Shortly after my arrival at CAA in mid-January, I set out to engage with some of our 94 alumni chapters and communities.
The support we receive from our chapters is vital to our work at CAA, and I am grateful for the inspiring interactions I’ve had with our Cal alumni family. I was deeply moved when the Orange County Cal Alumni Club presented me with an orange tree, and was further touched when a member drove it to Berkeley so it could be planted outside Alumni House. Here, it serves as a reminder to me and the CAA staff of our commitment to nourishing the fruits of alumni support.
Our enthusiasm has spread to chapters with each event. I had the honor of attending events with the Japanese American Women Alumnae of UC Berkeley, Prytanean Alumnae, Cal Alumni Club of Sacramento, Cal Alumni Club of Oakmont, Cal Alumni Los Angeles Chapter, Houston Alumni Club, Cal Bears in the Desert, Cal Alumni Club of the Monterey Peninsula, and with leaders of the Chinese Chapter and the Black Alumni Club.
CAA alumni are active in supporting Cal students through career development and mentoring. I had the pleasure of introducing California State Controller and former CAA board member Betty Yee as the keynote speaker at the student-organized inaugural Financial Literacy and Economic Justice Conference on April 17. Together we engaged in a discussion about best practices for students to achieve financial fitness.
We are continuing to engage alumni chapter leaders through webinars designed to highlight resources and enable them to connect. In appreciation of alumni support, we relaunched the CALIFORNIA Live! lecture series on May 24. David Lazarus ’83 led a discussion with La Cucaracha cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, M. Arch ’91, and Variety’s Jim Rainey ’81 on race, gender, media, and celebrity in this year’s presidential election.
Whether you join us in person for an event, online for a career development session, or by coming together with local alumni, we encourage you to connect with Cal through CAA this summer. As we welcome the class of 2016 into our alumni community, let’s invite them to grow with us.
Go Bears!
Clothilde Hewlett ’76, J.D. ’79
CAA Executive Director
