Six graduating women will share an unrestricted cash award of $56,500, an unexpected gift from the now-defunct Santa Barbara City Club whose members sought to reward top female graduates at UC Santa Barbara for a "job well done."
The City Club Prize, among the top cash awards for graduating seniors in the nation, is divided annually among the highest academically achieving women majoring in a social science.
A computer prints out the names of the women with the top six grade point averages, and checks are written to the lucky winners, who are then notified by mail.
The prizes generally come as a complete surprise to the recipients, and can be spent any way the graduates wish.
The six winners are: Jade Maria Walsh Shipman (Oakview), history and sociology, $11,500; Sarah Elizabeth Turner (Ojai), business economics, $11,000; Elisabeth Anne Skillen (Morton Grove, IL), business economics, $10,000; Alena Donovan (home address not available), Women's Studies, $9,000; Stephanie Marie Muntzel (Ventura), business economics and mathematics, $8,000); and Sara Roberta Strand (Salinas), black studies and history, $7,000.
The Santa Barbara City Club was established in the 1920s by a group of women who wanted to become involved in the political process.
The club disbanded in 1978, sold its property and bequeathed the income to UCSB with the stipulation that interest on the investment must be used to
"reward the achievements of women who best exemplify the ideals of the club."
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