The Dean's Fund for Excellence

In contrast to endowments, unrestricted gifts are discretionary funds that enable the Dean to act immediately to support innovative student and faculty endeavors across the college. Unrestricted gifts of all sizes are welcome.

Student Support

Gifts earmarked for student support enable CCS to identify and recruit exceptional students, whoever and wherever they may be. The undergraduate fellowships, prizes, and awards derived from these funds confer prestige and create financial incentive, both of which help top students choose the College of Creative Studies over other academic options.

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)

The CCS Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program is aimed at providing a stipend to support CCS students in summer research projects that will provide them with actual research experience in a faculty-led research group at UCSB. This experience is perhaps the most effective means of training students in the sciences. It serves as a means by which students can see just what graduate research is like and give them the experience often needed to be competitive in graduate admissions and graduate fellowship awards. Such research experience normally is most effective after the sophomore or junior years and preference for SURF awards will be given to such students who are in good academic standing.

Endowed Dean's Chair

By establishing a Dean’s Chair, Creative Studies aims to promote faculty excellence and ensure visionary leadership in the college. A significant philanthropic gift is needed to inaugurate this highly prized academic position, which would be supported by earnings from invested funds. Although the state budget pays the Dean’s salary and benefits, proceeds from the gift endowment would provide enrichments, such as research money and instructional support. Funds for an endowed chair are critical to attract and keep top scholars in CCS.

Capitol Support

Talented students require resource-rich environments to explore and produce original work, whether in the arts or sciences. Consequently, the demand for space, hardware, and software is high in the College of Creative Studies. We must establish and maintain state-of-the-art facilities, designed to be extremely flexible and sustain heavy use. Philanthropic support would help us meet our students’ extraordinary resource needs.
We also seek support for a new building for the College of Creative Studies, one of our most pressing needs. In every respect the quality and design of the building should reflect the talent and creativity of the people it houses. The exceptional building we envision could be dedicated to an exceptional donor.

Corporate Partnerhips

Our partnerships with industry produce mutual benefits. Thanks to corporate partners, CCS students meet potential employers, expand their learning to the real world of the arts and sciences, and develop entrepreneurial thinking. Corporate philanthropic investment may be given as general support through the Dean’s Fund for Excellence or may be directed toward one or more of the eight emphases within the college.