Interview with Bill Dickinson of The Smith Society, UC Santa Cruz

When Bill Dickinson founded the Page and Eloise Smith Scholastic Society in 1999, it was the first of its kind in the UC system—a program offering a pathway to admission to UC Santa Cruz for foster youths and other independent students such as wards of the court, homeless youth, and orphans; a supportive community after they arrive; and an ongoing network of belonging upon graduation.

Dickinson recalls that he started the program as a living memorial to Page Smith, the historian and founding Cowell College provost, and his artist wife, Eloise.

The Smiths had been instrumental in Dickinson's growth as a young adult. Having grown up in an orphanage and foster homes, going on his own when he was 16, Dickinson was one of the first students to arrive on the new UC Santa Cruz campus in 1965.

"The Smiths, together with the caring, competent, committed community they gathered, helped me make my way forward to an adult life of which I feel pretty proud," said Dickinson. "That is what we try to offer our students."

The Smith Renaissance Society, as it's now known, is remarkably successful—the graduation rate of alumni, called Smith Collegiate Fellows, is higher than the UC and UC Santa Cruz average.