UCSC Ethos Award
The UCSC Ethos Award recognizes alumni whose work and contribution to their community embodies and reflects the ethos of UC Santa Cruz. They embrace diversity, strive for an inclusive community, and have an abiding commitment to social justice and equity. They seek truth and the advancement of knowledge to serve society. They solve problems with courage, respect for diverse thoughts, and a willingness to be experimental. They celebrate others’ heritage, uniqueness, and contributions with a deep respect for human dignity and a desire for transformational change. They embody the Banana Slug spirit and exemplify UCSC’s principles of community. All alumni are eligible—undergraduate or graduate.
Award criteria
- Embraces diversity, strives for inclusive communities, and demonstrates an abiding commitment to social justice and equity
- Seeks truth and the advancement of knowledge to serve society
- Solves problems with courage, respect for diverse thoughts, and a willingness to be experimental
- Celebrates others’ heritage, uniqueness, and contributions with a deep respect for human dignity and a desire for transformational change
- Embodies the Banana Slug spirit and exemplifies UCSC’s principles of community
2024 UCSC Ethos Award Recipient
Paul Fielder
(Merrill ’84, psychobiology; Ph.D. ’89, biology)
Dr. Paul Fielder (Merrill ’84, psychobiology) (Ph.D. ’89, biology) is currently a vice president emeritus at Genentech, Inc. Fielder received his undergraduate degree in psychobiology and Ph.D. in biology with a focus on reproductive endocrinology from UC Santa Cruz with Professor Frank Talamantes. Following his Ph.D., he was a postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford University School of Medicine with Professor Ron Rosenfeld, where he did both basic and clinical research in growth hormones and insulin like growth factors. During this time, Fielder helped identify a rare population of growth hormone receptor deficient patients in Ecuador and helped set up a clinical trial to treat them with IGF-I. During these early years at UCSC and Stanford, Fielder gained a strong appreciation for the importance of diversity and inclusion in science and in using one’s skills to help better society through medical-related research and mentorship.
To expand his ability to impact science and medicine, Fielder joined Genentech as a scientist in 1993, and has spent the last 30 years at Genentech to understand the basic mechanisms controlling the kinetics and distribution of protein therapeutics and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. Fielder’s scientific and leadership efforts have directly and indirectly contributed to the discovery, development, and approval of many of Genentech’s top biological therapies. He has also contributed to over 90 publications in basic biology, endocrinology, biomarkers, and preclinical and clinical pharmacology.
During the later part of his career Fielder was an early pioneer in helping to shape Genentech’s efforts in diversity and inclusion. He has helped develop and sponsor multiple early-in-career programs and university collaborations to help develop and train new scientists with an emphasis on encouraging people from diverse backgrounds to apply for, and succeed, in careers in biotechnology. Fielder is also the recipient of the Developer Award from the Genentech Women’s Professional Group as a recognition of his mentorship and allyship of women in science.
Previous recipients
2023 Bettina Aptheker (Ph.D. ’83, history of consciousness)
Bettina Aptheker is distinguished professor emerita, Feminist Studies Department, at UCSC. She held a UC Presidential Chair in Feminist Critical Race & Ethnic Studies (2012–15, with Karen Tei Yamashita, emerita professor of literature), and was the first holder of the Peggy & Jack Baskin Foundation Endowed Presidential Chair for Feminist Studies (2017–21).
A scholar-activist, Bettina co-led the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley in 1964–65; was a leader of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam; and co-led the National United Committee to Free Angela Davis (1970–72),which organized a transnational movement for Davis’s freedom. Davis, UC Santa Cruz distinguished professor emerita, was held in prison for 16 months before she was acquitted of the charges related to a 1970 prisoner revolt.
Bettina graduated with a master’s degree in communication studies from San Jose State University in 1976, and entered UCSC’s History of Consciousness Department in 1979. She began teaching in the Women’s Studies program in 1981, and helped to build it into one of the leading feminist studies departments in the country. Her most popular course at UCSC was Introduction to Feminisms, which she taught for 30 years.
In 2009 Bettina launched a new course, Feminism & Social Justice. And 10 years later that class was launched on the Coursera platform in four lectures and released online. As of now nearly 111,000 people have taken the course across the globe.
Bettina’s many books include, The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis (1976; second edition, 1999); Tapestries of Life: Women’s Work, Women’s Consciousness and the Meaning of Daily Experience (1989); Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech & Became a Feminist Rebel (2006). Her most recent book released in September 2022 is, Communists in Closets: Queering the History, 1930s-1990s. She lives in Santa Cruz with her wife, Kate Miller.