UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School held its 2018-19 Fellowship Breakfast on Wednesday, January 16 at The Club on the UCSB campus. The event was a school-wide celebration and recognition of the students who have received fellowships for the academic year 2018-19. The breakfast was highlighted by a keynote talk by the Honorable Delaine Eastin, UCSB alumna, former California State Superintendent of Instruction, and donor to the Gevirtz School. Three graduate students also offered reflections as to the importance of fellowships for their ability to attend UCSB.
In her remarks, Eastin commended the students in the room for doing the most important and vital work in America: educating our children. “It is the deciding ingredient of the success of a state, or a nation, the success of a community or a family...it is, in fact, about who are going to be as well as who we are.” Eastin recalled her journey through California’s public schools to eventually attend UC Berkeley and be the first in her family to graduate from college. In 2015, she established the Delaine A. Eastin Fellowship to support students pursuing an MA or Ph.D. in Education who show academic promise and are the first in their family to attend graduate school.
During academic year 2018-19, 45 students received funds from 24 different fellowships awarded to students in the Department of Counseling, Clinical & School Psychology (CCSP), the Department of Education, and the Teacher Education Program (TEP). The range of types of fellowships was wide; for just three examples, the Alumni Fellowship in the Department of Counseling, Clinical & School Psychology, funded by CCSP alumni, helps support students in the department who show great academic progress and excellence in the area of community service; the Dorothy M. Chun and Joseph Polchinski Fellowship, that supports qualified graduate students enrolled in the interdisciplinary Emphasis in Applied Linguistics who are studying second language acquisition and closely-related topics; and the Dr. Sabrina Tuyay Memorial Fellowship acknowledges teacher candidates in TEP who have shown a commitment to providing thoughtful literacy and English language instruction to elementary and/or special education students.
“We simply have to help bridge the gap for costs for as many students as possible,” Gevirtz School Dean Jeffrey Milem said in his opening remarks. “That’s why we’re here today, to celebrate those of you, our dear donors, who have stepped up to make it possible for those of you, our dear students, who want to do all the work but don’t want to have to pay for the rest of your lives for the honor.
“We also want to make sure both sides of this crucial equation get to know each other. Beyond being basically brilliant, our students have passion and heart. Everyone should want to get to know them. They do good things for no reason beyond they themselves are good. I have no doubt each person who chats five minutes with one of our students will want to support one of them.”