CAAA Scholarship History and Process - Cal Aggie Alumni ...

CAAA Leadership ScholarshipALUMNI SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM GUIDELINESPlease have all committee members read guidelines.There are certain procedures governing the granting of scholarships, which are established bythe University Faculty Committee on Undergraduate Scholarships, Honors and Prizes, whichthe Association must follow. Procedures which are used by the local committees are flexibleand may vary; however, in an effort to maintain the integrity of the program and to distributescholarship funds fairly, the following guidelines are offered to the scholarship committees.HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM:The Cal Aggie Alumni Association awards scholarships to entering students, both at thefreshmen and transfer level. The main purpose of the program is to encourage outstandingstudents with strong leadership skills to attend UC Davis.The Alumni Scholarship concept was developed on a University-wide basis in 1934 toencourage alumni to provide financial assistance and encouragement to students withleadership potential and scholastic ability. Alumni associations were asked to raise funds forthis purpose, which the Regents would match on a formula basis from University EndowmentFunds. In 1990, the Cal Aggie Alumni Association decided to fund its scholarship program froma percentage of giving to the UC Davis Annual Fund and matching funds from the Regents. In1996, at the conclusion of the campus wide scholarship fundraising drive, Students First, theCAAA Board of Directors voted to award scholarships based on a formula. The formula isbased on the number of applicants to UC Davis from a region and the percent of total giving tothe CAAA scholarship endowment by alumni in that region. Funding for the scholarship awardsis provided from proceeds of the CAAA Scholarship Endowment.AMOUNT OF THE SCHOLARSHIP:Scholarships are one-year, non-renewable awards with a minimum of $1,000 and maximum of$4,000.APPLICATION PROCEDURES:Students apply electronically for the alumni scholarship by submitting a simple application alongwith an essay addressing the following: “Share one experience in which your leadership made adifference. What did you learn about yourself, and how might it impact your future?” They mustalso complete the Application for Undergraduate Admission and Scholarships, University ofCalifornia, meeting the published deadline (Nov. 30).SELECTION CRITERIA:The selection criteria for the scholarships are broad in order to allow the local scholarshipcommittees to consider all aspects of a student's background when choosing recipients:♦ Student has taken a leadership role in extracurricular activities at school, in thecommunity, at work, or the family, and has demonstrated academic achievement.♦ Student shows a strong interest in attending UC Davis and has submitted their SIR(student intent to register).♦ Student would bring leadership and/or talent to UC Davis.It is important to remember that the Alumni Scholarships are not awarded on the basis offinancial need. Determining financial need is a complicated process, and awards based onfinancial need are only distributed by the campus's financial aid office.1

THE SELECTION PROCESS: What is expected of the local committee?Online Application Review Processing: Local committee members will receive a login usernameand password in order to electronically access UC Davis applications and CAAA scholarshipapplications, including their essays. They will also receive instructions on how to perform theironline review and submit decisions.Initial Screening of Applications: A scoring screen is incorporated with the online reviewprocess. Committee members should discuss the scoring criteria to achieve some consistency.The applications should be screened, and candidates selected for interviews. Reviewing ofapplications will begin after the May 1 st SIR (student intent to register) deadline. Once thecommittees have come to a consensus about their top selections, the chair of each regionalcommittee can begin contacting students for interviews.Screening Finalists for Interviews: Committees must determine as soon as possible aconvenient time and place to conduct interviews for the scholarship applicants selected. Anyonecontacting a student’s home should clearly identify themselves as a UC Davis alumnus, statethe purpose of their call and provide a name and contact telephone number.Prior to interviews, committees with large applicant pools might want to contact possibleapplicants by telephone to ascertain the student's interest in UC Davis. Committees with smallernumbers of applicants might want to interview all selected applicants. In determining thenumber of students to interview, it is important to consider enough to yield positive results. Takethe number of scholarships your committee awards and then double or triple that number tocome up with the number of interviewees. (For example, if you are awarding 3 scholarships,interview at least 6 to 9 applicants).The Interview: All committees should conduct interviews. The interviews should last 15 to 25minutes and can be held in a public library or community room, school, business conferenceroom, coffee shop or at an alumnus’ home. The place of the interview is an important factor inthe impression made on the student. It is important to have a place where your interview can beconducted professionally, without interruption or too much delay. Please limit the number ofalumni on the interview panel to between three and six people. Other volunteers might be usedto act as hosts for arriving candidates and to visit with families that might accompany thecandidate.Please consider the following during the interview session:1. Take time to put the applicants at ease. Introduce the alumni present.2. Briefly explain the purpose of the award and how it originated.3. Ask about his/her proposed major and planned extracurricular activities (sports,student government, club activities, community service).4. Ask why they are interested in UC Davis. What do they intend to get out of theircontinued education?5. See attached SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS. Please note if there arequestions your committee has determined are useful and helpful. Please feel free toadd those to your interview.Notification: Explain to the applicants that your committee will discuss the interviews and selectfinalists and alternates. Explain that successful candidates will be notified in early June of theirawards: first choice candidates will be notified that they are eligible for the Blue and Goldscholarship by CAAA Staff. Alternates will be notified that they have been chosen as an2

alternate (should the selected student decide to not attend UC Davis event after they submittheir SIR) and that they may be notified of a scholarship in July. All applicants not selected forinterviews will receive notification from CAAA thanking them for applying.Note: In years past the winners of each region would also receive a one year membership tothe Student Alumni Association (SAA). As our membership process has changed this past year,we are no longer able to provide this as students must themselves sign up for SAA since themembership fee is automatically applied to their UC Davis accounts.FINAL COMMITTEE AND CAAA ACTION:The local committee should discuss the interviews and select the finalists and alternates. Alldecisions must be submitted online and to the CAAA Scholarship Coordinator Jennifer Thayerno later than May 31. Please indicate dollar amount to be awarded to finalists AND toalternates, also include a ranking with the alternates. This is important so that CAAA canimmediately award scholarships to alternates if the award is declined by one of the finalists.Announcing and presenting the Awards: The final list of awardees will be sent to eachScholarship Committee Chairperson by CAAA. In years past local committees were encouragedto make presentations of certificates at their local high school seniors’ award event to increasethe visibility of the CAAA scholarship. However, due to our timeline change this typically is nolonger possible however, if by some reason a high school awards ceremony is later, by allmeans, please look into awarding the scholar at their school. Requests to CAAA for certificatesshould be made as early as possible.Finally, scholarship recipients will be honored at the Scholar Recognition and DonorAppreciation event to be held on October 22, 2011 at the Buehler Alumni & Visitors Center onthe UC Davis campus. Scholarship certificates are also presented at this event. All scholarshipchairs or a committee representative are encouraged to attend this event.3