Elaine Koshimizu Endowed Scholarship for Inclusive Excellence in Dance By Christine Byrd
Photo: Rose Eichenbaum
The Department of Dance at
the Claire Trevor School of the Arts ranks third in California and 10th in the U.S. Despite being nationally acclaimed, each year the department competes with other top dance programs to recruit high-achieving and underrepresented students in dance. Students often select schools that are able to provide generous artistic merit scholarships. Now, a new gift is poised to change this dynamic, better positioning CTSA to make offers more competitive with well-funded private universities, and transforming the way the dance department recruits students from diverse backgrounds. 30
The Elaine Koshimizu Endowed Scholarship for Inclusive Excellence in Dance will provide competitive, meritbased scholarships to help recruit students who are underrepresented in the department. The scholarship was established with a $515,000 gift from the estate of dance alumna Elaine Koshimizu, and through the Brilliant Future Scholarship Match Opportunity, UCI will match the endowment distributions in perpetuity, effectively doubling its value to over $1 million. “This is an amazing situation, not only to have this wonderful endowment, but for the university to match it,” says Molly Lynch, professor and chair
