Frank Andrews Fund for Undergraduate Student Empowerment

Professor Franks Andrews was a beloved professor of chemistry, human values, and student empowerment for five decades at UC Santa Cruz from 1967-2017. Designed after considerable reflection by his family, the Frank Andrews Fund for Undergraduate Empowerment provides opportunities to undergraduate students in the spirit of Frank’s educational philosophy. While at UC Santa Cruz, he designed and taught three life-changing courses:

Chemistry 137: Teaching Science in the University – In this visionary model, now widely recognized as highly effective, upper division students served as mentors and study group leaders to groups of lower division introductory chemistry students. The study group leaders met weekly for discussion and coaching on effective teaching styles.

Chemistry 80B/Crown 123: Science and Human Values and various precursor classes about human values, such as “The Phenomenon of Man” – In these writing-intensive classes, students were challenged to explore and define their own values and develop the skills to live by them.

Natural Sciences 120/Merrill 120: Solving Problems/Personal Empowerment – In these intensive seminar classes, students identified problem areas in their lives and were given practical tools to overcome their challenges. Together, Frank and a group of about 20 students explored topics ranging from procrastination, death, sex, drugs, relationships, body image, academic challenges, abuse, self-image, empowerment, psychological unblocking, and much more.

The needs addressed by these classes have not gone away. Money donated to the fund will be used to:

• support stipends for undergraduates who undertake teaching or mentoring their fellow undergraduates and/or
• provide funding for lecturers who either resurrect the classes created by Frank listed above or teach similar material in updated contexts.

The fund will be administered by the Ken Norris Center for Natural History. Administrative Director Chris
Lay is a graduate of several of Frank’s classes and was profoundly inspired by him over the many decades
they knew each other. Consequently, the teaching style used in Norris Center classes is highly influenced
by Frank’s teaching philosophy.

In addition, Frank and his wife Jean were the first major donors to and supporters of the Norris Center. Up until his retirement in 2017, many natural history students had also taken one or several of Frank's classes. Plans are currently being made to reimagine Chem 137 with upper division students teaching groups of lower division students The Natural History of the UCSC Campus.

Use of the funding will be guided by Frank’s philosophy of education, such as these points from a "Brief Critique of the Existing System" by Frank C. Andrews, 17 May, 1972:

• Faculty talk too much, students talk too little. 
• We spend far too little time on the values implications of the material taught.
• Fellow students are a rich, woefully untapped educational resource.
• The best way for a student to learn something is to try to teach it to someone else."

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