Gold Shield Alumnae

Greetings from the Gold Shield President

It is my pleasure as president to welcome you to the Gold Shield website. You will find in these pages a summary of activities the organization has undertaken since its founding in 1936. Founded as Gold Shield, Alumnae of UCLA by 12 alumnae who created the organization to provide service to the university and its community. Now, in its 72nd year, members look back proudly on the more than $1 million dollars in scholarships we have awarded through the Alumni Association to hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students and research fellows. In 2008 alone, we awarded more than $100,000 to 80 students in these categories. Not content to provide only financial help, we also mentor all of our scholars and maintain contact with them throughout their undergraduate and graduate studies. Many who have graduated and started their own careers are now contributors to help new Gold Shield scholars.

Over the years, Gold Shield has made significant donations to the construction of Pauley Pavilion, the James West Alumni Center and the John Wooden Center. We have provided support for 36 years to the UCLA Oral History Program including funds for internships and interviews. Members of Gold Shield founded 40 years ago the highly successful and often copied Dinners for 12 Strangers program, an informal series of dinners blending students with alumni and faculty. We initiated the writing and publication of UCLA on the Move, a history of UCLA's first 50 years. Now, in partnership with the Alumni Association, we provided seed money for a new and complete history to be published in 2009.

In 1986, on our fiftieth anniversary, we established the biennial Gold Shield Faculty Prize, an Award for Academic Excellence to recognize and reward outstanding members of the faculty who have demonstrated extraordinary accomplishment in teaching, research or creative activity, and service to the university. Now alternating between the North and South campus, this prize awards annually $30,000 in two $15,000 installments to an exceptional mid-career professor in a department with an undergraduate program.

We fund all of our outreach efforts through an annual mail solicitation, the Drive for Dollars, which we direct to members, friends, families and colleagues. In this solicitation, we introduce our current scholars and provide a tribute envelope. Through the generosity of members and their extended families, donations and bequests have allowed the Gold Shield endowment to rise considerably over the years, thus enabling us to increase our scholarships and Faculty Prize to their current levels. For that, we are immensely grateful to all of you.

Gold Shield members are selected for their outstanding achievements in university service, community service, and excellence in their individual careers. Four Gold Shield members have served as president of the Alumni Association and on the Board of Regents.

We hope you will explore this website to learn more about Gold Shield and how you can contribute to our efforts to maintain the excellence of the university that we all love.

Val Maisner