The Undergraduate Students Association Council’s Community Service Commission is awarding 10 $1,000 scholarships to students who have displayed outstanding leadership in community service work throughout their undergraduate careers.
Funding for the scholarship, called the John H. Sarvey & Robert S. Michaels Leadership in Service Award, has been consistently decreasing since the scholarship’s inaugural year in 2010-2011, said Zack Dameron, the USAC Community Service commissioner.
Chancellor Gene Block and UCLA Student Affairs contributed a total of $60,000 to go toward the scholarship during the 2010-2011 academic year.
The $60,000 was intended to last a few years, but because of a mix-up in communication, the few individuals running the scholarship gave $1,000 awards away to 60 students all at once, Dameron said.
Since the scholarship’s start, funding for the award has been inconsistent and the sources for the funds have changed.
In the 2011-2012 academic year, the Community Service Comission received $30,000 from the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Janina Montero. Montero donated another $5,000 to the scholarship the following year. In the 2013-2014 academic year, the Community Service Commission received $15,000 from Block, Montero and former USAC President and UCLA alumnus Robert S. Michaels.
Dameron said Michaels has been donating to the scholarship since the 2012-2013 academic year, and has recently become the main source of funding for the scholarship.
The scholarship was renamed this year to include Michaels in order to recognize him as a major donor, Dameron said.
Michaels donated $10,000 this year to go toward the scholarship, which matched Block and Montero’s donation to the award.
Heather Rosen, the USAC president, said the Office of the President helps mostly with the administrative portion of the scholarship.
A committee of individuals selects the recipients of the scholarship. The committee is made up of two representatives from the Community Service Commission, two representatives from the Office of the President, two representatives from the UCLA Community Programs Office and two representatives from the UCLA Volunteer Center.
The Community Service Commission is looking for new ways to create a more sustainable source of funding after several years of inconsistent funds.
Dameron said he wants to reach out to more UCLA alumni in order to create a sustainable source of money for the Community Service Commission to use in the future.