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May 12, 1997
Local donors establish funds for environmental studies and re-entry students
Two recent gifts to UCSC from Santa Cruz residents Grace and Michael Jacobs have established scholarship funds to support students in environmental studies and the campus's re-entry program.
A $10,000 gift from the couple has created the David Gaines Endowment Fund in Environmental Studies in memory of David Gaines, a UCSC graduate who fought for the preservation of Mono Lake. The fund supports the David Gaines Award in Environmental Studies at UCSC, which is offered to students to help cover the expenses of field projects that will make a "significant contribution to the solution of an environmental problem." Awards will be based on scholastic merit, demonstrated initiative, and project feasibility.
David Gaines founded the Mono Lake Committee in 1978 and spent 10 years enlisting support for the lake from environmentalists and others around the country. He was killed in an automobile accident in 1988. In part because of Gaines's work, water levels at Mono Lake were returned to levels that saved the lake and its surrounding wildlife. Mono Lake is now a state reserve. Since 1989, Grace Jacobs, David's aunt, has given $1,000 to the campus annually to fund awards for environmental studies students. Seventeen students have received awards to date.
A second gift of $10,000 has established the Marilyn Justman Endowment Fund to aid re-entry students. The endowment honors the memory of Marilyn Justman, an aunt of Grace Jacobs, and creates the Marilyn Justman Award for the Re-Entry Services Program, which will provide a minimum $1,000 annual scholarship award. Awards will be given to undergraduate or graduate women re-entry students, and preference will be given to students with financial need.
The Jacobses plan to augment support for both programs through annual gifts and, with the help of friends and others, build the respective endowments to $20,000 each, at which point the scholarships will be self-supporting.
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