Students benefit from caring employees
Your students live apart from you for much of the year—so it’s good to know they are surrounded by faculty and staff who care so much about students that, in addition to working for the university, they also donate to an array of programs and services to support them.
Thousands of current and retired faculty and staff have donated more than $3 million so far this academic year, with much of their support going toward scholarships, academic programs, research opportunities and crucial basic needs services that benefit students from all backgrounds.
Sometimes it’s a caring professor who notices which students are struggling, and why.
“Many students are working too many hours at outside jobs and still struggle to make ends meet,” said Saif Islam, a professor of electrical and computer engineering who donates to his department’s student support fund. “I’ve seen how it impacts their performances, which would be much better if they could reduce those hours.”
Or it can be a member of staff who works for and donates to a program that clearly enriches the student experience. As manager and curator of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, Ernesto Sandoval ’96 shares his knowledge with hundreds of undergraduates who learn, conduct research and serve as volunteers in the world-renowned teaching and research facility each year. He sees donating to the Conservatory as another way to expand opportunities for students.
To me, commencement is a time of thanks as well as celebration. I thank you, our UC Davis families, for entrusting us with further educating the young people you have raised so well. And I thank my colleagues across UC Davis, UC Davis Health and our research facilities around the state who go the extra mile by personally donating to make our university and our students stronger.
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.