Five Endowed Funds Established at CCS During 2021-2022

July 5, 2022

With gratitude to the CCS philanthropic community

Thanks to the tremendous support of CCS donors, 2021-2022 has been a record fundraising year for the College, including the establishment of five new endowed funds. These endowed funds will continue to support CCS students in future years thanks to our philanthropic alumni, parents and friends!

Donald H. Aue Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Endowed Fund

The Donald H. Aue Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Endowed Fund provides summer fellowship support to qualified CCS students in Mathematics and the Sciences in honor of UCSB Professor Emeritus of Chemistry Donald H. Aue. The CCS summer undergraduate research fellowship program is the brainchild of Professor Aue, whose vision to establish this program in 1985 was rooted in his deep commitment to student learning through hands-on research as peers, working side-by-side with the faculty. The first annual Aue Fellow, Wendy Wang ‘23 (CCS Chemistry & Biochemistry), was named in summer 2022.

Fang Family Scholarship Fund

Established by Dr. Emerson Fang ‘86 (CCS Mathematics and COE Electrical Engineering), the Fang Family Scholarship Fund is the first at CCS to support student scholarships. Annually, the fund will be used to provide a merit scholarship to an exceptional incoming CCS student in the Computing major. The inaugural Fang Family Merit Scholarship recipient is Julia Novick ‘26 (CCS Computing).

John and Mary Kelly Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Fund

The John and Mary Kelly Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Fund was established by John ‘86 (CCS Mathematics) and Mary Kelly. Each year, the fund will support one or more CCS summer undergraduate research fellowship recipients, who will be named Kelly Fellows. John and Mary made an additional gift to this fund when CCS met its UCSB Give Day challenge.

The Artists’ Futures Fund

CCS parents Jennifer and Ariel Lechter established the Artists’ Futures Fund in 2020 at the College as a current use fund to offer a course–Artists’ Futures: Professional Practices–to propel CCS and College of Letters & Science Art majors to be more employment-ready and knowledgeable about MFA opportunities and careers in the Art and non-Art worlds. Thanks to these donors’ continuous generosity, the fund was endowed this year, allowing future Art students to delve into the wide range of professional practices within and adjacent to the art world.

Sara Sterphone Memorial Fund

The Sara Sterphone Memorial Fund was established in honor and memory of Sara Sterphone, who worked steadfastly and compassionately at CCS as first a student affairs officer and then the lead student affairs officer from 2013-2019. Through generous donations by family and friends of Sara, this fund was endowed in April 2022. The fund supports the CCS Sara Sterphone Student Service Award as well as student activities and extracurricular programming.

Previously established endowments continue to advance the College’s mission and support experiential learning:

  • The Bruce H. and Robin G. Tiffney Summer Undergraduate Research Fund, CCS Computer Science Endowment, Francesc Roig Summer Undergraduate Research Fund, Proctor Summer Undergraduate Research Fund, and the Science/Mathematics Summer Undergraduate Research Fund continue to support 2022 CCS summer undergraduate research fellowship recipients who will dive into research and creative projects during the summer.
  • The Transdisciplinary Fund established by David Watson ’99 (CCS Computer Science) and Vinitha Menon Watson ‘99 (L&S Sociology and Communications) supported the launch of a new collaborative program between CCS and the UCSB Graduate Division, Crossroads 2.0, which expands multidisciplinary education at the College by recruiting a pair of UCSB graduate students from different disciplines to teach a CCS course focusing on social or environmental justice. The first course, Alternative Foods; Alternative Economies, was taught in Winter 2022. A second course "Deserts, Islands, and Other Energy Infrastructures” will be offered by Stephen Borunda (Film and Media Studies) and Surojit Kayal (English) in Winter 2023.
  • The Endowment for the Brancart Fiction Prize and Richardson Poetry Prize Fund supported the annual CCS Writing Competition. Matthew Choi ‘23 (CCS Writing & Literature) received the Brancart Fiction Award for “Snake Baby” and the Richardson Poetry Prize was awarded to Sasha Senal ’24 (CCS Writing & Literature) for “Cavity Pacific Coast Highway No.1.”
  • The CCS Book Arts Endowment supported inviting a guest speaker to a Book Arts course in Spring 2022 for a dialogue about graduate school.

In addition, the CCS Dean’s Fund for Excellence and The Create Fund provide crucial support for summer fellowships, other student hands-on learning opportunities, and priorities at the College. Finally, the Jo Little Memorial Fund at UCSB provides an annual scholarship for students in CCS and Environmental Studies for their academic achievements and service to the community in memory of Jo Little who worked at CCS and Environmental Studies. This year, there were four Jo Little Memorial Scholarship recipients: Tessa Chou ‘22 (CCS Biology), Emily Hascall ‘22 (CCS Biology), Emily Lopez ‘22 (CCS Mathematics) and Kaori Takiguchi ‘24 (L&S Environmental Studies).

Alumni, parents, and friends play a vital role in supporting CCS students as they pursue their passions and expand their radical curiosity through hands-on learning opportunities. With gratitude for your generous support of the College!