Celebrating Champions

Dedicated to the memory of UC Santa Barbara football standout Jim Barber ’67, who devoted his adult life to advocating for others, the 10^th Annual All Gaucho Reunion will celebrate UCSB champions past and present, and from all walks of life.

Presented by the UC Santa Barbara Alumni Association and Nationwide Insurance, the weekend-long campus celebration runs from Thursday, April 28, to Sunday, May 1, with an array of events for alumni, family and friends.

Barber died in early 2016 of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Throughout his own nine-year battle with the neurodegenerative disease, his advocacy for other ALS patients and families earned him the ALS Association of California’s 2010 Iron Horse Award. As a longtime member of the UCSB Alumni Association Board of Directors, Barber in 2007 was a founding architect of the All Gaucho Reunion.

Gaucho champions from across the university’s diverse and accomplished community will be honored at the 10^th annual gathering, in events such as the moderated discussion “UCSB Champions of Public Service” and the LGBTQ alumni reception and panel talk “Coffee, Tea & She: Women Champions of Diversity.”

The slew of planned festivities, open to community members as well as alumni, also include the Gaucho Gallop Benefit Run and the game-centric Gaucho Kids Festival, as well as the foodie-favored Taste of UCSB. All Gaucho generations are invited to the many mini celebrations, such as the 50^th Anniversary Reunion of the Class of 1966, the Riviera Reunion and the Golden Gaucho Reunion.

Some additional highlights:

• “UCSB Champions of Public Service: The Gaucho Path to International Service,” Friday, April 29, 7 p.m., Corwin Pavilion, featuring distinguished alumni panelists Barbara Bodine (’70), a former U.S. ambassador who is now a faculty member in Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service; former U.S. ambassador, assistant secretary of state and undersecretary of state Marc Grossman (’73), now vice chairman of The Cohen Group; international affairs consultant Giandomenico Picco (MA ’71), who served as UN Undersecretary General; and Joseph C. Wilson (’71), the last American diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein to negotiate Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait. The event will be moderated by UCSB professor Mark Juergensmeyer, the founding director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies

• Gaucho Kids Mile, Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m., Harder Stadium, invites runners aged 10 and younger to compete in a friendly footrace replete with participant ribbons, free snacks and a meet-and-greet with UCSB mascot Olé.

• Gaucho Kids Festival, Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m., UCSB Recreation Center, offering sports skills drills, ocean art, science crafts, a bounce house and dance lessons.

• Taste of UCSB, Saturday, April 30, 3 p.m., UCSB Science Green, highlighting the gourmet dishes, craft brews and Central Coast wines of more than 50 Gaucho chefs, brewers, caterers and vintners, plus up-and-comers on the Santa Barbara food scene. 

Many events at the 10th All Gaucho Reunion will also serve to raise critical funds for student scholarships at UCSB. Established in 2008, the UC Santa Barbara Alumni Scholarship Fund, administered in cooperation with the Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships, supports students based on financial need and academic merit.

The UC Santa Barbara Alumni Association promotes and cultivates alumni connections to create positive change for UCSB students, graduates and the university community. Alumni philanthropy, advocacy and service strengthen the campus and safeguard UCSB’s future by linking past and present Gauchos to work together to uphold the values of the university.