Dear Cal family,
It has been an epoch-making year for diversity and student excellence at the Cal Alumni Association (CAA) and UC Berkeley. Words simply cannot describe how proud I am of today’s engaging and all-encompassing programming, the success of which is mainly due to your investment and support as committed CAA donors. You continue to play a critical role in enabling our scholars to realize their academic and professional dreams. In this issue of Giving Notes, you are invited to read about our scholars past and present, as well as the donors whose support extends beyond finance.
October 5, 2019 will forever be a date of significance for CAA. On that day, we celebrated twenty years of The Achievement Award Program (TAAP) with an alumni-student mixer and a celebration dinner. Since 1999, TAAP has boasted a proud history of compassion and perseverance, endowing first-generation, low-income students with the resources they need to thrive at UC Berkeley. The scholarship serves high-achieving, community-minded, and underrepresented and/or minority students from the moment they choose UC Berkeley, providing both financial assistance and supportive programming.
More than 300 TAAP scholars, donors, and alumni came together to express gratitude that day. Our scholars are not the only thankful ones; our donors are grateful to the scholars for making a positive impact at UC Berkeley and inspiring the Cal community. As CAA donors, you are pillars of our alumni association when you support our student scholars so they can succeed in everything they do at Cal and beyond.
In 2018, Mary Tuncer ’63 donated $1 million to CAA, a gift which was used to create The Kaya and Mary Tuncer Achievement Award Underrepresented Student Scholarship. Since its conception, this scholarship has aided 14 high-achieving, low-income, and underrepresented and/or minority UC Berkeley transfer students. This fall, our Alumni Scholars have participated in events and workshops that focus on their personal, academic, and professional growth. There, they are provided with a meal and a quiet place to study. In September, Mary’s emergency grant fund covered the costs of a junior transfer student’s food and medical bills.
As an independent and self-funded 501(c)(3) organization, CAA counts on your philanthropic and membership support to continue offering services, programs, and initiatives to deserving students. Your generosity and solicitude mean everything to them and all of us at CAA. Together, we are encouraging as well as expanding our Cal community by keeping alumni connected to each other, to students, and to our nonpareil alma mater.
I hope to see you at a CAA event in the spring.
Fiat Lux, and Go Bears!
Clothilde Hewlett ’76, J.D. ’79
Executive Director
