Office of University Development
UC Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616-5270
(530) 754-4438 phone
(530) 754-2294 fax
The newsletter of The Campaign for UC Davis
Campaign gifts help students excel
UC Davis students are “America’s risk takers, innovators, artists, scholars and dreamers,” Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi told students at commencement in June. And many of the university’s supporters are helping these diverse and accomplished students reach their full potential through philanthropy. Student support — in the form of scholarships, fellowships and awards — is one of the priorities of The Campaign for UC Davis. These contributions help students make the most of their UC Davis education, and ensure this education remains accessible to all deserving students.
Kelsey Miller, who graduated in June with a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology, physiology and behavior, is just one of the students who has benefited from gifts to UC Davis. She received a Charles and Violet Stenson Scholarship, made possible through a $1.2 million gift from the estate of Violet Stenson. To date, 12 undergraduates have received financial support through this endowed scholarship. Miller’s scholarship enabled her to explore a career in public health through internships and community service. During her senior year, she volunteered about 250 hours to the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and other charitable causes.
Campaign gifts are helping students like these, pictured at commencement in June, achieve their full potential.
“Giving to students helps them learn who they are and how they can give back to others,” Miller said. “I was able to give back to the community because I was given the opportunity.”
Campaign gifts have also helped further the work of graduate and professional school students. A $500,000 grant from the Bilinski Educational Foundation provides crucial financial support to graduate students in the social sciences and humanities in the College of Letters and Science. So far, 10 graduate students have received fellowships through the fund, including Keith Hennessy, an internationally acclaimed dance choreographer. And, in the School of Medicine, alumni couple Will ’75, M.D. ’80 — a senior vice president for Amgen — and Julia Dere ’75, M.Ed. ’81, inspired by their parents’ sacrifices, established an endowed scholarship in their parents’ names with a gift of $100,000. The scholarship was enhanced with a $20,000 contribution from the Amgen Foundation.
And thousands of UC Davis supporters open doors of opportunity for students each year with their gifts to the UC Davis Annual Fund. Last year, nearly 15,000 alumni, parents and other friends of UC Davis gave more than $1.7 million to the annual fund. Their gifts benefited students through Chancellor’s Achievement Awards and by enhancing the university overall.