Dr. Richard Yao Is Featured Speaker at Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation Luncheon
'The Sage-on-the-Stage Model Does Not Resonate with This Generation of Students,' Shares CSU Channel Islands President
Focusing on removing barriers and obstacles for the next generation of youth in our community is what new President & CEO Melinda Cabrera described as the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara’s key role in supporting students to achieve their dreams of higher education. In line with that theme, Cal State Channel Islands (CSUCI) President Dr. Richard Yao gave a compelling keynote address as the featured speaker at last week’s Scholarship Foundation Community Leaders Luncheon.
Yao provided some background on the newest addition to the Cal State system, which opened its doors in 2002, noting that “the old sage-on-the-stage model of professors getting in front of class and pontificating on a topic for hours … that does not resonate with this generation of students. And perhaps most importantly, it’s not how we want to prepare our students for success post-graduation.”
Addressing the population of students at CSUCI — 60 percent of the approximately 5,200 students are first-generation college students, 61 percent identify as Latinx, and 48 percent are Pell Grant eligible, meaning they have the greatest financial need — Yao said, “I want to make education personal. I want you to integrate theory, research, and best practices directly to your life experiences and narratives and identities. Because this adds so much depth and meaning to the learning, and perhaps most importantly, real-life applications. And this focus is something that drives my work every single day.”
In the last three years, the Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation has awarded more than $635,000 through 177 total scholarships to our Cal State University students. Yao reported that his team took a “deep dive” into their scholarship data and made some adjustments to their outreach efforts to target a group that was more representative of the student body, and factor things such as family duties and financial responsibilities during high school, rather than just the more traditional GPA and school activities, into the mix.
“Since then, we’ve done more targeted outreach and marketing efforts to these students, and I’m very proud to say that since 2021, our data indicates that our scholarship recipients are truly representative of our student body population. But it took intentional outreach efforts. … We also found that students who receive scholarships are retained at higher percentage rates than those who don’t, that they have higher GPAs. They attempt and complete more units per semester, and they have a significantly higher course completion rate.”
He continued, “the benefits of a transformational grant through the generosity of donors is not simply money but there’s so much more; it helps them feel as though they belong on a college campus. And there is not a monetary value that can be placed on that. … The financial support is primary, but equally important is the idea that someone believes in their future success.”
From left, honoree Steve Hicks, student speaker Massimo Genovese, his grandmother Nini Lemus, Caitrin McKiernan, Andrew Stephen Hicks, and Patsy Hicks | Credit: Isaac Hernandez 
From left the Gil family, who did a video in support of the Scholarship Foundation: Gerardo Gil, Monique Limon, Guille Gil-Reynoso, Oralia Limon, Evelia Adame, Mia Lomeli, Christina Lomeli, and Raul Gil | Credit: Isaac Hernandez
Former Scholarship Foundation Board President Steve Hicks was honored for his years of service to both the Foundation and the community at large. In addition, Massimo Genovese, a scholarship recipient at Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law, was the featured student speaker at the 2023 Community Leaders Luncheon, which gathered more than 300 guests at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort on December 8.
For more information about the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, see sbscholarship.org.
