Alumni News

Alumni Association Councilors, 2003-04


Gary Novack chosen as UC alumni Regent

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Gary Novack
Photo: John Blaustein

Gary Novack's loyalties run deep. He still has his student ID card from his days as an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz, from 1970 to 1973. And when he returned to UCSC for a meeting earlier this year, an old alumni volunteer name badge was in his pocket.

Those loyalties will be put to good use in the next two years. Novack has been selected to serve as one of two alumni members of the University of California Board of Regents. The selection in February by the UCSC Alumni Association Council capped an 18-month process that attracted alumni candidates from around the nation. UC's alumni Regents are drawn from the various UC campuses on a rotating basis.

"I am proud that a UCSC graduate will be serving again as alumni Regent, and especially proud that we will be represented by Gary Novack," said UCSC Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood." His scientific expertise and obvious commitment to UCSC and the university as a whole will make him a valuable asset to the Board of Regents."

Novack will be the third UCSC graduate to serve on the Board of Regents. His predecessors are Los Angeles Superior Court judge Allan Goodman (Stevenson '67), from 1979 to 1981; and San Francisco Bay Area attorney Paul Hall (Merrill '72), from 1991 to 1993.

During Novack's first year as an alumni Regent--from July 2003 to June 2004--he will attend all meetings and participate in policy discussions as a Regent-designate, without voting rights. During this time, Novack will also serve as treasurer of the Alumni Associations of the University of California. In the second year, Novack will become a voting Regent and serve as vice president of the UC alumni organization.

Novack, founder and president of the pharmaceutical and drug consulting company Pharma*Logic Development Inc., has a long history of involvement with UC. A biology major at UCSC, he graduated in 1973 with honors, after just three years. He received his Ph.D. from UC Davis in 1977 in pharmacology and environmental toxicology, was an NIH postdoctoral trainee at UCLA from 1977 to 1979, and later taught at UC's Santa Cruz, Davis, Irvine, and San Francisco campuses.

Novack spent eight years on the UCSC Alumni Association Council and served as its president in 1993-94. He is a trustee of the UCSC Foundation and is a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences at UCSC. He has lobbied the legislature as a volunteer advocate for UC and helped create a UCSC Alumni Association scholarship endowment that has granted awards to 110 financially needy students since its establishment in 1992.

Speaking like the scientist he is, Novack joked that he may have a "genetic predisposition" for UC service. "My parents were Cal alumni," he explains. "I'm proud to continue the UC heritage."

Novack is a board-certified clinical pharmacologist. He has had a major role in the investigation of over 50 new drugs for the treatment of human illnesses, including macular degeneration, glaucoma, allergies, and cancer. He is a reviewer or is on the editorial board of several key ophthalmology journals, and has written more than 220 abstracts and publications in pharmacology, ophthalmology, neurology, dermatology, and medical communications.

Novack is on the boards of the nonprofit Foundation Fighting Blindness and of Inspire Pharmaceuticals, a public drug discovery and development company.


GIVE SOMETHING BACK:
Take this opportunity to invest in UCSC's future.

Classes of '69, '74, '79, '84, '89, '94, and '99:

Make a class gift to support student scholarships, a college, your academic department, or another UCSC fund of your choice.

Use the envelope enclosed in this magazine to make your gift, or give online at giving.ucsc.edu

Save this date for your reunion: April 17, 2004. For reunion information, contact Lynn Zachreson at lynnz@ucsc.edu or (800) 933-SLUG.

All alumni are welcome to use the free Online Community and Alumni Directory. Register today at alumni.ucsc.edu


Alumnus helps foster youth realize their dreams

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2002-03 Collegiate Fellows of the Page and Eloise Smith Scholastic Society with Bill Dickinson (Cowell '68), back row, wearing a Cowell T-shirt
Photo: UCSC Photo Services

Bill Dickinson (Cowell '68), a former foster youth, created the Page and Eloise Smith Scholastic Society four years ago to honor Cowell's founding provost and his wife.

The society, which is affiliated with the UCSC Alumni Association, seeks ways and means to help homeless, foster, and runaway youths, orphans, and wards of the court to dream bold dreams for their lives, to see higher education as a desirable and available path toward achieving those dreams, and to clear the way for a successful educational experience.

The society provides UCSC students, called Collegiate Fellows, with scholarships and mentors, called Senior Fellows.

Since the society's founding in 1999, nearly 250 UCSC alumni, faculty, staff, and others have become involved, and $130,000 has been raised for scholarships.

"It is deeply gratifying and a lot of fun to team up with UCSC faculty and staff, fellow alumni, and friends to make a difference in the lives of some very wonderful students," said Dickinson.

The society is now reaching out to alumni living in and near San Francisco, the Monterey Bay, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles to help with outreach to precollege and community college youth in those areas.

To get involved with the Page and Eloise Smith Scholastic Society, contact Dickinson via e-mail at wcdcamb@aol.com or call (831) 457-5145. Information is online at alumni.ucsc.edu/pesss.htm.


Career conference connects alumni with students of color

In fair weather and foul, what compels more than 60 alumni from around the state to travel to UCSC for one day every winter? It's the Multicultural Career Conference, which brings together alumni and current UCSC students of color for career panels, ethnic breakout sessions, career networking, and other activities. The conference "is a great event--I really enjoy it," says Dom Siababa (Merrill '75), fleet services manager at PG&E in San Francisco and a participant for 10 years. "Having been in the business world for a fair amount of time now, I have an idea of what works and what doesn't. When I contribute some of that, I give back to the university and to students."

To contribute your career wisdom at next winter's conference, contact the Alumni Association at (800) 933-SLUG.


Mark your calendar: Reunions take place on April 17, 2004

Planning begins now for the April 2004 Banana Slug Spring Fair campus reunion weekend. Alumni from the classes of '69, '74, '79, '84, '89, '94, and '99 may celebrate their 5- through 35-year reunions--if volunteers step forward. Other types of groups--based on major, college, ethnicity, or other affinities--may also gather.

If you can imagine a memorable reunion you'd like to attend, contact the Alumni Association. Staff can help you make your vision a reality by finding a site, developing your mailing list, producing your invitations, deploying the alumni Online Community to reach out to your classmates, and more.

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Photo: Debbie Aldridge, Mediaworks/UCD

Every year, more than 400 of UC's most politically savvy alumni lobby their legislators in Sacramento on behalf of UC. The event, called "UC Day," is sponsored by the Alumni Associations of the University of California. In March, 17 UCSC delegates participated, including Carrol Moran (Porter '71) and Doug Kaplan (Stevenson '74, right), who met with a fellow "banana slug" who is now a legislator: 27th Assembly District Representative John Laird (Stevenson '72). Alumni are invited to participate in next year's UC Day, planned for March 8-9, 2004. Contact Allison Garcia at the Alumni Association, (800) 933-SLUG, for information about UC Day and UCSC's Legislative Advocacy Program.

For more information, contact reunion planner Lynn Zachreson now via e-mail, lynnz@ucsc.edu, or toll free at (800) 933-SLUG.


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