What I'm hearing from alumni

I've been on the road a lot this spring, reaching out to alumni in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boulder, New York, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. I hear a lot of stories about our graduates' experiences at UCSC that really resonate, including one from Rob Mass in New York City.

Rob is the head of sales and trading compliance for Goldman Sachs—a very big job; he's moving to London, where he will be in charge of all compliance for the company outside of the Americas—and he credits UCSC with setting him up to succeed at Harvard Law School. He didn't always feel that way, though.

Rob studied politics here and enjoyed the experience greatly. But he described arriving at Harvard Law School, meeting many classmates from the very best private colleges and universities across the country, and feeling pretty darned scared. He worried that he hadn't gotten the preparation he'd need to hold his own among such academic powerhouses.

And then the semester began, and everything fell into place. Rob says his UCSC education helped him learn to read and think more critically than his peers who attended other schools, and he appreciates the broad perspective that defined his experience here.

Rob went on to prosecute New York mobster John Gotti, among others, as an assistant district attorney in New York before joining Goldman Sachs in 1992.

What strikes me is Rob's urge now to give back to the campus that he credits with positioning him to accomplish so much in life. If every Banana Slug did the same thing, today's students would reap the benefits.

Comments or questions? Write to chancellor@ucsc.edu and put "Alumni" in the subject line.