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The University Section Club, Inc. is an organization whose members are affiliated with the Berkeley Campus of the University of California. Their mission is: To provide service to the University Community. To raise funds to aid deserving students, support student-related groups, and foster scholarship and international understanding. To provide a social milieu for members to interact while sharing common interests in the various activity sections of the Club. Funds are generated by means of annual dues, by donations from members and other interested individuals, and by a fundraising event each spring, the Beehive Luncheon. ____________________________________________________ WELCOME I would like to extend a warm welcome to all new and returning members of the University Section Club. This will be our eighty-third year and we intend to pursue our goals with the same spirit and energy that has propelled us forward until now. We serve the university community in multiple capacities. As a nonprofit U. C. Berkeley support group, our efforts are dedicated to helping students with emergency grants funded through our Student Grants Committee and our Sylvia Elberg Memorial Fund. Additionally, our Services Offered Students program helps to finance projects or equipment needs requested by University Village, Tang Center, the Disabled Students Program, and other student support groups. Our generosity is enabled through a major fundraiser, the Beehive Luncheon and Silent Auction, and by way of donations to our club.
Julia Wenk, President OVERVIEW and HISTORY The UNIVERSITY SECTION CLUB at U.C. Berkeley had its origin in 1907 when the College Teas were instituted by Mrs. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, wife of the President of the University. They were held successively in the Men's Faculty Club, the first Hearst Gymnasium for Women, The Women's Faculty Club, and, briefly at The Town and Gown Club. Their purpose was to provide an opportunity for women from all departments and neighboring campuses to meet. That purpose has since been extended to include furthering the educational activities of U.C. Berkeley by offering grants and support to students and student-related groups of the University, providing assistance to foreign students, scholars and their families, and by promoting student and international understanding among University-related persons and groups. The Section Club, as such, was founded in 1927 and now includes 16 sections: Adventure, Art Museum, Birding, Bon Appetit, Book Discussion, Drama, French, German, Italian, Music, Photography, Sew and So, Spanish, Tennis, Walking, and Writers' Workshop. A new section may be formed with 5 members. Section Club membership consists of four categories: regular, associate, honorary, and Ex-Officio. In the "Social Side of the Section Club's History," member Mary Lee Noonan points out that in 1972 there were over 3,200 women on the mailing list, and the membership approached 800. But were they only drinking tea and socializing? "We also emphasize our service to the campus community and the financial support which we give to individual students and programs. But to deny the social dimension of the Section Club is to misunderstand our role as a force for community within the vast, often impersonal reaches of the Berkeley campus. Over the years the Section Club has constantly experimented with different ways of bringing people together that supplement the social life of the individual sections. Hospitality, generosity, friendship, kindness - these are values that we must continue to express, individually and collectively, as we map the future of the University Section Club. Often the best way to get to know someone is to work with her on some shared activity."
Mary Flanders October 2005 (Number of Sections updated May 2009) _________________________________________________________________ Brief HistoryThe University Section Club, a non-profit UC Berkeley support group, was founded in 1927. Its goals have been twofold: first, to bring together members from both the faculty and administration in a variety of interest groups or "sections", and secondly, to offer practical and financial help to students on campus. On both levels, the Section Club generates what could be described as social cement, welcoming people from different departments who might otherwise never have the opportunity to become friends, and at the same time demonstrating to students that they are part of a larger caring Cal family. There are now about twenty sections, which range from foreign language groups, a writers' workshop, walking and bird watching, gourmet dinners, tennis to a very active music group and three large student service committees: SOS (Services Offered Students), Student Grants and the International Student & Scholar Committee. Joan Jenkins, Nancy Oldham, Audrey Richards, and Christa Shannon ______________________________________________________
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS New to the Section Club? A special sign-in table will be set up at the Fall Garden Reception to welcome you. For the answers to your questions about the Section Club or life in our community please contact us at usectionclub@berkeley.edu. Put New Member in the subject line and include a phone number if you would like us to phone you. Top |
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