The Associates of the California Institute of Technology:
Building the Circle of Support
 The Associates of the California Institute of Technology has championed the goals and objectives of the Institute and has helped increase Caltech's visibility throughout local communities since it was founded in 1926.
What began as a local Pasadena-area organization has grown over the years to include regional groups in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area. Most recently, the Associates organized a successful regional effort on the East Coast. Today, there are more than 1,450 members in the United States and abroad. And staying true to the organization's original vision, the group continues to bring more individuals from business and the local community into the Caltech fold. In fact, nearly 70 percent of members are not graduates of Caltech.
As a support group, the Associates provides unrestricted funds to the Institute through membership donations. Individual members have also contributed resources for 37 campus buildings, 52 endowed professorships, and literally millions of dollars in support of fellowships and scholarships. But just as important, the Associates has played a valuable role in fostering intimate connections between the worlds of academia, science, engineering, business, and philanthropy. The organization offers current members an array of activities from lectures to specially crafted "travel study" trips that provide personal interaction with Caltech faculty.
"Being an Associate is a great way to stay up to date on the latest science and engineering topics," says Caltech Associates president Ted Jenkins (BS '65, MS '66). "And there's nothing quite like traveling with our faculty to deepen one's understanding of what Caltech is all about."
Caltech's ambitious plans for the future involve faculty and researchers tackling some of the most important and fundamental questions facing modern science. Partnering with the Institute in these endeavors, the Associates is doing as much to help to promote the scientific advances of the Caltech community as its members are doing to support them. Many Associates members are playing an important role in the Institute's major fund-raising campaign through their own individual gifts. And to help build Caltech's circle of support, the group works with the Alumni Association and Caltech's public events office to create opportunities with renowned Caltech personalities that will inspire new people to become involved in the life of the Institute. In addition, the Associates board of directors has initiated plans to also pursue a specific campaign project as an organization.
"Our plans for the future are evolutionary," Jenkins explains. "We want to support the development campaign while maintaining the quality of our events and traveling programs." During each year of the campaign, the Associates will identify one campaign priority as a major fund-raising focus. A special campaign committee, being chaired this year by Malcom Cloyd, is forming to lead this effort. The organization hopes to raise $1 million each year in support of annually selected projects.
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By Vannessa Dodson
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