women leaders
Alumna Cassi Janakos, whose company offers lactation programs, created an endowment for the Feminist Studies Department with the aim of empowering other women as leaders and innovators.

Coming together to heal
Arts Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu's son, Lakas Shimizu, unexpectedly passed away in 2013 at the age of 8. In his memory, his family has established a scholarship at UC Santa Cruz supporting students in the arts.

Lighting a spark
Astronaut and pioneering scientist Kathryn Sullivan is making a planned gift to inspire future generations.

Opening doors for those in need
After a lifetime of service in the education field, alumnus Ernesto Ruiz pays it forward to help future students

Costumes get lead role
Alumni Jim Gunderson and Peter Coha, along with their friend Gregg Barnes, are ensuring that students in the newly formed Department of Performance, Play & Design have costumes that will enrich their experience and enhance their performances.

Giving Day 2021: Widening the circle of support
Giving Day, once a fledgling fundraiser, has grown into one of UC Santa Cruz's philanthropic highlights of the year. This year's event will be on November 3.

‘Co-CEOs’
Alumni Vince and Christina Cavazos Bennett, who met as students at UC Santa Cruz, have built a complementary marriage and meaningful careers—and now they're giving back to the campus program that helped set them on their paths to success