Parents Make a Difference
Liz Schenk is thrilled with the education her son Max is receiving at UC Davis.
“The chemical engineering department is doing an outstanding job bringing forth fabulous engineers who will go into society and give back,” said Liz, noting that Max plans to “give back” by joining Engineers without Borders.
Liz wants other students to have the same opportunities as Max—which is why she donates to the Department of Chemical Engineering as well as the Parents Fund/Annual Fund. This short video tells the story of why Liz and so many other UC Davis parents choose to donate.
The Parents Fund, like the Annual Fund, is unrestricted, meaning it allows Chancellor May to support areas of greatest need in ways that advance UC Davis research and ensure an outstanding education for all students.
An example of Parent Fund support includes the Chancellor’s Fellows awards, which go to outstanding midcareer faculty to seed pioneering research and offer undergraduates the chance to participate. For many students, it’s the experience of a lifetime!
Another Parent Fund-supported program, the Chancellor’s Achievement Awards, supports high-performing California students from marginalized socioeconomic backgrounds in pursuit of their education. Nearly all recipients are part of the 42 percent of our undergraduates who are first generation to college. These awards are one reason UC Davis is widely recognized for advancing social mobility.
Finally, the Parents Fund allows us to respond quickly to critical needs and emerging opportunities. As an example, the fund allowed Chancellor May to provide loaner laptops to hundreds of students when we moved learning online at the outset of COVID-19.
Parent support makes a big difference at UC Davis—for your own student, for our research and teaching, and for the student body at large.
And on that note of gratitude, I wish all of you and your families a peaceful, fulfilling holiday season. And warm congratulations to those of you whose students are graduating this month!
For more information about how parent giving makes a difference in students’ lives, contact Cari DuBois-Wright, Associate Director of Development in Parent Giving, at caduboiswright@ucdavis.edu, 510-388-3605. You can visit our Parents Fund website here as well as learn more about our Family Fellows.