Championing Undergraduate Stars
DRAFT CASE FOR SUPPORT
AT A GLANCE
The Chancellor’s Scholars program – UC Davis’ only comprehensive merit-based scholarship program – will recruit a highly select group of students each year to receive four-year support covering tuition, housing, and distinctive academic and co-curricular expenses. Scholars will receive academic concierge services and access to learning and leadership opportunities designed to ensure they make the most of their UC Davis education.
KEY ACTIVITES
- Launch a program that cultivates extraordinary leadership and success, exemplifying Aggie excellence
- Actively recruit top applicants with the potential to be Chancellor’s Scholars
- Enroll up to ten students per year from the top of our applicant pool
- Develop and maintain lasting relationships as scholars go on to become outstanding alumni
INITIATIVE LEADERSHIP
- Malisa Lee, Vice Provost, Enrollment Management
- Michael Bradford, Vice Provost and Dean, Undergraduate Education
ADMINISTRATIVE LEAD
- Mary Croughan, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
TODAY
For the past quarter-century, UC Davis has been a rising star in undergraduate education, ranking among the top 10 public universities since 2021. To continue building on this record of excellence, we must invest in new programs that make us stand out as a destination of choice for exceptional students — who will flourish as scholars, enliven their classrooms and co-curriculars, lead campus clubs and organizations, and elevate the Aggie legacy as engaged alumni.
UC Davis has long attracted outstanding applicants — but too often, we lose them to colleges and universities that offer full scholarships, individualized academic experiences, and greater perceived prestige.
To compete more successfully, it is critical that we offer comprehensive scholarships alongside distinctive academic opportunities and personalized services that will make a UC Davis education irresistible to star students.
Our premier merit-based award, the Regents Scholarship, offers $7,500 each year for four years — often not enough to enroll our top admitted students, many of whom receive more substantial offers from other leading universities. Only about 10% of our Regents Scholarship offers are accepted each year.
KEY FUNDING PRIORITIES
Donor support will advance our highest funding priorities, including:
PEOPLE
GOAL: $8,000,000
- Fund key staff
PROGRAMMING, EQUIPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
GOAL: $86,000,000
- Endow student scholarships
- Fund scholar recruitment
- Fund a specific co-curricular opportunity such as study abroad or research
- Provide loaner laptops
TOMORROW
The Chancellor’s Scholars program will create the first “full-ride” merit-based scholarship at UC Davis and will include specialized programming to guide these scholars throughout their undergraduate years. This prestigious program will be a powerful recruitment tool, attracting and encouraging the top students to choose UC Davis — and enabling them to thrive here to their fullest potential.
A COHORT OF LEADERS
Chancellor’s Scholars will bring more to UC Davis than excellent grades. We will seek candidates who demonstrate leadership, character and the drive to make a positive impact on the world. In return, we will offer these scholars a college experience that develops their strengths to the fullest and prepares them for lives of purpose, leadership and service.
Much more than a scholarship, the Chancellor’s Scholars program will tailor each student’s experience to their goals by providing dedicated faculty mentors, a program manager to act as an academic concierge, access to research and other hands-on learning experiences, and a small community of highly motivated fellow students to bolster success.
With our vision fully realized, up to forty Chancellor’s Scholars— ten per cohort for four academic years — will be pursuing their degrees at UC Davis at any given time. Upper-division scholars will mentor their lower-division counterparts — a first important step in preparing our future alumni for a life of continued engagement.
Creating this program is a defining moment for UC Davis: a commitment to excellence that will elevate our student body, raise our reputation as a university of choice for the highest-achieving students, and produce leaders who will carry the best of UC Davis into their respective fields as lifelong Aggies who inspire and guide future generations.
With visionary philanthropic leadership, the Chancellor’s Scholars program will redefine merit-based aid at UC Davis to be the foundation of a new legacy of distinction.
A VISION FOR THE CHANCELLOR'S SCHOLAR PROGRAM
THE CHANCELLOR'S SCHOLARS PROMISE
Every Chancellor’s Scholar will graduate having contributed meaningful service to the community, completed a public impact project, engaged in faculty-mentored research or a creative activity, participated in transformative experiential learning, and secured a pathway to career success, professional school or graduate education.
As Scholars move through the program and into the world beyond UC Davis, they will be prepared to leverage their knowledge, skills and leadership to strengthen communities, address societal challenges and contribute to the public good.
PATHWAYS TO PURPOSE: THE CHANCELLOR'S SCHOLARS PROGRAM PILLARS
RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
A Four-Year Research Pathway
Every scholar is matched with a faculty mentor within the first year.
EXPERIENTIAL
LEARNING
The CS Experiential Learning Guarantee
Every scholar will complete at least one internship, clinical placement, community partnership, quarter abroad or industry- sponsored project.
FUTURE
READINESS
Bringing UC Davis to the Next Venture
Chancellor’s Scholars are well-prepared for their next steps, whether they are bound for graduate school, professional school or industry.
LEADERSHIP, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, AND PUBLIC IMPACT
Talent Carries
Responsibility
Chancellor’s Scholars are prepared not only for successful careers and continued education — but for lives of purpose, leadership and service.
POTENTIAL PROGRAMMATIC OPPORTUNITIES
- Summer research intensive
- Funding for
internships - Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference participation
Research-to-policy competition
- Study abroad
- Lab internship
- Field research
- Bioinnovation Lab
- Data Lab
Career Launch Pathway
- Executive mentor network
- CS Career Launch Fund
Preparation for Postgraduate Education
- Alumni matching
- Mentoring through UC Davis Graduate Studies
- Customized health professions advising
- Community impact fellows
- Scholar-to-scholar
mentoring - Community-based research
- Annual Day of Service
- Civic Leadership Academy
- Professional mentorship
- Service innovation grants
- Community partnership network
DEFINING ASSETS
The Chancellor’s Scholarship will offer students these specialized experiences:
- A living-learning community where scholars connect beyond the classroom
- A dedicated advisor for personalized guidance
- Mentor-matching with world- class faculty, tailored to their academic interests
- Service-learning opportunities that make meaningful impacts on our community
- Optional participation in the University Honors Program
- Custom small-enrollment seminars that jump-start critical thinking and introduce students to foundations of research and leadership
- Facilitated access to undergraduate programming such as:
- Experiential learning that builds connections beyond the campus
- Undergraduate Research Center programs and annual conference
- Support for Prestigious Scholarship applications such as the Marshall, Rhodes, Fulbright and Goldwater
THE IDEAL UNIVERSITY FOR EXCEPTIONAL SCHOLARS TO THRIVE
The UC Davis student experience is well known as a combination of collaboration, rigor and support. Here, state-of-the-art research is ensconced in a classic college town — all a free bus ride away from Aggie Square and Sacramento’s other rich opportunities. Our students don’t just read about the latest discoveries; they actively take part in research and creativity alongside renowned faculty who are driving the conversation in their fields.
Like all UC Davis undergraduates, Chancellor’s Scholars will have opportunities to do amazing things. Our emphasis on research, mentorship and hands-on learning means students can access meaningful internships and present their original research at conferences. Our top undergraduates have co-authored scientific papers, received patents and earned highly prestigious awards including Goldwater, Marshall and Fulbright scholarships. They have made real-world public service contributions, from creating a free diabetes clinic in Sacramento to building a solar-powered community well in Nigeria.
After they graduate, many Chancellor’s Scholars will go on to become consequential alumni and leaders — building our reputation as a top undergraduate school of choice.
Our vision is that the tradition of engaged mentorship launched during their college years will lead to lifelong connections as distinguished alumni guide new generations of star students — creating a constellation of Chancellor’s Scholars, past and present.
UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARS: A LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP, SERVICE AND EXCELLENCE
University Medalist Neeraj Senthil ’23 is a shining example of the contributions outstanding undergraduate scholars can make to faculty, fellow students and the world.
As an undergraduate majoring in biomedical engineering (BME), Senthil interned in the Lewis Lab and at a biotech company, conducting research in oncology, immuno-engineering and drug delivery. He received a provisional patent, was first author on a publication, and earned the nationally prestigious Goldwater Scholarship.
In his free time, he volunteered with the Child Life unit at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, taught math in Davis public schools, was a peer buddy to a student with intellectual and developmental disabilities through Best Buddies, and served as a club officer for the campus BME Society.
Now a medical student at the Yale School of Medicine, Senthil’s research interests, combined with his volunteer work with kids, have inspired him to pursue pediatric neuroimmunology.
Senthil’s contributions help to focus attention on UC Davis as a hub for exceptional, highly motivated, leadership-focused students. He describes his experience, in his own words:
“The support, the love and the unity that we as a campus show has been a truly amazing experience to be part of, and I wouldn’t trade my four years at UC Davis for anything else.”
- NEERAJ SENTHIL ’23
DEFINED BY UC DAVIS, REFINED WITH YOU
By offering comprehensive merit-based scholarships to outstanding applicants, the UC Davis Chancellor’s Scholars program provides a critical tool for competing successfully to enroll exceptional students. The ability to offer support at this level will be a game changer that empowers more outstanding applicants to say “yes” to UC Davis — and will build generations of Chancellor’s Scholars who remain connected to one another and to UC Davis throughout their lives.
Philanthropy is the key to making this vision possible.
Thank you for your engagement and advocacy. You have a critical role in shaping our
future. Here are two ways you can help advance this initiative:
- Now — by sharing your feedback on the Chancellor’s Scholars initiative and its donor appeal
- In the weeks and months ahead — by helping to raise awareness and engage donor interest and support