For some donors, the connection with UCSD comes after long consideration of several options, over the course of many conversations. For Joe Lima '87, it came while standing at a bus stop. Later that morning he made a call and the university's first Alumni Leadership Scholarship was born.

"I'm turning 40 next year, and I'd been thinking about having a big party and inviting my family and friends. One morning I picked up my mail on the way to the bus” - Joe lives and works in downtown San Francisco - “and there was a copy of the May 2004 @UCSD magazine. I started reading it and saw the ad for the new alumni scholarship program. I immediately thought, wow, this is what I really want to do.”

Joe, the senior director of information technology at Hotwire.com, a cut-rate online travel Web site, was an economics major at UCSD with a dual chemistry/philosophy minor.

“I loved UCSD,” says the Warren College alumnus. “I had spent two years at a small private college and wasn't happy. UCSD was larger, more diverse and had a very active campus life. I was part of the Associated Students, I hung out with my friends and roommates at the student center enjoying the various events that a large university like UCSD had to offer.”

The son of Cuban immigrants who came to California when Joe was five, he wanted to give another newcomer the opportunity he had. “My main criterion was a scholarship for someone who is either an immigrant or the child of immigrants.”

The new alumni scholarship program offers alumni the opportunity to create an endowed scholarship that is awarded immediately. With a commitment of $30,000—just $6,000 annually for five years—Joe will be able to make an immediate impact by directing $1,000 of the gift each year toward current scholarship support. The remaining $5,000 will be directed each year toward the Joseph H. Lima Endowed Scholarship fund.

Joe has significantly leveraged the ultimate value of the Lima Scholarship by taking advantage of two matching opportunities. First, Joe asked his company to match the endowment portion of his pledge. Hotwire.com generously agreed to make a $25,000 gift to the Lima Scholarship over a five-year period. As a result of Joe's creativity, the Lima Scholarship endowment will be valued in excess of $50,000 at the end of the five-year pledge period and at that time, the endowed fund will generate sufficient income to underwrite an annual scholarship at the $2,000 level.

In the meantime, while the endowment fund is building, Joe's annual gift of $1,000 for the Lima Scholar will be matched each year for the next five years by the Alumni Association Leadership Scholarship program. As a result, the Lima Scholar will receive the full $2,000 award immediately.

The Alumni Association recently established the Leadership Scholarship program to benefit juniors and seniors, who frequently find it difficult to balance their increasingly challenging academic coursework with the minimum-wage jobs needed to offset the financial burden of student loans. The Alumni

Association seeks to establish a $2 million endowment that will generate 20 scholarships annually at the $2,000 level.

The first Lima Scholarship has already been awarded to Maung Kyaw Aung, a young man studying in the United States on a visa from Burma . The two had the opportunity to meet at the recent Alumni Association Awards for Excellence Gala.

“I really enjoyed meeting Maung,” says Lima. “Despite having been born in two very different countries, I was amazed at our similarities. We were members of some of the same clubs in high school, we were transfer students to UCSD, and most importantly, we both see the value of a Warren College education! Maung is the perfect candidate for my scholarship.”