A generous gift has propelled the UCSB Alumni House project from dream to reality. At the fall '05 meeting of The UCSB Foundation Board of Trustees, Edward Birch announced that the Mosher Foundation of Santa Barbara would provide $3 million for the proposed building. At the same meeting, world-renowned architect Barry Berkus ’55 presented his designs for the three-story building, which is to be situated at the formal entrance to the campus at the corner of Mesa Road and University Plaza.


Birch, a former UCSB vice chancellor and now president of the Samuel B. and Margaret C. Mosher Foundation, says of the Moshers, "they were two people woven deeply into the fabric of UCSB. They made leadership gifts to encourage others to give as well, unrestricted gifts, and a substantial gift when UCSB began its annual fund." Margaret Mosher, he says, "made it clear that she wanted to be a participant through a leadership gift in the UCSB Alumni House."


The Mosher Foundation was established in 1951 by Samuel Mosher (1900-1977), founder of Signal Oil Company, and has benefited from the estate of his widow, Margaret C. Mosher (1915-2002). The Moshers were major supporters of UCSB from its earliest days at its present location. Ground breaking for the Alumni House took place August 13,2004 and the building was completed in August of 2007. "The Alumni House will be a signature landmark at UCSB," says George Thurlow ’73, Executive Director of the UCSB Alumni Association. " It will allow UCSB alumni, students, faculty, and friends to visit the most beautiful campus in California in a comfortable setting. In the coming year we will call on our alumni to make this vision a reality."


The $9.5 million structure has been designed by Berkus to serve as both a visually dramatic first impression of the campus and as a multi-functional work and meeting space. With indoor and outdoor meeting spaces that can accommodate up to 100 people, it is expected to become an important site for both campus and community meetings and other events. Included will be a rooftop terrace with a view of the Santa Barbara Channel. Situated on the north edge of the campus, the building will have panoramic views of the Santa Ynez Mountains.


The interior is designed to be equally inviting. A circular tower component of the building will house a library of UCSB materials on level two and an Alumni Hall on level one. Also on the first level will be a living room. Galleries throughout the building will provide display space for art. Meeting rooms of various sizes will be used by the UCSB Alumni Association Board of Directors, the alumni staff, and be available for campus and community use. Some will have adjacent terraces. Rental of meeting rooms will help offset the cost of maintaining the building. Offices will provide work space for the alumni staff to manage the Family Vacation Center, publish Coastlines, coordinate chapter and travel programs, recruit and serve members, and for general administration. The building will also accommodate expansion of alumni programs.


Discussions about a UCSB alumni house have been underway for almost two decades. Initial meetings were held in 1984. Donations and pledges have been gathered over that period, but progress was delayed by changes in campus leadership and the need to assess the viability of various proposed sites on campus. In the meanwhile, the alumni staff has worked from offices in a university-owned building in Goleta since 1989. When he was named Alumni Association executive director in 1990, Peter Steiner made the project a top priority. In 1998 the Association board committed $3 million in funding to the project from reserves it had accumulated through negotiations with a vendor. With the recent gift from the Mosher Foundation, nearly $7 million has been raised.


The Association Board of Directors has maintained an active interest in the project, and members of the board have made significant gifts and pledges to the project. The Board’s Alumni House Committee, co-chaired by Gary Gallup ’61 and Kent Vining ’70, will now lead the way in reaching out to all UCSB alumni to secure the remaining funds needed to build and endow the Alumni House. Vining and Gallup have each made gifts and pledges of $100,000 toward the construction of the Alumni House. In addition, Vining and his wife, Julie Ann Mock M.A. ‘75, have made a planned gift to the Alumni House endowment.
The UCSB Alumni Association exists to serve alumni and to enlist their talents in support of UCSB. Currently, some 23,000 of UCSB’s 140,000 alumni are members of the UCSB Alumni Association. While incorporated as a non-profit corporation in 1965, the Association carries on a much longer tradition of organized alumni activity at and in support of UCSB and its predecessor institutions.

Jon Bartel